Foraging & other weedy subjects

Foraging is a passion I’ve long held. Finding out what the ancestors of this really cool couple of Islands I’m blessed to belong to, ate.

Kawa kawa A Maori healing food & dressing, tea etc

Identification page from Julia’s Edible Weeds

Wild celery

Puha Traditional greens From NZ that the Maori ate, cooked

I’ve been doing it off & on for years now...BUT one of the things that concerns me, is identification of said weeds. No point reinventing the wheel, & finding out the hard way, what Not to eat, eh.

So I’ve been out taking pics of potential food sources, in areas that I hope are weed spray free. In New Zealand we still use glyophosphate (Roundup) to kill weeds, which breaks my heart, when steam will do it just as well. I wish the council would understand just how harmful all these chemicals are to the human body & brain.

I want to take good pics for identification, & have them identified by plant people, who know more than I do about this subject. I love the little bit I’ve read on the government websites about food the Maori  ate, but there really isn’t much written down, that I can find anyway.

So I want to help with that! 

Here are some things I’ve found, that seem edible. Some I know, a lot I don’t. Most Maori knowledge, like other cultures, is handed down through  generations verbally.

sea lettuce - Waiwera

Dandelion leaves from one plant

A few fronds from wild fennel

A Kawakawa tree

Land cress

Unsure of this one

Miners Lettuce

One of THE MOST IMPORTANT things I’ve learned, while living on the road in New Zealand is this: please take note!

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THE COUNCIL TAKES CARE OF THE PARKS & open spaces. The staff are out before most of us are, while the air is still, spraying poison! This fact became known to me recently as an Experience. 

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It breaks my heart that we haven’t yet learned how destructive this is to humans, animals & our ecology in general. 

PLEASE be careful where you forage. I’ve stopped for now, because of that. I stay in public places