Wild Seasons: Gathering and Cooking Wild Plants of the Great Plains

Focusing on the Great Plains, Young, a naturalist at the Chet Ager Nature Center in Lincoln, Nebr., tells us where to find and how to use various plants. ``When I was growing up in Nebraska, many families still used wild plants on a regular basis, and as a child, I helped my mother gather greens in spring and make wild fruit jams and jellies in autumn. When I had my own family, I carried on these traditions,'' she explains. And why? ``Not only are certain wild plants nutritious and tasty,'' she notes, but ``the gathering of them involves the important processes of exploration, discovery and learning. . . . Certainly, garnering part of one's living from wild things creates a keen awareness and appreciation of the natural world and its cycles.'' And so, we learn what to do with stinging nettles: dry them, pulverize them into powder, make noodles from them, or freeze them for future use. With mulberries: bake pies, stew jams, bake cookies; and more of the same for nuts, fruits, vegetables and various plants. Young's book awakens curiosity about the uses of nature, and it also rouses respect--she doesn't want to tamper with wild things, but merely to borrow some of their bounty. Illustrated. (Sept.)