Sunny Savage | Inviting the Wild Inside

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ALOHA, I’M SUNNY SAVAGE

Internationally recognized wild food forager. I’ve taught thousands of people about wild foods, have traveled to every continent, and enjoy distilling my observations of the natural world into storied solutions.

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Discover six edible invasive species in Hawaii with the Savage Kitchen App. Find wild foods near you, with mapping and recipes for tropical and subtropical locations around the globe. Wild adventures await!

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SUNNY’S WILD WORLD

Blog of all things wild.

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Is Your Name Really Sunny Savage?

Fried Cereus Flower & Pa’i’ai Pizza – Eat Local Maui Challenge

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FOLLOW ME
@SUNNYSAVAGEOFFICIAL

Saelyn turns 19 today! What a trip to be a parent…this kid was stubborn, deciding he would take his sweet time and bake in the oven a full month over his due date, and then had me labor for 42 hours until he made his entrance timed exactly how he wanted it - in a full thunder and lightning storm. There is nothing quite like this love, this precious precious love of another. He has always been an old soul, so if you see him around wish him a ‘Happy Birthday Old Man’! 🎉

summer solstice blessings to you all on this speci

summer solstice blessings to you all on this special day of honoring our resident star and the ways in which we orient ourselves to its brilliance. A new update of the Savage Kitchen App just dropped, keeping it fresh for y’all with high quality wild food content free in the App Store and Play Store. This mornings creative meditation using kāhili ginger flowers (Hedychium gardnerianum) - fiery embodiment - get recipes in the app - so you can receive their medicine internally during this short window of blooming. #savagekitchenapp #invasivore #summersolstice #foraging #hawaii #eattheinvasives #sun #sunny #sunnysavage
🔅🔅🔅🔅🔅🔅🔅🔅🔅🔅

100% soul satisfying meal with @themadamedonut @br

100% soul satisfying meal with @themadamedonut @bradstarks001 @cuisine_of_life ...a meal that we foraged and harvested from my garden, yeehaw! You guessed it, 100% locally grown ingredients other than the one Tablespoon of haole koa miso (which I made with 50% locally foraged brown haole koa seeds and 50% koji grown on nonlocal rice). Coming together joyously on the land to feast, deeply nourishing our brains so we can problem solve and better our decision-making skills - so you aren't one of the 15 people who execute a mass shooting in this country every month. We are so sick, so very very sick. And we are dying.

This is alive. I have energy for this. There was no trash in this meal, just a beautiful pile for the compost! No foods wrapped in multiple layers of plastic that gets sent to trash mountain for future generations in this Sixth Mass Extinction. Massive reduction in fossil fuel used to grow, transport, process, transport + transport and store food. >80% by volume of this meal grown within 100' of where it was eaten. This is not how I live every day, but I'm proud to be making space for it in my life. What foods are you unfamiliar with in the list below? (I’ve written out all ingredients in comments) Oh ya, and #vote the assholes out! We need a fuck you to the corporations, lawmakers, and societal norms locking us into death. #onewildfoodeveryday #savagekitchenapp #eatlocal #wildfood

Actually, it’s 7,199…that’s active Savage Ki

Actually, it’s 7,199…that’s active Savage Kitchen App user as of yesterday (vs almost 9,000 downloads), in 57 countries 🎉 thank you! It’s been such a fun journey bringing this vision to life, and now I need to move to the next phase of finding ways to keep it going. I’ve managed to provide Savage Kitchen App free of charge in both the App Store and Play Store, and that includes advertising free as well. But, of course, it’s not free for me, and I am seeking out ways of making it sustainable and maybe even growing to include additional features. What grants are available for projects like this? Or which advertisers or partnerships could I build that make sense? Or, a pay wall? Do you have thoughts or suggestions? All ears…
#savagekitchenapp #milestones #bigpicture #wildfood

May Day is Lei Day in Hawai`i nei! …sharing a fe

May Day is Lei Day in Hawai`i nei! …sharing a few beauties I’ve made in the past couple of months - most of them inspired by lei maker artist @hawaiiflorafauna

so inspiring - this wild woman! @themadamedonut in

so inspiring - this wild woman! @themadamedonut interviewed me recently for her podcast @madameaftermidnight …adding the podcast to her repertoire of making handcrafted donuts while also making a COVID pivot offering up delicious low-cost $5 local lunch specials in Wailuku with her non-profit @themadameslarder - going the distance as one of the only restaurants offering 100% local meals during the last #eatlocalmauichallenge2021 with @projectlocavore But it was the second photo, covered in blood after doing what it takes to feed herself venison from the `āina, that I really fell in love with the joy she brings in our community. Listen to this character on her Madame After Midnight podcast on YouTube or any place you listen to podcasts…interviewing other characters on Maui 😂 maybe even while treating yourself to one of her donuts available —> @donutdynamite splurge!!!!!!!

Hawai'i Mushroom Festival in Kohala on Big Island

Hawai'i Mushroom Festival in Kohala on Big Island was so inspiring! @malamamushrooms organized the event and hooked up an epic weekend with the legendary Don Hemmes and mycophiles from around the state, workshops of all kinds, and fun displays of art and costumes from the community, with some very fitting rainy weather.

Was fun to see/find these first 4 photos of delicious edible wild mushrooms.
1. Tramella fuciformis. jelly fungus. edible & magic for skin in topical prep.
2. paddy straw mushroom perfection. (Volvariella volvacea). edible.
3. Lepista tarda. edible.
4. pepeiao (Auricularia cornea) - edible wood ear
5. Pololū Valley
6. art by @symbiiotica Taye Bright using paint from Coprinus comatus.

Join the Hawaii Fungi Project (link below) to join citizen science efforts to map the mushrooms of Hawai'i.

https://www.hawaiifungi.com/

One of my dear foraging friends has been issued a

One of my dear foraging friends has been issued a citation by the Department of Land & Natural Resources (DLNR) for leading a wild food hike - even after he disbanded the group and gave everyone their money back. We all know that Hawai'i is worth protecting from rampant over-tourism, but Nat Bletter (@nattybynature808 ) has been leading foraging hikes once per month on Oahu for a very small amount or by donation to local residents for years. It feels so unjust when you've got big commercial operations making big bucks and violating rules without any consequences, while someone like Nat has a PhD in ethnobotany and has been teaching about conservation and eating invasive species for decades.

If you feel called to speak up for people who are making wild food information accessible in our communities, then join me in submitting Letters for Bletter no later than April 17th. His trial is next Monday, April 18th and you can email your letter of support as testimony to —-> (had to remove his email from here from spammers 🙄 but just look on image to find his email address)

💯 local ingredient cannabis candy…rich white

💯 local ingredient cannabis candy…rich white chocolate made with Lavaloha cocoa butter, `ōhi`a lehua honey, Haleakalā Creamery skyr, vanilla bean, and cannabis tinctured in mango moonshine.

Growing food with little water. The haole koa gree

Growing food with little water. The haole koa green seeds, wild lettuce greens, spiny amaranth greens, cassava, cherry tomatoes, and pigeon peas from my dryland garden. With onion, garlic, vinegar,
olive oil, s+p added as well.
What you think - want the recipe? #eattheinvasives #eatlocal #aipono #savagekitchenapp

spiny amaranth roots. instead of trying to weed th

spiny amaranth roots.
instead of trying to weed them all out of my garden once the leaves are pau, I leave them in the ground as a food crop until ready to eat those roots ~ slowly. #wildgardening #foodsecurity #amaranthusspinosus #spinyamaranth #savagekitchenapp

Poisson cru with kāhili ginger new shoots. After

Poisson cru with kāhili ginger new shoots. After learning that all previously restricted bottom fishing areas are now open, due to good management of the fisheries 🤞🏼🙏🤷‍♀️, I got this beautiful onaga to experiment with kāhili ginger’s floral earthiness paired with fish. Thanks for the idea @kaio.martin.7 …crispy fried skins with kāhili sushi pickle and fish soup with kāhili shoots up next. #eattheinvasives #kahiliginger #hedychiumgardnerianum

So creamy, earthy and nourishing…Spiny Amaranth

So creamy, earthy and nourishing…Spiny Amaranth roots grounding me this full moon as I clear old plants from my garden trails. Snip off roots, wash, put into boiling salted water for 5-10 minutes. Once cooled you can suck out their delicious insides, kind of like eating crab. Filling and free foods of the future.

💯 local food lunch, step by step. No rain, no m

💯 local food lunch, step by step. No rain, no matter…these wild greens are thriving despite our near-drought conditions. Wild lettuce and spiny amaranth highlighted here. Don’t eat the spiny amaranth spines, but the wild lettuce ridges will soften when you cook them! Rinse your greens, then boil for ~3 minutes. Strain, cool, then squeeze out the water. I gave these a rough chop since wild lettuce leaves are long, and added at end of sauté. I had an eggplant from the garden that I sliced thin and soaked overnight in olive oil and salt, then sautéed with powdered garlic and black pepper…adding greens to sauté for a few minutes at the end. 💯 percent local ingredients and 💯 percent delicious!

calling all foragers/hunters/gatherers on MAUI - M

calling all foragers/hunters/gatherers on
MAUI - MOLOKAI - LANAI
Make your voices heard!

Link to short survey in my bio, for Maui County Residents. Due by end of today. Results will help shape food policy in the coming years, so it’s important we get everyone’s voices heard (participatory democracy).

Feels like a slow spring thaw, in my head! The li

Feels like a slow spring thaw, in my head!
The light and warmth are returning, but instead of a new chapter of life up ahead, it feels as if a whole new book will be written. My surgery couldn't have gone any better, night and day from last time. I had 2 very pissed off sphenoid sinuses, inflamed bones to remove, and 5 cranial nerves and carotid artery impinged in 2 locations from infection...it's not like you walk away instantly healed from something like that, and I'm still in disbelief I lived with it in the center of my head for 4 1/2 years following a head injury where I blew out the back of my eye socket. I have never identified as a sick person, so with the help of all my healthy lifestyle practices and 2 months of antibiotics and 6 months of steroids (all through the nose, just like my surgery), I know I will knock my recovery out of the park in record time.

The outpouring of love I have received through all your comments, messages, and voicemails is a rare and treasured gift that I wish all humans have the opportunity to receive. It is humbling to be held in that kind of love - I am forever grateful. Thank you. There were a few days of recovery in Baltimore, then I spent a week at my Aunt's in Pennsylvania, and then a week on the land my ancestor Thomas Savage was gifted in the early 1600's on the Eastern Shore of Virginia called Savage Neck. I will be back home on Maui tonight!

Having fun amidst something painful, if you haven’t found it yet, you will out of necessity. I am feeling joyful, complete, scared shitless, and loved the fuck up by so many. Thank you. All clear for surgery tomorrow 7:30am EST at Johns Hopkins, prayers for me and my team gratefully accepted (can you believe I got a doctor whose last name is a wild food!!!)

Lauren @hawaiiflorafauna gifted me this incredible lei po`o full of native Hawaiian & aromatic plants, which has brought so much delight to me as well as spreading the aloha of Hawai`i nei to those on my path getting to Baltimore.

Showing up for brain surgery round 2 like, “yo, I got this” ✌🏽 if you wanna know more about what’s going on with my head, link in bio.

Love you fam!

📸 @logicalgirls

Foraged Java plums, banana, and taro syrup from @m

Foraged Java plums, banana, and taro syrup from @mohalaexpressions …just something about it 💜

Did you know Job’s Tear leaves make a nice tea?

Did you know Job’s Tear leaves make a nice tea? As everyone gets out to enjoy this beautiful weekend notice this abundant/invasive plant in our streams around the islands. The plants are flowering in the valley near me now. I pick the last ~6” of stalks without seeds. Boil water, throw a large amount of fresh leaves in the pot and turn off heat to let steep for minimum 10 minutes, covered. Strain and enjoy warm or cold.

Second photo shows Job’s tears in lower right of image. Different from the cane/guinea grass growing up top. Job’s tears (Coix lacryma-jobi) really looks like corn from afar. Thick stems with leaves hugging it. And third image, morning cuppa with this wild blessing.

#eattheinvasives #watershed #tea #jobstears #coixlacrymajobi

Java Plum leaves riding in on cosmic winds. Fruits

Java Plum leaves riding in on cosmic winds. Fruits are ripening now - my hands stained from the processing. For many people indigenous to India, this tree sits on the center island with five other sacred trees surrounding. It is said fruits the size of elephants rain down forming rivers of purple juice.

Honoring indigenous wisdom of this sacred tree on #indigenouspeoplesday - I have to acknowledge what can feel confusing in my line of work… I am on Hawaiian lands where the people have fed this `āina before and after the colonizers came, where their wisdom of living and being here is unmatched. And yet, I honor an invasive species. And I honor kanaka maoli. Sometimes it just is. Complex. Loving.

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