What's Growing Under Your Feet — A Spring Foraging Story

This past weekend a small group of us gathered at Blue Valley Fruits and Vegetables out in Ulysses, Nebraska — gloves on, baskets in hand, boots ready for mud — and spent an afternoon walking the land looking for what was already there.

No seeds. No planting. No watering. Just looking down.

It's humbling, honestly. We spend so much time and energy and money trying to grow things, trying to coax life out of soil, trying to get the timing right — and meanwhile the land is just quietly doing its own thing. Putting up nettles along the fence line. Sending cleavers scrambling up through the grass. Popping violets out of every soft patch of earth it can find.

Spring foraging is one of my favorite reminders that nature doesn't need our permission to be abundant.

The Plants We Found

We came across more than I can fully list here but a few standouts deserve their own moment.

Nettles are an herbalist's best friend and for good reason. Deeply nutritious — high in iron, calcium, magnesium, and vitamins — they're one of the most mineral-dense plants you can find growing wild. Yes they sting. Yes you need gloves. And yes it is absolutely worth it. We made a fresh green juice with nettles, cleavers and violet greens that was surprisingly delicious and I am already planning to dry some this year for seasoning salt mixes. The idea of getting a quiet little nutrient boost every single time I cook something genuinely excites me. If you have a dehydrator and access to nettles — harvest now. The window is short.

Cleavers — that sticky, velcro-like plant that attaches itself to everything including your dog and your socks — is actually a remarkably gentle lymphatic herb. We made a cleavers vinegar extract that was beautiful and honestly delicious. I'm already dreaming about using it to make pickles and mixing it with olive oil for salad dressing. Cleavers have a short harvest window in early spring before they get too fibrous so if you see them, grab them now.

Wild violets are perhaps my favorite spring find — not just because they're beautiful but because they're genuinely medicinal and edible. The greens went into our salad and our juice. The flowers? Those become violet jelly in my kitchen every spring and it is one of the most magical things I make all year. If you've never had violet jelly on a biscuit I am so sorry for what you've been missing. I'm hoping to get a batch made in the coming weeks before the blooms are gone.

We also came across shepherd's purse — excellent for bleeding issues in herbal practice — plantain, red clover just starting to come up, catnip, motherwort, and more. The point is they were all just there. Growing in the margins, along the fences, in the soft disturbed soil at the edges of things.

Just waiting to be noticed.

A Note on Harvesting Responsibly

If you want to forage — and I hope you do — please harvest from places you know haven't been sprayed with herbicides or pesticides. Roadsides are generally not safe. Your own yard if you don't spray, a trusted friend's property, or land you have explicit permission to harvest from are your best bets. Take only what you will use.

What This Has to Do With Your Health

In Traditional Chinese Medicine we are in the final weeks of Wood season — the season of the Liver, of growth, of upward moving energy. And the Liver loves exactly what spring offers: bitter and sour greens that support detoxification, gentle movement, fresh food after months of heavier winter eating.

Your body is designed to eat seasonally. The fact that nettles and cleavers and dandelions come up right now — right when your Liver needs the most support — is not a coincidence. It's the land offering medicine in exactly the right moment.

This is what I teach in my seasonal wellness courses and it's what I love most about TCM — the idea that your body and the natural world are in conversation, if you're paying attention.

Speaking of which — Root to Bloom, my free spring wellness course, is only available for two more weeks. When Fire season begins in May it goes away and Bloom to Fruit, my summer seasonal course, takes its place. If you want to learn more about living in rhythm with the seasons, supporting your Liver, connecting with the land and your own body — these courses are a beautiful place to start.

👉 Visit the Courses page to sign up with your email.

This Earth Day

It is Earth Day and Arbor Day this week and I want to say something a little different than the usual "here are ten ways to be more eco friendly" post.

Because here's what I actually believe: the weight of environmental destruction does not belong on your individual shoulders. The data centers, the corporate manufacturing, the industrial agricultural practices, the fossil fuel industry — these are where the damage is happening at scale. It is not your fault for using a plastic straw. It is not your fault for driving to work.

What you CAN do is vote. Vote in every election, at every level, for people who take this seriously. And vote with your money where you can. Support local farmers. Buy from businesses that actually give a damn. Grow something if you're able.

And maybe , if you feel called to it, go outside this week and look down. See what's growing. Learn one plant. Eat one wild green. Let the land remind you that it is still here, still generous, still trying.