Here is a short video I took of Dave tapping the maple tree. It goes a little wonky at first…but it’s pretty interesting to see how fast the sap starts to flow!

For more info on our maple tree tapping and syrup/sugar making, you can see these previous posts:

• How we made our own spiles
• Tapping the tree and collecting sap
• Boiling the sap down to syrup and sugar

Enjoy the video!

Autumn is here! And with it come two of my favorite wild edibles: Black Walnuts and Paw Paws! We were lucky enough to find both yesterday (and me without my camera!), but I’ll get some pictures and post them as soon as possible. (Below are some pictures of the paw paws we found last year.)

For now, please enjoy the video below from last year, which shows Ella and me cracking (and eating) black walnuts. The walnuts in the video have already been hulled (they have green hulls, when you find them on the ground, they really look like tennis balls at first glance) and dried.

To hull them, step on the walnut with your foot (wear shoes!) and then take the walnut out. You’ll want to wear gloves! The yellow stain will turn black and will stain your hands and anything else you get it on. (We’ll post pics of how to do this.)

Sometimes you’ll find worms under the hull, I usually discard these walnuts! Also, get the hulls off when they are still green - they’ll turn black eventually and give the walnuts a bitter taste.

Then, just set them out to dry, but don’t leave them outside or the squirrels will make off with your stash!

When they’re ready, you’ll have to crack into them and eat them, and that is what you’ll see below.

Enjoy!

Did you get your Free Burdock e-Book yet?  If not, please make sure you subscribe to our newsletter (right) and it will come right away (plus four more on the way!)

If you missed our Wild Edible Walk in Frick park on Saturday, here is a video footage of me, Melissa, talking about Burdock:

Here  are some other great pictures of what we encountered:

Fiddleheads

Plantain

violet

Please join us this Sunday, April 26 at 11 am for our next walk, on Pittsburgh’s south side, down by the river. For more information, check our wild events page or call (412) 381-0116.

See you soon!

~Melissa

Here’s our first video!

I describe how to identify and harvest mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) and make a vinegar with it.

Read The Rest of This Post »