We had a beautiful walk today with a wonderful girl scout troop. We walked on the Trillium Trail outside Pittsburgh, PA, where hundreds of native trilliums were in bloom. (Trillium is not an edible plant that I know of…but it is gorgeous!)

Trillium (not an edible)

We did identify native edible and medicinal plants such as bloodroot, May apple, fiddleheads, wild ginger, spring beauty and trout lily.

Wild Ginger

We also saw some of our “weed” edibles such as the invasive garlic mustard and Japanese knotweed, chickweed, cleavers, ground ivy/creeping Charlie.

Also seen: violets (purple, yellow and white), stinging nettles, wood nettles (stings!), cleavers, broad leaf dock and jewelweed.

And one of the girls spotted this robin’s nest, complete with tiny hatchlings.

Baby Robins

What an amazing day in Western PA!

Make sure to join us on our walks this Saturday, April 21, 2012 at 1 and 2 pm at the Frick Park Earth Day Celebration! It’s at Frick Environmental Center on Beechwood Blvd…the festival runs from 11:30 to 4. Hope to see you there!

~ Melissa

Our first walk of the year was so much fun! We had great weather and lots of enthusiastic people. We identified at least 12 wild edibles (including Dryad’s Saddle, an edible mushroom that everyone got to take home.) Unfortunately we didn’t find morels…but join us on Saturday for our Earth Day walks and who knows what we’ll find!

discussing wild edibles at a wild edibles walk in Frick Park

We found and discussed:

Dandelion

dandelion flowers

Plantain

Plantain

Chickweed

close up of chickweed

Japanese knotweed

Japanese Knotweed

Dryad’s Saddle

Dryad's Saddle

Purple Archangel (Purple deadnettle)

Lamium purpureum, purple deadnettle

Violet

violet

Broad Leaf Dock
Burdock

Burdock

Nettles

stinging nettles

Cleavers
Garlic Mustard

Garlic Mustard

May Apple

We discussed making:

• Dandelion Wine
• Plantain Oil and Salve - to soothe the skin and ease itching, rashes, stings, poison ivy/oak, bug bites, etc
• Latkes (potato pancakes) with nettles and garlic mustard
• Garlic Mustard Pesto
• Garlic Mustard “Horseradish”
• Steamed Deadnettles
• Roasted Dandelion and Burdock root for coffee substitute
• Drying plants and roots
• Making tinctures

Our next walks are this Saturday at the Frick Park Environmental Center for their family-friendly, free, Earth Day Celebration! The festival is Saturday April 21, 2012  from 11:30 to 4, and we will lead two walks at 1 pm and 2 pm.

Hope to see you there!

~ Melissa

Welcome to Food Under Foot!

Many of you are finding us today from the wonderful article published in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. If you are new to the site, make sure you sign up for our free newsletter (which includes five free ebooks) in the green box on the right hand margin.

Also, you may have noticed a May 28 walk listed in the newspaper. Unfortunately that was last year’s walk. The good news is: there are walks scheduled even sooner, including our first walk this Sunday! Many more walks will be scheduled this year as well (hopefully including one with Leah!)

Wild Edibles Walks

This Sunday, April 15, 2012. 11 am

Join us for our first walk of the season! We’ll be hunting for morel mushrooms as well as identifying all sorts of wild edibles, so come with a basket or paper bag in case we find some morels!

Where: Parking lot by Frick Park Clay Tennis Courts (Braddock Ave.) See Map

800 South Braddock Ave, 15221

When: Sunday April 15, 2012, 11 am

Fee: $10/person, $15/couple or family (kids under 10 are free), checks or cash only please

Questions: (412) 381-0116

Earth Day Walks in Frick Park

Saturday, April 21, 2012. 1 pm and 2 pm

Join Melissa Sokulski of Food Under Foot at Frick Park’s 2012 Earth Day Celebration! This free celebration takes place at Frick Environmental Center on Beechwood Blvd Pittsburgh, PA from 11:30 to 4 pm. Our free walks will be at 1 pm and 2 pm. Hope to see you there!

Where: Frick Park Nature Center

2005 Beechwood Blvd. Pittsburgh, PA 15217

When: Saturday April 21, 2012, 1 pm, 2 pm

Fee: Free

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Enjoy the site! There is lots of great information here. If you are on facebook make sure to follow us over there. And please sign up for our newsletter (right margin, green box) so we can stay in touch.

Thanks!

~ Melissa Sokulski

Join us for a wild edibles walk!

Our Next Walk is Scheduled:

The wild edibles walk in Beaver is postponed…date to be announced. But we’ll still see you Saturday, May 28 at Frick Park! (see below.) Thanks!

Saturday, May 28, 2011, 11 am

Join Melissa Sokulski of the Birch Center/Food Under Foot and Leah Shannon of Pittsburgh Whole Food Nutrition Meetup Group as we walk around Frick Park identifying wild edibles.

Where: Frick Park Nature Center
2005 Beechwood Blvd. Pittsburgh, PA 15217
When: Saturday May 28, 2011, 11 am
Fee: $5/person, children under 10 free
More information and registration: Pittsburgh Whole Foods Nutrition Meetup Group

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We hope you’ll be able to join us!

Thank you so much to all the people who joined us in Beaver for our wild edibles walk!

Our group assembling in front of Three Rivers Yoga Beaver

Thanks, too, to Andrea of Three Rivers Yoga Beaver for being such a wonderful host and making us feel so welcome! It was so nice seeing old friends and new faces. We hope to go back there this fall and do another walk, or perhaps a workshop making and sampling some edible creations! Stay tuned!

We found some great edibles on the walk: (for more info on any of these plants, use the search box on this blog - you’ll find tons of information!)

• Plantain - leaves are edible, as are the seeds, which can be used just like psyllium seeds (which are from another variety of Plantago…P. psyllium or P. ovata. The one pictured is P. major.) Leaves can also be crushed and placed on bites, stings, cuts or rashes (”Fairy Band-aids”.) Here is how to make plantain oil.
  
  

  Plantain, Plantago major

  
  
  

  Plantain seeds, use as you would psyllium seeds

• Purslane - this succulent edible plant has appreciable amounts of omega 3 fatty acids (like fish oil and flax seed oil)
  
  

  purslane

• Dandelion - see our Dandelion page for lots of information on dandelions!
• Lambs Quarters - also known as wild spinach, this relative of quinoa is high in protein and has more calcium than kale
  
  

  Lambs Quarters - Chenopodium album

• Burdock - see our Burdock page for more information on Burdock
• Wild Carrot/Queen Anne’s Lace…which although is edible we do not eat due to its close resemblance to its deadly relatives: Poison Hemlock and Water Hemlock.
  
  

  Wild Carrot Flowers

  

  Wild Carrot Root - smells like a carrot!

• Poke Weed - only edible in the early spring, when it first shoots from the ground, though herbalists use tiny amounts of the tinctured root and/or berries to treat cancer. (The root and berries are generally considered poisonous.) The berries are used as a dye for fabric.
• Acorns/Oak Tree - many acorns are bitter, because they are high in tannins. Boil the nut meats in water, refreshing the water as it turns brown until it no longer does. Now you can dry the acorns and eat them whole or grind them into flour, which is how the Native Americans used them.
  
  

  Acorns in a White Oak Tree

• Sumac, with which we love to make a lemony drink, but steeping the red fruits in cold water overnight.
  
  

  Sumac

• We also discussed the differences between Red Clover and Crown Vetch (one edible, one poisonous)

Two of our favorite books on wild edibles are:

• Edible Wild Plants: A North American Field Guide to Over 200 Natural Foods
• Stalking The Wild Asparagus
  (this is not a field guide, but has some great information on how to use wild plants.)

If you would like our five free ebooks, please make sure to sign up for the newsletter on this website (right margin.)

Please stay in touch by signing up for our newsletter and ebooks.

Also, make sure you visit our sister site: Birch Center for Health, for more information on our Pittsburgh Acupuncture Center, and great information about alternative health and wellness.

You can also find us on facebook - please join us!

Food Under Foot on Facebook

Birch Center on Facebook

Oh yes! We mentioned the Vitamix - the Blender we love to use! As readers of Food Under Foot, you are able to get free shipping when you order your vitamix right from the company! To see more about this blender and get your shipping code, just visit our blender recommendation page.

Thanks again!

Melissa and David Sokulski

Food Under Foot
Birch Center for Health

Our July Walk is Scheduled!

Saturday, July 31, 2010: Wild Edible Walk in Beaver, PA

Join herbalists Melissa and David Sokulski of Food Under Foot for a wild edible walk.

We’ll learn which wild plants (weeds) are edible, and discuss how to use them. Wild plants often have more nutritional value than even organically grown food.

This will be an easy stroll around Beaver, stopping frequently to discuss the plants we find. After the hour walk, we’ll return to the yoga studio for conversation and refreshments.

Where: Three Rivers Yoga Beaver, 428 Third Street, Beaver, PA, 15009
Cost: $5 per walk, kids under 10 free
When: Saturday, July 31, 2010 11 am - 12 pm, then return to the yoga studio for conversation and refreshments.
For more information: Food Under Foot at (412) 381-0116, or Three Rivers Yoga Beaver: (412) 901 - 6478.
Register: Call Food Under Foot at (412) 381 - 0116, or Register Online:

July Wild Edibles Walk in Beaver, PA

Hope to see you there!

Thanks so much to everyone who joined us on our wild edibles walk today on Pittsburgh’s south side! We couldn’t find the camera before we left for the walk (we have since found it and I put some great photos of the St. John’s Wort - which I knew I saw growing out of the rocks on the way to the walk - on facebook!) However, I will embellish this post with pictures of the plants we saw today that I have taken before. You’ll find the St. John’s Wort at the end…and also check it out on facebook if you’re on there.

Mulberries (Morus)

We had a great time collecting mulberries! White ones, purple ones, red ones! I wish I had a picture of the girls sitting on the sheet filling their containers with berries and eating as many (or more!) than they dropped in their cups! Here’s an old picture of Dave and Ella collecting mulberries from a great tree on Polish Hill.

Dave and Ella collecting mulberries 4 years ago on Polish Hill.

We also saw:

• Burdock (Arctium lappa) The root is known as Gobo in Japan. Eat the root raw, cooked or juiced. Can also eat the flower stalks and leaf stalks like celery. (See our Burdock page for picture and full description)
• Dandelion (Taraxacum officinalis) All parts of this plant are edible: roots, leaves, flower. Flower petals go nicely into batters (like pancake batter or cookie batter.) Roasted root makes a good coffee substitute, along with roasted chicory root and roasted burdock root. (See our Dandelion page for pictures and full description)
• White Clover (Trifolium repens) A mild but nutritious green, add to smoothies or salads. Can also use red clover (which is often dried and used as tea), we didn’t see red clover today.
• Thin Leafed Plantain (Plantago lanceolata) - Fairy bandaids! Chew and place on bee stings (and other stings/bites) to take the pain away. Can eat as a green, mild tasting can be blended into smoothies or juices. I recently made a salve which worked wonders on a poison oak rash.


Plantago Lanceolate (Thin Leaf Plantain)

• Broad Leafed Plantain (Plantago major) Same uses as above. This also has seeds in the fall which can be collected and used in oatmeal, breads, flours, and as a substitute for psyllium seeds, which are also a Plantago.
• Japanese Knotwood (Polygonum cuspidatum) Eaten in early spring when shoots are tender, but the stalks can probably still be juiced. Lemony. Very good source of Resveratrol (especially the roots) and has been used to treat Lyme Disease.
• Lambs quarters (Chenopodium alba) High in protein, high in calcium, one of my favorite edibles. “Wild Spinach”, is closely related to quinoa. I use it in smoothies and any place I would use spinach.
• Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) Garlicky tasting invasive weed, makes a great pesto!


Garlic Mustard

• Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum) Recently the root has been used as a cure for Lyme Disease
• Mugwort (Artemesia vulgaris) Used in Chinese Medicine, can make moxa from this dried herb. Also used in dream pillows to enhance dreams.



• Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina) When fruit turns red in fall, use dried as a lemon-tasting spice, or steep in cold water for a lemon-water or sweeten for a lemonade-like drink. High in vitamin C.
• Mulberries (Morus species)
• Wild Carrot/Queen Anne’s Lace(Daucus carota) Root smells like carrot, and there is a red petal in the middle of a lacy white flower, which distinguishes it from its deadly relatives Poison Hemlock and Water Hemlock. Still, we make it a rule not to eat wild carrots (though edible) to avoid a deadly mistake.

We also saw two poisonous plants and a common allergen:

• Crown vetch (Securigera varia, or Coronilla varia,) Contains nitroglycerides and is dangerous for horses and other non-ruminants, such as people
• A wild foxglove Also dangerous to the heart
• Ragweed - A common allergen

Don’t forget: if you sign up for our newsletter (right, green box) you’ll get FIVE FREE EBOOKS about 5 common wild edibles! They are full of color pictures and great recipes.

And now…here are the pics of St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum):

St. John's Wort growing out of a rock wall on Pittsburgh's South Side

The flower buds of Hypericum perforatum (St. John's Wort) stain maroon when squeezed.

Thanks so much to everyone for coming!

Please make sure you sign up for our newsletter so we can let you know when our next walk will be.

~ Melissa Sokulski

Food Under Foot

We’ve been getting lots of questions these days about an updated Wild Edibles Walk schedule this year….it must mean spring is really on the way!

In fact it is: I did my first wild edibles talk already for the Schenley Farms Garden Club, and Frick’s Earth Day Celebration is right around the corner (2 free walks scheduled this year! See below.)

I’ve already seen onion grass, garlic mustard, wintercress, chickweed, mullein and dandelion out there! It’s coming!! Dave and Ella finally spotted a couple robins the other day.

Here is the start of this year’s schedule. Find updates by clicking our Events page.

Wild Edible Walks in Pittsburgh, PA!

Join us at Frick Environmental Center for our first Wild Edible Walk of the year. This is part of Frick’s Earth Day Celebration, which will be held on Saturday, April 17, 2010 from 11 am to 4 pm.

We will lead two walks this year: at 1:30 and 3 pm.

Hope to see you there!

Where: Frick Environmental Center, Pittsburgh, PA
When: Saturday, April 17, 2010, 1:30 pm and 3:00 pm
Cost: Free (The city is paying for this one!)
No pre-registration necessary, but arrive early, space will be limited.

Wild Edible Walks in The ‘Burgh!

Join herbalists Melissa and David Sokulski, of The Birch Center for Health, for a wild edible walk.

We’ll learn which wild plants (weeds) are edible, and discuss how to use them. Wild plants often have more nutritional value than even organically grown food.

Where: South Side River Trail, by the river under Birmingham Bridge, Pittsburgh, PA.
Cost: $5 per walk, kids under 10 free
Register: Call (412) 381-0116
When: Sunday, April 25, 2010 11 am - 12 pm, and Sunday, May 30, 2010 11 am - 12 noon,
For more information call: (412) 381-0116.

Invite Melissa Sokulski to Lead a Walk for Your Group or You and Your Friends!

Do you wonder what is growing in your own backyard? How about those weeds you pull from your garden…maybe they’re edible!

Melissa can lead you and your friends on a tour of your area, yard, or garden. She’ll help you identify edible plants, show you how to harvest them and suggest some great uses and recipes!

Cost: $150 for 1 1/2 hour walk and talk, plus travel fee. ($50 per additional half hour)

Thanks!

Melissa Sokulski, herbalist, acupuncturist
Food Under Foot
Birch Center for Health