Stinging nettles? Harvesting plants in the wild in general?

March 28, 2009

I recently had some great soup at Queer Food for Love that was made with stinging nettles. My roommate and I wanted to try to reproduce a similar soup and were wondering ... does anyone know where to get nettles? Either by purchasing or by safely wild harvesting? I'm not super confident in my plant identification skills and wouldn't know where to look anyways (I live in downtown Oakland and don't own a car).

Also, generally speaking, if you have any tips on edible plants that can be found in the bay area I would love to hear them! We're also interested in learning about edible flowers and, possible, mushrooms (although the latter are kind of scary in that we keep reading/hearing about fungus-related tragedies in the news).

Thanks!

March 29, 2009

I think the Ecology Center in Berkeley used to host educational walks about harvesting wild foods. You might check out their website or call to see if they still offer anything like that

Tammy

My two cents, vegan-style .. - today or read it on GenerationV.org

Don't miss out on these awesome Bay Area Vegetarians events!

05/02 Have a Heart, Go Veg Leafleting & Lunch - SF 05/03 Food for Thought Book Club: Animals Rights Philosophy & Picnic - SF 05/30 Veg Outreach & Education at Maker Faire - San Mateo County Fairgrounds

March 29, 2009

There is a stand at the Menlo Park farmer's market on Sundays where you can buy

stinging nettles (when in season)and other delicious greens.

, jenny w <veganjenny wrote:

>

> I recently had some great soup at Queer Food for Love that was made with

> stinging nettles. My roommate and I wanted to try to reproduce a similar

> soup and were wondering ... does anyone know where to get nettles? Either by

> purchasing or by safely wild harvesting? I'm not super confident in my plant

> identification skills and wouldn't know where to look anyways (I live in

> downtown Oakland and don't own a car).

> Also, generally speaking, if you have any tips on edible plants that can be

> found in the bay area I would love to hear them! We're also interested in

> learning about edible flowers and, possible, mushrooms (although the latter

> are kind of scary in that we keep reading/hearing about fungus-related

> tragedies in the news).

>

> Thanks!

>

March 30, 2009

Thanks for the tips, everyone! I'm sorry I missed the weed walk that was organized by SF Living Foods. I may have to figure stuff out on my own. I've been looking at YouTube videos and looking at pictures of nettles, so hopefully that will work out. I'll also keep some of the places that sell nettles in mind, but I might just go out and try to find some on my own.