cover image Some Useful Wild Plants: A Foraging Guide to Food and Nature

Some Useful Wild Plants: A Foraging Guide to Food and Nature

Dan Jason. Harbour (Midpoint, U.S. dist.), $16.95 trade paper (192p) ISBN 978-1-55017-791-6

Jason (Power of Pulses), a horticulturist and longtime critic of industrial agriculture, has effectively revised and expanded his popular field guide, originally written for a British Columbian readership in 1971. This new edition covers plants found widely across North America. Great for both foragers and growers, the book draws from many sources, including the rich traditions of First Nations healers and Doukhobor wildcrafters, to identify the properties and uses of a wide range of plant life. The book is organized into chapters on topics such as herbs and shrubs, berries, trees, seaweed, and poisonous plants, and is beautifully illustrated by Robert Inwood. The reader can peruse and identify plants such as bitterroot, whose dried and pounded root can be chewed for sore throats; ground ivy, which can be made into an appetite stimulating tea; and monkey flower, which can be used as a poultice to treat dysentery and diarrhea. Jason explains how to find, treat, and prepare plants for cooking and remedies as well for other uses; for example, he discusses processing cedar bark for rope and thread fibers. For those who feel skeptical about corporate farming and modern society’s mediated relationship with nature, this guide is a breath of fresh air. (June)