In the Forest, Food is Free!
Nature is my teacher and I'm learning that food is free in the forest. Instead of spending time in the woods, I like to think of it as more of an investment. Nature gives more than she receives. Nature is open-source. She offers her abundance with the world and her seeds adapt to their environment, sharing their wisdom freely for the benefit of all. Amazing!
After a hike, I always feel renewed and am often inspired with creative insights or new ideas. The forest has the ability to clear your mind of old thoughts, creating space for new ways of thinking and perceiving. In the peace of natural surroundings, I want to explore life's simple mysteries and things we often take for granted.
As we return to our daily lives, we can bring this prosperous vision back to our communities. We can shift our thinking and start planting the seeds for a future where abundance is normal. Small and simple acts can ripple out to catalyze change. A front yard garden can be the spark that inspires a neighbor to start growing their own food. You never know who you may inspire next!
We are a part of nature and it is a part of us. Growing up in the city, I had to make an effort to get into a truly natural surrounding. I found solace at the edge of my backyard, where things got a little overgrown. If we even let a small corner of the yard grow wild, it creates a space in which we can start to observe and learn. Our new discoveries then help us co-create with nature and open new realms of possibility.
Imagine a world where all of our needs were met by open source solutions; unleashing a new level of global creativity for all of humanity. Let's plant the seeds for this new normal.
Here I am in GIF form out in nature, eating FREE FOOD! Mmmm, wild blackberries! Have you had them this year?
What is your favorite place to recharge? What are your favorite wild foods or edible "weeds"?
Make it an awesome day!
Onward and Upwards,
John
I feel very connected to what you write in this post!
Nature has so much great to provide, thanks for inspiring us to use it.
My favorite place to recharge must be laying in my hammock in the forest, in front of a bonfire, or at my cabin by the fjord.
That sounds like a magical place to recharge indeed! Cabin by the fjord sounds epic too! You should share some photos of your journey. Onward and upward, through the woods!
LOVE the gif at the end! Inspiring words :)
Glad you liked it! :) GIF making may be a new black hole of awesomeness.
Thanks for the great post. Back in the 80's I had a business foraging herbs.It was not all rosy on the harvest side. We had clearcut foragers that would take all the plants in a patch. Some spies this is not a problem depending on what you harvest. Arnica for example you can harvest all the flower buds every harvest for the first two picking. The plant is actually the patch it has interconnection roots. Doing so expands the patch.
Other plants are not so forgiving.
When I was teaching foragers I would inform them proper Identification, Patch size to expand, What they could do to expand the patch.The part to harvest and how much without effecting the patch to leave no footprint. even with ethical foragers. This could lead to destruction of the patch. As if you processes the protocol especially the footprint a growing number of foragers. May not know you were there. Though they would never take it all they may reduce the patch to the point it no longer thrives.
I attempted to get industry support on a certification and patch registration program but got no were with that.
When Harvesting in the wild you need to 'farm' it the way you would do your own gardens. Hawthorn I would prune the way I would do in the garden. opening the plant for light harvest ability etc.
I had to quit as the money was only there in the large pharmaceutical projects. Nettle Max was one such project I did that was ethically sound. Things have evolved now though the are more that are interested in quality ethics rather than price.
@shantamcbain, I am a huge fan of this comment! Thank you for sharing! I would love to know more about foraging and it sounds like you are quite the fountain of information on the topic! I am just a novice in this area... always asking Google for help to make sure I am harvesting correctly. I grew up in a city with hardly any interaction with herbs, or plants so this is fairly new to me but I love absorbing everything I can and am going to follow, hopefully I can learn some more from you!
Thanks for sharing, I'll be looking out for more information on this!
Have a great day! :)
XO
heart-to-heart
Thank you for the kind comments. I has been some time since I was a forager. I began as I traveled from healing arts into foraging. I began to put my personal herbarium into electronic form A task far from complete. Over time it gone typed and hand written sheets to a word purfo t document to HTML documents and now in a database. The ap;ication started on http://forager.com The current version is on http://usbm.ca and the bee version on http://beemaster.ca
Wow, well thanks for sharing those resources with me. I can't wait to take a look! It sounds like I have a lot to learn and you have much to teach. Happy to have connected with you today! :)
We all have things to share. Each has their own story based on their experience in life. My sites and application is a tool for us all to share.
Hope what Is there is informative to you and feel free to join and share. I am looking into incorporating the steemit system to 'pay' for contributions.
Thank you for sharing your journey and experience! I look forward to learning more from you. I definitely want to be as conscious and ethical about wild harvesting as can be, always looking to help renew any areas I harvest from. Lately, I only ever harvest things in great abundance but would like to continue to learn how to best be of service to the local ecosystem.
There is an app for the Iphone that I downloaded for helping to identify plants or wild edibles. It allows you to take a picture of the plant and post it to the app and then someone will comment to help identify it for you. It is kinda cool and needs to be more publicly advertised. Thanks for sharing your post
Wow, that is awesome! The power of the hive mind can do anything. I have an android, so I wonder if there's something similar for that platform. Or we could start a plant identification tag or group on steemit or steemit.chat?
what a brilliant idea. I am game.
Yup, the kids love blackberry picking time. Always makes going for a walk more exciting :) Red buds are a favorite too.
Nice! I only learned a couple years ago that you could eat the Redbud flowers. Mmm, I can almost taste them now!
Wonderful, I wish I could go pick my local mountain blackberries this instant! Resteeming
Thank you! Do you live near mountains? Which ones?
Hi! Yes, I live right at the foot of the San Bernardino Mountains /National Forest. This is the southernmost bit of the Sierra Nevada range. Here is a recent post I did of my favorite berrying spot. https://steemit.com/life/@creationofcare/mountain-home-creek-riparian-wonderland It wasn't ready then, but I hope to find luscious blackberries there next time I head up! Thanks again for your delightful article :)
Awesome! Get back there soon before the birds beat you to 'em! :)
Hehe, not to mention BEARS!
Indeed! Just saw a little black bear the other day.
Wow! :)
I don't horde food any more because I know there is so much out there. Knowledge certainly is power :)
Right on! Indeed, learning how to identify the abundance all around us is the way to go!
that is a cool tank top and where is that planter located?
Soy tu tio
Thank you! The planter is in Brooklyn put out by the local Food is Free Project there. It was from a couple years ago, so I don't know if it's still there. I'd love to find out!
It'll be great if it is still there and not by itself but with a couple more close to it.
Where else have people placed planters like this. This is awesome
I sure hope it's expanded and multiplied into a few more gardens! The project started as a front yard that then inspired me and my neighbors to line our block in front yard gardens and share the harvest. We used salvaged materials and blogged about our mistakes and successes, open sourcing the vision. Now over 350 cities around the world have started Food is Free Projects, growing and sharing food. We're all learning from each other and sharing inspiration/ideas. :)
no way, I will look to see if there is any in Sacramento CA
Awesome! If not, you can start a Food is Free Project. It all starts with that first front yard or visible community garden. From there, you'll start sparking connections with others and it will evolve and grow. Even just sharing your ideas about where to grow and share food in your community with your neighbors and friends will start conversations that open up doors. Let me know if I can offer any advice along the way!
I will for sure, yeah I was thinking about the planters I can do a little one just right outside our apartment door like a fence for the plants and use some dirt that is there already and have it outside with lots of herbs so other ppl can take too and get the feeling and hopefully get some others going :D
Totally do it! Take a before and after photo from the same spot and then again after it's overflowing with herbs. That would be such a cool thing to see. You will definitely inspire new gardeners and may well connect with some others who would want to lend a hand or offer some seeds/tools/compost. Stay in touch about your ideas!
Those berries look so good! I'm currently waiting for our grapes to turn fully purple. Last year we had so much fun sharing giant bunches with the neighbors and our family. Yay for the good earth!
Wow, that sounds amazing! Please share photos on here when it's harvest time. Yay for the good Earth indeed!
I definitely will. Have a great day.
Looking forward to that future post! How cool would a time lapse video of the grapes ripening be, starting off as flowers, then slowly growing and changing color.
That would be cool. Too bad the passionflower vine is trying to upstage the grapes. The bees love it though, so I let the vines fight it out.
I love passion flower! Have you ever tried making a tea out of it? I think to fruit it needs 2 varieties of passion vine, do you know if that's right?
I'm not sure. The vine just started growing near the grape a few years ago. It has fruit though. Do you make tea from the flowers or the fruit?
The flowers will become the fruit, so I've heard of making tea from the leaves but I'm sure you could also use the flowers. They may be different strengths but I know it has a very relaxing, calming effect.
I love the positive energy that I can feel radiating through this post!! Thank you for sharing :)
Also PS I just followed you and looked at your profile. My motto is "Plant seeds and sing songs"!! I have a sticker that says that on the back of my vehicle :)
Epic! I used to have that sticker on my old car and I've always resonated with that phrase. Great to be connected on here. Keep singing and planting!
Thank you for sharing that! We are all transmitters of frequency and I'm a big fan of high vibrations. :) Great to connect.