Year of Plenty: Traditional Foodways
Helping you become more resilient through food. We are more disconnected from our food and drink than ever before! Generational cooking skills and food traditions are slowly withering away, and many of us have no idea where our food is coming from. We explore topics such as food resilience, nutrition, hunting, foraging, homesteading, regenerative farming, and more. Gather around our table and learn how to take control of your food supply chain and fuel yourself with nutrient-dense food.
Year of Plenty: Traditional Foodways
Foraging for Huckleberries, Ground Cherries, and Tumbleweeds | Tips from Wild Food Girl
In this episode of the Year of Plenty Podcast, we sit down with Erica Davis — better known as Wild Food Girl — to explore the fascinating world of wild edible plants. Erica has spent more than a decade teaching, writing, and foraging across the Rocky Mountains and beyond, and she shares her deep knowledge on identification, harvesting, and cooking techniques for some of the most interesting wild foods in North America
Topics We Cover
- How Erica became “Wild Food Girl” and built her online school.
- Dandelion soup (manest), including how to blanch greens to reduce bitterness, recipe variations, and pairing ideas.
- Huckleberry foraging with seasonal timing, elevation tips, species differences, and the regional naming confusion between blueberries and huckleberries.
- Oregon grape, with tips on safe identification, its tart flavor, and how to use it in jelly, wine, and other recipes.
- Tumbleweed (Salsola), how to harvest young shoots, different cooking methods, and the ethics of foraging invasives.
- Kochia “land caviar” (tonburi), including seed processing, rinsing to remove saponins, and creative flavor pairings.
- Ground cherries (Physalis), how to identify species, clear up toxicity myths, know the best harvest times, and find their favorite habitats.
- Foraging safety tips, from avoiding lookalikes to harvesting ethically and steering clear of beginner mistakes.
- The unique challenges and opportunities of foraging in the Intermountain West.
Use code “yearofplenty” for 15% OFF at www.mtblock.com
MY ULTIMATE FORAGING GEAR LIST - Check it out
Leave a review on Apple or Spotify and send a screenshot to theyearofplenty@gmail.com to receive a FREE EBOOK with my favorite food preservation recipes.
Watch the Video Episode on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/live/lH80VIp2b4A?si=yQO1XqW46Dyad8kM
Sign up for the newsletter:
www.theyearofplenty.com/newsletter
Support the podcast via Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/yearofplenty
Subscribe to the Youtube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@yearofplentyvideo
Do you follow the podcast on social media yet?
IG: https://www.instagram.com/poldiwieland/
X: https://x.com/yearofplentypod
I want to hear from you! Take the LISTENER SURVEY: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KZW53R
Connect with Wild Food Girl:
https://wildfoodgirl.com/
