Foraging For Wild Food – Modern Carnivore Podcast (Ep. 009)

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Foraging For Wild Food

IMPORTANT NOTE: Eating and foraging for wild food of any sort (including mushrooms, nuts, berries and plants) carries inherent risks. If you forage for food please make sure you know what you are gathering, and that it is safe to eat before consuming any of it.

In this ninth episode of the Modern Carnivore Podcast I’m joined by Jenna Rozelle and Jamie Carlson where we talk about all things outdoors, but mostly foraging for wild food. Jenna lives in Maine and has spent her life looking for ways to get food, medicine and more from the bounty of wild. We talk mushrooms, black walnuts, rosehips, squirrel hunting and more. Below are links to related materials.

 

The Modern Carnivore Podcast is talking foraging for wild food with Jenna Rozelle and Jamie Carlson #forage #cookingwild Click To Tweet

Links from Today’s Podcast

North American Mycological Association – Club Listing

Ramps In Shallot Butter – Recipe by Hank Shaw

Making Maple Sugar –  Video by Joe & Zach Survival

Why Listen to The Modern Carnivore Podcast?

With all the podcasts out there why would you want to listen to this one? Well, if you’re looking for a new adventure in the outdoors we’ve got some very interesting guests talking about topics related to honest food and wild adventures. Get ready to be entertained and enlightened on topics related to hunting, fishing, foraging…and more.

Here are a couple other podcasts you may be interested in:

Episode 8: Hunting and Fishing in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

Episode 7: Chronic Wasting Disease in Deer

Have a question you’d like answered, or have an idea for the Podcast? Shoot us a note at [email protected].

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The Modern Carnivore Podcast is talking foraging for wild food with Jenna Rozelle and Jamie Carlson #forage #cookingwild Click To Tweet

Transcript Of Podcast – Foraging For Wild Food

Introduction: 00:08

Welcome to the Modern Carnivore Podcast. A guide for those interested in hearing more about hunting, fishing and other paths to eating more responsibly. Now here’s your host, Mark Norquist.

Mark: 00:21

Hello and welcome to episode nine of the Modern Carnivore Podcast. Today I am joined by Jenna Rozelle and Jamie Carlson. Jamie as you know, is a wild game cook and a regular contributor, uh, Modern Carnivore. And, uh, we always love getting Jamie’s perspectives on different things related to wild food. And Jenna is somebody that, uh, that we connected with, uh, this last year at the, at the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers National Rendezvous in Boise, Idaho. And we just had a lot of fun talking with her about all things wild and plants and mushrooms, et cetera. Jenna lives in the state of Maine and she learned the value of wild plants as a young girl from her mother and has really carried that through into her lifestyle as an adult. She really makes a living by connecting with wild foraged items and sharing both expertise and sometimes the bounty of the forest with, with others. And, uh, and so it’s fun to hear her perspectives on, on foraging. And she’s also got an interesting story from the standpoint of she came to hunting as an adult. So for those of you who are considering the idea of hunting now, uh, I think she’s yet one more example of somebody who came to this activity as an adult and really saw how it connects to her passion for all things wild. So we talk about foraging for wild food, which can be anything from mushrooms to plants and berries and more. Um, and I do want to caution you or just give you some guidance to make sure that you find a local expert before you head out into the wild yourself to, uh, to forage for food. Make sure you understand what’s edible, what is not, just as important. Um, and especially when you look at things like mushrooms, which can be risky if you don’t know what you’re looking for. So in the show notes page, we will put a link to the club listing of the North American Mycological Association, which has at least one club in most states and provinces. And you could also find out on social media and other places, uh, people who have a connection within your local community oftentimes and are passionate foragers. Just make sure they know what they’re doing. Um, and you can really, uh, have your eyes opened to a whole new opportunity out in the wilderness. So enjoy today’s discussion.

Foraging For Wild Food

Mark: 03:14

Okay. I am joined today by Jen and Rozelle. Did I pronounce that correctly? Yes. Okay. And Jamie Carlson. And, uh, we are in Boise, Idaho. And, uh, just wanted to sit down for a few minutes and talk a little bit about foraging, hunting than any other interesting things that are, that are coming along. So, uh, why don’t we kick it off by, Jenna, I want you to maybe give us a little bit of background on where you’re from, where you live, et cetera.

Jenna: 03:46

Uh, currently I’m living in Parson’s Field, Maine, which is about an hour due west of Portland. Okay. Um, I spent the majority of my life living in, uh, the southern half of the state.

Mark: 03:58

And what do you call that “Down East”?

Jenna: 04:00

No, “downeast” is actually not down as you would imagine. Uh, I did homestead in downeast Maine, but that’s actually like mid-coast, you know, mean comes out to like a nose and then comes back in. Yeah. Down East is right on the nose.

Mark: 04:18

Okay. Okay.

Foraging For Wild Food

Jenna: 04:19

So that’s kind of the middle of the state, on the coast.

Mark: 04:21

And so that’s different from where you’re at now?

Jenna: 04:23

Yep.

Mark: 04:24

Okay. Okay, cool. So you homesteaded, you are, you’re off the grid, right?

Jenna: 04:29

Yup.

Mark: 04:30

Which is something unique, I think.

Jenna: 04:34

Not new, but yeah. Not

Foraging For Wild Food

Mark: 04:36

People use it all the time, right.

Jenna: 04:40

Probably not by choice.

Mark: 04:41

Yeah, exactly. So you grew up there though, and tell a…

Jenna: 04:45

I grew up in southern southern Maine, but yeah, I’ve been in Maine for the majority of my life. I did a couple stints in New Hampshire and one in New York City and they didn’t last long.

Mark: 04:56

A little different. New York City.

Jenna: 04:57

Not into it.

Mark: 04:58

How long?

Jenna: 04:59

Mm. Like four years.

Mark: 05:02

Wow. That’s pretty good run.

Foraging For Wild Food

Jenna: 05:03

Yeah, I went to college there.

Mark: 05:05

Okay. Okay, cool. You go back and visit?

Jenna: 05:09

Uh, a handful of times. Yeah. But no. Yeah, I do like it to visit, but not to live. I can’t afford it. Mostly is the problem. I think if I made more money I might have liked it a whole lot more. It’s not that fun being poor in a city. It’s a lot easier being poor in a, in a rural environment,

Mark: 05:28

So you grew up your, uh, your mom is like a homeopath?…

Jenna: 05:35

An Herbalist.

Mark: 05:36

Okay. Okay. And so as part of that, did you as a, as a kid forage?

Foraging For Wild Food

Jenna: 05:41

Yeah, that was my introduction to it. Okay. Okay. And what types of things would you forge? Um, well I guess my two, the two clearest memories I have from childhood, uh, like in that introductory phase with her, there was this one time, uh, I was standing on the porch, we had this big rottweiler and I was just throwing a stick for it and didn’t realize that the dog was attached to a rope and the rope was wrapped around my leg. And so it went off the porch and took me with it. And so I had like this massive rope burn around my knee, and then my mom came out into the yard and she just picked a couple of plantain leaves, common plantain leaves, and um Sorta chewed them up. Yeah. And rolled them up into her hand, made a little Poltis, put it on my rope burn and you know, it worked. Wow. Uh, so that was, I think that was my first memory of a, of like realizing that plants had something to offer me. You know what I mean? Like, oh, these are useful. They’re not just like here.

Mark: 06:56

Right.

Jenna: 06:56

Um, and then I think other than that, the other clear memory that I have is, uh, my, my great grandparents, uh, got a cottage on a beach in southern Maine and, um, the whole coast is covered in beach roses and they get those big fat rose hips. Yeah. Late summer, early fall. Yeah, absolutely. Uh, so I remember eating those as kid.

Mark: 07:19

Can’t save ever eaten them.

Jenna: 07:20

Really?

Jamie: 07:20

How did you prepare?

Jenna: 07:21

I just ate them off the bush.

Jamie: 07:23

Really? The seeds and all?

Jenna: 07:27

No, you’ve got to eat it like an apple. You know, you got to treat the seeds like a core. The seeds are really irritate your mouth or fuzzy.

Jamie: 07:33

Yeah. They’re terrible.

Foraging For Wild Food

Jenna: 07:33

Yeah, they are.

Mark: 07:35

So, does it have any medicinal benefits that …

Jenna: 07:38

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Full of vitamin C. Yeah. Rizveratrol. Um, a bunch of other stuff then I’m probably not going to recall right now as you give a disclaimer, by the way that my brain is functioning at like 10% right now. I you’re getting like some, uh, uh, alter ego of myself right now. I will give you some slack. Thank you. Okay, I’ll take it. So, um…

Remainder of transcript available upon request.

Thanks for listening to the Modern Carnivore podcast on Foraging For Wild Food. You can continue the journey by going to modcarn.com.