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Interview With “Wild Man” Steve Brills

~ Nicholas Tippins
Steve and Violet Brills harvesting burdock root.
Steve and Violet Brills harvesting burdock root 4 years ago.

“Wild Man” Steve Brills and his daughter Violet lead educational foraging tours throughout the greater New York tri-state area, including in Central Park. Steve was arrested 30 years ago in Central Park by undercover agents on charges of criminal mischief for eating a dandelion. “That got me so much publicity that they dropped the charges, and the parks department hired me to teach foraging,” he says.

When not teaching about wild foods, Steve can often be found foraging and cooking wild meals with his eleven-year-old daughter. Violet started foraging at the age of two months and, according to her father, “knows the ins and outs of every single plant.”

I reached Steve and Violet by Skype at their home in upstate New York. They had just come in from a walk in which they found Artist’s Mushrooms and enjoyed a late first snow. They regaled me with jokes, skits, and stories as we talked. Continue reading →

Wild Food for Busy People: Easy Ways To Include Wild Food In Your Diet

~ Nicholas Tippins

Walking into the field with a shovel. Cold hands on the smooth wooden handle. You are warmed by the smell of earth as you dig. Hands plunge into chill earth, searching with strong fingers. Finally, you clutch the wise burdock root, and you feel somehow compelled to bow.

Easy Ways to Add Wild Food to Your Diet
Salad of Romaine lettuce and wild Toothwort, Purple Dead Nettle and Redbud flowers. Photo by Jay Sturner.

There is something to be said for taking one’s time with plants. They offer so much more to our psyches than most of us living a modern lifestyle can comprehend. Watching a plant through all of its seasons, befriending the little star lady Chickweed and allying yourself with Burdock’s ancient wisdom. There is nothing to describe the joy. It is something like coming home.

But not everyone is up for harvesting burdock, or even devoting much of their busy lives to foraging. Continue reading →

Why Almond Butter Is So Expensive (And That’s A Good Thing)

~ Nicholas Tippins ~ 1 Comment

Why is almond butter so expensive?

Why is almond butter so expensive now? This is what I thought as I returned the glass jar to the shelf of the co-op last summer. It was my first summer working full-time on a farm, and I watched my newfound perspective inform my reasoning. California… drought… almonds… aha!

Almond butter is so expensive because there’s a drought in California, where most of America’s almonds are produced. A no-brainer for anyone connected to their food. But I was just beginning to learn the consequences of the food choices I was making, and most Americans are still in the dark.

Continue reading →

Misleading Food Labels and Their Villainous Henchmen

~ Nicholas Tippins ~ 3 Comments
Photo by Mike Mozart. Misleading food labels.
Misleading Food Labels. Photo by Mike Mozart

The food industry uses all sorts of chemicals in the pursuit of cleanliness. Isn’t it a little ironic that their way of misleading consumers is, well, dirty? Words that mean one thing to the general public often mean something very different to food producers and the USDA. These differences have been deliberately exploited to get you to believe you are making a healthier or more ethical choice by buying a more expensive food product that was made no differently from the rest. Enter misleading food labels. Let’s uncover a few. Continue reading →

Natural High-Energy Foods for Athletes

~ Nicholas Tippins ~ 1 Comment
Goji Berries and Cashews. Photo Credit: Jennifer
Goji Berries and Cashews. Photo Credit: Jennifer

We awoke as the sun began draping light over the jungle hills. It was our day of challenge: to kayak the other side of Lake Arenal and back. We wanted to carry as little as possible and loaded up on energy before we left. We also chose to pack a few high-energy foods so that we could sustain our energy to meet the challenge.

We also didn’t want to consume popular “energy” products that are loaded with preservatives and refined sugar. Continue reading →

Pickle By Pickle: Interview with Kelley Hillis

~ Nicholas Tippins ~ 1 Comment

Photo by Jonathan Pielmayer

I met Kelley on a chilly morning at her booth at the Saratoga Springs farmer’s market in New York. Pickles and ferments with colorful labels shouted to me from the table. Kelley was deeply engaged in a conversation about health and nourishment, and–despite the cold–I stopped and edged in closer. I eventually asked her if she would continue the conversation with me, and with you. Here is what she said. Continue reading →

Dangers of the Raw Food Diet

~ Nicholas Tippins ~ 1 Comment
Photo by Leonie Wise

This is a guest post by my mother, Prudence Tippins.

 Nicholas asked recently why I’m no longer a raw vegan.  It’s a complicated subject for me, and one I’m hesitant to summarize simply.  I loved eating raw food.  I did it exclusively for almost ten years.  There were so many benefits, which I feel compelled to list here again:

  • a hugely improved immune system
  • lowered cholesterol for my husband, Steve (95 points, which kept him off Lipitor)
  • brighter eyes, shinier hair, clearer skin
  • automatic weight control (not too fat, not too thin)
  • a feeling of being close to God
  • a consistent feeling of happiness and good will

But, as it turns out, it stopped working for me right around the decade mark. Continue reading →

Spring Greens in Spring Green

~ Nicholas Tippins ~ 1 Comment
IMG_3020
The Land in Spring Green, Wisconsin

“Spring” is the perfect word. That’s just what the forest floor does, popping may apples and wood violets from the formerly barren, leaf-strewn earth. We’ve had a few cold snaps, windy days, and even some snow (which is to be expected in Wisconsin in April), but now that May has arrived, it appears that Spring is here to stay. Nevertheless, old-timers will tell you not to count on it until May has ended, for a check of old weather reports says the last frost isn’t until the end of this month.

Regardless of the risk–or even because of it–plants surge up towards the ample sunlight, gathering nourishment from the earth and sky, readying themselves for the frosts, heat, insects, and foraging humans that will come their way, hoping (I imagine) to live long enough to be pollinated and produce offspring. Continue reading →