New Wild Edibles Project On Kickstarter Now

Dear Foragers and Permies,


My name is Sergei Boutenko. I'm 29 years old and am extremely passionate about health, adventuring, and wild edibles. I'm also really ambitiousness and currently trying to fund my third Kickstarter project. This time around it's all about edible weeds. In a nutshell, I would like produce a feature length (60-90 minute) instructional video on how to properly collect, clean, prepare, and eat the most common weeds and wild edibles of the world. My main objective behind this project is to create a movie that will help new foragers feel confident and capable to go out and harvest wild edibles from their surroundings. Because the topic of wild edibles is often surrounded by fear, my movie will have a strong emphasis on techniques for safe and happy foraging.

Check out the project here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sergeiboutenko/wild-edibles-a-practical-guide-to-foraging?ref=home_location Everyone who support this project will get credited for their support in the film. They will also received some awesome rewards!


I've been studying wild edibles for many years and believe that I have a lot to offer new foragers. Here are some videos I made to give you a better idea of what I'm about...

Wild Edible Rap:

Dandelions:

What I do when I feel under the weather:


If you've read this far then THANK YOU!

Recently, Paul Wheaton reached out to me and offered to help me promote my Kickstarter campaign. In exchange for his hard work I'm going to give Paul executive producer credits in my movie. He usually prefers to go with: "supreme executive producer with bacon, cheese and sparkles," but since this project is all about wild edibles I think it needs to be something a bit more earthy. For example: "The world's most fantastical foragers/ executive producer with miner's lettuce coming out of his ears." Maybe you can give me some better suggestions?

Over and out,

Sergei

Earlier today somebody suggested "supreme executive producer with hucklerberry pie and sparkles"

Awesome Sergei! Sounds like another great project.

If somebody comes up with a new title that I like, that uses this format of "supreme executive producer with _____, ______ and sparkles" -- or something close, I'll send you a care package. Maybe cards, tshirts, mugs, jar drive .... something.

Adrien,

Could we get the cards and books and stuff set up with our book promotion engine?

I like "supreme executive producer with hucklerberry pie and sparkles!" Made me chuckle out loud. Keep em coming!

How about supreme nettle noggin with sparkles.

Hi Sergei,

I love the project! I am the moderator over at the reddit foraging subreddit and would love to see more of your content posted over there too. The link to your kickstarter is already up over there so hopefully some of our 5000+ members will come support your project!

My suggestion would be "Supreme Executive Producer with huckleberries, fiddle-heads and dandelions"

I LOVE wild edibles! I went and pledged my support! Looking forward to the video! Thanks for doing it!

Cindy, Tom, great ideas! I love them both. But then again I'm biased to wild foods. Let's let the people decide. Tom, I'm new to Reddit, but I'll check out the foraging subreddit and try to post more. Currently reddit only allows me to post one thing per day. And Paul if you're out there, yes that is Missoula in the background of my videos! FYI for all of you folks up north where it's still miner's lettuce season, go and take advantage of it...

oooh!

"Supreme executive producer with pineapple, yams, and sparkles"

"Supreme executive producer with bacon, bacon, and.... bacon"

"Supreme executive producer with nettles, bone sauce, and sparkles"

"Supreme executive producer with polyculture produced huckleberry pie, stevia sweetened montana grown lemonade, and flashing incandescent light bulbs"

"Supreme executive producer with perennial polyculture fed bacon, raw milk cheese, and.... sparkles."

I can add your username to the list of approved posters which should get you past any system filters.

I really like Tom's title if it's for a wild foraging dvd. If you ever do a farmstead meatsmith one I think that bacon, bacon, and bacon might be apropos.

Tom, I dig! Luke, just my guess, but I think you really like bacon?

Love this project! It's definitely funded at this point, so I'm looking forward to next June! Congrats!

Paul, I think you should be the Supreme Executive Producer with Wild Berries, Foraged Greens, and Sparkles.

I'm with Kim! It's professional, wild, and playful.

Supreme Dandy Lion Foraging Wildly for Edibles

Sergei, I LOVE THIS!! I've only recently become a bit of a forager, but now I'm known for "randomly" eating things like wild garlic, dandelions (omg, the buds are soo delicious), and plantains, as well as lavender in small amounts. I always try to make sure that the area looks at least somewhat "natural" with there being weeds and the like in the vicinity and not near any manicured lawns. Truly fantastic stuff. Keep up the wonderful work!

supreme executive producer with yacon, greens, and chanterelles

"He with a finer foraging nose than a truffle pig, with a keener eye than a soaring eagle, and a sharper mind than that of a fox who out smarted a pair of farm dogs."

How about" a wild thing who eats wild things"

David

Ruler of supreme empire that helps everyone and their great great great great grandchildren be as lazy as possible while still living in great comfort, complete with bacon, cheese, and honeyed dandelion flowers.

"Stubber of all of the toes of all of the bad guys."

Note: with one stubbed toe, it is still possible to continue on with life, but with all of your toes stubbed, you are forced to walk precariously on your heels and inevitably crumble in awkward inefficiency.

Hahaha, you guys and girls are cracking me up! Paul, I think you have lots to choose from at this point. If ya'll have some time to kill, check out this 4 part series I did on wild edibles for YouTube:
My current kickstater project (which many of you awesome folks have backed) will build upon this info and take it to new heights. Since I published this series, one of the most common complaints was/is that I don't show the plants in their natural environments. For ID purposes, this would be mega helpful! I completely agree with this feedback. Plus the audio in the youtube version is less than perfect. You live and you learn I guess. I will do better in the near future!

How's this for a title, admittedly from someone who once visited Montana a long time ago, did not forage there, but does forage in the Northwoods and has been keeping track of Sam Thayer: "supreme executive producer with chalice of wild raspberry, blueberry, thimbleberry and wild honey hazelnut cream parfait, epaulettes of oyster mushroom and morels, cape of honey locust and basswood blossoms and crown of dandelion, daylily bud, oxeye daiisy and yarrow fronds with cascading dew sparkles? Feel free to adjust according to your Montana foraging choices. I could have added more delicacies, but I thought the kickstarter people might get too hungry. Paul, you are a uniquely scrumptious and distinctive proponent of permaculture, and much deserving of the royal raiment of nature.

Sergei, I look forward to dancing in delight with you over all the foraging treasures in your video project.

Best wishes, Sandy

I suggest making it simple: "supreme executive producer with free food sparkles in his eyes"

I'm in - eggs and ramps for breakfast - and the cast iron pan cleaned up before the eggs cooled

Permies, Foragers,
Today I went morel hunting with my friend and mushroom expert Cameron Meeks of webpage... and scored! Check this out:

Black morel, white morel, and false morel (from left to right).

We cut the mushrooms open to illustrate how different a true morel is from an false morel. Check it:

That's a black morel on the left and a false morel on the right.

I was appreciating my friend Cameron and got to thinking that it might be cool to include a special feature at the end of the wild edible video.
What do you think? Should I do it? As my Kickstarter projects generates more money, I will have the resources to go off on small video tangents such as this.
Curious to hear your thoughts. For those still reading, here is another video I shot with Cameron last fall:

Absolutely add as much info as you can on all things I might find in the woods, including shrooms!

The more time you spend on trying to teach those like me, who know very little, the better the Video will be.

Miles, thanks for the input! Your feedback is noted.

HO! Sergei....what a great...great post.

I am starting a course in herboristerie and of course, wild edible plants are the basis of this course. I wasn't really aware of everything that was surrounding me before starting this and learning about permaculture. SO I will follow you with great interest. Hope to be able to pitch in your project soon.

Nice day

Isabelle

Isabelle,

Thank you for your kind words! glad to hear you are starting to explore the flora around you. The world gets a lot bigger then you start paying attention to the details.

Whoah! Time for some stretch goals!

Congratulations!

Julia, Ladies, and Gents,

My stretch goals are simple, the more money I raise, the more people I will be able to collaborate with and the higher quality this movie will be.
Now that I'm over 200% funded I can hire a musician / band to score the video. I can afford to pay a professional sound editor to mix the sound in post production.
I might even be able to afford a colorist to grade the movie. You wouldn't believe how expensive it is to film. Color grading alone can run the bill up over $4,500.

Would love more info on mushrooms included - morels were out this weekend!

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!
Last week we ran some camera tests in the field.
Check it out. Thoughts?

I'm in! Thanks, Sergei, for teaching, and thanks, Paul, for sharing in the daily-ish email. Looking forward to the knowledge (and swag)!

~ben

I like the false morels. They were known locally as beef steak mushrooms.

I do not care for the talking over music in the video, It makes it hard for me to hear and fallow what he is saying.

Ben, thanks for the kind words and support!
Paul, thanks for the repost!
Hans, yes some people like the music and some don't.

Wild Food Harvesters,

Since I launching my wild edibles project on Kickstarter, I've received quite a few messages asking
me whether or not my film will be applicable to other parts of the world (outside the Pacific Northwest).
Of those request, the bulk of my inquirers seem to be curious about flora overlap between the US and
Europe. It just so happens that I'm in Sweden right now. I flew over her yesterday to conduct a retreat
and several classes. This morning I went for a stroll with my camera and snapped a few pictures.
I think you will find that the follow photos will answer the question: "Is there much overlap?"


(Baby stinging nettles (left) and baby lambs quarters (right)


(Garlic mustard growing in front of the Swedish Parliament building)


(Handful of lambs quarters)


(Within a few minutes I collected enough for lunch)