Spring is in the air. Can you feel it? This year, more than any other in the past, spring means something to me. Living in rural Missouri has helped me to get more in touch with nature, something which I feel has even given me a deeper appreciation of life in general. Winter has been bleak and long, as I’m sure many of you have experienced. The leaves fall away, the grass turns brown, and the sun doesn’t seem to do its job. But when spring arrives, everything bursts into life. The flowers and trees start to bloom and the world comes alive as the animals come out from hiding and the newborns arrive.
I have to admit, though, that up until recently, spring didn’t really mean much to me. To me, spring was simply the transition from winter to summer, from cold to hot, nothing more. I’ve always spent a lot of my time indoors. Even today, I spend much of my time on the computer.
The other day, I was driving through the countryside. As I drove, I noticed the scenery was filled with redbud trees and forsythia in bloom (something like in the first photo). I couldn’t help but be moved by its beauty. I asked myself, “Where did these come from? Have I really never noticed them my whole life until now?”
With the spring comes another fun hobby of mine: FORAGING. Maybe it is because my Chinese zodiac animal is the rat. I don’t know, but it started last summer for me, when I discovered all the mushrooms and other edible goods growing nearby. Also, last summer I took a course in herbology and studied about different wild plants and their medicinal values. Ever since then, it has become a hobby and joy of mine to discover nature’s treasures.
Wood Ear Mushrooms (Sometimes called Black Fungus)
And there are so many! Last week, we took a family outing in search of morels (a very sought after mushroom). We didn’t find any, but we found something else that was just as exciting, a mushroom called “wood ear”. In truth, I didn’t know what it was until we looked it up later, but these jelly-like mushrooms have long been used in Chinese medicine due to their medicinal qualities. It turns out that I’d eaten them before in a Korean dish, but I just didn’t realize what it was at the time. Once I knew where to look, I ended up finding a whole bunch of it, enough that we used it in our soup that night and dried the rest for future use. By the way, many mushrooms are poisonous so please forage responsibly.
Wild Garlic
Mushrooms are just one small way that nature provides us abundance. I don’t know about where you live, but here in Missouri you will find wild garlic literally growing everywhere. It grows in public parks, people’s lawns, and all over the countryside. Garlic already has many known benefits, probably the most well-known of which is that it is a natural antibiotic. This is so great to know since synthetic antibiotics tend to destroy the beneficial gut bacteria. AND it could be growing in your front yard.
This year, we also took up making maple syrup. Well, my wife did. She worked with her dad to tap the sugar maple trees around (of which there are plenty). Although it was a bit of work, it was rewarded with a delicious supply of maple syrup, straight from the tree. Just this morning, I happened to read an article on some new research done at the University of Rhode Island regarding pure maple syrup. It turns out that real maple syrup contains a variety of health-promoting compounds including an assortment of minerals and antioxidants. That of course doesn’t mean that you should load yourself up on maple syrup every day, but it is nice to have a sweetener that does something for you other than just satisfying that sweet tooth.
Black Walnuts
I will cover just one more for now, even though I could go on and on. Missouri is full of black walnut trees. I’ve noticed that most people don’t even bother to deal with black walnuts. They just let the walnuts fall to the ground and leave them there to decay. This is so sad, since black walnuts are an excellent source of iodine (and other nutrients that allow the body to use it), which is crucial for proper thyroid function. Nowadays, so many people are suffering from thyroid issues. Eating foods high in iodine is a great way to support the thyroid.
These are just a few ways in which nature has provided so many amazing gifts to us. If you haven’t done so already, make effort this spring to spend some time in nature. Maybe find a mushroom book or a field guide to wild berries and fruits. Also, find out about what kind of herbs or other medicinal plants grow nearby. Just to give you some ideas, here are some things that grow in Missouri:
Berries (Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries, elderberries, mulberries)
grapes, cherries, plums, peaches, persimmons, pears, crabapples, apples
Rose hips
Passionflower
Ginseng
Autumn Olives
Sugar Maple Trees
Slippery Elm Trees
Wild onions and garlic
