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BY Nancy Mueller 10 Comments ON October 11, 2012

Foraging Fun with Jennifer Hahn

Author. Poet. Teacher. Naturalist. Forager. Jennifer Hahn packs an impressive resume after more than 25 years as a wildlife adventurer whose travels span hiking the Pacific Crest Trail from Northern California to Canada and kayaking solo from Ketchikan, Alaska to Bellingham, Washington where she now resides. Along the way she’s also led tours throughout the Pacific Northwest, Baja, Mexico and the Galapagos Islands.

In person, Jennifer is petite, vivacious and down to earth – literally. Her passion for sustainable foraging fills her conversations and writings.

After publishing her first book, Spirited Waters: Soloing South Through the Inside Passage, Jennifer began a second book about the foods in the wild that had kept her alive on her kayaking adventure. But as a steward of the environment, she felt morally responsible to include only those foods that wouldn’t be decimated by greater consumption, resulting in her book, Pacific Feast: A Cook’s Guide to West Coast Foraging and Cuisine, and companion laminated guide, Pacific Coast Foraging Guide: 40 Wild Foods from Beach, Field and Forest. Included are her harvesting guidelines like the 1-in-20 rule when it comes to sustainable foraging. If there are more than 20 plants, you can dig one up and leave the rest for reproduction. If not, take none.

With Jennifer in the lead, we’re off for a day of our own foraging adventure to discover the diversity of tasty edibles found in our own backyards.

Hiking with Jennifer through the six acres surrounding the home she shares with husband, sculptor Chris Moench, is a walk on the wild side. She cautions us to watch out for stinging nettles before describing their diverse uses in cooking, fiber production and medicine.  Nearby we discover wood sorrel, a shamrock-shaped plant with a lemony flavor that grows in moist, shady places.

Further along Jennifer points out huckleberries, purslane, a plant high in omega 3 with a crisp, lemony bite that’s perfect in stews, and the licorice “many-footed” fern root, good for soothing sore throats. A self-described spiritual eater first, she demonstrates how to harvest mindfully and says “Thank you” to the plant for giving its life after breaking off a piece for closer inspection.

Our picnic lunch at nearby Lake Padden begins with Jennifer’s recitation of Rumi’s poem that starts, “Lord, the air smells good today . . . ” Newly inspired and satiated, we continue our day of foraging fun with an afternoon hike, gathering native trailing blackberries, salal berries and strips of madrona bark we find on the ground along the way.

But our day of sustainable food discoveries is not quite finished yet. Still to come is dinner at Ciao Thyme, a popular Bellingham kitchen restaurant, where restaurant owners Jessica and Mataio Gillis will show us how to create cooking magic with the fruits of our labors.   I can hardly wait . . .

What about you, Wanderboomers? What’s your favorite recipe using locally sourced foraged food?

Filed Under: Activities, Alaska, Baby Boomers and Travel, Bellingham, By Land, By Ship & By Sea, Destinations, Food & Dining, Pacific Northwest Tagged With: adventure, adventurer, Alaska, Baja Mexico, Bellingham, Canada, edibles, foraging, fun, Galapagos Islands, huckleberries, Jennifer Hahn, Ketchikan, licorice fern, many-footed, Pacific Northwest, Spirited Waters: Soloing South Through the Inside Passage, sustainable foraging, the Inside Passage, Washington, wildlife, wood sorrel

BY Nancy Mueller 4 Comments ON May 27, 2011

Scenic Sitka

I was nursing a beer at Victoria’s Pour House in downtown Sitka. Behind me loomed a large sign, gong attached, inscribed with these words:

“If you touch it, and it makes a sound, Be prepared to buy a round.”

Pub visitors beware: patrons of the establishment take this warning seriously. No tom foolery here. If you take the gong and hit the sign, “just for fun,” guess what? You have just committed yourself to picking up the tab for every barfly present. And if you think you can get away without doing it, imagine having a rowdy bunch of patrons get up and start closing in on you, forming a tight circle with no exits.
That’s how the bartender described what happened to one not-so-fortunate visitor who learned from his mistake the hard way.

“What happened next?” I asked. “He put his money on the counter,” the bartender nodded, underscoring the fact that it was the only thing he could do.

The Port of Sitka, situated on the Western side of Baranof Island in the Alexander Archipelago, was the launching pad for our nine-day small-ship cruise of Alaska’s Inside Passage aboard the Island Spirit.

Before meeting up with the rest of the group for a shuttle tour of the city, we wandered a bit more downtown. Straight ahead at the end of the street: St. Michael’s Church.

Do you have any good pub stories while traveling? Favorite Sitka sightings? Leave me a comment here.

Filed Under: Activities, Baby Boomers and Travel, By Land, By Ship & By Sea, Destinations, Food & Dining Tagged With: Alaska, Alexander Archipelago, Baranof Island, Cruising, Port of Sitka, Sitka, small-ship cruises, the Inside Passage, the Island Spirit, Victoria Pour House

Hello fellow wanderboomers! I’m a Seattle-based travel journalist, specializing in fun travel adventures for the young at heart. My articles have been featured in Hemispheres, AAA Highroads Magazine and Northwest Travel & Life Magazine where I'm a frequent contributor. When this Wanderboomer isn’t traveling, I help global executives polish their personal and professional brand for long-term results.
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