Just coming back from harvesting wild elderflower, foraging etiquette is on my mind. I hope that by reading some of the recipes here on The Blue Heron Project, you might feel inspired to go out and forage for some of the wild bounties your land has to offer. It is so fulfilling to head out into the wild with an empty bucket and coming back home with a bucket full of wonderfully delicious things.

The truth is though, the act of foraging must be done responsibly. If you want to come back year after year to the same stinging nettle patch, or the same elder bushes, you need to make sure that you are harvesting in a manner that is sustainable.

I realize that if you don’t have a scale and you come across a recipe that only uses weight as a measurement it is annoying. I get it. It is just so darn simple to measure things in your handy dandy measuring cups. It is what you are used to, and it’s probably how you grew up cooking. I am not saying it is wrong, but if you want to become a better cook or baker - ditch the cups and get a digital kitchen scale.

I’m not saying this is the only way to cook pizza or even the best, but I do have to say until we build our wood-fired pizza oven in the back, this is my go-to method. The results are incredibly impressive, and the pizza-eating monster in the house says it is the best pizza he has ever tasted.

The word shrub, like sorbet, sherbet, and syrup, all are derived from the Arabic word sharab meaning beverage. Pre-refrigeration, the only way to preserve fruit juices were to douse them heavily with sugar, alcohol, or vinegar.

Many of our “familiar foods” such as cheeses, cured meats, yogurt, pickles, sauerkraut, and miso all undergo fermentation, and while fermented tea might sound very weird, there are many documented benefits for bringing fermented foods into your diet.

You know, sometimes, I feel like I am going to get that reputation for being that crazy plant girl. People always stop and ask me what I am doing when they catch me with my black medical gloves, basket, fully clothed from head to toe heading into the forest. They usually interject, “Oh, are you heading to harvest mushrooms or berries?” It’s always fun to watch their face change when you tell them you are heading into the forest for stinging nettle. It is always an immediate reaction of a nose wrinkle and “Why?”