Monday, June 29, 2015

Getting my forage on

One of my new goals is to learn more about foraging, preserving food, and improving homesteading skills. I'm not 100% sure why I feel the need to have these skills, but I like to keep my brain busy by learning something new, so why not learn something that also has the advantage of being practical?

Considering that I live in the city and it's the most cramped place I've lived so far, it's a bit ironic that I'm getting back to basics. For the record, Kaiserslautern is a typical German city that's no more cramped than other cities here, but it's my first go-round with living in Germany and it's more compact than it was in the US, as is expected, or even where I had lived in the UK.

Anyway, I think that a lot of people might foster the idea that getting back to the basics requires a lot of land and aptitude. Let me tell you: I have neither land nor aptitude, but I'm bungling along reasonably well and am enjoying myself, to boot.

Foraging wild foods is not impossible, nor does it necessarily have to take place in the countryside. Now that I've learned about some common things that are native to this area, I've found them easily in the city. I've had even better luck out in the countryside surrounding Kaiserslautern.

On just one stretch of country road a half mile in length, I recently found: wild sour cherries, elderflowers, black berry plants, and rose hips. These are only the things that I know; I imagine that there might be even more things! I look forward to learning just what those things might be.

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