The harsh, musky scent associated with that era, which most likely came from adulterated or synthetic versions, has overshadowed the diverse traditional uses of pure patchouli that go back thousands of years as well as the important role it plays in the modern fragrance industry. Retailer Kai D, a purveyor of tools and clothing for artisans, says today’s customers are increasingly looking for small batch products made using tradition-tested recipes and natural ingredients like essential patchouli oil. “There’s a sense of ‘old is the new new’.” Along with tobacco, cedar and other essential oils, patchouli lends its scent and therapeutic qualities to Hudson Made’s Worker’s Soap.

The medicinal benefits of the leaves and the oil extracted from this bushy plant related to mint, sage, and lavender have long been known in Malaysia, China and Japan. Scientifically known as Pogostemon cablin, patchouli grows wild in the high altitude forests of Sumatra and Java but is widely cultivated throughout subtropical Asia. Patchouli has been used to treat a variety of skin and scalp irritations like eczema, chapped skin and dandruff as well as for headaches, muscle spasms, anxiety and depression. It’s an important ingredient in incense, which was used ceremonially and for ritual purification.

In addition to its topical use, patchouli has been utilized in the Far East for its restorative properties. In Ayurvedic texts patchouli is regarded as having a calming and anti-depressant effect and is believed to improve self-confidence, will power and mental clarity—uses which to this day persist in aromatherapy.

Unlike spices from Southeast Asia, which made their way to Europe much earlier via Arab traders, patchouli was not a major import until the late 18th century. As trade with the East expanded there was growing fascination with exotic and imported items like intricate Kashmir shawls. Silks, rugs and woven fabrics arrived in European ports baring a mysterious aroma that came to be a marker of authenticity. That scent also served a highly functional purpose.

Chinese and Indian traders who knew of patchouli’s insect repellant qualities, folded their precious fabrics with crushed patchouli leaves to keep moths away. When French garment manufacturers discovered the source of the exotic aroma, they began importing patchouli and using it to ensure that their own fabrics had the mystique necessary to be valued in the domestic marketplace. Eventually, the many wonderful qualities of the oil were discovered and its use in fragrance gained popularity in the late 1800s.

Grown on small forest plots by farmers who hand-pick and shade-dry the leaves, patchouli is sometimes fermented for several days to break down the cell walls and maximize the yield of oil. The leaves are then usually bundled and transported to distilleries where the oil is extracted by steam distillation. Aceh is one of the areas known to produce oil of a very high quality. Unknown to most of the world, Aceh was thrust into the news spotlight as a result of the devastating 2004 tsunami, when this Indonesian region was almost completely destroyed. Humanitarian efforts continue to help bring back the cultivation and industry of patchouli oil in the area.

Pure patchouli has an aroma somewhat reminiscent of wet earth—rich, sweet and woodsy. Its foresty character provides an excellent base for floral blends using geranium, lavender, rose or jasmine. It also pairs well with other woody oils like cedarwood or sandalwood, and its spiciness can be heightened with the addition of cinnamon or clove. Unlike many other essential oils, it improves with age, losing some of its harshness and developing a fruity wine-like top note.

Patchouli is also an excellent “fixative”—it slows down the evaporation of other more volatile oils, extending the life of their scents. Patchouli’s versatile profile and fixative characteristic make it a highly prized ingredient among today’s high-end perfumeries. Today, you’re just as likely to catch a whiff of patchouli on Fifth Avenue as you were in the head shops of the ‘60s and ‘70s.

Hudson Made: Worker’s Soap	The Working Man’s Dopp Kit	Double Shift Worker’s Soap Collection

During the Revolutionary War, the British Navy cracked down on the thriving ports located on the northeast coast, virtually shutting them down by attacking and destroying whaling and shipping fleets. For their business to survive, many merchants relocated to Canada or France and some even returned to England, choosing commerce over the Constitution. A group of sea-faring Quakers from Nantucket and Providence got together and decided to look for a safer place to set up shop closer by. Enter Claverack Landing, a tiny Dutch settlement founded in 1783 on the Hudson River. At the time, Claverack was equipped with two deep bays, land suitable for a port and nearby farmland. The group, calling themselves The Proprietors, bought up huge areas of land and drew up a grid for the town they would rename Hudson in honor of the river and its first western explorer, Henry Hudson who sailed the Halve Maen upriver in 1609.

The city of Hudson was one of America’s first planned cities… they built it and they did come. Ship-builders, sail- and rope- makers, and a host of other shipping related businesses sprung up and soon populated the meticulously drawn out streets. The whaling fleets grew and by 1790 the population hit 2,500. By 1820 it had doubled again. When kerosene replaced whale oil and trains replaced ships, Hudson fell into decline. The last whaling ship sailed from Hudson in 1840, but soon enough trade by railroad brought new businesses to Hudson; tanneries, brickyards, ironworks, cotton mills and breweries flourished. The 1920s and ‘30s saw a rise in gambling and bootlegging and St. Agatha (a statue of the patron saint of virgins looks down the Hudson from its perch on Parade Hill) notwithstanding, Hudson became known for its red light district. A state police crackdown in 1950 brought that underworld economy to an end and the city of Hudson entered another period of neglect and decline.

Throughout all the commercial boom and bust of the past two centuries, Hudson, continued to line its streets with a succession of American architectural styles from the New England Federal style the Quakers brought with them, to Greek and Gothic Revivals, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival and Jacobean. For this reason, Hudson is known as a “dictionary of American architectural styles.” A silver lining to the decades Hudson was under-appreciated. In the first decades of the 21st century, Hudson is proving its resilience with yet another economic revival. The main business thoroughfare, Warren Street, stretches two miles from the riverside promenade to Prospect Avenue and is now lined with an eclectic selection of galleries, antique shops, bookstores, restaurants and music venues. On nearby streets, 19th century hotels have been restored, factories have been converted into performance spaces and former blacksmith shops into restaurants featuring seasonal regional cuisine.

Visiting Hudson today you could close your eyes and forget you are in the middle of a mostly rural county; the city captures the thriving urban feel of a hundred years ago. True to its origins as a busy port trading in both locally made and exotic goods, you can shop the farmers market for fresh ginger stalks and Osage oranges, curried sauerkraut and hand cut potato chips, and honey from nearby apiaries. Or you can visit a nearby shop and buy teas imported from China or luxurious fabrics printed in India. There is a wonderful blend of preserving the past, honoring old traditions in new ways, and innovation born of respect for history and Hudson’s beautiful natural surroundings.

No one understands this better than Tim Dunleavy, storeowner and the founding president of the preservation society, Historic Hudson, which has been instrumental in leading the quest to preserve many of Hudson’s architectural gems. Dunleavy notes that part of what saved Hudson was that it was relatively untouched by the economic “development” of the 1970s. Dunleavy first visited Hudson in 1990 and was surprised to find a fairly intact 19th century city with an impressive abundance of architectural styles. At the time, most of the shops along Warren Street were boarded up. “The storefronts that weren’t empty had been rented or purchased by antique dealers.” Dunleavy recognized this as a sign of nascent economic revitalization. “A similar thing happened in Connecticut in the 1970s when so many antique dealers opened businesses on Route 7.”

Dunleavy opened Rural Residence in 1999. The store is filled with a beautifully curated selection of antiques, art books, linens, toiletries and decorative items; “anything that I have an emotional response to that has a dash of historicism or sense of time,” says Dunleavy. In addition to its interesting architecture, Dunleavy thinks Hudson’s intimate size and walkability have been a big draw. “It feels like a convergence center for the creative class and like-minded people,” he says. “There are 35 new businesses that have opened this year in Hudson. The new hipster migration from Brooklyn has given the city a new youthful energy and appearance.”

Store front of the Rural Residence in Hudson, NY

On their brand new website, Rural Residence draws inspiration from the valley, acknowledging that the Hudson was a river that shaped a nation and “pollinated [it] with a never-before-seen hybrid of nature, cultivated beauty and democratic ideals.” The city of Hudson, can most certainly be seen as a jewel in that crown.

Rather than taking their business elsewhere, two hundred years ago a small group of merchants decided to stay in their young country and seek out a place to build a peaceful and thriving city. I like to think of them surveying the land and envisioning a community of builders, farmers, bakers and craftspeople all taking pride in their work and engaged in the wonderful business of life.  I like to think that if they visited Hudson today, they would be proud.

Experience Hudson:

• Musica — a community music shop.
• Fern — handcrafted furniture.
• Look — apparel and accessories.
• Discipline Park — hand picked designer clothes and vintage.
• Gris — antiques and interior design.
• Hudson City Books — used and rare bookstore.

Taste Hudson:

• Fish and Game — weekly changing menu located in a converted historic blacksmith shop.
• Grazin’ — farm-to-table diner.
• Swoon Kitchenbar — brasserie.
• Verdigris Tea — tea and chocolate bar.

Creative Hudson:

• Basilica — reclaimed 19^th century factory converted into an art, performance, production and event space.
• The Spotty Dog — independent bookstore and lounge/café.
• Helsinki Hudson — Two performance spaces, a full service restaurant, a gallery space and outdoor dining.

Bring a bit of the Hudson Valley into your home with these locally made products:

Tea Towel Set	Scullery Soap	Black Patriot Head

Photo Credit: Lisa Kelsey 

Lisa Kelsey is a Dutchess County, NY-based art director. Her radio shows “Stirring the Pot” on home cooking, and “Spice: The Final Frontier” on herbs and spices, can be heard on Pawling Public radio. pawlingpublicradio.org

An array of Field Apothecary items. (Photo credit: Sharokh Mirzai)

Throughout the world, folk traditions coexisted with the professional study of herbalism. The practice of going into the garden or woods and getting a bit of something to cure whatever ails you continues, but in this country that knowledge has largely faded from the collective memory. Dana and Michael Eudy of Field Apothecary want to bring this particular field of medicine “back to the field.”

Dana and Michael Eudy on their farm in Germantown, NY.

Whether the loss of an herbal healing tradition is a casualty of the Atomic Age or due to the sweetening and blanding of the American diet, the Eudys are actively engaged in resuscitating it here in the Hudson Valley. “There are written references, of course, but there isn’t really a widespread oral tradition. We’re hoping to bring back and hold on to that knowledge,” says Dana.

My daughter and I visited them on their three-acre “pharm” in quaint Germantown, NY, where the couple is growing about 60 varieties of herbs and using them in health-promoting as well as culinary preparations. We sat down to steaming cups of “tulsi” or holy basil tea (made in a French press), and discussed the pair’s philosophy of using plant-based medicines. Thousands of years of trial and error have led to several great herbal traditions, which are accompanied by texts, like the Hindu Ayurveda, listing hundreds of herbs and remedies. Before the advent of modern scientific method, European apothecaries dispensed herbal tinctures and elixirs to physicians and patients. We have those apothecaries toiling away with their mortars and pestles to thank for many of the medicines provided by pharmacists today. In this country, Native Americans added to the European’s store of knowledge, showing the colonists how to use plants such as echinacea and goldenseal and even discovering uses for species brought over accidentally from Europe, like mullein.

Snakes intertwined, from the engravings created of Albertus Seba’s collections in the late 17th & early 18th century. Seba was an apothecary and naturalist whose immense & renowned Wunderkammer was purchased by Peter the Great after his death in 1736. (Source: Tumblr)

But how are the Eudys managing to keep focused with such a vast store of knowledge, covering thousands of herbs and just as many years of study? Michael explains that at Field Apothecary they concentrate on naturally-occurring plants of the region—nettles, St. Johns wort, mullein, mugwort, chicory, yarrow among them—that are either indigenous or naturalized in the area, as well as plants from the Chinese or Indian pharmacopia that grow easily here. “Nothing too difficult or obscure—we want the plants to be accessible to people,” Michael says.

Michael and Dana suggest that our bodies are more attuned to ingesting healthful components in their whole natural  “package” and will therefore more readily absorb the nutrients. While we’ve been ingesting plants for millennia, the concept of taking medicine and supplements in concentrated pill form has only been with us several decades.

“Nothing too difficult or obscure—we want the plants to be accessible to people.” — Dana and Michael Eudy

We now know that many of the most beneficial phytonutrients in plants have a bitter taste, and Michael says that recent studies have also shown something that Chinese herbalists have known for centuries: it is also important to actually taste bitterness. “When you take a pill its void of any sensory experience. But when we taste bitterness on our tongue something happens physiologically—it sends a message to the brain, which sends messages throughout the body, mainly the pancreas and liver. The salivary glands are stimulated, which is the first form of digestion.” In this way the experience of taste helps pave the way for the medicine to do its work.

Rather than a wholesale rejection of the medical establishment, Michael and Dana see what they do as part of a “healthcare pyramid.” They believe that learning about preventive remedies and how to treat some basic ailments at home will ease an overburdened healthcare system. “When you start holding back just a little bit, your confidence builds really quickly. You don’t feel like this is your only choice—you don’t need to go straight to the top of that pyramid right away.”

Sage is one of the many herbs and botanicals grown at Field Apothecary.

The fact that they are part of a trend that sees itself not as combative, but in partnership with conventional medicine has advantages for doctors and their patients as well. “Our very first class that we did here, ten people came and three of them were doctors!” Dana admits to feeling a bit intimidated, but found that the doctors were there to learn from her. “They want to know more about natural remedies now because their patients—especially those with children—are asking about it.” Natural medicine is recovering from its snake-oil reputation and gaining credibility again.

Getting over the fear of quackery is only part of the task for Dana and Michael. They are also combating the somewhat fusty reputation of modern herbalism, that of an older generation. When Michael and Dana looked at what was available on the market, they were put off by packaging and presentation that was geared to an audience they didn’t identify with. “We are our target audience. We’re young. We are parents. Field Apothecary looks a little bit hipper because that’s what would have made us get into this a lot earlier.”

A fresher visual look is matched by a more open approach to using the healthful herbs in new ways, including as cocktail ingredients, which a recent customer playfully described as “sneaky medicine.” “It’s about introducing the idea of herbs to people where they might not expect it,” says Dana, “then they can go from there.” For the recent Olanafest (a prestigious celebration of food, art and farming at the 250-acre integrated estate of Hudson River School Painter Frederic Edwin Church) Dana and Michael were asked to design a cocktail using as inspiration the surrounding orchards, meadows and woodlands of the historic site.

Local mixologists and chefs are beginning to take notice as well. “We’re always experimenting with ways to get [the herbs] into food.” Their current line-up of products includes infused oils and salts—even soda kits. Plans for a food truck selling their products and serving foods showcasing fresh herbs are in the works.

The “pharm” at Field Apothecary.

Outside, the air rich with the earthy scent of herbs basking in the late summer sun, we strolled through the rows as Dana named the plants and encouraged us to touch and smell them. For me, she filled a bag with clippings of lemon balm, shiso, mint and three types of holy basil. “Our goal is just to get people to walk through the gate—to get them into the garden,” she said.  “One or two things might catch their interest, but then they’ll discover a lot of things on their own. There’s a whole discovery that takes place.” After an afternoon of sipping tea, wandering the grounds and imbibing in Field Apothecary’s heavenly aromas, we couldn’t help but feel infused with herbs ourselves. And while there isn’t an actual gate (Dana and Michael have a open policy with their animal neighbors), I detected a distinct bounce in my step on my way out of the garden.

Check out all of our Field Apothecary products on our Wellness and Kitchen channels.

Anti-Anxie-Tea Tin	Burnout Resistance	Sage Salt

Lisa Kelsey is a Dutchess County, NY-based art director. Her radio shows “Stirring the Pot” on home cooking, and “Spice: The Final Frontier” on herbs and spices, can be heard on Pawling Public radio. paulingpublicradio.org

Preston Schlebusch is the collaboration of Lisa Preston and Nils Schlebusch who started recording the world through travel photography nearly 16 years ago. Lisa is American born but raised in Mexico and Nils is Franco-German with a dash of Estonian but raised in Spain. So the two are latin at heart!   From their first adventure to Cuba to start their career to their latest trip to Vancouver for a ski story their main joy is stoking the fire of their curiosity for the culture and people they meet on their travels.  Nils loves adventure, Lisa sometimes stresses about weather but they both feel blessed to have chosen a job that gives them the opportunity to look for the beauty in the world.

“Wildman” Steve Brill, who had an interest in healthful gourmet cooking, was out for a bike ride when he came across a group of ethnic Greek women dressed in black among the greenery in Cunningham Park, Queens. As he likes to tell it, “I asked them what they were doing but it was all Greek to me!” He went home with grape leaves, which he stuffed “and they were delicious.” When I met Brill, I thought in some ways he could be the spiritual son of Gibbons—he is quite the raconteur. Brimming with enthusiasm, he delivers his wisdom with a unique sense of humor. On the mullein plant (sometimes referred to as cowboy toilet paper), he has this to say on his website: “Women who were forbidden to use make-up for religious reasons rubbed the rough leaves of this rubefacient on their cheeks, to create a beautiful red flush. People who spend time in the woods are attracted to mullein’s large, velvety leaves when they run out of toilet paper, again creating a beautiful red flush on their cheeks.” He has been foraging and leading tours since 1982, has written several guidebooks and wild edible cookbooks, and has produced a master foraging app for mobile devices, “Wild Edibles Plus.”

At left, “Wildman” Steve Brill (image courtesy Steve Brill); at right, the spoils collected by a participant in one of Brill’s Central Park foraging tours (image credit: Fred Benenson).

On a recent tour with him on the Appalachian Trail in Pawling New York, I was surprised when two members of our group reported being accosted by an irate hiker who was not happy to see them digging up burdock plants. The familiar admonishment issued by many parks services, “take only pictures, leave only footprints,” needs to be revised. Many harvestable plants are actually invasive species. Picking endangers few.

The flora of the Appalachian Trail in New York. Image credit: Renee McGurk.

I would agree with Brill that nature is not a museum to be viewed from behind a velvet rope. Nothing gives you a greater sense of place and respect for nature than being able to gain sustenance from it. “I haven’t seen any danger to the environment from 31 years of foraging repeatedly in the same places with large groups… no decline in the dandelions, lamb’s quarters, burdock, sassafras, or chicken mushrooms anywhere we’ve been harvesting these renewable resources.” He recently led a record-breaking 81-person tour in New York’s Central Park. “The mowers will still be moving in to cut down the same ‘weeds’ we’d eaten. Of all the threats to the environment we’re facing, ecological harvesting of common weeds doesn’t even make the list.”

Many of the local foragers I interviewed and have met online (or in the woods) cite Wildman Steve Brill as the person who introduced them to collecting edible wild plants. Among them is Ava Chin. As a child, Chin remembers pulling up field garlic from her apartment courtyard in Queens. On her first walk with Brill in Central Park years later, she says, “Learning that so many of the ubiquitous weeds from my childhood were edible was a revelation.” Chin, who was going through personal difficulties at the time, found that foraging provided an antidote to her fears and sense of failure. “It provided insight into nature’s timing and cycles, and helped me to see the world as a place of beauty and abundance.” Now, in addition to being an English professor at the College of Staten Island CUNY, she writes about the wild edibles that grow in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene/Clinton Hill area as the Urban Forager for the local section of The New York Times. Field garlic was the first plant she profiled. You can find her recipes and learn about her foraging adventures in NYC and environs at foragergirl.com.

Field garlic. Image credits: Anna Kika and The Biodiversity Library.

Foraging is a matter of economic necessity in many parts of the world. Even in Europe people tend to know where and when to look for local wild foods like asparagus, but in the United States people are just starting to catch up. Wild foods have always been billed as healthy, but not until recently has it become known just how much more nutritious than cultivated foods they can be.

Jo Robinson’s new book, Eating on the Wild Side, recently excerpted in The New York Times, has created quite a buzz. The book isn’t about foraging for wild foods per se, but it is a guide to finding and using foods in the produce aisle that most resemble their wild counterparts. Robinson explains how we have unknowingly bred many of the nutritious qualities out of the vegetables and fruits we eat. Based on ten years of research and analysis, she compares and contrasts the nutritional profiles of wild plants and their cultivated cousins, like dandelion greens, which have seven times more phytonutrients than the “superfood” spinach. One could extrapolate that adding even small amounts of highly nutritious wild foods to your diet can have quite a substantial benefit.

This new information may make the latest wave of interest last longer than in the past. Steve Brill also credits the effect of information technology. Facebook groups like “Foraging for Everyone,” “Forager’s Unite!” and “Edible Wild Plants” provide forums where people can trade recipes and help each other identify plants. “People can communicate with each other, whether they’re preppers, vegans, freegans, environmentalists, science geeks, or parents with nature-hungry kids.” Ava Chin would also add to the mix foodies excited by recent culinary trends.

Beet and crab salad with purselane from New York City’s Print Restaurant.

Innovative Nordic cuisine has been inspiring the use of foraged foods in high-end restaurants. René Redzepi of Denmark’s Noma, voted best restaurant in the world for the past three years, may have started the culinary ball rolling by featuring items like deep fried moss, sea buckthorn leather, and wood sorrel granita on his menu. US restaurants that emphasize local ingredients are now increasingly adding wild foraged foods to their menus. Many even employ foragers or buy from full-time professional ones. Meghan Boledovich, a menu consultant and “urban forager” for Print Restaurant in New York City, procures chickweed, lamb’s quarters, and other wild foods from local farm distributors who now include them on their availability lists. Aside from their health benefits and the new spectrum of flavors they offer, they are the ultimate local food, and they’re also hyper-seasonal: “Some things can only be found for a week or two; they really give a sense of the place (terroir) and time to the diner,” says Meghan, who also notes that it can be challenging to translate to the customer what certain things are, but “luckily certain wild foods like ramps and purslane have become popular, so I think the baseline knowledge and curiosity is there.”

A White and Green Asparagus Pine dish served at Copenhagen’s famed restaurant Noma. Image credit: Sarah Ackerman.

If you’re interested in foraging, the free version of Wildman Steve Brill’s app, Wild Edibles, which covers the twenty most common backyard species, is a good place to start. You can pick up a guidebook, do research online, or join social network groups to find out more. But the best way to learn safely is to take a tour or class with a forager who has expertise in the plants of your area. Be patient, don’t try to learn everything at once, and never taste-test, as even a small bite of the wrong leaf can have you foraging at the emergency room, which isn’t nearly as fun as your local park or woodland.

Read Part I of our foraging series—Digging Deep: Foraging through History.

Discover the native vegetation of the Catskills with the help of these Catskill Trails Maps:

Lisa Kelsey is a Dutchess County, NY-based art director. Her radio shows “Stirring the Pot” on home cooking, and “Spice: The Final Frontier” on herbs and spices, can be heard on Pawling Public radio. pawlingpublicradio.org.

“A weed is a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

I was raised in the country and I wanted my children to have the benefit of a clean, natural environment as well—that was one of the major reasons my husband and I decided to relocate to the Hudson Valley from Manhattan. I spent my childhood wandering among widely spaced oaks, amid the scent of wild oat grass drying in the sun. The golden hills of northern California did not prepare me for the expanse of lush greenery that confronted me on walks in the woods near our new house in a watershed area of the Hudson Valley. Wherever I look, vegetation of all kinds seems to coil and climb and tower over everything. The vigorous growth of weeds in my garden, their ability to grow seemingly overnight, often makes me feel I am battling some kind of interplanetary spore invasion in a science fiction movie. I have jokingly said to my husband, if only we could just eat the weeds and forget about planting vegetables!

The lush, fertile hills of the Hudson Valley. Image credit: Robert Rodriguez, Jr.

All kidding aside, there are many edible (albeit uninvited) plants growing right in my backyard. I recently spotted a plant reminiscent of miner’s lettuce, whose round bright green leaves I recalled munching while hiking with a guide in the Pacific coastal forest. My young son grabbed a handful and, crushing the leaves in his tiny hands, announced that it was garlic. He was right about the scent—it was allium petiolata, or garlic mustard. It wasn’t miner’s lettuce, but it was edible. And so began my quest to pull that wild mass of green into focus by identifying the plants that grow around us, and more importantly, which ones we can eat.

A field of garlic mustard. Image credit: Flickr user Carsten aus Bonn.

Foraging for wild foods has become the latest extension of the “eat local” movement. People are scouring their backyards, nearby pastures or even urban parks for edible weeds, berries, and roots. It’s not a new activity but one of the oldest—older than civilization itself. As humans we spent the better part of 100,000 years as hunters and gatherers. Foraging is deeply embedded in our genes and it formed the primeval basis of our relationship to what grows around us. Exploiting nature’s bounty continued after the arrival of agriculture. In our area, Native Americans foraged wild foods to supplement their cultivated corn, squash, and beans. Acorns, sunflowers, plums, grapes, wild sweet potato, black walnuts and pokeweed, among many others, were gathered from the wild. Early settlers in New England foraged for berries similar to those they recognized from their homeland, but most of them probably weren’t putting cattails and acorns to good use. Sadly, with the pushing out of Native Americans, the heritage of wild food foraging was largely lost.

Various plants traditionally foraged by Native Americans in New England. Clockwise from top-left: the purple fruit of the pokeweed plant (image credit: Dennis Blythe); the flower of the wild sweet potato (image credit: Cody Hough); wild grapes (image credit: Tonreg); acorns (image credit: Focx Photography).

Wild Fruits: Thoreau’s Last Rediscovered Manuscript, a collection of essays based on Henry David Thoreau’s observations of the fruit and nut trees, berries, and other plants growing wild near his home in Concord, Massachusetts, was published posthumously in 2001. In these pre-Civil War era writings, Thoreau was already lamenting the fact that our native huckleberries and wild apples were being neglected in favor of exotic imported fruits like bananas and pineapples. He pondered the spiritual nature of gathering local wild foods. “Do not think, then, that the fruits of New England are mean and insignificant while those of some foreign land are noble and memorable. Our own, whatever they may be, are far more important to us than any others can be,” Thoreau wrote. “They educate us and fit us to live here. Better for us is the wild strawberry than the pine-apple, the wild apple than the orange, the chestnut and pignut than the cocoa-nut and almond, and not on account of their flavor merely, but the part they play in our education.”

From left to right: Henry David Thoreau and Thoreau’s Cove at Walden, Concord, MA. Image credit: Library of Congress.

Thoreau would have been happy when the back-to-the-land movement of the 1960s renewed interest in wild foods. This was greatly due to Euell Gibbons, an endearing storyteller who captured the imagination of a generation. His first book on foraging, Stalking the Wild Asparagus, became an instant best seller when it was published in 1962. But Gibbons was no longhaired idealist. He was born in Texas in 1911, less than 50 years after Thoreau died. He spent most of his childhood in the parched hills of New Mexico and learned about plants from his mother. At times during the Depression when his father couldn’t find work, Gibbons provided for his family by foraging in the hills for mushrooms, piñon nuts, and yellow prickly pear. He had only a sixth-grade education but continued to teach himself by reading nature guides in libraries, asking locals how they used wild foods and seeking out the knowledge of experts.

According to veteran forager and author John Kallas, that garlic mustard my son picked is one of the most nutritious greens ever analyzed. It’s higher in fiber, beta carotene, vitamins C and E, and zinc than practically any other leafy green. There are lots of ways to use it, but I like to give it a whir in the food processor and make a nice pesto—it makes a peppery sandwich spread or you can toss it with pasta and fresh tomatoes.

Garlic Mustard and Walnut Pesto

Although garlic mustard has a nice peppery bite, I like to boost the garlic flavor by adding some garlic cloves, leaves, or scapes.

3 cups garlic mustard leaves, stems and seed pods (if any) removed, washed and drained well
3 cloves of garlic (or you can use chopped tender garlic scapes or leaves), chopped
1 cup walnuts
¾ cup olive oil or more for the consistency you prefer
½ cup grated Parmesan or Grana Padano cheese
Salt to taste

In a food processor, pulse garlic mustard leaves, walnuts, and cheese to make a paste. With the motor running, drizzle in the olive oil until the pesto reaches the desired consistency Add salt to taste and blend again.

Read Part II of our foraging series—A Walk on the Wild Side.

Discover the native vegetation of the Catskills with the help of these Catskill Trails Maps:

Lisa Kelsey is a Dutchess County, NY-based art director. Her radio shows “Stirring the Pot” on home cooking, and “Spice: The Final Frontier” on herbs and spices, can be heard on Pawling Public radio. pawlingpublicradio.org.

When I was a girl growing up in California, whales fascinated me. It was the 1970s, the heyday of Greenpeace and knowing whales existed is inseparably entwined in my mind with the knowledge that these majestic creatures were being hunted to extinction. As soon as I could, I went to work for Greenpeace selling “Save the Whale” bumper stickers door to door. Since then, many species have rebounded and have been snatched from the jaws of oblivion. What does this have to do with your favorite summer tomato? Stick with me.

Most people are aware that the extinction of animals is still a threat throughout the world but according to a study published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, we have also lost an astounding 75 percent of our plant species since 1900. The advent of industrial agriculture has had a substantial impact. To save on cost and labor, vast single-crop fields are planted in the same place year after year, and genetically identical hybrids have been developed for higher yield and resistance to pests. This efficiency has come at a great cost.

“How to Grow Flowers and Seeds,” a handbook published by Rockford Seed Farms in 1918. At right, a spread with information on the cultivation of tobacco, turnips, and wonderberries.

As large corporations have gained control of seed production, the industrial hybrids have increasingly crowded out many of the local varieties farmers used to grow on their land. A 1903 seed catalog lists 400 varieties of pea — compare that to Burpee (a seed catalog in existence since 1881), which now lists 22. Our grandparents’ tables were laden with a selection of fruits and vegetables they grew themselves or that local farmers had success with, many would have been particular to their region. The U.N. report also reveals a staggering statistic about the lack of diversity in our eating habits: a whopping 60 percent of the calories obtained from plants for human consumption come from just three crops: rice, corn, and wheat.

A tiny seed that produces a quirky variety of tomato may not seem as glamorous as a California condor or grey whale, but we should be every bit as concerned about its disappearance. These seeds that have been passed down for generations are called “heirloom” seeds for a good reason — they are extremely valuable.

The rise of large single-crop fields in modern agriculture has resulted in a fall in the biodiversity of plant species. Image credit: flickr user JSmith Photo.

Throughout most of human history, seed saving helped maintain farms and gardens. With a kind of human-assisted natural selection, the seeds from the best tasting and producing plants were saved and replanted, developing more and more dependable crops each year while weak varieties were bred out. The seeds were open-pollinated. In other words, the plants were pollinated by nature itself: birds, wind, and insects. They were genetically diverse because pollination between individual plants was not controlled. That’s a good thing, because as seeds are planted year after year they adapt to local conditions and become more resistant to pests. Unlike hybrid seeds, under the right conditions these open-pollinated seeds remain true-to-type, meaning they produce the same recognizable product year after year.

These seeds traveled along with the huge diaspora of people as they moved from place to place in search of a better life, or sadly, with those who were forced to relocate. Immigrants often brought seeds with them even if they weren’t farmers because they provided the perfect little cultural package — small, portable, durable — a link back home and a promise of future sustenance.

For variety alone, it would be sad to lose the heirloom seeds that our ancestors labored to pass down throughout the generations. Think of a cheese plate. When you put together a cheese platter, you try to include a variety of textures and flavors, an aged cheese like a Comté, a soft one like the luscious Brillat-Savarin, and an earthy blue Stilton. You wouldn’t want a platter that consisted of only commercially produced cheese like sliced American.

Barry Estabrook, author of “Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit,” sees great value in growing heirlooms to create independence from corporate seed companies and maintain varieties. More than 100 heirloom tomato varieties are currently being grown and analyzed at the University of Florida in an attempt to breed taste back into industrial tomatoes. “If no one would have saved those seeds, the genes that create those tastes would have been lost,” says Estabrook.

But there are many more reasons why we should be concerned with loss of diversity in the food supply. With the disappearance of these harvested plants, we also lose the culinary traditions associated with them. Collateral endangerment of animals that are a part of their ecosystem is lost as well. There is evidence that those vast fields of genetically identical crops, called monocultures, are a contributing factor of “colony collapse disorder” which is currently plaguing the honeybee. Recent studies have shown the bees are not able to get adequate nutrition from the drastically reduced diversity of plant life available to them. The more genetically diverse our food supply is, the safer it is. Monoculture agriculture leaves entire crops vulnerable to being wiped out. The blight that caused the infamous potato famine was present in other European countries, but it had a much more devastating effect on Ireland because unlike elsewhere, their crops consisted almost entirely of a single variety of potato, the Irish Lumper. Also raising an alarm is the fact that multi-national companies are increasingly monopolizing control of seed — and don’t even get me started on GMOs (genetically modified organisms).

Seedlings beginning to grow in the hoop house at The Hudson Valley Seed Library. Image credit: Hudson Valley Seed Library.

Seed Savers Exchange, a non-profit organization that maintains thousands of heirloom varieties, originated with the simple gift of seeds: Grandpa Ott’s morning glory and a tomato called German Pink. The seeds were brought from Germany by the founder’s great grandfather in the 1870s. Seed Savers Exchange and a rapidly growing number of other seed companies and nonprofits are working to preserve and share America’s endangered heirloom seeds and plants. Many seed saving organizations have a strong regional focus, like The Hudson Valley Seed Library, which sells seeds and starters native to the Northeast and also gives tours and classes on gardening and seed saving.

A collection of Rooftop Ready Seeds.

Even city dwellers are getting in on the action. Zach Pickens of Rooftop Ready Seeds is nurturing plants that will grow well in another challenging climate, urban rooftop gardens. Zach began growing and processing his seeds simply as a way to save money but soon noticed another benefit. “As time went on, I realized some of my crops grew better and better every year… because I was selecting seed from the crops that grew the best in my particular climate — a very unique one, on a roof, in containers, in high wind and extreme sun exposure.” Not all of Pickens’ seeds are classified as heirlooms, but his plants will be the heirlooms of the future, hoping that his seeds will help urban gardens continue to thrive and grow. “The more people that have success in their gardens, the more will replant next year and grow their gardens bigger.”

Yellow and green heirloom squash. Image credit: flickr user Lawrence Farmers Market.

A Google image search of “heirloom squash” yields an eye-dazzling spectrum of colors — carroty orange, sunny yellow, dusky green. Textures and patterns abound from stripes and speckles to snaky or star-shaped. Nature seemingly has no limit to its playful production of form, shaping an endless array of different combinations. The sheer abundance appeals to my artistic sensibility in the same way the many different kinds of seashells delighted me as a child. And like the child I was, as an adult (and a gardener) I want to collect them all. I can plant, harvest, and cook some of these plants, saving seeds from my best producers to replant next year. And when I do, I will be contributing directly to their survival. And that gives me a much better feeling than selling bumper stickers. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.