Wild Edible Investigations in the Lumber Primes (K/1)

During the past few weeks the Lumber Primes have been busy getting to know each other and forming a community in the forest. We have also been taking time to get to know the land that makes up our base camp classroom, and all of the living things that we share this space with. Much of this curriculum is emergent, as we take time to study the salamanders, mushrooms, caterpillars, worms, and flowers we encounter throughout our days.  We know that children (people) learn best when all senses are engaged, so along with these unplanned opportunities to better understand our environment, teachers have introduced a more structured investigation of wild edibles to give the Lumber Primes a chance to smell, touch, and taste the world around them.

The first wild edible introduced was autumn olive. Children met in small groups to examine the leaves and berries with microscopes before tasting the red berries. During this process, teachers asked the Lumber Primes to share what they noticed about the autumn olives and to describe their tasting experience. The Lumber Primes quickly realized that the taste of the autumn olives can vary widely from one berry to the next.

What do you notice?

River It looks like it has holes in it.

Rory Fern It kind of looks like a mushroom.

Fred It’s so satisfying to see the dots.

Tuli The dots look ginormous [under the microscope].

Ruthie The dots look golden.

Mira It feels squishy.

Haris Wow! It looks like starfishes.

Data It looks like a mushroom under the microscope. You can see the yellow dots, but they appear so big.

Describe your tasting experience. 

River It makes my mouth taste dry.

Rory Fern It sort of tastes vinegary.

Tuli The first was very good, but my second one was too goopy.

Ruthie It makes my cheeks feel weird.

Mira I don’t like the pit as much. The pit is sour and the squishier part is better.

Haris One tasted really really sour. This one tastes like strawberry. 

Walter My first one was very, very sour. It tasted like wine. This one tasted better.

Ramona It’s tasty, but sour.

Sankara I love it! It tastes like sour apples.

Isa I feel that it’s good because I like sour.

Joni It sucked the water out of my mouth.

Data It’s sweet and sour at the same time.

Liam Well, I liked it and I didn’t like it. It tasted dry and chewy.

Amari It’s really sour. It makes my grown-up teeth feel funny.

The next wild edible on the menu was sheep sorrel. Amy pointed out that, when turned to the side, a leaf of sheep sorrel resembles the head of a sheep with two rounded ears. Students used words like "lemony," "sour," and "like a crabapple" to describe the taste of the sorrel. In the microscopes they noticed tiny hairs on the stem of the sorrel, the veins in the leaves, and the slight difference in color of the top and bottom of the leaf. Many of these details ended up in the children's drawings. After closely observing and tasting the sheep sorrel, each small group of Lumber Primes was tasked with a challenge: identify sheep sorrel in a small section of the field near our base camp. Each and every group was able to work together and successfully identify sheep sorrel! Many children found that, once they had found one clump, they started seeing sheep sorrel everywhere! Many were particularly excited to find tiny, newly-emerged sheep sorrel hidden among the dandelions and grass.

Recently, the Lumber Primes spent time examining and tasting two more wild edibles: wood sorrel and red clover. These two plants are often mistaken for each other, so the group worked together to create lists of what was similar and different about them. They thought about attributes like taste, texture, color and number of flowers, and leaf shape to complete the list. Students described how leaves grow in groups of three on both plants, but the wood sorrel has heart-shaped leaves. Red clover flowers are purple and white, while the wood sorrel has tiny yellow flowers. The children also noticed that the stem of the wood sorrel is smooth, while the stem of the red clover has tiny hairs on it. After creating the three lists, teachers added two large circles to the whiteboard to show how some people use a venn diagram when comparing and contrasting two things. Students immediately noticed that the list of things both plants have in common was included inside both of the circles. 

Studying wild edibles offers so many opportunities to count and compare, to use tools like magnifying glasses and microscopes, and to practice looking closely and noticing small details. After every taste-test the students vote to say whether they "liked it," "thought it was ok," or "did not prefer it," and the votes are tallied. The Lumber Primes are also learning new vocabulary, such as the word astringent to describe the drying sensation that accompanies eating an autumn olive and the word bland to describe the neutral taste of a red clover leaf. We are hearing stories of students going home and passing what they have learned on to siblings and parents. The Lumber Primes are also learning important safety rules about foraging. We stress that, even if you are 100% sure that you recognize a wild edible, you have to ask a teacher or adult for permission to eat it every single time. Even if you are correct in your identification, adults might have important additional information (for example, about whether an area has been sprayed with pesticides). We will continue to study wild edibles on and off throughout this fall and winter, and look forward to the bounty of new edibles that will arrive next spring!