Wild Harvest Life - Winter Family in PNW

Wild bracken fern harvested in Washington became gosari namul and a comforting bowl of Korean bibimbap. I have loved gosari for as long as I can remember—probably since I was old enough to chew it. Gosari is the Korean name commonly used for prepared young bracken fern. Its flavor is mild, but its pleasantly firm and chewy texture is unlike most other vegetables. Sometimes it almost feels as if I am chewing a very tender piece of meat. That texture is exactly why I have always loved it. In Korea, gosari appears in many familiar dishes. It is one of the classic vegetables used in bibimbap, and it is an essential ingredient in yukgaejang, a spicy Korean beef soup. A similar soup made with chicken is called dakgaejang. I also enjoy adding gosari to japchae and other dishes at home, even when it is not part of the most standard recipe. If I have prepared gosari available, I can usually find a place for it. Today, I am sharing how I turn the wild bracken fern I harvested in Washington into ...

  I first noticed Oceanspray after its white flowers had faded. The dry, feathery clusters looked like a shrub covered in wild whiskers. Later, when I found the same plant draped in snowy white blooms, I honestly thought I was looking at a different species. Hundreds of tiny creamy white flowers create the cascading,  ocean-foam appearance that gives Oceanspray its name. That mistake taught me something important: learning a wild plant means watching it through more than one moment. A flower is not the whole story. Its leaves, stems, fading blooms, seeds, habitat, and response to changing seasons all belong to the same living identity. This is Oceanspray ( Holodiscus discolor ) , a native shrub of Washington State and much of western North America. Its clouds of creamy white flowers can resemble sea foam suspended among the trees. Simply looking at these beautiful flowers brings me a sense of peace. Why Washington Rain Means More to Me In my experience, it is difficult to find...

Is this a dandelion? That was the first question that came to mind when I saw its bright yellow flower. From above, the flower can easily remind us of a dandelion. But when I followed the flower stalk down and looked closely at the leaves, I had to think again. The leaves were arranged in a low rosette. Their surfaces looked rough, and small, stiff hairs were easy to see. The flower also looked slightly different from a dandelion when viewed closely. This was lesser hawkbit ( Leontodon saxatilis ), another ordinary-looking wild plant that has become a useful ingredient in my kitchen. Lesser hawkbit (Leontodon saxatilis) can resemble a dandelion at first,  but the rough, hairy basal leaves invite a closer look. A Useful Wild Food in My Imperfect Mountain Yard My health has not always been good, and I live in the mountains where we do not have a perfectly maintained lawn or a carefully landscaped yard. What we do have is unsprayed land where many familiar wild plants grow naturally. ...

Prince’s pine (Chimaphila umbellata) growing naturally on the forest floor in Washington, where its pink flowers stood out among the moss and evergreen foliage. I went into the forest that day looking for something completely different. Mushrooms. Before mushroom season really begins, I like to scout different areas and pay attention to what is happening in the forest—what kinds of trees are growing there, how much moisture remains in the ground, what plants cover the forest floor, and whether the habitat looks promising for mushrooms later in the season. That was exactly what I was doing when something small and pink suddenly caught my attention. Among all the greens and browns of the forest floor, these tiny flowers stood out immediately. I stopped walking. The flowers were not large at all, but they were surprisingly noticeable. Their soft pink color looked almost luminous against the darker forest floor. I took out my camera and began filming them, but even while I was recording I ...

A cold, tangy bowl of miyeok oi naengguk made from wild seaweed I harvested in Washington State. Some foods stay in our memory for decades. They do not have to be expensive or complicated. Sometimes they are simply the foods our mothers made when we were children—the dishes that appeared every summer, every winter, or every special season until their flavor became part of our memories. For me, one of those foods is Korean seaweed and cucumber cold soup. My mother once told me that when she was pregnant with me, she constantly craved sour foods. She wanted foods made with vinegar, sour fruit, and even well-fermented sour kimchi. Apparently, that taste never left me. Even now, as I am getting close to fifty, I still absolutely love sour food. Give me something cold, tangy, vinegary, and refreshing on a hot summer day, and I am happy. That may be why I have never forgotten the bowls of cold seaweed and cucumber soup my mother made for us every summer when I was young. Cool. Tangy. Crunchy...