Lifelong forager shares love of wild edibles

When times are stressful, as these are, people instinctively do two things for relief: take to their kitchens and go out into nature.

They also can be armchair enjoyers of other people's adventures. A new book has something for everyone. 'A Forager's Life: Reflections on Mother Nature and my 70-plus Years of Digging, Picking, Gathering, Fixing and Feasting on Wild Edible Foods” was written by Mike Krebill who now lives in Keokuk.

'A Forager's Life” is about the search for that most basic of life's pleasures: wild edibles direct from Mother Nature's garden. One of America's most respected foragers and wild food educators, Krebill writes of a lifetime spent in nature and in the classroom: the forays, the discoveries, the close calls and the recipes.

His story reaches from childhood growing up in Tennessee and Iowa to the legendary Euell Gibbons and the first Earth Day, to the rise of today's great foraging wave - a wave that's inspiring a new generation of foragers.

At its heart, it's the story of a natural-born teacher who never stopped being a curious little kid, and who knows how to appeal to the curious kid in all of us. That's what earned him multiple awards during his long career as a middle-school science teacher, and for his 50-plus years of service to Scouting, at every level.

This is a book of delicious and sometimes surprising wild food recipes, both for making out on the trail and at home. You might like to try the Queen Anne's Lace pancakes for starters.