Early spring brings us some of the most popular wild edibles: ramps and fiddleheads, both of which grow happily on Vermont landscapes. But there are other more prolific wild edibles at this time, many of which are delicious, green, and dedicated to the folk tradition of “cleaning” our blood that may have gotten more “stagnant” during the wintertime. Spring also accords us opportunities to harvest, eat, and manage some of the dominant non-native plants on the landscape, such as knotweed. In Cafe Botanica #2, we will discuss identification of wild onions, sassafras, ramps, nettles, violets, dandelion, fiddleheads, coltsfoot, spruce tips, cattail shoots, lilacs and more! We will learn about and sample foods such as knotweed crisp, dandelion fritters, nettlekopita, lilac spritzer, or wild greens for salad ingredients (depending upon what is up)!

Dr. Jessica Dolan’s Café Botanica Ethnobotany Workshop is a four-part series on wild edible and medicinal plants of the Eastern Woodlands landscapes of Southern Vermont. Each session will provide plant identification for over 20 species, seasonality, methods for their sustainable harvest and caretaking of plant community regeneration, uses, resources for learning more, and fun! We will also sample foods, teas and other confections made out of the species featured, including foods made by local farmers and harvesters, to promote awareness about Windham County wildcrafters and food producers.