It all started with some pesto…

I met Simka because I was looking for someone to guide me through the wide wild world of wild plants!
I wanted to forage, but was not entirely sure I could trust myself and a book, especially when it comes to mushrooms and their super deadly family members… 🍄☠️
This is how I ended up in a local park of Est Berlin, on a sunny spring afternoon, with a small group of curious, training all of my senses, ready to spot the next delicious tiny leaf that I used to completely overlook.
We walked, tasted, smelled, touched, got stung & surprised, looked closer, said thank you, and finally…we foraged some wild greens and shared a delicious fresh, wild pesto. Sooooo tasty!

The birth of the PESTO PACK !

The rest is history, but some months after, we met again, and started a collaboration journey that lasted more than a year. Simka, as a foraging expert and writer. Me, as an illustrator and zine maker.

We imagined a PESTO PACK: a small foraging guide that allow people to ID seven plants, and make (amongst other uses) pesto with them.

A set of cards that every baby-forager could carry in their pocket.

Something cute, funny AND practical.

What’s inside?

In a A6 transparent plastic envelope is a set of 9 inkjet printed cards, bound by a colorful ring.

We picked seven plants that are to be found super easily around Berlin.

• dandelion • plantain • sorrel • few-flowered leek • stinging nettle • garlic mustard • ground elder •

Each one has its own card:

• Front side:
  • Identification info & tips
  • Illustrations of the plant and its important ID features
  • Dangerous lookalikes if any
  • Season corners to indicate which part of the plant you should harvest depending on the season
• Back side:
  • A delicious recipe
  • Info about the superpowers of the plant
  • Harvest and cooking tips

On top of it:

• The golden rules of foraging, told by cute insects
• A wild pesto recipe, of course!

All envelopes have a stickers to write an address, if you want to send it to a friend!

The making of it!

The cards were printed by die Umwelt Drückerei on a 300gsm paper.

Simka and I then started the meditative task to round all corners and punch holes. For this, we went to Colorama studio, where we could, as members, use some funny machines.

At home, each packs got its ring then got gently tossed into the envelope, and each envelope got its label (printed at home). Repeat 250 times and…fertig!