Wendy Brown - Browsing Natures Aisles: A Year of Foraging for Wild Food in the Suburbs

Praise for

Browsing Natures Aisles

Browsing Natures Aisles is an inspiring journal of one familys effort to break free from manufactured foods, and transition to home-grown and locally-sourced cuisine, supplemented by a steady diet of wild fare. It is a great read for those who dream of getting back to the land and becoming more self-sufficient, yet dont know where to start. Come along for the journey as authors Wendy and Eric Brown overcome the learning curve to successfully blend wild plants, fungi, and game into their regular diet.

THOMAS J. ELPEL, author, Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification

The Browns are the inspiring Pied Pipers of suburban homesteaders. Through their finely tuned, personal account of the untapped and tasty world of wild foraging, youll be craving those dandelion greens right out your doorstep.

LISA KIVIRIST & JOHN IVANKO, coauthors, Farmstead Chef & Rural Renaissance

As a species we have developed over millions of years an acute ability to forage for our foods in nature. Browsing Natures Aisles is a shining example of reestablishing that connection between nature and our foods. For anyone with an interest in food security, foraging or shifting the way they think about food, this is a must read.

DAN AGRO, owner, AgroMyco

As engrossing as a seed catalog and much more truthful, this tells a great story about the adventures, delights and disappointments of foraging for all manners of wild foods. A new generation of homesteaders, nature enthusiasts, hikers, campers and would-be foragers have long awaited these passionate, compelling and hard-earned words of wisdom. This enormously useful, inspirational volume is a significant and original contribution.

CONNIE KROCHMAL, garden writer and columnist, Bee Culture magazine

BROWSING
NATURES
AISLES

BROWSING
NATURES
AISLES

A YEAR of

FORAGING for WILD FOOD

in the SUBURBS

Wendy & Eric Brown

Copyright 2013 by Wendy Brown and Eric Brown. All rights reserved.

Cover design by Diane McIntosh.

iStock: Forest image Laitho; Suburban houses Lawrence Sawyer

First printing September 2013

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-86571-750-3 eISBN: 978-1-55092-540-1

Inquiries regarding requests to reprint all or part of Browsing Natures Aisles should be addressed to New Society Publishers at the address below.

To order directly from the publishers, please call toll-free (North America) 1-800-567-6772, or order online at www.newsociety.com

Any other inquiries can be directed by mail to:

New Society Publishers

P.O. Box 189, Gabriola Island, BC V0R 1X0, Canada

(250) 247-9737

New Society Publishers mission is to publish books that contribute in fundamental ways to building an ecologically sustainable and just society, and to do so with the least possible impact on the environment, in a manner that models this vision. We are committed to doing this not just through education, but through action. The interior pages of our bound books are printed on Forest Stewardship Council-registered acid-free paper that is 100% post-consumer recycled (100% old growth forest-free), processed chlorine free, and printed with vegetable-based, low-VOC inks, with covers produced using FSC-registered stock. New Society also works to reduce its carbon footprint, and purchases carbon offsets based on an annual audit to ensure a carbon neutral footprint. For further information, or to browse our full list of books and purchase securely, visit our website at: www.newsociety.com

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

Brown, Wendy, 1967-, author

Browsing natures aisles : a year of foraging for wild food in the suburbs / Wendy & Eric Brown.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-86571-750-3 (pbk.)

1. Wild plants, Edible--Identification.2. Cooking (Wild foods).3. Food--Preservation.4. Food--Safety measures.5. Sustainable living.

I. Brown, Eric, 1969-, author II. Title.

TX823.B76 2013 641.6 C2013-904396-9

To Kaya, Etain and Tehya

who are always great sports and

amazing young women

Contents

O NE OF THE BEST PARTS OF WRITING A BOOK (other than the amazing adventure it is, in general) is the opportunity to express our gratitude, in writing, to the people who helped to make it happen. We are blessed to have a wonderful community of people who helped us in some way to make this particular book happen, because, really, when we started this project, it wasnt just the two of us, in isolation, wandering around and munching wild plants. From the beginning, we knew we would be roping a lot of other people into our crazy scheme.

On that note, we owe a huge thanks to our three daughters, Kaya, Etain and Tehya, who tagged along on this incredible journey and never failed to remind us to play as much as we worked. They were the reason we wanted to try this different way of nourishing our bodies, but we were also asking them to make some significant changes in their diets which was a pretty big deal for at least one of the three, who has very specific likes and dislikes when it comes to what she eats. We are incredibly grateful for the willingness of all three to indulge us.

We are also very grateful to our community of friends and family who not only braved the possibility of being fed foods that we foraged, but some of whom rose to the occasion and foraged some of their own to share with us. We are humbled by their adventurous spirits and support, and while the list is long, we felt it important to try to acknowledge each of them: Whitney, Trinity and Dakota Antoine; Crystal, Amber, and Lauren Arsenault; Amanda Bell; Ruby Bertrand; Richard, Melissa, West, and Tega Bourgeois-Lang; Ben Brookes; Dustin Brown; Emma Brown; Lisa and Sarah Card; Carol and Ron Doucette; Gar (a.k.a. Patricia Redlon); Liz Glidden; Joe Gresik; Andy, Margaret, and Lila Happel; Shawn, Lori, Tori, and Isaac Hussey; Tina and Ashley Jolly; Vicky Lloyd; Charlene Lopresti; Chad and Candi Maloney; Jake Maloney; Josh Maloney; Chris Mansfield; Richard, Lynn, Bre, Megan, and Michael Neal; Mariel Roy; Tad, Darnell and Marissa Stuart; and Charlie, Linda and Amelia Whitten. We are truly blessed to know all of these wonderful people.

We are especially thankful for our dear friend, Crystal Arsenault from Capture the Moment Photography for her unflappable nature and willingness to travel anywhere weve asked, at any time of the year to catch the perfect shot; and our most ardent supporter (and Number One fan), Melissa Bourgeois-Lang, who is ever enthusiastic in helping to spread the word and is incredibly expressive in her fervor for what we do.