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KMS teacher earns national honor
by diane vance/gate city staff writer
Keokuk Middle School science teacher Mike Krebill was named to the National Wild Foods Hall of Fame at the September Nature Wonder Wildfoods Weekend.
This is the 39th year for the event, held in West Virginia since the days of wild foods guru Euell Gibbons, who pronounced that part of the Ohio River valley the “garden spot of the nation for wild food gathering.”
Krebill, who was a guest speaker this year as well as the keynote speaker in 2002, specializes in wild food scientific instruction to students.
“Krebill was added to the small list chosen for the hall of fame since the death of Gibbons, our leader, in 1876,” said Edelene Wood, president of the National Wild Foods Association of Parkersburg, W.V., announcing his selection.
Krebill returned to his hometown of Keokuk in 2003 after teaching middle school science for 28 years in Michigan. He has attended the September Nature Wonder Wildfoods Weekend five times and went this year knowing nothing about the award.
“It was a wonderful surprise,” he said.
Also chosen with Krebill were Sam Thayer of Wisconsin and Dr. John Tomikel of Pennsylvania.
“The two others chosen with me are good friends,” said Krebill. “I was delighted to be honored with them. Sam has just published a book about wild foods and I served as his editor. He harvests wild rice in Wisconsin. He had 500 pounds last year.”
In his seventh grade classroom at Keokuk Middle School, Krebill believes in hands-on exploration of science and the world around his students. He is known for making dandelion donuts, acorn bread and other wild food edibles with his students.
“I hope to make wild grape popsicles next week,” he said this morning. “I've gathered some wild grapes myself on the conservation land between Keokuk and Montrose. My students are looking for them, too. They grow along fence rows and at the edge of woods. Students find the wild grape so much fun because it turns their tongues purple.”
Krebill also makes “Shagbark Snicker doodle Cookies” and “Wyatt ERP Sherbert.”
“I gather hickory nuts and crack them and add them to the best cookies in the world, snicker doodles,” he said. “We do that project when we study trees.
“I started making the sherbert with elderberries, raspberries and peaches, so the acronym ERP was a natural and I made it into Wyatt ERP. Over the years I've been making it, I've served it to 250 to 300 people and everyone loves it.”
The Nature Wonder Wildfoods Weekend, sponsored by the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources and North Bend State Park where it is held each year, is a place where wild food enthusiasts gather from all parts of the nation.
Participants from 14 states took part in the weekend activities, all of which emphasized wild food usage played up by annual festivals in each state.
“By studying the tourist brochures of our 50 states, we find that all that is required to become a wild food specialist is to go to as many of the 100-plus festivals in the nation that are dedicated to some particular wild food, such as Iowa's Maple Syrup Festival at Indian Creek Nature Center in Cedar Rapids,” said Wood.
“There are festivals that feature elk, moose, wild blueberries, wild huckleberries, pine nuts, even West Virginia's black walnuts, all of which can expand wild food knowledge,” she said.
Krebill spoke of his students' research with sumac, describing how to fashion a giant tea bag to illustrate its use in making wild lemonade with his students at this year's convention.
“There are types of sumac that are poisonous,” he said. “Red sumac berries are okay to eat. In Iowa, there are three types of red sumac.
“We went on walking trips over the weekend in West Virginia and brought back foods we'd picked and gathered. In the afternoon, we cooked up a smorgasbord of food, drinks, cakes and ice cream. There must have been 125 to 130 entries. It was delightful.
“Yesterday in class, a student brought in a puff ball mushroom and we cooked it up,” he said. “They grow in lawns, from golf ball size to nearly volleyball size. This was between a baseball and softball size. You have to slice through it and make sure it looks like white cream cheese inside. If there's yellow, brown, green, a stem visible or if it smells bad, it shouldn't be eaten.
“We dipped it in crumbs and sautéed the mushroom in canola oil, then served it with ranch dressing. I had several students say they didn't know mushrooms tasted good.”
Krebill said his students were delighted to learn of his honor, being named to the National Wild Food Hall of Fame.
Some of this information came from a press release from Edelene Wood, president of the National Wild Foods Association.
This is the 39th year for the event, held in West Virginia since the days of wild foods guru Euell Gibbons, who pronounced that part of the Ohio River valley the “garden spot of the nation for wild food gathering.”
Krebill, who was a guest speaker this year as well as the keynote speaker in 2002, specializes in wild food scientific instruction to students.
“Krebill was added to the small list chosen for the hall of fame since the death of Gibbons, our leader, in 1876,” said Edelene Wood, president of the National Wild Foods Association of Parkersburg, W.V., announcing his selection.
Krebill returned to his hometown of Keokuk in 2003 after teaching middle school science for 28 years in Michigan. He has attended the September Nature Wonder Wildfoods Weekend five times and went this year knowing nothing about the award.
“It was a wonderful surprise,” he said.
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“The two others chosen with me are good friends,” said Krebill. “I was delighted to be honored with them. Sam has just published a book about wild foods and I served as his editor. He harvests wild rice in Wisconsin. He had 500 pounds last year.”
In his seventh grade classroom at Keokuk Middle School, Krebill believes in hands-on exploration of science and the world around his students. He is known for making dandelion donuts, acorn bread and other wild food edibles with his students.
“I hope to make wild grape popsicles next week,” he said this morning. “I've gathered some wild grapes myself on the conservation land between Keokuk and Montrose. My students are looking for them, too. They grow along fence rows and at the edge of woods. Students find the wild grape so much fun because it turns their tongues purple.”
Krebill also makes “Shagbark Snicker doodle Cookies” and “Wyatt ERP Sherbert.”
“I gather hickory nuts and crack them and add them to the best cookies in the world, snicker doodles,” he said. “We do that project when we study trees.
“I started making the sherbert with elderberries, raspberries and peaches, so the acronym ERP was a natural and I made it into Wyatt ERP. Over the years I've been making it, I've served it to 250 to 300 people and everyone loves it.”
The Nature Wonder Wildfoods Weekend, sponsored by the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources and North Bend State Park where it is held each year, is a place where wild food enthusiasts gather from all parts of the nation.
Participants from 14 states took part in the weekend activities, all of which emphasized wild food usage played up by annual festivals in each state.
“By studying the tourist brochures of our 50 states, we find that all that is required to become a wild food specialist is to go to as many of the 100-plus festivals in the nation that are dedicated to some particular wild food, such as Iowa's Maple Syrup Festival at Indian Creek Nature Center in Cedar Rapids,” said Wood.
“There are festivals that feature elk, moose, wild blueberries, wild huckleberries, pine nuts, even West Virginia's black walnuts, all of which can expand wild food knowledge,” she said.
Krebill spoke of his students' research with sumac, describing how to fashion a giant tea bag to illustrate its use in making wild lemonade with his students at this year's convention.
“There are types of sumac that are poisonous,” he said. “Red sumac berries are okay to eat. In Iowa, there are three types of red sumac.
“We went on walking trips over the weekend in West Virginia and brought back foods we'd picked and gathered. In the afternoon, we cooked up a smorgasbord of food, drinks, cakes and ice cream. There must have been 125 to 130 entries. It was delightful.
“Yesterday in class, a student brought in a puff ball mushroom and we cooked it up,” he said. “They grow in lawns, from golf ball size to nearly volleyball size. This was between a baseball and softball size. You have to slice through it and make sure it looks like white cream cheese inside. If there's yellow, brown, green, a stem visible or if it smells bad, it shouldn't be eaten.
“We dipped it in crumbs and sautéed the mushroom in canola oil, then served it with ranch dressing. I had several students say they didn't know mushrooms tasted good.”
Krebill said his students were delighted to learn of his honor, being named to the National Wild Food Hall of Fame.
Some of this information came from a press release from Edelene Wood, president of the National Wild Foods Association.
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