Friday, April 4, 2008

Gratitude, pt 2


This is what keeps me going...so grateful to have read this. Check it out.

Anthony...

Today my dreams of foraging have come true. i was walking around campus and admiring the flowers and the trees with full blooms. There are cherry blossoms behind my house and trees with flowers in full bloom everywhere! So I was walking around campus and discovered a huge group of dandelion. The flowers and leaves were 3-4 inches long and two inches wide. I crouched down and gathered them in my hand. I foraged about I'd say enough to fill both hands. I looked along the grass and discovered there is dandelion everywhere! I felt a sense of relief and pride. It makes me feel even more connected to life. Abundance is all around. Food is everywhere. I remember while I was growing up in the suburbs of Virginia people looked at dandelion as such a nusance and killed them with chemicals. So sad for them.

I brought the dandelion leaves home and noticed that it's not as bitter as the organic kale, collards and swiss chard. As much as I love those greens particularly kale, dandelion is the best tasting. It is sweet and flavorful and not as bitter. My dad liked it too so I plan on continueing my foraging of dandelion and in the process I'll save so much money by not having to spend as much on greens. I also plan on planting dandelion as well.

Thanks for spreading your passion and zest for life all around.

love,
Rebeka


Talk about liberation. When you can go out into the world and find
your own food without using the money of the system...
when you can feed yourself from the earth without their
supermarkets and farming and packages...
Thats REAL freedom.

Forget about the Yankee Doodle Dandy crap we've been fed
for all of our lives. As long as we depend on the system for food,
they have us totally trapped. We must become smarter animals.

Here are some more pics from a recent Central Park Wild Food Walk.


Word to the wise...watch out for the condom wrappers while
foraging in the parks. I didnt even notice that one between
my legs until I looked at the picture later.

Oh well...cant blame people for wanting to do it in nature again!

Just pick up your wrappers people!!! And your condoms! EWWWW!

I did NOT eat this mushroom...Im not qualified at identifying them yet.

Wild Green Salad with some orange peppers and onions. YUM! FUN!
Make it FUN!! If its not fun...its not worth doing.
Raw food is worth doing, but in order to stick with it early on,
you've got to figure out how to make it fun.

Raw chocolate and wild food foraging are two VERY good ways
to do just that. Its all a big game...make it fun.

-Anthony

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Anthony, Just found your blog a few weeks ago & love it. I am also in the process of seeing my vision of sustainable living/building come to fruition. I have already started a garden, with room to grow & have been foraging & will be learning more about identifying from a local woman who gives classes on id'ing wild edibles. I am doing the juice feast right now, but gathered some dandelion & curly dock for my juice today. Thanks again for sending out such a wonderful & radiant light.

Michelle said...

Hi Anthony,
Great pics and i keep thinking about the story you told me when you went to central park at 10pm to climb a tree and forage for some wild apples i think! Awesome!!! I think i am off to prospect park today to look around, not sure what to look for though, maybe you will help me someday!! :O)
Michelle

Anonymous said...

Anthony -

As a sometimes struggling raw foodist, I have nothing but respect for you and what you are doing with your life. I think your blog is great, and I really learn a lot from you and the things you share.

Lately I have read a lot about how you forage for wild plants and every time I feel pushed to write you about a woman I once met here in Chicago - Sedef Olcer. She was an amazing yogini and raw foodist and, perhaps most importantly, brilliant and...anything but careless.

Please see the link Ive attached about her tragic death due to drinking a smoothie made from an easily misidentified plant (Foxglove) that she picked in the forest. When I heard of her passing, I immediately decided I would never eat wild plants - if Sedef, someone so educated and careful, could be mislead, then my chances for making such a mistake are just too high.

I am not trying to be negative at all. Just please read the article and consider what it might mean for you by way of warning.

Thank you!

Rachel

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/columnists/chi-schmich_bd10feb10,0,5002925.column

Anonymous said...

Hey Anthony,
I'd just like to add a few positive words toward wild foraging. My husband and I love to collect edible wild plants. Our rule of thumb is to only collect what we have learned to positively identify from an herbalist. It is definitely beneficial to learn the families and species that have poisinous look alikes. There aren't that many to remember. We use books to educate ourselves and cultivate realtionships with plants, but we wait to eat until we can ask an herbalist. Finding a knowledgeable herbalist is easier than you would think. Most are so happy to share their knowledge by going on plant walks with you. In your area you could check out www.WildmanSteveBrill.com
He does walks in central park. Go for it! You'll have so much fun. And don't forget to bring the video camera!! :{)
(That's a new smiley icon for you with a moustache)HeeHee.

Anonymous said...

Looks more like a matchbox to me. But I guess you probably have a larger copy of the picture.

This:
"Talk about liberation. When you can go out into the world and find
your own food without using the money of the system...
when you can feed yourself from the earth without their
supermarkets and farming and packages...
Thats REAL freedom.

Forget about the Yankee Doodle Dandy crap we've been fed
for all of our lives. As long as we depend on the system for food,
they have us totally trapped. We must become smarter animals."
was the most intelligent and well spoken thing I have heard in a long time. I can't believe you're so cool! And I find it rather amusing how much I detested that target commercial now. I thought it was so modern consumer cheesy, etc. And you as a person are the opposite. I love you.

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