Wild Child

This afternoon my seven year old daughter walked in the door with her shirt made into a big basket full of these beauties:

Thankfully, I knew they were tasty, edible meadow mushrooms (also known as “pinks” because of their pink gills) – I’d researched them extensively when we found some a few weeks ago, and I’d actually harvested some on my morning walk earlier today.

We also found some small puffball mushrooms (which are basically like giant marshmallows (in appearance and texture, not in flavor!), but I found that it’s kind of hard to say "marshmallow mushrooms" correctly unless you really think about it – but maybe that’s just me). So we froze the pinks for later and sauteed the puffballs to go on our burgers for supper (along with some onion and green pepper, of course. Mmmmm).

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My kids have gained quite the reputation for harvesting wild foods – so much so, in fact, that my sister-in-law has given her three year old son the rule, “Only eat things out of the yard if your cousins give them to you!” Apparently her lawn is full of tasty plantain, purslane, and wood sorrel!