I finally made it to Hokitika, New Zealand! Since beginning my journey into wild foods I have known about this festival due to it’s number one Google hit for ‘wild food festival’. For over 20 years this annual Wildfoods gathering has been tempting attendees with huhu grubs, elderflower champagne, worm sushi and enough ‘wild foods’ to fill 66 stalls. Although I missed the Festival itself, which happened on March 12th, I was able to interview its organizer Mike Keenan. Check check it out!

Yeehaw…I’m getting back into making videos!
Over Christmas I went on an awesome trip with 12 of my family members to explore and adventure through New Zealand. Going by airplane, foot, sailboat…it’s always an adventure traveling with us! My stores of dog rose (Rosa canina) hips are already gone and the elderflowers are now blooming on Maui. The New Zealand flax (Phormium sp.) was so cool to see growing all over the country, this part of the video was shot on Great Barrier Island…awesome island with huge tree ferns, crazy bird calls, and a wild spirit. Lambsquarters were growing all over the place and provided many large feasts along the way. I’m so excited because my fiance and I now have our production for pro video and music going. We’ve been making music with our band ‘Sunny and the Ryan’ and are trying to have original music in all our upcoming videos….yeehaw! The video below is a sneak peak into bi-weekly video blogs I’ll be doing for Veria

After a long hiatus from filming Hot on the Trail with Sunny Savage, I just signed my newly amended contract with Veria…with the addition of being Associate Producer this go-round! We’ll be filming the final 9 episodes of the second season in coming months. Veria is also paying me to make video blogs…so there’s added incentive. They will be launching their new and improved website www.veria.com in early March, so check in with them to find recipes/videos/comments/etc.

Happy Beltane! I hope you are all out doing some wild exuberant dancing with the maypole. May Day has been celebrated by earth-centered cultures for many a year, and it marks the midway point between spring equinox and summer solstice. I’m here in the Appalachian Mountains…and are they incredible! The other night I had a very cool experience with some of the Grandfather Spirits of these, the oldest mountains in North America. They were hungry.

A few days ago I was able to meet up with my cousin Ila Hatter. She’s a wonderful woman who I’m honored to call family – click here to read an article I wrote about Ila last year. The video above highlights Ila’s knowledge about uganost (there are several ways of spelling sweet in Cherokee), which is each individual Cherokee families blend of their favorite spring greens. I learned many new plants on this walk with Ila. Ila also covers some very important guidelines when foraging for food and medicine, as well as the necessity in saying thank you and leaving a gift for the plants you are gathering. Alrighty, I hope you are all living in joyful abundance this May Day, with your own personal uganost blends.

Had the great priviledge of meeting up with Nancy Basket, of Kudzu Kabin Designs. Nancy holds strong to her Cherokee roots and shares not only general information about kudzu’s ediblity and usefulness, but also weaves kudzu’s story into a Cherokee legend that teaches about right living in the world.

I’ve been having a lot of fun getting to know kudzu (Pueraria lobata) down here in the south. The leaves and root starch powder have made their way into a variety of my dishes; fermented kudzu leaves for kudzu dolmas, kudzu alfredo, kudzu omelette’s, kudzu tempura chips, kudzu cider…and more!

Be sure to watch for my upcoming show, Hot on the Trail with Sunny Savage, on Veria channel 9575 on DISH. We’ve dedicated an entire episode to ‘the vine that ate the south’. One use that has really caught my attention, as well as many in the medical field, is kudzu’s use in the treatment of alcoholism…as well as to decrease alcohol consumption for the person who occasionally partaketh. There are many references to its benefits, and the Harvard Medical School study that got the buzz going, through either PubMed or Highwire.

Kudzu Tempura
1 cup flour of your choice
1 Tbsp kudzu powder (called kuzu powder in stores)
dash salt
1 cup cold water

Mix dry ingredients thoroughly. Then add water and stir completely to get all lumps out. This will give you a beautiful tempura batter than can be used to fry kudzu leaves themselves…elderflowers…dandelion flowers…etc. I’ve fallen in love with using pecan oil here in the south. It’s a wonderful oil that holds up well in high heat.