Turn Over a New Leaf...and Eat It!

Would any of you like to harvest, prepare, and eat some of Florida's wild plants? You won't get rich (financially), foraging for edible wild plants. But, you can enjoy some good eating, deepen your appreciation of the diverse wealth of the land, and make a connection with its earlier human inhabitants. And it never hurts to have another reason to visit your woods on a beautiful fall (or winter, spring, or summer) day.

If this sounds like your cup of yaupon ^* tea we suggest that you join the Florida Native Plants Society; PO Box 680008; Orlando, Florida; 32868. You can learn a great deal by attending field trips and lectures held by the society's chapter in your part of the state. To help get you started, the society has published a useful booklet, "Florida's Incredible Wild Edibles" by Richard J. Deuerling and Peggy S. Lance, available to members and non-members for around $7.00. (Years ago a group of Boy Scouts went on 153 mile, 13 day survival hike across Florida. Carrying no food with them, they depended on what they could find in the wilds. It is said that the one boy who had been "coached" by Mr. Deuerling gained weight during the hike!)

Also, Soloman Crawford, whose business slogan we borrowed for the above heading, holds "wild foods seminars" on his wooded property on Orange Lake in Marion Co. For seminar dates and prices, contact Soloman Crawford; 1993 NW 186 ^th St.; Citra, Florida; (904) 595-4131.

If you're new at plant identification it may take some practice before you can be rightfully confident that a given plant is what you think it is. Mr. Crawford tells about a couple of his pupils who came back from a plant identification test with an "elderberry bush", or so they thought. It was really a highly poisonous water hemlock plant ( Cycuta maculata )--and to the trained eye it didn't look much like an elderberry bush ( Sambucus canadensis ). Be careful. Make your first few wild plant harvesting excursions in the company of an experienced forager.

* Oven toast leaves of yaupon ( Ilex vomitoria ), a common native shrub, and steep in hot water to make a mildly-caffeinated beverage.