When most people walk into their backyards, they are unaware they are walking on food, according to a Newmarket, Ont., wild plant advocate.
“Every step you take, depending on where you are and how your backyard looks, you’re looking at a wealth of nutrition,” Karen Stephenson told participants of her Edible Walk and Talk tour Saturday at Ojibway Park.
Stephenson, 51, is touring the province teaching people how to identify, harvest, prepare and store wild edible plants.
The author, who mostly ghostwrites biographies and non-fiction books, said you can’t find the minerals, vitamins, nutrients and phytonutrients — natural chemicals that are found in a variety of plant foods — in any produce in the grocery store.
With rising food costs, Stephenson said it only makes sense for humans to return to wild food, which is abundant and more nutritious.
“It’s critical that we learn this, because slowly but surely there are more and more items on the grocery store shelf that we need to avoid. They are detrimental to our well-being,” she said, before she guided 10 participants on the Ojibway paths pointing out (but not picking) edible plants.
Stephenson said the most common plants people will come across in their backyards are clovers, alfalfa, chickweed, garlic mustard and chicory.
“These are easy to identify and exceedingly good for your body,” she said.
Kris Beneteau, 58, started purposely growing weeds, like lambs quarters, in her backyard after discovering a variety of edible plants near her South Windsor home during the Windsor CUPE strike in 2009 when the city landscape was left ungroomed.
“You walk around the grocery store and you know three-quarters of the food is not in any way, shape or form, natural,” Beneteau said, while she took part in the tour.
Beneteau said two of her three kids will eat the weeds but most people, like her husband and friends, think it’s odd.
“I got into it,” said Beneteau, who began researching wild plants three years ago and no longer buys spinach and salad from the grocery store in the summer. “The more I knew the better I liked it.”
Stephenson has been eating wild plants for six years and said she uses them mostly in salads, teas and oils. Some of the plants she pointed out on the walk were milk thistle (when cooked the leaves can be substituted for spinach) cattail (the lower parts of the leaves can be used in a salad and young stems can be eaten raw or boiled) and garlic mustard (flowers can be chopped and tossed into salad and the roots, which can taste like horseradish at times, can be collected in early spring or late fall).
Before someone starts eating wild plants, Stephenson said they should make sure they have clearly identified the plant through a minimum of three sources and if they are taking prescription medicine they should check with a health professional first.
The plant should also be tested to check for allergies. People can do this by rubbing it on their skin and then lips. Then they should chew it and spit it out. If there is no reaction then it should be OK to eat, she said.
Stephenson also stressed the importance of respecting protected grounds and not picking plants from nature reserves like Ojibway Park.
Eating from the land “is a lost art,” she said.
For more information go to Stephenson’s website at ediblewildfood.com where a list of edible wild plants and recipes can be found.
Karen Stephenson, left, leads a small group on an Edible Walk ‘n’ Talk, pointing out and explaining which plants are edible while at Ojibway Park, Saturday, March 30, 2013. (DAX MELMER/The Windsor Star)
Karen Stephenson, left, leads a small group on an Edible Walk ‘n’ Talk, pointing out and explaining which plants are edible while at Ojibway Park, Saturday, March 30, 2013. (DAX MELMER/The Windsor Star)
Karen Stephenson finds wild strawberry while leading a small group on an Edible Walk n’ Talk, pointing out and explaining which plants are edible while at Ojibway Park, Saturday, March 30, 2013. (DAX MELMER/The Windsor Star)
Karen Stephenson, left, leads a small group on an Edible Walk ‘n’ Talk, pointing out and explaining which plants are edible while at Ojibway Park, Saturday, March 30, 2013. (DAX MELMER/The Windsor Star)
Karen Stephenson, left, leads a small group on an Edible Walk ‘n’ Talk, pointing out and explaining which plants are edible while at Ojibway Park, Saturday, March 30, 2013. (DAX MELMER/The Windsor Star)
Karen Stephenson, left, leads a small group on an Edible Walk ‘n’ Talk, pointing out and explaining which plants are edible while at Ojibway Park, Saturday, March 30, 2013. (DAX MELMER/The Windsor Star)
