This week's picks are all about wild edibles: our favorite way to explore the outdoors!
Tuesday is the annual wild food tasting of the Mycological Association of Washington, at the Kensington Library. A couple of dozen cooks come out and cook up delicacies made from mushrooms and other wild edibles (venison, anyone?) in a spirit of friendly competition. It seems like it just gets better every year. $20 if you're not already a MAW member; $10 for non-cooking members; free for members who bring food (just be sure to read the rules).
Wednesday night at Meadowside Nature Center, there will be a presentation on the American Chestnut Foundation's efforts to breed a blight-resistant chestnut tree that might one day replace the once-dominant and food-producing trees that were wiped out in the early 1900s by an imported blight. I've heard stories of people making it through the Depression largely off the nuts of this once-amazing tree. Free.
We haven't highlighted our own wild edibles walks lately because they've been full well before they come along...but there are still a few spots left on Sunday afternoon's "Shoots and Flowers" walk. We'll sample milkweed "asparagus," locust flowers, and whatever else we can find. If you've never had the experience of eating sweet flowers off a tree by the fistful, you might want to join us. $20.
As always, there's plenty more on the calendar. Enjoy!