Session Woods
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Session Woods is one of the best places for foragers to search for wild foods in late spring. In conjunction with the Burlington Land Trust's, Connecticut Trails's Day weekend celebration, we'll be exploring a large, mature forest, with accompanying thickets, and cultivated areas, that's loaded with wild plants. And the tour and preceding talk are free!
Most roots are out of season, but burdock, an expensive detoxifying herb sold in health food stores, is an exception, and it abounds in human-disturbed areas, and has a tasty root you cook the root like a potato. And this is the peak of the short season for the immature flower stalk, which you peel and parboil it. The result: a vegetable that tastes like artichoke hearts. |
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Burdock Leaves and Immature Flower Stalk Peel and parboil the rod-shaped flower stalk in the center of second-year burdock, and you'll be in for a treat! |
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Sassafras root, the original source of root beer, stays in season all you. You use it for tea, for making root beer, and as a cinnamon-like seasoning. Another tree we'll look for is the black birch. It grows in the woods, has twigs that taste like wintergreen, and provides the raw material for birch beer. You can steep the twigs in hot water to make a fabulous tea, with anti-inflammatory properties similar to aspirin. Or thicken the tea with agar, season and sweeten it, and make black birch Jello! There are plenty of late spring herbs and greens in season at the edge of the woods. We'll find mugwort, a Chinese herb used as a tonic for the female reproductive system. Since I've learned these herbs, I've never suffered a monthly cramp! We also may find greens such as greenbrier, Asiatic dayflower, lady's thumb, lamb's-quarters, and field garlic, all great for salads, sandwiches, and soups. We'll hunt for the flowers and tops of garlic mustard, which taste like garlic, and jewelweed, a panacea for skin irritations that also cures mosquito bites and prevents poison ivy rash. With lots of rain and a bit of luck, gourmet spring mushrooms, such as oyster mushrooms, chicken mushrooms, fairy ring miushrooms, and wine-cap stropharias may be emerging. Don't miss a fantastic tour of this vast underexplored forest. |
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The free 45 minute talk, followed by the free 2-1/2-hour walking tour of Session Woods, begins at 10 AM, Saturday, June 4, at the parking lot at 341 Milford Street (Rte 69), Burlington, CT.
Call (860) 276-7134 or sign up online at least 24 hours in advance to reserve a place. |
