TrackersNEWS

Its Spring and TrackersNW is renewing our commitment to family. Often we refer to our human craving for connection and support as "community". We are coming to understand (and are always learning) how the term community can be overused and abstracted.

Instead, family is something real, something that has bite, grit, warmth, fear, love, tears, laughter, aunties and uncles, plus kids. Lots of kids. We want to challenge everyone to think about their need for family, and how we all support it. Maybe it is a circle of friends that's very close to your heart, maybe it's a significant other, maybe we don't see grandma and grandpa enough. Maybe it's even the people you work with. Sometimes it's the people you are simply stuck with.

So here we go, out on limb again, declaring that family is why we do everything we do. We choose to come to a wild foods potluck to find family. Before going to work we drop off the kids at summer camp to support family. On Sunday mornings we wander the park and connect to "brother" fox, or peddle in the garden tending to growing "sister" corn. Family is a value we all need to TAKE BACK from blowhards that politicize it, recognizing it as a foundation for real community.

Watch for big changes in the web site in the next few months. We are going to experiment with how our outreach (aka marketing) can support the epic story how we shape healthy families and thus healthy communities.

TrackersTOTS We now offer a 1/2 option starting in April When Begins April 4, 2008 8:30am-12:30pm Where The Scout Pit

Wild Edible Plants and Mom

by Shaun Deller

Spring is the time for harvesting many edible greens from the wilds. Nothing makes my mother worry more, than when I tell her about all the wild edible plants and mushrooms I have been eating. She has heard all the stories on the news over the years of people being poisoned by this or that plant. I always try to reassure her that I'm very cautious, but for someone like her, who is not familiar with plants, knowing which plants are edible and which are not seems like a crap shoot. There are hundreds of them in the local park, they are all green, and have some sort of leaves and flowers, but without being a botanist how can one distinguish the difference between those that will make a tasty salad, and those that will kill you? I used to have this perception too, but once I began to take a closer look and got to know a few wild edibles with certainty, a whole new world opened up. Every time I saw a new plant, I sketched and made notes about it in a book or in my memory. Sketching plants is a great way to commit them to memory.

When I returned home I tried to learn all I could about the plant in various guide books. I was surprised how easily I absorbed this knowledge. Nearly every day I would pass by these plants in my walks or bike rides, and be reminded of their names. If I found that they were edible I would prepare them with my meals. Soon I began to know them not only for their appearance but also for their taste, smell, texture and practical uses. As a backpacker and bicycle tourer, my interest in wild edible plants grew from a desire to know how to feed myself while traveling with less provisions. I wanted the freedom that I read about John Muir having, of being able to walk out the back door with just a day pack and knowing I would be able to find all I needed to feed myself on the journey.

I quickly learned about common edibles such as dandelions, stinging nettles, chickweed, miner's lettuce, burdock, chicory, wild carrot, and cattails. I was also curious about the plants I had heard of with poisonous look-a-likes, so I began reading about them. Because the carrot family of plants contains wild edibles such as wild carrot, parsley and fennel, but also contains the most deadly plants in North America, such as poison hemlock and water hemlock, it is critical to know these plants very well. Knowing which plants are poisonous is equally as important as knowing which are edible. Often, poisonous plants can also be highly medicinal plants when administered by someone knowledgeable. Because many wild edible plants inhabit old fields, yards and roadsides it is important to be aware of the toxins that may be present in the soil. Cattails and stinging nettles are often found growing in wet areas along roads and train tracks. These two plants in particular are known to accumulate toxins from the soil in their roots, so harvesting them from a place where chemical run-off may be present is a bad idea.

Here is a great way to get to know a few plants. Find a young plant or two growing in your yard that you don't recognize. Every week from now until winter, investigate it, to see how it has changed. What color, shape, texture and smell do the leaves have? What sort of flowers does it have? Does it look similar to other plants around? Taking note of where it is growing, what does that tell you about the plant's needs? Without tasting it, can you guess if it is edible or has medicinal qualities? Does it bear a fruit? Does it die off or go dormant when winter comes? Is there a stalk left behind? When does it appear again next spring?

If you can hold back your curiosity, it might be interesting to not look the plant up in a guide book, until you have observed it through the seasons. Make up your own names for it based on what you have observed, and get to know it intimately. Then one day open up that guidebook and see if you can find your plant. What is its common name and latin name? What family does it belong to? How has been used by humans in the past? Is it edible or is it toxic?

Occasionally incorrect information is copied from old books by contemporary authors. So be aware of this. Don't cause your mother any undo worry, always check many references before taking one person's word on what plants are edible. If you aren't sure, don't eat it.

Shaun Deller is doing several classes in wild edible plants including:

• Wild Edible lectures at REI
• Wild Spring Edibles workshop
• Dandelion Wine Making course (21 and over only)
• Wild Plant Lore Bicycle Tour