Foxfield Permaculture LAND Centre
Foxfield Permaculture LAND Centre

Wild Food Experimenting!

I've been experimenting with some unusual wild foods this year. Here are the pictures of the journey so far with acorns! It's been a mast year , which means oaks have all coincided a massive acorn fruiting - a natural technique which is one of the wonders of nature - trees  get together to produce a bumper harvest, in order to, wait for it, limit the population of things that eat all their offspring! Yes wild pigs would naturally gorge in these years, populations boom (wild pigs can breed all winter if sufficient food), next year all the trees won't produce, and the population crashes from starvation, leaving the tree'sbaby saplings a chance for a bit. Amazing self balancing of opportunists - a category which I think humans fall into! First you peel them, soak them for a week changing the water daily, then dry and grind down to flour. I've made acorn biscuits and sausages so far. Really delicious and nutritious if a little odd looking!

 

 

Alexanders are a fantastic spinach substitute available with zero effort from December until May. They easily cope with late summer weeds like nettles and bindweed, grow in the shade, and taste like a lemony spinch but with no oxalic acid. I have seed available for free, because I want to encourage this perennial crop. Please be carefule and get advice if harvesting in the wild because these can look like some poisonous plants out at the same time of year.

 

Another favourite weed of ours is Orache. Its really delicious, mild and buttery, with no effort at all other than letting it only seed where you want it next year again. Comes in the summer and early autumn. I will try to remember to take a photo next year!

 

 

 

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© Alison Ensor