Eco-Friendly Foraging - Plants Walk / Food & Drinks Local Forest Sunday January 20

Want to learn about edible plants and help the environment in the process? Did you know what we are surrounded by wild edible plants and most of them are non-native to Los Angeles and actually invasive?

Very often the same plants are crops in some other countries and yet, locally, the solution is to spray them with chemicals or waste this incredible food resource by uprooting and throwing it away. So sad when you realize that a recent study from the University of California Berkeley identified 52 edible weeds growing in abundance in the poorest neighborhoods of San Francisco. At least six of them were found to be more nutritious than kale, according to that study. Guess what, we'll find most of those nutritious plants during our walk. So let's look at an option that will help the environment, reduce the use of chemicals in nature and nourish us in the process.

In this class, you'll learn about the countless local plants that you can use for food, many of them can be found in your backyard and are considered weed. . We’re taking mustards, lamb’s-quarter (wild spinach), chickweed, European nettles, sorrel, chervil, fennel, horehound (medicinal mint), figs, wild radish, nasturtium, wood sorrel and countless others.

We will walk in the local forest (private property in the Angeles Forest), identify and talk about the culinary and medical uses of those plants. BRING A BAG! Collecting these plants and cooking them at home will be good for that forest. The walk is around 1 1/2 to 2 hours, very slow with lots of stops to talk about and collect the plants. We'll also talk about native plants, their uses and which ones you could plant at home.

Wild food is gourmet food! After the class you will be served delicious snacks and drinks featuring the plants we saw during our walk.

Long pants is a good idea - We have poison oak in the area.

The walk will occur rain or shine (We love rain!) So check the weather and make sure you either have sun or rain protection and stay warm. 25% of the cost will be donated to the animals on the property, maybe we'll even visit and say hello to Herbert the camel.

Location:

We meet in front of a place called Reptacular 8828 Gold Creek Rd, Sylmar, CA 91342 Look for a red Jeep Wrangler near the entrance, we park on the side of the right road a bit further (don't enter the main gate, just drive a bit further) 34°19'09.9"N 118°19'49.1"W Time: From 10 AM to around 1 PM