adventures with foraged foods

this past weekend, friend and naturalist Joel Robinson and I collaborated on our first Wild Edibles class at the store. Joel was responsible for the foraging and identification portion of the class and i discussed the preparation and made more of the time consuming items.
Hosting a class like this takes a lot of prep time before the students even come in-Joel spends hours foraging for certain plants, not only for identification, but in a quantity that can allow me to make a meal. on my end, i have to research recipes, prepare goods (aka the acorns!) and sample items before we actually make them.

(just a few of the items Joel harvested)

(Deb stopped by to visit and we put her to work smashing acorns!)

i have always wanted to know about foraged and wild foods personally-which is why i had contacted Joel for the class...but i really didn't know how other people would respond to eating acorns, chickweed, wild mustard and artichoke stalks-would people be interested in something like this?
the answer was an overwhelming YES...we had a terrific group of people who not only samples every item Joel brought but had a great time making their lunch (which by the way was terrific!). i even experimented in making a white sage jelly which turned out incredible (you will be seeing this available very soon). below are a few photos of the class.

(preparing salad greens: these ladies were having a blast!)

(another prep station-toasting red peppercorns to flavor some of our dishes)

(just a few of the items that we feasted on-everything was great!)

the event went so well that we have already scheduled another workshop for April 25th and are looking for a few more locations to teach-let me know if you want us to do one with you!