I've only foraged wild berries. The other things that I would normally forage (nettles, elderberries) I grow myself, so I know the amount of pollutants the plants are exposed to.
I've only foraged wild berries. The other things that I would normally forage (nettles, elderberries) I grow myself, so I know the amount of pollutants the plants are exposed to.
Mustard greens (too dry for them this year), blackberries, plantain, chickweed, fennel/fennel seeds, wild plums (I don't know if these are native or volunteers,) various medicinal plants, and bay nuts/bay leaves.
Bay nuts are the acorns of the Bay Laurel tree, which also provides bay leaves. They are everywhere around the SF Bay Area. The bay nuts usually fall in October. When roasted they have a flavor that is something like coffee or chocolate - they make wonderful truffles and are a great addition to fudge, brownies -- anything chocolate-y.
My daughter's nature group makes stuff out of acorn flour; interesting as an experiment but not very tasty.
Greens like purslane, dandelion, chickweed, wild sorrel, lamb's quarters. Wild raspberries, onion, garlic. King boletus mushrooms (oh my). For some reason, we have a wild tarragon that grows in our ditches that's just exquisite. Chokecherries, rose hips, certain roots if we can find them (like burdock). Lots of stuff around here, plus I've scattered a lot of collard seed hither, thither and yon, just to see if I can naturalize it Love that stuff.
I'd love to take a wildcrafting retreat. I've heard there are some great ones offered.
We actually forage only for wild asparagus every year in the early spring - totally fun for me and exciting to be getting all that free food. There are morel mushrooms around, but we don't know any of the good hunting spots. People are very tight-lipped about morel hunting spots (and I don't blame them a bit.)
Wild onions too, but we cheat, since we naturalized a large patch of them in our yard. More convenient, but not nearly as fun.
I know there are wild greens around (I mean, dandelions we've got!); but I haven't educated myself enough about them to gather.
Thanks Amaranth for the names of those two books. Those would be a good place for me to start!
If you know of one in CO I'd love to do that too! The local parks n rec had one but happened to be on a weekend when I had to be out of town. So far I've had wild raspberries and plums, even this dry year, up in the foothills or mountains. Alpine strawberries as well. Those I just pick a couple as a snack along a hike b/c the bears and deer need it more than I do. In town, I've got neighbors who have offered (or begged me to take) fruit, or had overhanging apples and plums. From my yard or the park have picked purslane and mallow leaves and mallow fruit. I'm a little scared of milkweed since it has a poisonous stage but there's a lot of that around to get if I want. DH planted asparagus in the park near our house as well as dill so we'll see. Also got a fishing license for the little panfish in the pond. Come fall I'd like to try hunting so attempting to find local hunters who don't mind showing newbies the ropes so to speak. DH has a contact and he offered to show us what he does in exchange for help carrying whatever he gets (elk can be several hundred pounds!). I'm just starting to dabble a little more seriously than just wild raspberries so it'll be a fun adventure. I like the idea of both urban and truly wild foraging.
ETA: sometimes you don't even have to go out of your yard either. We figured out/"discovered" we have a huge chokecherry bush but I hadn't known what it was. Chokecherry syrup was arranged in short order when they were ripe
Last edited by RosieTR; 8-15-12 at 11:14pm. Reason: added another thought
Tussiemussies, the author is really fun too. Here is some online info
http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/
Rosie, will you process the meat yourselves? If not may want to start asking around about licensed processors. In your area do you have different seasons for bow hunting or trapping? If so learning how to do ways of hunting may increase the length of the season and your chances.
Also, do you already tan leather, or make use of antlers and bones? If not those are helpful things to know to make full use of whatever you hunt.
Most of the recipes would work fine if you are foraging in your grocery store. For example many of the greens recipes would work fine with spinach. Some would be identical though as a wild blackberry or purchased blackberry would work the same. Others, it's hard to think what to substitue. For example I can find dried daylily buds in some grocery stores, but haven't ever seen the other edible parts in a grocery store.Wow! Those books look really interesting and if I felt the need to pull a Euelle Gibbons I would buy those books. But I live in the suburbs anyway so probably won't.
Does picking lemons off my neighbor's tree count? (with his permission)
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