How does one mark the arrival of spring when the entire winter is full of flowers? With more flowers for one thing, and the late-night fragrance of citrus blossoms teasing into my bedroom window. But there are other reminders that, over the thousands of years when survival for the people living in the Galilee was … Read More »
edible wild plants
Winter in Eden
In my last post, I talked about the “hakura” – the Arabic term for a kitchen garden next to the home, which was once traditional in rural Arab villages in the Galilee (and is, like so many other such traditions, becoming a thing of the past). Now I’d like to report on our own hakura, … Read More »
What You See
A few days ago, Balkees and I spent the day with a journalist from Israel’s top food magazine, as she prepared an article about the edible wild plants that are now in season. We started the morning in the village that Balkees grew up in, tromping through the lush greenery in the vast field behind … Read More »
Chicory Comes of Age
In a recent post, I wrote about my coming of age as a forager, marked by my ability to recognize wild chicory. Now I thought it would be interesting to show what happens when chicory comes of age. It’s late spring and the edible wild plants have pretty much closed up shop, shedding their tender … Read More »
A Bitter Coming of Age
This winter has been the occasion of my foraging coming of age. I’ve been gathering edible wild plants in the hills, fields and empty lots around my home for a number of years now. At first, I could identify only the most distinctively shaped plants, and my gathering repertoire was limited to wild asparagus and … Read More »