Necessity is a Mother

I've heard it said that, "necessity is the mother of invention."  Actually, Plato said, in The Republic, "Necessity, who is the mother of Invention."  The idea being that if you need to do something, you learn how to do it, fast.  Last week, while I was cooking supper, my daughter ran up the basement stairs and announced, "There's some water down there."  My husband happened to be out of town, so I was the one who learned some things pretty quickly.  I learned:

-that one does not necessarily handle small sudden emergencies very well
-that a drain tile system does not work if the sump pump is not functioning

-that it is really good to have a contractor (and his helpful wife) for a neighbor, even if the contractor happens to be on vacation in Las Vegas 

-that the filter on an industrial wet/dry vac must be removed before one tries to suck up water with it
-that cell phones are good because they enable one to talk long-distance to Las Vegas while one is staring at a wet/dry vac
-that if the filter on a wet/dry vac is not first removed AND the reservoir is not first cleared of sheet rock junk, the machine begins to spew something akin to Portland cement
-that "Portland cement" is contractor talk for "stucco"
-that if Portland cement is poured down a laundry sink, that sink will clog
-that if a sink is clogged it overflows
-that a coat hanger will not clear a stucco clog
-that a toilet plunger can almost clear a stucco clog
-that leaving toys and laundry on the basement floor is a very bad thing
-that toys and laundry get heavier heavy when wet, especially when combined with Portland cement
-that barbie clothes shrink in the dryer
-that a cold beverage is very welcome when one learns many things in a small amount of time

What does this have to do with Dodge and nature, you ask?  Well, not so long ago, people didn't have grocery stores.  Prior to grocery stores, people had to learn how to cultivate food.  And before cultivation, people had to learn how to find food.  The people who migrated over the land we now call Dodge, knew how to forage-- hunger necessitated knowledge (which was likely acquired through some trial and error initially).  Fortunately, most of the guesswork has been taken out of spring foraging at Dodge, which is great because people like Pete Cleary, one of our naturalists, take lots of kids out into the woods to eat, and, well, a mistake could have serious repercussions.  I urge you to take a hungry walk in the forest this spring & summer and look for snacks.  Here is a short list of wild edibles and some resources for "going wild":

-dandelion greens (enjoy in a salad or deep-fried, as we do at Dodge)
-young burdock root (steam & mash like potato; salt liberally)
-morel mushrooms (these are perhaps the tastiest, and easiest mushrooms to id)
-stinging nettle (harvested young, with gloves on; when boiled or sauted it loses its sting)
-ramps (also called "wild leek" and found stream side)
-watercress (found in stream side)
-fiddle head ferns (the brand new shoots of wild fern, shaped like a fiddle's head)
-wild grapes or the new vine tendrils
-raspberries
-wild plums

www.foragersharvest.com
www.doitgreen.org/articles/food/harvesting-wild-food-plants-minnesota
www.dnr.state.mn.us/volunteer/marapr01/edibles.html
www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/dg1133.html
www.wildfoodsummit.org

Books:
Edible & Medicinal Wild Plants of Minnesota & Wisconsin
The Forager's Harvest
A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants

Let us know how the foraging goes!