Last Saturday I had the pleasure of being invited for a walk through a local park with a foraging expert. Stephen Nix, who also writes the blog
Foraging School let a small group through the woods near his house.
Stephen led a very informative talk as we walked through the
Hinkle Creek Nature Center and pointed out all the local edible or useful plants. A particularly good point Stephen had at the beginning of his class was to always utilize the Latin names for the plants as well as the common names in order to avoid any identification confusion. Of course, until I learn more Latin names this does not do too much good. The point was well taken when later in the walk there was a discussion revolving around milk thistles and different ways to eat and cook them. The statement was made that you could eat all thistles, shortly followed by someone asking about star thistles. Star thistles are not in the thistle family and are not edible. That conversation just highlighted the errors that can occur based upon using common names for plants versus the Latin nomenclature.
Unfortunately, I did not get to listen to Stephen as much as I would have liked. Tracy and my two boys were with me, and Carter, my two-year-old, is only happy for a short time in the backpack while listening to people talk. We let him loose and he ran up and down the mile long trail, thoroughly enjoying himself, but either Tracy or I had to give chase and miss portions of the class.
It was definitely an enjoyable walk on a Saturday afternoon. The kids enjoyed being outdoors, and Tracy and I managed to learn a few new plants to add to our diet.
My favorite was Miner's Lettuce. I have heard and read about Miner's Lettuce for some time, but I have never been to trusting on book identification of plants, so having someone show me this plant was very useful. Once identified, it is easy to pick out and I have had several Miner's Lettuce snacks since!
It was a pleasure to meet Stephen and others for the NorCal Foraging Yahoo Group! We look forward to returning the favor by leading a walk through our local park someday soon!
