For Turtle Lake Refuge team member and longtime forager Catherine Girillos, foraging for edible plants is more than just a cool hobby: it’s a source of freedom.
“It’s just the anxiety that it takes away,” she said. “I’m not going to starve to death, no matter how crappy things get. It might not be Burger King, but I’m not going to starve to death, and I’ll probably be healthier because I’m not eating that stuff.”
There are over 400 edible plants growing in the Rocky Mountains, but many residents don’t know how to identify them or take advantage of their health properties.
Girillos goes foraging around Durango three times a week, and some of what she collects is used in food and drinks served at the Turtle Lake Refuge Cafe on East Third Avenue.
Turtle Lake Refuge, a nonprofit founded by the late Katrina Blair, has been operating in Durango for close to 30 years.
Blair died June 5 after a battle with cancer. She was 56.
“We’re carrying it on,” Girillos said. “This family has done so much for this town, and we want to keep it going.”
The refuge’s mission is to “celebrate the connection between personal health and wild lands,” according to the organization’s website. The group forages, grows and prepares local, wild and living foods from the Turtle Lake Community farm and teaches the community and local students about sustainability, gardening and the value of wild foods.
Durango offers bountiful foraging options along the Animas River Trail, in neighborhoods and even in alleyways, and many of the common edible plants growing in the city offer valuable health benefits, Girillos said.
Alfalfa flowers can be dried and used in allergy-relief tea; plantain can be used as a poultice to soothe bee stings and bug bites; and lamb’s quarters can be dried and mixed with mineral salt to create a lower-sodium “green salt.” Elderberry can be used as an immune booster, while mallow and hollyhock leaves can be used for gut support and as wraps for foods like dolmas. Mullein is commonly used in teas for respiratory support, and its flowers can be made into a hair rinse.
Some plants are edible only in pieces. For example, burdock roots can be turned into a rich and tasty soup when combined with avocado, cumin and salt; but the leaves are toxic if consumed.
Correct identification is essential, Girillos said. Many edible plants can look strikingly similar to those that can be harmful for humans, and the differences can be as subtle as a slightly differing leaf shape, number of stalks or flower pattern.
For example, water hemlock – which can cause vomiting, seizures or even respiratory failure – looks very similar to elderberry, which is safe for humans to consume.
Although both produce clusters of small white flowers, elderberry blooms are denser, while water hemlock’s flower clusters are slightly larger and more spread out.
To make matters more confusing, there are often not specific, monolithic characteristics that can tip a forager off to a plant being safe or toxic.
“This is the learning part, you know?” Girillos said. “It’s just like going to school to learn A, B, C, D, E, F, G: ‘I can eat that, but not that,’ right? That’s how you do it – you just learn that this plant looks like this, and that one looks like that.”
Even experienced foragers are cautious when searching for edible plants. Girillos, who has been foraging since childhood, said she continues to learn something new every day, and only consistently forages four types of safe mushrooms she knows she can easily identify.
Many edible plants should be processed – washed and ground up – before being used in food or drinks, Girillos said. Some plants, like dandelions, can be munched on straight off the path, but they may serve a forager better when processed and used in a drink or snack.
A dandelion root, stem, leaf and flower together form a complete protein, Girillos said, which can be used in teas, crackers and other foods as a powerful medicine.
However, “edible” doesn’t always mean beneficial or desirable, she said. Some plants offer very little nutritional value, and others provide very specific medicinal effects that not everyone will want. Bindweed, for example, can act as a laxative.
“A lot of plants are edible, but you don’t really want to eat it unless you need that one (effect),” she said.
Foragers should also pay close attention to where an edible plant is growing, Girillos said.
To avoid consuming contaminated plants, foragers should avoid foraging near pesticide or fertilizer run-off zones, in heavy traffic areas, by creosote-heavy railroad ties or in areas with diesel exhaust in the air.
Girillos also takes care to not forage plants growing very close to concrete or asphalt for similar soil contamination-related reasons.
Modern farming tends to prioritize size over nutritional density, Girillos said, which means many people end up not receiving the maximum amount of health benefits they could be from the foods they consume.
“Today, our soil is so bad,” Girillos said. “The fruits and vegetables are bigger now because of all the genetic manipulation, but they have half or less of the nutrition. … But the weeds still have all that stuff.”
Wild plants – especially those that grow above 6,000 feet and in dense, wooded areas, are especially nutrient- and medicine-dense, Girillos said.
Mila Garelle with Turtle Lake Refuge led a foraging workshop in Blair’s stead June 9 at the SOIL Outdoor Learning Lab. She wore a wheatgrass hat in honor of the late founder, who was known to have a special fondness for the plant.
Garelle views plants as beings who exist on the same plain as humans.
“I often refer to plants as people,” she said. “It takes a few meetings sometimes to get to know someone. You might see them and recognize them, and maybe you learn their name. … I really like to bring that perspective into introducing folks to that remembrance of all the beings we share this land with.”
Respecting and giving back to plants is paramount to successful foraging, Garelle said.
“Some people have very specific (offerings),” she said. “I keep tobacco in a pouch around my heart, and I offer that tobacco, or you could offer some water, or planting seeds, or piece of your hair, or just a moment, or a thank you, before you take.”
A good way for foraging rookies to ease into treating wild ingredients as a food group is by fermenting or slow-cooking roots for use in dishes, or mixing foraged plants with foods already eaten daily such as eggs, Garelle said.
“We’re so disconnected from our food sources, and it’s just another way of having a really wonderful sensory experience,” said Holly, an attendee, on why she’s drawn to foraging.
Workshop attendee Sidney Nance said they view foraging as a way to get to know the living beings around them more intimately.
“I’m slowly getting to know the plants and the birds, but I just want to take it that step further,” they said. “Like, ‘OK, now I want to commune with this nature and make acorn pancakes and really feel at home and like I am part of the community.”
Foraging isn’t just a way to sustain oneself in an emergency or add nutrients and health benefits to one’s diet; it’s also an avenue to connecting with the wilds and participating meaningfully in the earth’s food system, Girillos said.
“We feel more connected to the land when we are actively getting our food from it,” she said. “… Everybody forages – all the creatures forage; humans are the ones who have been left behind. But we’re going back to it now. We’re going to go forage again now.”
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