Passing on traditional skills like foraging, cooking from scratch and living well on less
So many homes and parks have crab apple trees and so few people put these tasty, healthy little fruits to use. Here’s a recipe to change all that! It’s easy, packed with vitamins and antioxidants, and delicious. It’s also practically free! I came up with this recipe to use up some crab apples that we […]
Last year was a good year for foraging for our family. We’ve been using wild foods as a major part of our diet for about 7 years now and it’s become a regular part of our routine for much of the year. Here’s how it looked for us in 2019. https://www.instagram.com/p/B1yDwnQBsi1/ What was good We […]
This article was originally published in Daryl’s Cooking with Kids column at examiner.com in September, 2013. Some links are affiliate links, meaning we get a small commission on purchases made through our links. Making fresh applesauce is something every kid should get to do. We are lucky enough to know several people with apple trees, […]
Dock seeds are prolific everywhere you look right now, so this is a great time to gather them and make dock seed flour. If you haven’t ever cooked with dock seeds, they’re an easy and healthy source of wild flour to forage. Dock grows as an invasive weed all over the world. You can often […]
I brought acorn spice cupcakes to my latest acorn presentation last week, and lots of people have asked for the recipe. Here it is, excerpted from my acorn foraging book. This recipe works with either gluten free flour mixes or regular wheat flour. Most of the recipes in my book are gluten free or have […]
Once you get started foraging, it’s helpful to keep records of what you gathered and when. We usually keep a running list on the fridge, but I decided it would be fun to have some nice looking printable pages to start keeping a more permanent record of all of our wild food harvests. Since I […]
It’s acorn season, which means one of the best wild foods out there is abundant and free right now. Acorn rice patties are delicious ways to make use of acorns and also happen to be vegetarian and gluten free. We usually have dried acorns and acorn flour on hand for cooking all year long, but […]
We were thrilled when Daryl brought home two big bags of chicken of the woods mushrooms yesterday. While we harvest lots of pheasant back (dryad’s saddle) mushrooms and morels, this is our first time finding chicken of the woods and I was so excited as I’ve heard for years how much they taste like chicken […]
As an avid home brewer of wines and ciders, I was excited to read an ARC copy of Modern Cider: Simple Recipes to Make Your Own Ciders, Perries, Cysers, Shrubs, Fruit Wines, Vinegars, and More, by Emma Christensen, through Net Galley. I am always looking for more recipes and for ideas to simplify the process. […]
I thought I’d share another acorn recipe from my acorn book, in case anybody else has a stash of newly foraged acorns waiting to be put to good use. This is an ice cream recipe I developed, and like the acorn drop biscuit recipe it is also vegan. There is a traditional acorn ice cream […]
It’s acorn season, and anybody who follows my Instagram knows that our family has been foraging, processing and cooking with acorns all month. Acorn processing #fallforaging #forageandharvest #wildedibles #foraging #foragingfamily #septemberforaging #fallflavors #acorns A post shared by Alicia Bayer (@magicandmayhem) on Sep 4, 2017 at 11:04am PDT I made up a batch of acorn drop […]
Our family has been busy lately with one of our favorite wild edible foods of fall — acorns. Acorn processing #fallforaging #forageandharvest #wildedibles #foraging #foragingfamily #septemberforaging #fallflavors #acorns A post shared by Alicia Bayer (@magicandmayhem) on Sep 4, 2017 at 11:04am PDT Yes, you can eat them, and they are absolutely delicious. They’re also nutritious […]
Daryl and I have been faithfully checking our elder patches for the past few weeks and he brought home a bag of our first elderberry bounty for the year this week. This particular clump of elders is bordering a nursing home that has given us permission to pick their pears and elderberries. He harvested them […]
Here’s another easy recipe from my new book, Elderberries: The Beginner’s Guide to Foraging, Preserving and Using Elderberries for Health Remedies, Recipes, Drinks and More (available now on Kindle and in paperback). This is a beautiful, deep purple schnapps that is so simple to make with either fresh or frozen elderberries. See the directions at […]
Here’s a quick, easy and delicious recipe to make use of elderberry jam that you may have put up. I featured it in my new book, Elderberries: The Beginner’s Guide to Foraging, Preserving and Using Elderberries for Health Remedies, Recipes, Drinks and More, which went live on Amazon at the Kindle store on Friday and […]
Today’s foraging report: It’s raining, so we have a very short window for picking but we’re showing a friend how to can tonight, so we needed pears. We picked two kinds at Talcot and one at GS, so I thought since we had them on hand I’d do a comparison. In the back […]
1) The Windom hospital cut down its apple trees! I’m really sad, those were wonderful Red Baron apples. I mean, I still have too many to pick and process, but I liked those apples. 2) They *do* still have pear trees, though. Two different kinds – the larger ones (almost all gone) have […]
Did you know that black walnut trees can be tapped in late winter to produce a syrup similar to maple syrup? If you have access to black walnut trees, this is a great way to put them to use. Black walnut trees are […]
(Note: This post was originally published many years ago in my green living column on examiner. I’ve since published a book with lots more information on finding and processing acorns via hot water processing and cold water processing, tips and tricks, and with 70+ recipes to use acorn flour. You can read more about the […]
I’m still busy cracking the walnuts I harvested last fall (I have over 14 cups of meats so far), and I’m still finding creative ways to use them. Here are some more easy recipes I discovered online. Many of them involve maple syrup, because the maple sap has been running and it’s another great treat […]
Spring is FINALLY arriving in Minnesota, and it’s time to get back into the foraging mindset. Nothing’s ready to be picked yet, but I’ve got 3 large bags of walnuts that have been drying since last fall, and it’s warm enough to start opening them. So let’s get cracking! Materials: dried walnuts from last fall’s […]
Have you ever walked through a park in the fall and stumbled over what looks like green tennis balls? Are you ready to make use of the black walnuts you see scattered all over your neighborhood? Gathering them is easy, and you’ll have a stash of delicious and nutritious treats when you’re finished. Finding the […]
The main problem I have with fruit trees is that they very seldom stop growing at 8′ tall. Most of the best looking harvest is far above that, so I need a way to extend my reach. Enter the fruit picker. I have a very old one my father passed on to me, and it […]