The March Hare: Fall '00
Issue 26

A rich harvest * Help Us! * What's for supper? * Basic needs at Dancing Rabbit * Photo * Bike Rant * Autobiography of a Resident: Don [on a separate page]

What's for Supper?

by Rachel Katz

Our gardens produce so much in the summer and fall that it's hard for me to walk past them out into the fields and woods to find the wild edibles. But it's a prolific time in Mother Nature's garden too.

I've been learning a lot about native prairie plants this year and spending as much time as I can manage out in the prairie. When I'm out in the field, I love to chew on the hardened sap of the Compass plant (Silphium laciniatum). The tall plant is hard to miss, with its sunflower-like flowers attached directly to the rigid stalk of the plant. The sap leaks out of small cuts in the stalk and one can chew on it for quite awhile, like chewing gum.

If you are looking for more of what my wild edibles book calls "nibbles", try Common Mallow (Malva neglecta). They are also called cheeses, because the small flat fruit looks like a round of cheese (to nonvegans, I guess). The flowers are pretty and the fruit is fine, as long as you aren't expecting flavor.

There are plenty of flavorful fruits out there though. In the woods we found Wild Gooseberry (Ribes spp.) which look just like their domesticated cousin, only smaller. But you have to get the fruits before the animals do. Cecil collected bowls full of Wild Plums (Prunus spp.) on his bike rides home from Sandhill Farm. The small fruits tend to be covered with a white powder. The flesh is sweet and the skin sour, so be careful. Especially delicious and abundant are the Wild Grapes (Vitis spp.). But beware, grapes look similar to the poisonous Canada Moonseed. The first time you harvest them, check the fruit carefully: grapes have 1-4 pear shaped seeds and moonseed has one flattened crescent shaped seed.

While it might be hard to remember when it is hot outside that tea is nice during the winter, its a good time to dry plants for tea. Wild Bergamot (Monarda Fistulosa) is very common here and is an ingredient in Earl Grey tea. Both the leaves and flowerheads, pretty as they are, can be dried or used fresh. Mullein (Verbascum thapsus) is easy to find with its fat, tall spike of yellow flowers and large furry leaves. The flowers can be dried and made into a tea that is good for coughs and congestion. A popular tea ingredient at Dancing Rabbit is the hip (or fruit) of Roses (Rosa spp.). The red round fruits on rose bushes can be harvested late summer all through the winter and they are extremely high in vitamin C.