GARDENING IS STACKING THE DECK against Nature. Foraging wild edibles is a confrontation with Nature in all its glorious fickleness. Sometimes Miner’s Lettuce just can’t be found. Was it deer? A drought? Overharvested last year? A new drainage drying the soil? Insects? Foraging, like hunting, attunes the body, mind, and spirit to life cycles and seasonal change. It’s still the most direct-connect to plant powers.
Foraging is a skill. How much can you harvest without subverting next year’s supply? Is the fruit ripe enough? Is the root large enough? Is it endangered like American ginseng? Is it a poisonous look-alike?
