Family Foraging

It’s in our DNA to go out in search of food, specifically anything sweet, because our primal selves needed the extra calories from sugars.  Any type of fruit was a bonus to our diet, so our minds associate pleasure and happiness with eating sweet foods.  Fast forward thousands of years when sweets are literally in our face at every cash register and some of us find ourselves with a problem.  I know our household has a serious sweet tooth and it is a constant battle not to take the edge off a long day or stressful moment with a cookie or ice cream.  The reason traditional sweet items are so much better than enhanced sweets like orange juice is because of the fiber and substance that comes with the orange.  This makes us feel full after eating only one orange verses drinking juiced oranges in which one cup would contain up to 3 oranges, that means 3 times the sugar.  So how can we find a line between avoiding sweets all together and giving in to that urge to have something sweet?  The garden of course… I’m sure nobody saw that answer coming.  Growing our own food and collecting it is a great reward in itself and builds many skills in our kids such as patience, confidence, and the sweet taste of victory.  So now let’s take this to the next level, true foraging around the house.

  

Our family recently had the opportunity to visit with our neighbor who knew about some wild black berry bushes growing along the ditches of our community.  A true foraging adventure including an animal attack!  We set off in hope to dig up a few of these plants to transplant them as there are plans to build a development along this ditch and these plants would inevitably be destroyed.  We were amazed at the conditions the black berries were growing in, dry sugar sand that could have practically been on any beach.  In the middle of some weeds and tall grass was a black berry bush just living its best life.  Black berries have tuberous roots so they dug up and transplanted easily, and despite the dry conditions lately they even had a few ripe berries which made a delicious snack during the work.  We did break a shovel, and Janyel was stung by a yellow jacket (her first) which was an unpleasant surprise, but in all we had a fantastic afternoon.  The plants have been transplanted into buckets and put under some water so we will see how it goes from here.  

Despite the loss of a good tool and a ferocious winged attack from deep cover, we found that this was a great way to spend an afternoon, even if there was no huge harvest in store.  That should really be the answer to the sweet tooth some of us are constantly trying to resist, plant something in the yard to go snack on! Not everyone will have access to wild berries growing nearby but your local garden center will have them for sale right now.  Many of us still work from home or even on the weekend find ourselves cooped indoors tending to chores.  Planting some sweet treats around the yard like strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, figs, or sugar snap peas create the opportunity to take a break, stand up, and walk outside to enjoy something that will be healthy for us as well as stimulate our mind and senses.  Getting out of the house and into the garden can reduce stress in less than 20 minutes, eating a fruit will give us a bump of sugar and have substance that will make us feel full, and not just craving another candy.  Everyone’s schedule is different but every hour we spend gardening burns up to 400 calories, so that’s more than enough to cover a little berry foraging during a needed break from work or the house.  Your plantings can be anywhere, don’t think the berries need to be in a raised bed in neat little rows, and the kids will love a scavenger hunt they can go on any time which will be different and exciting every time!  We found our black berries in a sandy ditch, my father keeps his lettuce and spinach growing in an old gutter next to the driveway.  Allow for some creativity so when you go out for a snack in turns into a little garden walk offering up some relaxation and stress release.  With less stress your urge to snack will be less and you’ll feel better all round!