Ethnobotany Club

Providing a place where people of all skill levels can come
together to practice and share knowledge wild edible plants.

FORAGE FEAST SUNDAYS

Join fellow foragers in a monthly gathering of foraging and feasting together.  Forage for wild edibles in the mornings at a local natural area, then head to the kitchen in the afternoon to take on the Iron Chef challenge of concocting amazing culinary delights with the day’s findings.

These gatherings provide participants an opportunity to gain greater familiarity with local wild edible plants and their culinary uses, by sharing what we know, learning from each other, and experimenting.  No prior experience necessary. 

Some target edibles and initial recipes for each trip are given below, but every year is different.  What we collect and what we cook will depend on what we find that day. 

All foragers do not have to feast; and all cooks do not have to forage.  However, if you want to eat, you must come for at least part of the day.

FORAGING
Each month we will forage at a different location, chosen to provide certain plants in season.  The group will forage wild edibles, including greens, berries, roots, seeds, mushrooms, and sea vegetables.  There will always be at least one knowledgeable botanist on each trip, in order to ensure that only the right edibles get gathered.  Harvesting sustainably is also very important, and we will be paying close attention to how abundant each edible is and be familiar with its life history.  Some of the plants that we expect to harvest on each trip are listed below, but every year is a little different and there are no guarantees about what we will find. 

FEASTING
Feasters are asked to bring some basic food items that we expect to use, such as salad dressing and cooking oil.  Some recipe ideas are given for each day, but what we cook depends on what we find and how much of each plant we are able to harvest.  After the harvesting is over, we will determine what other food is needed for the meal, and this will purchased on route to the kitchen.  All cost will be equally shared amongst participants.  We will reconvene at the Cascadia Wild office, where there is a full kitchen that we can use to prepare meals.  Creativity and experimentation with flavors and combinations is highly encouraged.

LOGISTICS
Meeting place:  We will meet at the foraging area.  Some of these spots are a bit of a drive, and we encourage carpooling to the site as much as possible.  Please let us know if you would be willing to drive and we will try to coordinate carpools prior to the date. 

Ending place:  We will end the day at the cooking area, the Cascadia Wild office, 1912 NE Killingsworth.  Participants must have a way to get from the foraging area to the cooking area.

Time:  We will be meeting at 9:00am, unless noted differently in the trip description.  Foraging will be over around 2:00 and cooking will begin around 3:00.  Clean up should be over by 7:00.

What to bring:  Bring bags or baskets for collecting.  Clippers, a small trowel or digging stick, and gloves may also come in handy.

RSVP:  We encourage you RSVP at least one week prior, so we can coordinate food and carpools.

To RSVP or for more info contact Nicole at enzyprod@yahoo.com

2011 Schedule – always on Sundays

March 27    Sauvie Island

Spring is here and the nettles are up! 
HARVEST PLAN: nettles and other early spring greens such as dandelion, chickweed, cleavers, and nipplewort.
DINNER PLAN:   Dandelion fettuccine with nettle pesto, and nettle ice cream anyone?  (if someone brings an ice cream maker).  Chickweed salad?

April 17    3-Creeks Natural Area

HARVEST PLAN: Early spring is the best time to gather greens.   Some things we may be able to find are such greens as miners lettuce, violet, daisy, garlic mustard, self-heal, sheep sorrel, dock, and others; spice from licorice fern, wild ginger, and cow parsnip; bracken fern fiddleheads; dandelion or elderberry flowers; and possibly burdock root.
DINNER PLAN:   A salad extraordinaire.  Cream of sorrel soup?  Dock quiche?   Garlic mustard pesto?  Dandelion flower fritters?  Will steaming dandelion leaves in vinegar reduce their bitterness? 

May 29    Salmon River, Mt Hood National Forest

HARVEST PLAN:   At about 2000 ft in elevation, this area provides a different habitat than the greater Portland area.  Here, it will be early spring once again.  Some things we expect to find are salad greens such as oxalis and miners lettuce; lady fern fiddleheads; spices such as young fir needle shoots, devils club, and wild ginger; and Oregon grape root for medicine.
DINNER PLAN: Another salad extraordinaire.  Devils club tea.  Fiddlehead stir-fry with wild ginger?  Fir needle shortbread cookies or ice cream?

June 19   Northern Oregon Coast

Low tide is at 10am, so this trip will leave early so that we can be on the beach during low tide.  We will be leaving at 8am for this trip.
HARVEST PLAN:  Seaweeds, mussels, and other rocky seashore edibles; and nibble on spicy searocket leaves on the beach. 
DINNER PLAN: Sea Vegetable soup and snacks.  Roasted sea lettuce with tomatoes?

July 24    Sauvie Island

HARVEST PLAN:  Cattails.  Cattails are also called "natures supermarket" because they can provide starchy roots, tender shoots, and high-protein pollen.  Since summer is now here, leafy greens are getting old and tough, but we may be able to find some ripe thimbleberries, blackberries, and other berries. 
DINNER PLAN:  Roasted cattail rhizomes, cattail pollen biscuits with wild berry sauce.

* Sauvie Island requires a $7 parking permit for the day

August 28     Hood River and Mt Hood

HARVEST PLAN:  blue elderberries, manzanita berries in Hood River.  Then we’ll return to Portland, via Mt Hood, stopping to harvest huc kleberries.
DINNER PLAN:  Elderberry soup.  Elderberry savory sauce over wild rice.  Manzanita 'lemonade'.  Huckleberry cocktails.

Sept 25     Acorn Processing and Project Time

Come learn how to process acorns. Harvest your own and bring them or we'll also have some to share for the demonstration.

Acorns from any type of oak tree are edible. Just pick the acorns off the ground. Oaks are common ornamental trees in many parks. You probably have one not too far from your house if you start to look.

In the morning we'll be shelling, grinding and leaching the acorns. The leaching phase takes a number of hours so bring other food that you've collected during the summer, that's been sitting on the shelf waiting to be processed, or other projects you want to work on, or stories you want to share.

Once the acorns are sufficiently leached we'll then test a few recipes from the flour - traditional acorn mush and acorn pancakes.

We'll be meeting at the Cascadia Wild Office at 10am.