Tarrywile Park
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Here's an urban park with many varied habitats that "Wildman" will be exploring in conjunction with the Danbury Recreation Department that's loaded with early spring shoots and greens. We'll be looking for those cold resistant greens that take advantage of all the sunlight, and lack of competition and herbivores characteristic of this time of year. These include savory dandelion greens, at their best when they first appear; and wild chicory, a close relative; spicy field garlic, with chive-like leaves; chickweed, which tastes like corn-on-the-cob, and daylily shoots, which taste like ingredients you'd find in Chinese food. A great number of tasty wild mustard greens are up and about now. These include winter cress, a wild mustard that tastes like cabbage; and garlic mustard, with garlic-flavored greens and a horseradish-flavored roots. Hairy bittercress is another early-season mustard that grows in wet areas and is way better-tasing than its name would lead you to believe. |
 Hairy Bittercress in Flower Barely hairy and not at all bitter, this spicy green of late winter and early spring is ideal for salads and sandwiches. |
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In addition, we may find culinary and medicinal herbs such as black birch twigs, mullein leaves, yarrow leaves, sassafras roots, and spicebush twigs. They all make wonderful, healing teas, and they're great seasonings.
Root vegetables are in season too. We'll look for burdock, which tastes like a combination of potato and artichoke; wild carrots, way more flavorful than store carrots; and common evening primrose, which has a sweet/hot, radishy flavor. They're all excellent in soups and stews. It's too early for most wild mushrooms, but given lots of rain beforehand and some luck, we could find oyster mushrooms and tree ears, both of which thrive in cold weather. |
 "Wildman" Puts the Bite on Oyster Mushrooms! These flavorful mushrooms taste like seafood when you cook them with the same seasonings used for seafood. |
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The 3-hour walking tour begins at 1 PM Daylight Savings Time, Sunday, March 8, at Tarrywile Park in Danbury, CT, at the entrance near the greenhouse, not at the main entrance.
Call (914) 835-2153 at least 24 hours in advance to reserve a place. |
