Deepen your relationship with the natural world through more than 80 delightfully inventive recipes featuring seasonal ingredients, plus thoughtful essays, tips, and basic techniques for foraging, preserving, and cooking over an open fire. At a time when we urgently need to connect with the earth, Rooted Kitchen offers a fresh way to appreciate nature and the treasures it provides. Organized seasonally, you’ll find recipes to make the most of your farmers market or neighborhood foraging haul, such as a comforting Nettle Orecchiette with Sausage and Mint in spring (and how to use nettle leaves to make a nutritious, soothing cup of tea on chilly mornings); Nectarine Salad with Cucumber, Fennel, Feta and Herbs in summer; and Fire-Roasted Pumpkin Fondue with Chanterelles in fall. You’ll also find tips for harvesting ingredients, from mushrooms to nettles to edible flowers, along with preserving, fermenting, beginner foraging techniques, and mindfulness activities. Seasonal ingredients are spotlighted so you can make the most of nearby nature. It can be as simple as pairing salmon with the distinct flavor of spruce tips snipped from a tree or plucking lilac blossoms and making Rhubarb-Lilac Jam to dollop on a pavlova. From small urban backyards to nearby parks to forests and beyond, when we become more connected to the outdoors through our food, it sparks a deeper connection to ourselves. “This inventive book will encourage you to delight in each moment and, most importantly, pay close attention to what’s growing right around you.” —Erin Benzakein, owner of Floret Farm and The New York Times bestselling author of titles including Floret Farm's A Year in Flowers “Ashley's book is a stunning display of how we can get closer to our food and make beautiful meals from ingredients found right outside, with directions on how to do it, and explained in the most welcoming of ways.” —Shelby Stanger, host of REI Co-op Studio's Wild Ideas Worth Living and author of Will to Wild “Ashley's passion for the natural world shines in this beautiful collection of recipes that will inspire you to cook seasonal ingredients in new and delicious ways.” —Danielle Prewett, Founder of Wild & Whole “ Rooted Kitchen is a soulful walk through the seasons where Ashley teaches us about the abundance of ingredients found in nature for us to forage and cook. This is a timely book that speaks to one’s soul and appetite!” —Aran Goyoaga, James Beard Award Finalist and creator of Cannelle et Vanille “Every sumptuous recipe is rooted in love and passion for the natural world, inviting us into a more embodied, reciprocal, and attentive relationship with all the beings that support our lives. This book is a much-needed map to the beautiful connections between nourishment, wonder, joy, and the wild earth. It’s a true gift.” —Lyanda Haupt, author of Crow Planet, Mozart’s Starling , and Rooted “ Rooted Kitchen is more than a cookbook. It’s a rich and beautiful journey through the four seasons. Each recipe and story gives us a chance to engage with Mother Earth in a beautifully sustainable way. Get this book and let it lead you toward a new way of cooking.” —Kaitlin Curtice, award-winning author of Native and Living Resistance When not writing about food, you can find author Ashley Rodriguez foraging, fly-fishing, and spending as much time outside as possible. A Seattle-based award-winning food writer and photographer, Ashley is the host and cocreator of the James Beard–nominated video series Kitchen Unnecessary and has been featured in Outside, Food & Wine, Saveur, Epicurious, and more. She is a certified nature and forest therapy guide and an integrative wellness and life coach focusing on deepening the ecospiritual connection. She is also the author of two cookbooks, Date Night In and Let’s Stay In. Introduction “Live in each season as it passes: breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each.” —Henry David Thoreau The backyard of my childhood home opened up to an expanse of evergreen forest. My brothers and I used to cut a path, tripping over creeping salal and fallen branches while attempting to avoid the stinging nettles as best we could. The fragrant cedar and fir trees cast dappled light across the lower canopy and provided enough shade for a community of moss to flourish. I don’t remember our purpose in going out into the woods; we were kids and purpose was not important. Our imaginations acted as our guide, as we concocted stories of adventures and mythic mysteries using broken sticks as swords to defend both our lives and our honor. All adventures ceased the moment we spotted blushing red berries, with their delicate green leaves and tender branches growing out of trees no longer living but now gifting life to others. Huckleberries were our summer forest snack, a taste we’d wait for all year. We’d fill our cheeks with the tart berries, popping