What I’m looking forward to when the year of foraging is complete

The key to success in my year of foraging 100% of my food and medicine was to remain focused on and grateful for what I did have and to not spend much time thinking about what I didn’t have or wanted more of. For the most part I have kept my mind on track, but as I entered the final season, thoughts of the future became more prominent. Some of these thoughts served as a distraction from the present but some were valuable in helping me to decide and plan my life design for once the year is complete. After all, it would take planning and diligence to continue in another form to remain independent from the global, industrial food system and remain embodied in my message of people-powered food over corporate food. Upon reflection on my year of foraging here is what I’m most looking forward to when this year is complete:

-Not tracking what I’ve eaten each day. I kept a log of every breakfast, lunch and dinner and every snack and herbal tea I had each day. I did this practice in order to be able to reflect on this information to potentially understand health challenges, to be able to look back, as well as to give the opportunity for others to see how I accomplished the year, and as a form of accountability. It took a lot of diligence and approximately eighty hours of time during the year. I’ll be happy to have those hours to utilize in another productive way.

-No longer having to differentiate whether a plant qualifies as foraged or is grown. Humans are quite interconnected with our environment, as much as many of us believe we are separate. It was often challenging to know if a food was “wild”, “feral”, planted but abandoned, or possibly maintained by humans. This was especially relevant with fruit trees which are often grown as ornamentals/landscaping or have outlived the hands that planted them. The differentiation only mattered for the sake of attempting to solely forage my food for a year, it will no longer be relevant and that will be a substantial relief.

-Being able to freely eat the weeds in any cultivated garden. Often weeds are abundant or especially large and ideal because of actively cultivated soils. I don’t consider these weeds true foraging. This will no longer be relevant and I will joyously eat any edible weeds (which are often more nutritious than the intentionally cultivated plants).

-Not having to harvest my own water and being able to receive any glass of water passed me. I do intend to still only drink water that has not been chlorinated, fluoridated or adulterated in any way, to continue to drink well and spring water from the source.

-Not harvest my salt from the ocean, saving all this time and once again having no need to ration or have any concern of running out. I will be purchasing salt that is evaporated from the Pacific Ocean in California, the most local and economical salt I could find.

Hopefully having no scarcity of any food categories I need. Since I will be eating 100% foraged food for the first month (that anyone forages), then 100% foraged and homegrown for another two months, it’s possible I may not have everything, but I feel quite confident that community will provide since I will be purchasing, trading and receiving gifts.
What I look forward to most is having an abundance of and no need to ration:

Fat. This will allow me to make more calorically dense, satiating and delicious meals and snacks. I often lacked cooking oil during the year.

Calories in the form of easy to store, time efficient food such as wild rice, acorn flour, potatoes, sweet potatoes, wild yam and grains.
I did ration my wild rice and acorns for a few months and that was a real struggle.

Sugar in the form of maple syrup and honey. I only made six pints of maple syrup. I’d like to have two pints per month and I can easily source that.

Spices. This is the area of foraging I still have the most to develop in. I’ll be grateful to utilize the variety of homegrown herbs that many in my community grow in abundance including rosemary, basil, time, oregano, dill, cilantro, coriander, turmeric, ginger and more.

Vinegar. Although I make my own apple cider vinegar it usually is not the strong 5% acidity I like. Balsamic vinegar would be wonderful too.

Ferments. I also made a lot of wild ferments but there’s no wild ferment as easy for me to make or consistently delicious as sauerkraut.

Nuts, specifically shelled nuts. I’ve spent many hours shelling nuts, and I love it, but I’m looking to save time and will hopefully be able to source shell nuts. This is not a given until I return to locally/sustainably farmed after 3 months.

Hardy garden vegetables including squash, potatoes, beets, carrots, radishes, turnips, sweet potatoes and more. These foods are both high in calories and are very fulfilling, satiating and nurturing. Garden grown garlic and onion are much more efficient and abundant than foraging of wild garlic and onions and I was often limited on these key staples.

-Eating with my mom from her garden. This is one of the most special connections I have and I felt like I was missing out on this aspect of my connection with my mom. We also love getting sweets at the bakery together, but for now that I’ll keep out of mind.

-Eating meals with others and having others cook for me. There were so many days when I was traveling, exhausted and turned down a home-cooked meal only to spend my limited time cooking my own meal in the kitchen of my host. In some ways it was counterintuitive to my message of sharing and community and was limiting my ability to be of service.

I will be elated to say yes to these shared meals which are often a host’s way of showing they care and feeling a sense of connection. Yet, as I will still be eating outside the corporate food system this will still be a challenge. I hope my friends and community will take the challenge upon themselves to source homegrown and foraged foods (and later locally farmed) and enjoy the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of their local food system. I will support them in this endeavor as well as supply some of the food – or all of it!
Note: There is a great benefit of eating alone rather than socially – I tend to give my body what it needs, in the right quantity and at the right timing!

-Having much more free time. This year of foraging was very time intensive. It was time well invested in building skills, relationships, knowledge and becoming a more liberated human deeply connected with Earth, but it was sometimes too much and other areas of my life were neglected. I look forward to more leisure time outdoors that is not foraging – including going for walks, hiking, and just being in the forest and on the water. I hope to have more time for Compassionate Communication practice, writing – especially on topics that help others see the world in a new way and to critically question our societal norms, developing my own mind and being of service.

-Having access to my community’s herbal apothecary. It’s hard to forage any apothecary that holds every potential herbal remedy one may need – and it’s completely unnecessary outside of this challenge. Although there were very few instances where this was relevant there were times when I would have liked to have an herb that was out of season. Now I can lean in on friends like Erica Macrum of Sweet Fern Apothecary. There are plenty of herbal remedies I just don’t have the skills to make.

-No longer passing by the exact food I need in ideal harvest stage but have no time to harvest it, which meant going without. With community, my options will be more expansive, but this is likely to still happen as there are foods I can forage but generally do not have the money to buy.

Lastly, and this might sound ridiculous, but no longer avoiding using other people’s cookware and dishes to avoid residues of foods I didn’t forage. That’s the extreme I went to to not even taste a food I didn’t forage. The benefit? I have truly rewilded my palate! And along with that no longer having to keep my harvest separate from someone else’s – like when I brought my yellowbud hickory nuts to Sam Thayer’s to process in his press when he was using it as well for his nuts.

I’m sure that this list is not what most would expect. There’s no mention of pizza (and that would be nice) and not even a store-bought item (olive oil and Tahini would be at the top of the list). No, I don’t need anything that my community can’t provide. And right now I feel sick to my stomach thinking about eating any corporate foods that are destroying the Earth.
I want power in the hands of the people. Corporations are all about power OVER. I’m all about power WITH. Where in shared power everyone involved thrives. I see this as possible when we are interconnected with the humans, plants, animals, Waters and ecosystems that we source our sustenance from. WE can provide ourselves with everything we need, and harmony with Earth – even the pizza.

Do you have foraged food you’d like to share (trade, sell or gift) to celebrate completion of the year of foraging? Learn more and get involved in this exploration of food sovereignty here

Further Reading

Why I am Foraging 100% of My Food and Medicine for a Year – An in-depth exploration fo why I have embarked on this endeavor.

Foraging 100% of My Food and Medicine for a Year — The Guidelines – An in-depth exploration of what exactly I mean when I say that I am foraging 100% of my food and medicine for a year.