Growing Wild - by Vickie Shufer (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Learn to grow an abundance of food and medicine with minimal maintenance! Transform your landscape from an ordinary lawn or meadow into one that nourishes you throughout the year.

Growing Wild goes beyond foraging. It's about working with nature to create ecosystems for the community of plants, animals, and humans. It's about bringing the plants you want to forage into your landscape and giving them a place to grow. You will be guided through the process of determining what plants to grow, the growing conditions, harvesting and processing techniques, and how to use them for food and medicine. Recipes are included to get you started on your journey.

With food prices escalating, more people are taking an interest in growing their own food, but maintaining a traditional garden takes a lot of work. There is an ongoing battle with the weeds and the insects. Nature insists on covering the earth with plants wherever there is bare soil, and with the plants come insects. By mid-summer the traditional gardener is overwhelmed. This is when the wild garden is thriving. The wild garden is a forager's garden and requires little maintenance.

Chapters include:

• Reasons for Growing Wild
• Restoring Wild Plant Communities
• Planning: Before the Beginning
• Earth Time
• Creating Habitat
• Natives in the Landscape
• The Forest Landscape
• Naturalized Aliens
• The Harvest
• The Wild Apothecary

Growing Wild is about blending the wild plants into the landscape alongside the cultivated herbs and vegetables. It's imitating the way Nature grows plants--in patches, not rows. Instead of straight rows with a monoculture crop, there is a range of different types of plants that mingle together and help each other. A forager's garden produces more and more each year with less work. It restores a stable ecosystem that can look after itself, with habitat for wildlife, food, and people and medicine for everyone.

Review Quotes

Praise for Forager's Handbook

"An excellent book on food foraging and herbal medicine for all levels of plant enthusiasts. The author generously and abundantly shares her knowledge of herbalism and wild food foraging. Filled with great recipes, beautiful photos, and a wealth of information, The Forager's Handbook guides us through the seasons, introducing us to local plants for health and healing. The recipes alone make this book worth having--they are many and fabulous!" --Rosemary Gladstar, herbalist and author

"There is something so special about gathering wild foods and herbs and making delicious recipes and tasty teas. For many people, getting started is rather daunting or scary. This detailed book will give you the confidence, knowledge, and recipes needed to become a skilled forager and wild foods aficionado." --David Winston, RH, clinical herbalist and ethnobotanist

"When it comes to wild foods and medicines, Vicki has always been a teacher's teacher. The Forager's Handbook now brings her years of experience into a beautifully illustrated and well-crafted book that is accessible to all levels of plant lovers. The seasonal journey through the year is extremely helpful and the recipes are inviting. With each herb that she discusses, Vickie allows the reader to know this is written by someone who has known the plants for years and therefore is a trustworthy guide to the wonderful world of wild foods." --Kat Maier, author of Energetic Herbalism

"Vickie Shufer is the ultimate forager: knowledgeable, brave, and adventurous. She makes learning fun and accessible no matter your background or age. You will want this book in your backpack!" --Teresa Boardwine, RH (AHG)

"When I first met Vickie Shufer she was knee-deep in a marsh on the North Carolina Outer Banks showing folks how to dig cattail roots and gather wild cranberries. Since that time she has been more than knee-deep in her research and experimentation with edible and medicinal wild plants. Now she shares her expertise in this marvelously comprehensive volume packed full of recipes, foraging advice, botany lessons, as well as descriptions, natural history, and nitty-gritty details of how to use a great variety of our common wild plants." --Doug Elliot, author of Wildwoods Wisdom, Wild Roots, and Swarm Tree

"After spending time with Vicki identifying medicinal plants and foraging in a number of different ecosystems, I know her to be well-seasoned in the subject. The Forager's Handbook certainly shows her expertise in an engaging and informative way. The book elegantly weaves a story about the joys of spending time in nature with down-to-earth information, beautiful illustrations, and delicious 'wild' recipes. I'll be recommending it, not only to all my herbal students far and wide, but everyone with an interest in our green world. Thank you, Vicki, for putting your deep knowledge together in such a digestible format!" --Claudia Joy Wingo, MPH, RN, FNHAA, clinical herbalist

About the Author

Vickie Shufer is a forager and herbalist and author of The Forager's Handbook and The Everything Guide to Foraging. Vickie is the owner of Wild Woods Farm, an 11-acre certified native nursery where she grows and sells native and medicinal plants. She also teaches classes on identifying, harvesting, and preparing wild plants for food and medicine.