“She introduced me to Susan Weed’s books, and chickweed is in one of the herbal healing books. And it’s talked about as this star-shaped plant that kind of dances–that that’s it’s energy [laughs].”
This week on our special series, Earth Eats Eats Wild, we’ll be talking chickweed with Stephanie Solomon, preparing purple deadnettle deviled eggs, harvesting spicebush and ramps in the woods with Jill Vance, and frying up crunchy fritters made with dandelion flowers.
Whether you're hiking in the woods, weeding your garden or walking downtown, there’s almost always something edible growing nearby–especially in the springtime.
In this series we hope to introduce you to a few of the plants and mushrooms you are likely to encounter, offer tips on how to identify them, talk about what they taste like and share ideas for how you might prepare them in your own kitchen.
Each season has its particular offerings and this week we talk with Stephanie Solomon (most people call her Solomon) about one of the earliest edible greens, chickweed.
Solomon has taught classes on wild edible plants through Indiana University’s Collins Living Learning Center and she shares stories about her mentor, Lucille Bertuccio, who introduced her to foraging for wild food back when she was a college student at IU.
Lucille Bertuccio was an environmental activist, educator, and co-founder of the Center for Sustainable Living, a nonprofit organization in Bloomington that supports the development of community based, self-organized and sustainably oriented projects. Lucille inspired those around her by sharing her knowledge on gardening, wildlife and ecology, and also in the way she lived. She chose walking as her primary mode of transportation, and encouraged wild native plants to flourish in her diverse garden.
She taught organic master gardener classes, Wild Edible Plants at Indiana University and Mother Hubbard's Cupboard, and she served as executive producer of Eco Report on WFHB Community Radio. Her legacy lives on in the community through the students she taught and through everyone she mentored and inspired to build connections with the natural world and to protect wild plants, animals, and the spaces they inhabit.
---
A series on foraging in the midwest wouldn’t be complete without talking about ramps. We reach into the archives for a walk in the woods with Annie Corrigan and Jill Vance. Jill is an Interpretive Naturalist and one of the wild edibles experts on staff at Indiana's Department of Natural Resources.
We also share two recipes featuring common garden weeds (see below)
Watch this space
We have 1 more spring episode in the Eats Wild special series aring on April 12, 2025.
Next, look for 3 episodes in May and June, featuring berries and other summertime wild treats.
In the fall we’ll share wild edible favorites to forage at the end of the season.
Music on this Episode
The Earth Eats theme music is composed by Erin Tobey and performed by Erin and Matt Tobey.
Additional music on this episode from Universal Production Music.
Credits:
The Earth Eats’ team includes: Eoban Binder, Alexis Carvajal, Alex Chambers, Toby Foster, Luann Johnson, Leo Paes, Daniella Richardson, Samantha Shemenaur, Payton Whaley and Harvest Public Media.
Earth Eats is produced, engineered and edited by Kayte Young. Our executive producer is Eric Bolstridge.
