Hen of the Woods & Other Wild Foods and Medicines

by "Wildman" Steve Brill

A lively and entertaining tour through the wild with Steve Brill as he shares tips on foraging in densely populated areas like New York's Central Park and rural areas throughout New England. We will follow the seasons: wild ramps in the spring, the first mushrooms of summer, and in autumn, wild edible berries in Central Park—more than you'll find at your local supermarket; and we haven’t even mentioned wild nuts yet (chestnuts, walnuts, hazelnuts!). Steve will provide the historical background of these plants and their various uses by American Indians to early settlers and their current medicinal uses today. He will also give listeners tips on how to cook with these plants at home.

Genres: Audiobook, Nonfiction, Plants, Nature

1 pages, Audio CD

First published March 12, 2013

Reviews

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a friend down the street who regularly forages, mainly for mushrooms. He's quite proficient at it and I had planned to go with him, but then it course Covid hit. So it's a delayed plan, but still a winery plan.

In this short, but entertaining Audible freebie, Brill takes us with on his foraging tours. Each chapter features a different item that can be found in nature. A description is provided, some folklore on how it was used in the past, it's medical properties and even how to use it as food. Also some corny jokes and humorous asides.

Chickweed, tastes like corn on the cob, and is an immune booster. Used in George Washington's time by himself and his troops.

Wood Sorrel, tastes like lemonade.

Lambs quarters, used as a spinach substitute in salads. Can grow up to 10 ft. Too.

Black Birch, used for pain. Avid use by our American Indians.

This is just a small sampling, there is much more in this listen including foraging as a family and foraging in different seasons.

[Dominika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Steve Brill uses entirely too many puns for me to find any true pleasure in this book, but I do appreciate his tips for foraging and cooking food. A lot of his tips are rather pedestrian, but i don't think foraging is a mainstream concept in America and it's probably good to point out that yes, you can eat those things that look like blackberries. I'll probably get his app come payday (I'm assuming it has less puns) and will hit up a friend.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I enjoyed this book, it functioned mostly to pique my curiosity in the subject. I would not feel comfortable identifying or foraging for plants after this brief introduction.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I have mixed feelings about some of the kinds of jokes "Wildman" Steve Brill likes to make about people of other ethnicities, I did really benefit from the methods of storytelling used in this book for increasing my comfort level identifying foraging plants and alternative methods of using them. Brill is extremely generous with resources as well and his website is full of information and recipe ideas which I'm very excited to try out. I definitely benefited from a small prior familiarity with most of the species in this book since I listened to it on audio book but it makes me want to seek out more foraging resources that include folktales and storytelling about wild edibles because they help me remember characteristics much easier than the field guide type of resources.

[Felicia B. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Audible freebie. Fine because it was short and free but would not pay for this.

Obviously an audiobook is not going to be very helpful in identifying plants but I was intrigued by the folklore aspect.
It turned out to be a lot less of the folklore and a lot more of an infomercial for Steve Brill and his apps and cookbooks.
Good for him though. Like many good educators he clearly has a passion and deep knowledge in his field and loves to tell "dad jokes" to his captive audience. ("How can we tell this is a bush and not a tree? Because there is no trunk! That's also how we know it's not a car or an elephant"). It's super cringey, but it comes from a good place.

[KC Comal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bad puns don't elevate a dull description.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book about foraging -- the author is famous/infamous for urban foraging tours in places like NYC's Central Park and showing people what plants can be eaten. He's also created mobile apps to help people identify plants, and is generally an advocate for urban foraging and being aware of plants around us. This audiobook was a little annoying because most of the audio was recorded during his tours, but the content was good, with lots of jokes mixed in with the content.

[Shandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very fun. I wish I could go on more audio tours with Steve. I will listen to this again for sure.

[Robert Crown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Punny. Very Punny.

[Krista Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting information. Makes me want to go to NY and take one or several of his tours.

[Nancie Lafferty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Punny excursions into fields and woods checking out various edible weeds and mushrooms. There is a website and an app available for illustrations.

[Nell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining - a lot
Educational - a bit
Useful - not at all, because i don't reside in that part of the world anymore

[Emily Goenner Munson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting despite the annoying jokes.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the early 1980s Steve Brill began taking small groups on nature walks through the parks of New York. He would point out various edible plants and berries and encourage his group to try foraging. He coexisted peacefully with the park district until undercover park rangers infiltrated his tour. He was arrested for removing vegetation from the park, that is, he ate a dandelion. The media got hold of his story and it spread like wildfire hitting the national news in days and landing Steve on local and national talk shows. Within two weeks the city dropped the charges and Steve has been conducting tours ever since. And all this before YouTube and going viral!

Hen of the Woods is narrated by the author and is more of a commentary than a book. In a very entertaining style he talks about the many edible foods growing in the wild, gives the listener a little history on how he became interested in foraging and tells the story of his arrest for eating weeds which, ultimately, turned out to be fantastic publicity.

Much of the book is live and narrated while in the field on a foraging tour. He points out plants and answers participants questions and tells entertaining tales. This is not a polished studio production but instead a real-time walk in the park. It had the feel of a podcast rather than a finished book. The author imparts too much good information for audio only. To be useful as more than just an entertaining few hours, the book needs text and photos for reference, none of which are included. The author does sell a Wild Edibles app which is available for Android and Apple.

While I enjoyed the book, it had the feel of an intro for the author’s wild food tours which are held throughout the Northeastern US. Is not a foraging guide. I would never forage on my own without the ability to identify the plants but I would love to learn how and after listening to Hen of the Woods, and know I would enjoy a tour.

For those interested in nature and foraging, this gives you a feel for what you can find growing in your local park.

[Barbi Zemtsov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Differ on politics and species origin. Lots of interesting info, though. Would like to try foraging.