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.

You heard it here…I got myself a wild food television show!
It’s called Hot on the Trail with Sunny Savage.
Have sold my Prius, let go of my apartment in California, and hit the road runnin’ in a 34’ motorhome. Never thought I would be living in an RV…ever…even if it does run on biodiesel, solar panels, and is eco-outfitted on the inside. Will be on the road for the next 8 months, filming 26 episodes all across the US, for Veria.
The Veria network, channel 9575, airs on DISH and is dedicated to living life, naturally.

I don’t know when Veria will start airing the show, but will keep you posted. If you already get DISH, you can simply call and ask to subscribe to channel 9575. If you aren’t a TV person, or don’t get DISH, I would recommend contacting Veria at 1-866-918-3742 and requesting that the show be made into DVD’s, or online internet TV subscriptions. It’s going to be an awesome show, which I can say since it truly takes a team of people to put something like this together. We have an amazing group of folks producing it from Fusion Productions.

One very cool thing about getting paid to travel around the country doing a show like this is that I am connecting with amazing wild food folks from around the nation. Stay tuned to my website as I document some of these wild people who are willing to open their lives to us. Highlighted in this video is Lionel Key, Jr.. Lionel has been making file powder for over 20 years, in a huge mortar & pestle that has been used by his family since 1904. File is simply crushed wild sassafras leaves (Sassafras albidum). Lionel wildcrafts the leaves near his home in Baton Rouge, LA… and the finished file powder can then be purchased on his website: www.unclebillspices.com.