Herbalist • Forager • Chef
I think the first “wild food” recipe that I ever made was a nettle pesto. I would speculate, though, that is probably most folks initiation into wild foods. It is abundant, found nearly everywhere, and quite simple to make without messing it up too bad. Success is fairly inevitable. Now, after many years of diving […]
Last weekend I hosted the incredibly knowledgeable Enrique Villasenor, local healer in training, who taught all about how to use Opuntia species of cactus (aka prickly pear) for healing a vast array of health conditions. It all goes back to “balance” he says, and this plant helps us do that. Even if we aren’t suffering […]
I’ve been walking through my neighborhood lately to the library instead of driving. Its a nice four mile round trip loop that starts out in a pretty nice area with big properties and then through some open spaces where I’ve been keeping tabs on the overgrown wild plants. Lots of nettles, mushrooms, pepper tree, nasturtium, […]
One of my favorite pairings of local wild flavors is the complex minty aroma of black sage (Salvia mellifera) with the rich heaviness of cacao. Its been a crowd-pleaser in my black sage truffles from last year, but I wasn’t in the mood for a heavy chocolate dessert. Instead, I opted to infuse some freshly […]
Welcoming springtime also means the onset of weed season. While many reach for their choice of mass plant destruction (with herbicides being of greatest concern), there are gentler and more sustainable ways to manage the green overgrowth in our yards and public spaces. Many of our wild plants that find their way into our gardens […]
My fermented raw nut cheeses have been quite a crowd pleaser (for vegans and non-vegans alike, which is a total win!) and with so many requests for the recipe and process, here it is! My first go at this I used some wild harvested pinyon pine nuts which, let me tell you, was the most […]
Probably one of the most delicious fermented brews that I’ve enjoyed is Prickly Pear mead. Okay, maybe technically its called a “melomel” because it is fermented honey and fruit. But, technicalities aside, with prickly pear fruit in season now, its a great time to make use of this delicious abundant native fruit here in Southern […]
I love it that people call me up and invite me to inspect their overgrown yards to search for lunch! There’s always SOMETHING edible growing… even through the crevices of the sidewalks. Here was a yard full of some of the most succulent and dense purslane and dandelion that I’ve seen in a while. In […]
I’ve been fascinated by this little berry for a few years now. Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) is a California native shrub in the rose family that bears fruit during the winter months, most notably around Christmas time. They were used by the native Chumash tribes as food, but after a bit of research, I have not […]
