Happy October, food & foraging friends!
Lately, life has been feeling like the meme where the guy blinks and we’ve gone from 2020 to 2025. Didn’t I write my last newsletter yesterday?
I’ve made a resolution to spend less time writing emails next year and more time meandering. But alas, email, organizing and food are my love languages. To that end, I’m going to cut to the chase this month and simply showcase a few upcoming foraged-food-focused events I’m organizing where I would love to see you!
Firstly, I’m excited to be supporting Free DC’s Ward One Kickoff this Saturday at Wangari Gardens, sister to my own community garden Bruce Monroe a few blocks away. I don’t know much of what the afternoon holds other than my own part, which will be a pair of free wild foods walks at 2:30 and 3:30 around the gardens, but given Free DC’s core tenet of prioritizing joy, I’m sure it will be a great day of fun, learning and community.
I regularly forage both wild and cultivated goodies at Wangari (just this week, some jujubes aka Chinese dates, which I’m thinking about using in a dish for the fall forager’s feast I’ll get to in a minute), so I’m excited to walk the space with everyone. The gardens were named for Wangari Maathai, the late Kenyan environmental activist and the first African woman to receive a Nobel Peace Prize (take that, you know who!) Look for Wangari’s likeness on a placard near the garden entrance. The shero we all need!
I’m also organizing a benefit, Foraging for Good: Wild Food and Wine for Palestine November 9, at Edgewood Community Farm. I and fellow forager Chef Iulian Fortu will introduce guests to a few wild edible plants you can find right in DC (including Wangari Gardens!) that are commonly used in Middle Eastern cuisine. Guests will also partake in Palestinian wine tasting and wild-foraged foods while hearing from my friend and our host Marielle Walter, founder of Infinite Impact, about the work of The Gaza Children’s Village. 100% of proceeds will go to this US-based nonprofit providing education, healthcare, nutrition, and psychosocial support to Palestinian orphans and children with complex medical needs. Furloughed government workers and others facing financial hardship can register for half off with the code GOVERNMENT; anyone can take 10% off with the code EARLYBIRD through Halloween.
If you’ve subscribed to The Wild Life for a while, you may have heard me dish about some of the wildcrafted cuisine at the seasonal forager’s supper club I organize. These foraged potlucks typically are small gatherings at private homes, but this November 16, Forested is hosting the forager’s fall feast, allowing us to widen the circle of invites. I and my co-organizer Candise are offering a few spots to our subscribers; simply respond to this email to secure a potential spot (we will draw numbers if we get more interest than we can accommodate).
In preparing for the upcoming benefit, I’ve been trying to learn more about the role of foraging in Palestine. Khobeza, for example, has been a critical lifeline for Gazans cut off from their land and food supply. I’ve also learned a bit about the criminalization of foraging in Palestine and Israel, including banning the harvest of wild thyme that is a key ingredient in za’atar. I’m hoping to track down a livestream of this film Foragers, by Palestinian filmmaker Jumana Manna, which looks at foraging as “an act of resistance as this law comes to represent the occupation at large, the management of the land and its sovereignty.”
To end on a lighter note, I was most amused this month when Martha Stewart magazine quoted me as a “mushroom expert” on a service piece about why there are white mushrooms growing in one’s yard. I would never refer to myself as a mushroom expert, but who am I to challenge Martha Stewart? My response to reporter included the fact that white mushrooms are not a thing, categorically speaking, but of course that didn’t make the story.
Wildly yours,
April
PS: On a food-free topic, some of you may know I run a project for chronically ill artists around the world. One aspect of that is a card making brigade for chronically ill folks, many of whom are housebound and/or bedbound. We’ve got a number of new requests for birthday or holiday cards – sign up to make one!
PPS: If you are new to my mailing list – welcome! You were added if you signed up for one of my workshops but can unsubscribe at any time using the link below. If you like what you’re reading, check out past editions here, and please share on.
Wildly yours,
April
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Image Block 1: Top row, black walnut husk bitters in the making – ask me in a few months how she’s tasting! Middle row, foraged jujubes (and me at No Kings) from Wangari Gardens. Bottom row, a few more wild edibles at Wangari, including a few Middle Eastern ingredients we will discuss during a benefit for Gazan children November 9.
Image Block 2: Scenes from the MAW Mushroom Fair I organized earlier this month- thanks to all volunteered or came out for a fun(gi) time!
