1. urban foraging
The practice of foraging for free fruits, vegetables, and other “wild food” around the city.

Urban foraging is one of my very favorite hobbies, and it’s something I’ve been doing for as long as I can remember. It’s something I wish more people did, and it’s something I wish more cities would make more possible for people to do! It just so happens to be my personal belief, in fact, that all government buildings should be landscaped with kale and cauliflower; that city streets should be lined with fruit trees; and that public parks should all be planted with with beautiful berries, brightly colored peppers, and edible flowers everywhere. Can you even imagine? What a world that would be!

But until then, we have to make do with what we’ve got. And at the beginning of 2015, I made myself a secret resolution. My Mission: to urban forage a different food from a different place, every single month in 2015.

And you know what? I did it! And I had so much fun. If you’re interested in exploring urban foraging, this is a great little challenge to get you started. You also might want to read this helpful intro post on my “Rules Of Urban Foraging” that I wrote a few years back.

So! Every singe item on this list was collected within 5 miles from my home in downtown Santa Barbara, California. Here’s what I found in 2015 . . .

Month: January
Distance From Home: less than one block // less than one block


Dandelion greens grow everywhere, and as long as you know your neighborhood, they should be safe to eat when foraged in urban areas. Just make sure you wash them well! I love dandelion greens in juices and smoothies.




We found these oranges in an alley behind our house, on an afternoon when we were taking a wagon ride/walk over to visit Jeremy at the shop. Citrus grows everywhere in California in winter, and these beautiful Valencia oranges were large, juicy, and perfectly sweet. A great snack for our journey!


Month: February
Distance From Home: 2 miles // 4 miles


There are 3 kumquat trees that skirt the edge of the Rose Gardens at the historic Santa Barbara Mission, about 2 miles from our home. They produce the biggest, fattest, most perfectly sweet-tart kumquats I have ever tasted, and Waits and I collect them every February.

Most of them go straight into our mouths, because kumquats are “nature’s candy.” But this year I also made some kumquat-infused gin. (DIY infused spirits tutorial can be found here)



River mint is one of my favorite wild treats, and it grows in abundance in all the riverbeds which run from the foothill neighborhoods of Santa Barbara, all the way through downtown SB, and right on into the ocean. Waits and I found this particular mint on a creek walk with some friends, although we gather it nearly year-round whenever we’re near a creek bed. It makes awesome wild mint mojitos in summer!


Month: March
Distance From Home: 3.5 miles // 3 blocks


Beautiful! These gorgeous morel mushrooms were popping up all over the back yard at Waits’s in-home preschool. The children were finding them for almost an entire month, and most of the families were able to take some mushies home. Such incredible little treasures. ♥



There is a giant, I mean GIANT — one of the biggest I’ve ever seen — avocado tree just a few blocks from my house, and it drops ‘cados all over the sidewalk for about 6 months out of the year. I grabbed this perfectly plump beauty, plus a few others, one March afternoon while Waits and I were skating around the neighborhood.


Month: April
Distance From Home: 3 blocks



Loquats are little fleshy fruits that grow in clusters on small semi-tropical trees. They sort of resemble miniature apricots, but the flavor is sweet and very, very tart. Loquats originate from south China, but they are a staple of Southern California, and it’s a fact that no SoCal kid can grow up without many memories of gorging themselves on loquats.

We found this bunch on yet another wagon ride from our house to the store to visit Jeremy. Wagon rides make for great fruit eatin’.


Month: May
Distance From Home: 3 miles


I love edible flowers, and spicy sunbright-colored nasturtiums are some of my favorites. I collected these by the side of the road while running errands around town, but they could have come from anywhere. Nasturtium flowers blanket the yards and parks all over Southern California through late spring.

I like to eat my edible flowers in salads, to preserve and highlight their beauty. So pretty surrounded by all that fresh green! (Nasturtiums are peppery and add a bit of bite, which i adore.)


Month: June
Distance From Home: less than one block


There is a glorious fig tree that overhangs a fence a few houses down. Every year I watch as the figs ripen, eagerly anticipating the sweet juicy fruits which indicate the beginning of summer. Figs are basically like alien fruit. They’re so weird inside . . . but man are they tasty!


Month: July
Distance From Home: 1.5 miles



This is a chayote, and I found it in the back yard of a house I was viewing to potentially rent. Chayote is a South-American vining melon, sort of like a spiny cucumber, and they are super rare around here. So when I saw a vine in that back yard I knew I had to grab one! Waits and I didn’t end up caring for the flavor, but we were still stoked to be able to try something so unique.


Month: August
Distance From Home: 3.5 miles // 8 blocks


I saw these cherry tomatoes on the side of the road in the scorching heat of summer one day, while driving to drop Waits off at outdoor school. I had to swerve to pull over and Waits was like “MOM what are you doing?!” and I was like “TOMATOES” and he was pretty understanding. These were just growing on the side of the road, no doubt the seeds had been dropped by some bird after the tomato had been plucked from a nearby neighborhood garden. We only got a small handful but they made for a wonderful afternoon snack, all sun-warm and sweet and delicious.



Mmm Mmm Mmm Mojitos! One of my favorite summer cocktails. The mint in this mojito was grown in my own yard, but the limes I’d nabbed from an abandoned grove of fruit trees down by the train tracks, on a bike ride home from visiting a friend. These were some of the juiciest, most flavor-filled limes I’d ever tasted.


Month: September
Distance From Home: 4 miles


Nopales are giant cactuses that grow all over Southern California and Mexico. You can eat the actual cactus paddles, but I’m not too fond of them. The fruit though? Amazing!

Cactus fruit, also called prickly pear, can be tough to pick and prepare because it’s covered in very fine hair-like needles that hurt like you wouldn’t believe, if they stick ya. Still, it’s worth it for that incredible, unique fruit!



Prickly pear lemonade with foraged prickly pear, organic lemons, and raw agave. This is summer in a pitcher and Waits can’t get enough of it. Look at that color!


Month: October
Distance From Home: 4 blocks



I love rosemary, and I feel like it’s such a perfectly autumnal herb. I collected this little bundle on a walk back from my neighborhood grocery store. Rosemary grows like crazy around here and people often use it for landscaping, so it’s not too hard to come by. But it reminds me of autumn, so that’s when I like to use it. Rosemary cashews, rosemary roasted potatoes, rosemary chocolate chip cookies. Yes please!


Month: November
Distance From Home: 2 miles


Lavender is so beautiful, and here in Santa Barbara it blooms in late spring and on through summer. Which is why I was so happy to find this lucky rebloom in late autumn! I like to use lavender in DIY beauty products, or make satchels for my linen drawers. It’s such a lovely herb with so many traditional, medicinal, and magickal applications.


Month: December
Distance From Home: all over town


Winter in Santa Barbara is all about citrus. This past December I actually collected an abundance of varieties on my adventures around town — from tangerines to mandarins to regular ol’ lemons. Someone even gave me a Yuzu they had grown!

But the only picture I managed to get was of this little meyer lemon, all smooth and soft-skinned and smelling like heaven. Waits and I grow our own meyers on a miniature meyer lemon tree in the back yard, and we use the lot of them to make a lemon loaf every single Christmas Eve (the tree is so small, we only get 3 or 4 each year). But this was earlier in the month, and it was so nice to get a taste of that wonderful flavor.

And that, my friends, is that. My Year Of Urban Foraging! I had so much fun, I just might have to do it all over again, now that I’m moving to a whole new neighborhood next month. But until then, I want to hear what YOU collected out and about around your own cities this year. Any cool foraging finds? Let us know in the comments below!

It was awesome. It’s the way I want to live.

However.

Going back to grad school added a lot of extra work to my life (obviously), but it also added routine. And a sense of direction. In many ways it’s quieted the anxiety I’d felt for so many years. And because of that, it’s actually opened up a lot of space in my life.

Blueberries!




We picked for about an hour, and we ended up with 8 pounds of blueberries. For reals! These California berry bushes are not messing around – they were literally dripping with giant, plump, perfectly ripe berries.

I was so excited, I went straight home and got to work . . .

When Jeremy got home from work, we all had a picnic dinner outside. And then for dessert . . .




. . . a quick homemade blueberry compote over vanilla bean coconut milk ice cream. Holy moly.

This summer I’m planning to do a whole lot more gardening and preserving. So my question to you guys is – What do you want to see?

Which fruits and veggies do you want to see preserved?

What sorts of projects and preservation techniques are interesting you?

I’ll be starting a summer gardening series, just sharing what I’m up to around my own yard, hopefully beginning next week. I’m so excited to bring this component – which was really a formative part of this blog – back into these pages.

So please! Thoughts, ideas, suggestions. What do you want?

And my dears – have a great weekend!

♥ ♥ ♥

A few Sundays back I rounded out the first MoFo weekend with a few snapshots from the Portland Farmer’s Market. This precious weekly ritual, our Saturday morning market, is one of my greatest pleasures. Perhaps these new photos will inspire you, the way that my market always inspires me. Fall is such an exciting season!

Purple potatoes

My fellows in flannel, oh so Pacific northwest!

RAW apple pie – breakfast of champions!

Maybe my favorite thing about the Pacific northwest – the apples!

Waits takes an important call.

I had big plans for this pumpkin . . .

BIG PLANS!

Yes oh yes, I am a happy plant-eater!

* These pictures are coming out totally desaturated when I upload them to WordPress. It’s seriously depressing and I’m sorry. We can’t figure out what to do about it! SAD FACE!

Random pretty lady shows off truly gargantuan beets!

Waits insists on helping to carry the goods! Little guard baby. =)

What’s your favorite autumn fruit or veggie??

Little did I know what I would discover out there . . .



The first time out we went straight for the marionberries. These suckers are hybrid blackberries that were developed right here at Oregon State University. They are huge, and they are juicy, and they are all sorts of delicious. Waits did less picking, and more munching.

As an aside, I’ve made it a habit of asking the farmers to charge me for an extra 1/4 pound of berries, which is probably really high but it makes me feel much better about the number of berries that find their way into my little buddy’s mouth. Probably a good tip for most parents!




It was awesome, the berries were awesome, and good times were had all around. But here’s the thing: at the front of the farm, where you pay for your haul, there’s this farm stand . . .

Cherries, Blueberries, Raspberries, Blackberries, Strawberries, Onions, Garlic, Kale, Collards, Taters, Broccoli, Beets, Heirloom Tomatoes, and on and on.





All from surrounding farms, all organic, and SO CHEAP! Seriously, like, insanely cheap. Organic kale in the stores around here is $2.99/bunch. At the FarMar it drops to $2.50/bunch, and the bunches tend to be bigger. But at the farm? $1.50 a bunch! That’s half the price of store bought kale!

I had no idea, and I certainly wasn’t prepared. So I grabbed what little I could, and I vowed to return as soon as possible. With a plan.




The following week we were back, with our same picking companions, hunting blueberries this time around. It was a gorgeous day on a gorgeous farm, and the blueberry fields were a long, lovely walk away.






It was a little early in the season though, and the munchkins kept plucking unripe hard green berries (and trying to eat them). So we scrapped the berry-picking pretty quickly. Which was fine, since we had other things in mind . . .


Produce Stand!

I had my sights set on broccoli. Amazing, organic, beautiful broccoli for $1.50 a head (not per pound, but per head, which was more than a pound apiece, easily). At that price? I wasn’t going to let that opportunity get away from me. I bought almost all of it!


See, just a few weeks earlier I had been out on a walk in my neighborhood, and had stumbled across an enormous stand-up freezer for sale. Just what I’d been wanting! I bought it on the spot, and Damian picked it up when he got home from work. A little re-organizing in the garage, a little scrubbing with vinegar, and it was up and running and ready to go. I am SO EXCITED at the new possibilities for food preservation. SO EXCITED I TELL YOU!

And the very first project was my broccoli. I washed it, trimmed it (juiced the stalks), and set it out on parchment paper to freeze.



This step prevents the produce from sticking together and freezing into one huge block. Very important!

Once it was frozen I transferred it to glass jars.



Those are each gallon jugs, which I’d picked up for a crazy discount ($1.50 apiece; I nabbed 15) when my beloved neighborhood produce market and herb shop went out of business recently. Two gallons – that’s a LOT of broccoli!

Now, I’ll continue to buy and eat fresh produce for the duration of summer and fall. But when winter rolls around, I’ll be able to dip into my freezer stash for local, organic fruits and vegetables. Eating local foods, and buying food that’s in season, is great for the environment and great for the local economy and really great for your wallet! I’m excited to share more of my preservation adventures, as the summer continues to unfold, and the bounty keeps on rolling in.

In the meantime, get thee to your local farm for the best bargain produce you’ve ever encountered!

So, I’ve been wrassling with how to best host an effective and fun discussion, and what I’ve finally settled on is this: I’m going to ask a series of pointed questions relating to the Introduction and the first three chapters. However, I’ll reserve my own comments until later, because what I really want is for YOU to take the lead, and to share your thoughts without influence.

So, you can respond specifically to my questions, or you can simply offer your own impressions, or you can ask your own questions – all in the comment section below. Which leads me to . . .

Over the weekend we revamped the commenting section. I really adored the custom look that Damian had originally designed, but the framework didn’t allow for much flexibility. With the new system, you’re able to respond to someone directly, under their comment, which keeps things straightforward and streamlined. This also allows for multiple conversations to occur simultaneously on a single post, with no interference. I’m really excited about this feature and it was implemented specifically for the BBC discussions, so I hope you guys enjoy it!



Okay, so here are your questions. You can answer them directly, use them as a jumping off point, or ignore them completely. Whatever suits your fancy!


1) McWilliams is, himself, a former “locavore” activist, and at times he seems to speak straight from the heart. But he’s also an agricultural historian, and he brings a certain academic tone into his writing. How does his style strike you? Do you find this book to be an easy read, or is it more of a slog?

8) The subtitle of the book promises to identify “Where Locavores Get It Wrong And How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly“. Thus far, do you think that McWilliams has succeeded in doing this?


Discuss in the comments below. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

I’m so excited to jump right in to our first ever Bonzai Book Club! The BBC will alternate with the Monday Monthly Mission, and I’ll always announce the book along with the MMM, so you’ll have a full month to get your copy and read ahead if you want. Sound good?

This month we kick off our first BBC with a very special book, one that I’ve been intending to read since it’s release in 2009 (seriously!) Just Food: Where Locavores Get It Wrong and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly, by James McWilliams, is an honest examination of the “local/slow foods” movement and the actual impact that it has in reducing our ecological footprint. This is a controversial book that will probably tell us things we’d rather not hear, but if our goal is to truly be the best environmental stewards that we can, then we need to confront the realities of our efficacy.

McWilliams has been called a sellout, a cynic, and a shill. But McWilliams is actually just an environmental historian specializing in colonial and early American history. He’s also a professor (Texas State in Austin), and brings that sort of rational, straightforward intellectualism to this work. His fundamental premise is that there was no romantic “golden age of agriculture”, and that the idyllic, idealistic “myth of the small farm” is just that – a myth.

I find myself wading into these waters with an equal mix of skepticism and curiosity. I’m going to keep an open mind. I’m really looking forward to learning more about the intricacies of these important issues.

I got a head start on my reading this weekend . . . in the sauna!

Just Food has six chapters, plus an introduction and a conclusion. I propose that over the next two weeks we read the Introduction, and chapters 1, 2, and 3. That will take us up to page 117, almost exactly half-way through the volume. We’ll meet back here on Monday, 15 August, for our first book club discussion group. (!!!) I’ll provide a series of questions to facilitate dialogue, but the conversation will not be “directed”, so bring your own ideas and topics and questions and comments!

For those on the fence, or for those wanting more, here’s some additional media:
McWilliams interviewed on Canadian radio show Animal Voices
McWilliams interviewed by the awesome ladies of Our Hen House


I’m so excited guys. So. Excited.

This year I’m really excited about the “wild crafted” harvest – that means foods grown and gathered from wilderness. Fiddleheads, ramps, sea beans, sorrel, mushrooms, and more. And oh! The nettles, of course!

Strawberries are beginning to show up, and this Saturday I saw cherries. It’s such an exciting time in the season! The floodgates are about to open . . .

<3 this skirt I made many years ago.

Damian captures me shopping, from afar.

Raw, vegan hand pies at my market? Are you serious?!

Oh yea, it’s true!

The solstice is tomorrow: the very first day of summer! How will you be celebrating?

What seasonal produce have you been enjoying lately? What are you looking forward to?

Happy Summer Solstice!

Last year was the first the I focused on really eating seasonally, getting the bulk of my groceries straight from the farmers. I’ve never felt so connected to my food, so tuned in to my surroundings.

Spring is all about new radishes, tender greens, raab and rapini. There’s wild-crafted mushrooms and last autumn’s leftover taters. Mostly, there’s that whiff of promise. Shallots will make way for snap peas, and strawberries will follow before we even know it.

Chard, anyone? Such a lovely rainbow!

Hot new food trend = kimchee (Korean spicy pickles). It’s everywhere! I say, hooray for more fermented veggies. Always love it when healthy goes mainstream.

These guys are new to the market this year and their kimchee is divine.

See? Radishes, greens, and leeks. That’s a quintessential spring spread!

Happiest little market-goers.

This year I also made a weekly stop at the very wee, but very fun, year-round Farmers Market. There’s not a whole lot that grows through the northwest winter, but it helped me so much in staying mindful around my food. There’s always new and strange hardy greens, fermented foods and artisan (raw!) crackers, exotic cultivated mushrooms, fresh-baked breads, and homemade hot soups. Waits and I braved all manner of bad weather and always had a blast.

Spring!

Mushrooms are so strange . . .

Darlings, what are you most looking forward to in the coming season? Do you have a favorite Farmers Market, and has it opened yet this year?


To any tech savvy readers, I use Photoshop to re-size my images and then save the files to my desktop. Somewhere between iPhoto and the end product – somewhere in Photoshop – my pictures are getting dulled and de-saturated. Help help! I’m just clueless if there’s no baking soda involved . . .

This is what my kitchen looks like Saturday afternoon, midsummer. Heaven!

I’ve written a lot about my adventures at the Farmer’s Market this year, and I’ve often referenced the ‘game’ that D and I always play. We make it our mission each and every week to find at least one *special* item amidst the many. Ideally it’s something I’ve never cooked with (or never eaten at all!), but maybe it’s something just come into season, all new and nostalgic and treasured (hello, berries!).

So along with all the standards and staples, these are the specials we picked up each week. I love how this list paints the progression of the seasons.

*Star means I’d never cooked with it before.
**Double star means I’d never even eaten it!

1) Mustard Greens**

2) Asparagus

3) Fennel*

My spin on a clasic soup: Split Pea With Fennel And Potato.

4) Raspberries

5) Yellow Zucchini** & Escarole*

6) Fava Beans**

My first ever experiment with Favas – fresh Farmer’s Fava Bean Dip.

7) Sylvan Berries**

8) Blueberries & Sugar Snap Peas

9) Peaches & Shiitake Mushrooms*

Raw peach and berry tart with cashew cream.

10) Snow Peas & Abalone Mushrooms**

11) Cubanelle Peppers**

12) Italian Artichokes

Steamed Italian Artichoke served with a chunky three-olive dip.

13) Brussels Sprouts* & Maitake Mushrooms*

14) Pickling Cucumbers* & wild-gathered “Chicken Of The Woods” Mushrooms**

15) New Zealand Spinach**

16) Japanese Eggplant* & King Oyster Mushroom*

Vegan nigiri with seared Japanese Eggplants.

17) Miniature Honeydew Melon** & Parsnips

18) Yellow Finn Potatoes** & Long Beets**

19) Spaghetti Squash**

Waits helps me prepare my very first Spaghetti Squash.

20) Romanesco*

21) Walnuts

22) Tat Soi**

23) French Fingerling Potatoes

24) Black Truffle Salt**


Question: I treated myself to some ohh-la-la fancy Black Truffle Salt from the very last Farmer’s Market. What on earth should I do with it??!