The camas plant, which First Nations on Vancouver Island used for food, has a built-in defence mechanism – a deadly cousin.
Camas, with the little blue flowers that appear in spring, is an edible plant, one that is in increasingly short supply. Not to be confused with the camas plant with the white flowers, known more by its common name – deadly camas.
“You wouldn’t want to harvest your camas without flowers,” said Gail Adrienne, executive director for Nanaimo and Area Land Trust.
It’s a challenge for the land trust to promote the availability of native plants without causing irreparable harm through over-harvesting.
But they hope to do just that, in partnership with the City of Nanaimo, through the Wild Foods Festival later this month, featuring information, displays and chefs preparing food foraged in the forest.
The festival includes an educational aspect so people can learn about native plants, like camas, and how to grow the plants in their own gardens, rather than harvest from more delicate ecosystems.
Camas is found on the Harewood Plains as well as Piper’s Lagoon, which had boardwalks installed to stop people from trampling the plants. The hope is to increase the number of plants, which were managed in wild fields by First Nations prior to European settlement.
Camas can be bought from the land trust in seed form and planted to create bulbs. It’s one of many native plants the land trust is educating people about at the festival.
One of the most popular, and most abundant, is stinging nettles.
“They are nutritious and very tasty,” Adrienne said.
Three vendors will be working with nettles, with advice on how to harvest and prepare the leaves. Adrienne said nettles work very well in spanakopita.
“That’s going to be great fun,” she said.
Blackberries are always in supply in summer, although people may be more familiar with the big, plump variety as opposed to the native version. Miner’s lettuce, or Russian miner’s lettuce, is available not only in the forest but through a farm in Cedar. It’s a sweet green, similar to butter lettuce, Adrienne said.
“They were, obviously, discovered by miners,” she added.
Rosehips and chickweed are also popular.
When foraging, Adrienne promotes the 10 per cent rule – never take more than 10 per cent of a native crop.
“It won’t regenerate,” she said. “There won’t be seeds dropping and it will disappear from an area.
“We’re always encouraging people not to pillage the forest.”
The land trust will have information on its native plant nursery, where people can buy most of the native plants of the area. Nine chefs will be working with native plants to create tasty dishes.
The City of Nanaimo will also be educating people about the new cosmetic pesticide bylaw, which ties in to the ability of some native plants to naturally ward off pests.
Yoga classes, guest speakers and an activity zone for children round out the half-day festival.
The Wild Foods Festival is set for April 16, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Bowen Park. Food sampling runs noon to 3 p.m., with sample tickets costing $1 each.
Admission to the event is $2. Please call 250-714-1990 or visit www.nalt.bc.ca for more information.