Foraging workshop

Dr. John Kallas was in Cathlamet over the weekend to share a wealth of knowledge about foraging wild foods, including how to identify, harvest, and prepare them, to a lucky group of Wahkiakum residents who registered for the workshop. There were three sessions on Saturday with a focus on the wild foods of the Pacific Northwest, North America, and finally on the wild foods of Native Peoples. After spending a little time in the classroom, Kallas took the group to different spots around Cathlamet to talk about the flora immediately available to them. He talked at length about dandelions, wild carrots, nipplewort, big leaf maples, salmonberries, cattails and more. He encouraged people to take a closer look at each species, reminding them that their best opportunity to do so was now, not seeing it on a TV screen. He also encouraged them to sample different plants including upland cress that he was surprised to find growing in abundance at the Elochoman Slough Marina. Kallas is the author of Edible Wild Plants: Wild Foods From Dirt to Plate and his visit was sponsored by the Marine Resources Committee.

Photos by Diana Zimmerman.