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Wild Foraging Article by Nicole Telkes
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------- New Article in LiveFeast.com Knowledge Base -------

Many thanks to Nicole Telkes for a great article on wild
foraging. You're encouraged to read it and try some of
her experiments, like strolling into a pristine area, picking
and eating some plant to ground yourself.

Enjoy!


------- Article Introduction -------

Here's a great article to inspire your appetite for wild foraging.

Nicole Telkes is a pro forager. Her name comes up whenever the
topic turns to wild foraging.

Her LiveFeast.com Knowledge Base articles are here:

   http://www.livefeast.com/kb/nicole-telkes

If you have an interesting article you'd like to share with the
http://www.livefeast.com community, drop me a copy by email.

Please send either HTML or text as 100% of Web Surfers can read
these formats.

- David Favor, david@livefeast.com


------- Article: The Benefits of Wild Foods -------

The Benefits of Wild Foods
Nicole Telkes

There are no words that truly capture the fulfillment and joy of
living as a wild gardener. To pick one's way carefully into a
sea of mouth-watering prickly pears, their spiny arms offering
big, juicy red fruits to you as far as the eye can see, is an
incredible experience. I collected over 30 pounds of prickly
pear tunas last fall in Elgin and I kept thinking over and over
how lucky I was to have access to such a plentiful crop, and how
ridiculous it was not to take advantage of this native weed.

I love weeds.  I plant them in my garden and help spread
them - Dandelion, Chickweed and more.  Some of my favorite
foods and medicines are very misunderstood, under-used, and
looked at with disdain when they pop up in a lawn or garden.

Wild foods are an essential part of my diet.  I seek them out
and try to add a leaf or flower to my meals whenever possible.
Just as eating organic, whole, and living/raw foods taste and
feel better, so does wild food.

Wild foods help us to reconnect with our environment and offer
resilience and balance.  If I feel spacey, or frustrated with
the world, I oftentimes walk out to the fields surrounding my
living space and find a leaf or berry to chew on.  It helps to
bring me back to my center.

Wild foods can be less glamorous, or sexy than store-bought
veggies but make up for it many times over in nutrition and
the vital energy they possess.  Stinging Nettle leaves and/or
Bull Nettle are packed full of protein, iron, calcium and
many other nutrients.  Teas or dishes made with these dried
plants (fresh would hurt) are exquisite additions to meals,
and the nutrients are easier for our bodies to recognize
and assimilate than most vitamin pills.

These foods offer something that carefully planted and nurtured
garden or farm grown vegetables and fruits can't.  It is free
from human control, and is forced to adapt to stresses which
can make their nutrition and medicine more powerful.

When a plant is spoiled with water, fertilizer, and pesticides,
it doesn't have to work very hard and therefore alkaloids
and other chemicals and nutrients can be less concentrated.

This is similar for our bodies.  When we pump them full
of pharmaceuticals instead of letting them adapt and work
out stresses themselves, we weaken our own immune systems.

Eating wild foods is a wonderful addition for anyone pursuing
the raw foods lifestyle.  As soon as plants are picked, they
begin losing their constituents.  The closer your connection
from earth to mouth, the more you get out of your food.

Harvesting wild foods takes work and adds a more understood
appreciation for what you take into your body. It is a lot
harder to waste something you spent several hours collecting.

Collecting can be made into an all day adventure, or be as
simple as walking around your yard or a nearby park that
doesn't get sprayed with pesticides.  Either way it is always
a pleasure.

Harvesting your own food also adds presence of mind to the
entire eating experience. A simple way to begin is to learn to
properly identify the wild plants growing around your garden or
lawn (don't use pesticides or pick things where your dog likes
to sniff) and try snacking on a properly identified leaf or
flower.

Whether it's Yucca root, Dewberries, Morel Mushrooms, Pecans,
or Chickweed, I encourage you to investigate one or many of
the countless wild foods surrounding Central Texas.


------- Contact Nicole -------

To learn more about identification, proper harvesting, or how
to begin to integrate wild foods into your diet please email:

   texas_herbalist@hotmail.com


------- Nicole Telkes Biography -------

Nicole Telkes is a local herbalist, specializing in the
responsible use of bioregional plants as both food and medicine.
She also works as a Vegan, wheat-free, and raw foods preparer.

Nicole has spent over decade studying ecology, botany, and
herbal medicine.  She graduated with a degree in Environmental
Resource Management, minored in Botany at UT Austin and
went on to study Herbal Medicine at the Southwest School of
Botanical Medicine in Bisbee, AZ and Columbines School of
Botanical Studies in Eugene, OR.

She worked as an educator at the American Botanical Council and
is coordinating the Juniper Holistic Health Resource Center,
a sliding scale holistic health center. She owns a handmade
herbal product line Medusa's Garden, teaches classes in holistic
health and nutrition, is studying Zen Shiatsu, and consults.


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