Field Notes from Jess ~ Rewilding in 2021 | Week 24/52 | Spring
Jun 06, 2021
Field notes from Jess ~ Rewilding in 2021 | Week 24 of 52 | Forest Foraging 
Salmon berries, thimble berry leaves, minors lettuce & wild rose 
Salmon berries, thimble berry leaves, minors lettuce & wild rose I have never been able to successfully harvest salmon berries as the birds and critters usually get them before I do...until yesterday. The forest fairies were feeling generous, as I was led to a dense thicket of the most beautiful orange and red colored salmon berries ~ Magical! The flowers are edible and have a sweet taste, perfect as a garnish. Salmon berries are the first to ripen and let us know that we are entering berry season!
Along the trail I collected all the delectables to complete my dinner: Miners lettuce, wild rose, thimble berry petals and new spring shoots from the Rose family, Rubus genus. I planned an evening forage so that I could capture the light of sunset but the excitement of my discoveries kept me in the forest well into dusk. After returning home, I unpacked all of my food treasures and began my masterpiece. The process: Warm-up a coconut flour tortilla in grass-fed butter. Spoon on homemade nettle pesto, add copious amounts of hemp hearts, layer with wild plants from the forest.
My senses were delighted after adding the rose petals and salmon berries. Color explosion for the eyes and a total party for the taste buds. This was absolutely delicious, slightly sweet and salty.
The forest is lush and green right now as we just had a big rainfall in the last two days. There is so much to enjoy and the gifts of food are offered generously in the spring. I clipped about 24 Thimbleberry leaves and brought these back in my pack basket. I will be making Pacific Northwest style Dolmas this week and they are currently soaking in apple cider vinegar.
Thank you forest fairies, I will bring you back some dolmas for you to enjoy and will leave it on a wee little leaf plate 
