Learning to survive in our own back yard!

This past weekend the Atelier received a true lesson on sustainability thanks to Dan Farella, another like minded forager. With his help we learned how to distinguish edible plants in our own back yard from poisonous ones. He taught us that plants we normally look at as weeds, in fact have great medicinal and culinary value.

Surprisingly, foraging for food didn't require a long hike or lots of effort, often, the grass around most driveways holds a multitude of edible plants. We picked pine needles from surrounding trees (mindful to not strip any one branch too much) and from that we made a delicious vitamin C filled sun tea.

Dandelions are not an annoying invader in our yard but rather as a tonic herb used to cleanse the liver and promote superior health.

We also became acquainted with plantain leaf. Not the large starchy bananas most of us know it as, but rather, a different plant with venous leaves and a stalk with seeds. A great plant to know about, it can be eaten, or turned into a poultice to cure any number of skin irritations from bee stings to poison ivy.

Right next to the plantain, sheep sorrel was also growing. This plant was very flavorful, its name alluding to its sour flavor.

A little closer to the pine tees that gave us our tea we stumbled upon yarrow, an ancient herb used by Caesar to heal his illnesses.

It was an awesome lesson in sustainability!