I forage chokecherries for jelly(my favorite jelly). My grandma used to make it, but since she is gone, it now falls to me and Mom.

Interesting thread.

Not much *to* forage here. I used to be able to pick wild saskatoons, chokecherries and gooseberries, but I don't have access to that property anymore. Can't stand bitter greens; the only salad green I can forage here that I like is chickweed *if* it's young and in the shade. We found a single, out-of-place horseradish plant in our pasture last fall. An aquaintence insists that you can forage for mushrooms here, but I've looked every time I'm in the bush and can't find any; just the ones that show up in the grass in the yard after too much rain. We're out in the middle of the wide-open prairie, though. I'm sure that if we were closer to a treed/forrested area or in a warmer zone, there would be more to find.

There are plenty of plants that have uses - if you need them. Rose hips from the wild multiflora rose, dock, poke, watercress, etc. The only one I ever bother with is the tender tips of greenbriar - delicious. It would take a long time to gather a mess of them, but they are a healthy snack when out in the field.

I don't even gather the black walnuts out of the yard. :) Too much trouble to shell them. Ditto with the hickory and there is even a little chinkipin left on the property. I will admit to harvesting some sassafras leaves to make file gumbo with. Have not used the sassafras roots, although it is a blood thinner and definately has uses.

I'm not a happy camper today. The three raspberries that I planted this week were torn out of the ground and eaten last night. I only found roots and about an inch of the stems left. SOMETHING HAS BEEN FORAGING IN MY GARDEN! I have the trap set tonight with peanut butter for a raccoon and a carrot for a rabbit. There is a little fence around the little raised bed tonight too, but if something tries to climb over, it will likely collapse. But at least I will have a clue to who the culprit is. With all the wild areas around, you would think there would be better places for the wild things to forage.

Another buffalo: sorry about your raspberries, if they still have root plant them, theyll grow... Ok let's stay on topic... You don't know what your missing with black walnuts.. People just think about the nut, but that's not its only use.. You use the green hull from anything from dying to deworming... Harvest the worm free hulls and blend them up or soak them in strong alcohol and make a tincture.. Take a teaspoon or so three times a day.. You will be sh*ting out worms! It is also very good for several things.. Black walnut hull is very medicinal... Think twice before you throw them walnuts out! I go to this mans house and harvest his because he don't want to clean them up.. He thinks I'm nuts for taking them, but he doesn't know what he's missing!

Joe

I used to eat poke every spring but no matter how many times I change the cooking water I still get that burn in the throat if I eat much of it. I like the taste of it better than asparagus, other than the burn. There is a lot of winter cress in one of my gardens which makes a great wild broccoli starting around this time of year.

I grow lambs quarters in my garden, from saved seed. I love the stuff :).

I also grow miners lettuce, but I think I have too much of it.

@nc-crn :

Planting mushroom logs in the woods is an intriguing idea.

I plan on making my raised bed frames out of logs from the woods.. I am going to inoculate the logs with mushroom spores.. I try to stray away from wild crafting mushrooms because they are a hassle to identify(spore print,etc) and it could be fatal.. You can eat a toxic plant and you will be sick, eat a toxic mushroom and you are dead.. Plus, plants are easier to identify. I used to grow mushrooms... But that's not foraging..

Dandelion greens in spring and Fall are very good for your liver (yes, your liver struggles during changes of season), and frankly there is nothing else that cleansing. Mulberries are excellent around here, and also wonderful because they are early. Ink cap mushrooms are reliable. Morels are not reliable, unfortunately. I do pick chamomile and linden blossoms for tea. Everything else I used to forage (violet and grape leaves, various shoots - cattail, milkweed, poke), was not worthy.

Here's what I gather:
Blackberries, elderberries, blueberries, raspberries, hickory nuts, feral apples, fiddleheads, wild asparagus (they are getting scarce), wild onions. I used forage with a woman who really knew mushrooms but I am not comfortable foraging for those on my own.

Glib, dandelion greens would be better for that purpose than lettuce from a cold-frame, for example?

A note on foraging, make sure you are not trespassing, some people don't take kindly to people helping themselves to what does not belong to them. We bought a farm that had been abandoned for a few years and woke up one day to a bunch of people helping themselves to our fruit. Very unpleasant.
No I don't forage, I try to respect other peoples property, and my property grows what I plant. I could probablybget plenty from our creek bed, but I don't trust the water.

Very good note, harveyhorses. Thank you. :) We've never had people foraging on our property, but I feel the same about snowmobilers (we've never had one ask permission and they always ride right up behind the house).

Glib, I found cat tail on a foraging list and wondered about the taste since we have loads of it in one of our pastures that flooded a few years ago. At what stage did you try them? The list I found said to harvest the inner part of the stalks when they're no more than two feet tall. Apparently the pollen can be collected and used as well, but I'd need hip waders to make that worthwhile!

There's a patch of a silvery-leaved, fuzzy plant in our yard that smells like sage whenever I mow over it. I don't know if it's edible, though. There are so many different kinds of wild sage and it's my understanding that some are poisonous. I should make an effort to let it grow a bit and try to identify it someday.

1) cattails are very nice, but their ripeness peak is literally hours. They become fibrous immediately. You harvest 50 young cattails, there may be only 7 or 8 which are good for humans and not for horses. There is a reason mankind chose to cultivate asparagus instead. Same for bamboo, whose shoots I love, but whose peeling I hate. Poke and milkweed are not to my taste, and I eat everything.

2) Lettuce is a minor liver herb, it is not even liver specific but rather a diuretic. Still it helps, and certainly the massive amounts I eat in spring have an activity similar to smaller amounts of dandelions (which are a pain to pick, but at least are ready well before lettuce). The really major liver vegetables slash herbs are dandelion greens (really a weed, but so plentiful), cardoon or artichoke, and celery. All types of chicory a notch below. Lettuce another notch below, then carrots and beets. We all have quite the medicine cabinet in the garden. I need a lot less now that I no longer eat fried foods, dramatically cut down on coffee and processed foods.

Good to know, glib. Thanks! I've got asparagus covered (though it's cultivated, not foraged). :)

This post was edited by macky77 on Mon, Apr 1, 13 at 11:31

I have eaten pretty much everything listed so far, except poke root(did you really mean root? I've eaten the young shoots), oak bark, and miners lettuce (not in this region). Very few things I like better than cultivated, but mushrooms stick out, and wild fruitsand nuts (not acorns). Yellow dock when young makes a superior sorrel, green briar shoots are like lemony aspargus in early summer, and I do prefer the flavor of wild dandelions to those cultivated, if not their texture. Also here I find lots of wild mache which tastes better than the variety I grew from seed one year. Oh, and I agree about the winter cress mini broccolis, they are quite good, but there aren't any near my new home! A mixed blessing. Many of the other things I like in small quantities, but get tired of chewy fibers.

The one that does not stop giving, and is oh so nutritious, is purslane. Mixed with halved cherry tomatoes and olive oil dressing, I can eat bowls every day. I have intentionally introduced it in my gardens (the dandelions have not been invited but...), carefully selecting large leafed wild varieties. The round leaves named varieties do not have the vigor of their wild cousins, and I do not like them.

I used to have a selection of wild chicories from Territorial, giant plants growing at an astonishing rate in my sandy muck, and I collected seeds for a while, but that was in the late 1990s-early 2000s, and I do not have them anymore. Here we are getting into foraging in the garden...

Right about foraging...

Of course you shouldn't be trespassing... A quick ask to a farmers pastor would probably give you permission to look, instead of some buck shot.. But the thing is, there is absolutely no reason to be on trespassing, there is plenty of wild edibles in "safer" places...

Here are a few big cautions for foraging

- always make sure you have the right plant(triple identify)
-never eat anything you can't identify 100%
-forage as far away from pollution as you can
-when it doubt,leave it alone
-never trespass without permission
- HARVEST RESPONSIBLY - I cannot stree this enough! This is a big world if people is careless about ripping a plant out of the ground, we aren't going to have any plants! Please please please, take great care for these ancient plants!
-only harvest a portion of the plant, and the the rest rejuvenate
-if you are digging up a root, wait for it to go to seed!
-always try to wait for it to go to seed!
-take care of nature as if it was your own garden..

Macky77: the patch of silvery fuzzy plants - its probably mullien.. Look up mullien - let me know if it looks familiar.. Remember always be forsure!

Another thing with cattials.. You guys really have to be careful around water... Alot of these swamp plants detoxify water, cattails being one of them.. I would focus on land until you really know what your doing...

Keep on foraging,
Joe

Foraging prospects are somewhat limited in my dry climate. I am in a more rural area but climate is the biggest dictator here. My options would be limited to pine nuts (the trees only produce nuts every 7 years), prickly pear cactus (fruits and pads), and purslane. Honestly, the cactus pads do not really entice me. I have seen instructions on how to use the cactus fruits to make punch/juice but have not tried it yet. Pine nuts I need to plan some time to find trees that are producing the cones earlier in the summer. Purslane I have thought about trying but I do forage it to give to the chickens.

There are some other greens that come up in the spring that I suppose I could try if I was desperate enough but I have not reached that point yet.

The ground seeds of mesquite pods make for good eats...mixed at 10-20% with wheat flour it adds great flavor to pancakes, especially. It doesn't have a gluten content so there's limited uses in baked goods on it's own.

I only forage on my own property.

My favorites are dandelion greens, boiled, I don't really like the uncooked flavor, and poke salat (not a misspelling around here! LOL).

I watch very closely this time of year for the first sprouts of poke salat. I saw some peeping today!

I think the poke root was probably not correct sunnibel7. The root has a lot of poison in it. But they may know something that I don't!

The berries are supposed to be poisonous too, but I had an aunt that swore by them as an arthritis treatment. She would dry them and take one a day. She lived to 93, healthy and alert until the day she died.

I guess I'll head out and look at dandelions soon. I'm not wild about them but anything is good with oil and vinegar.

I didn't mean to confuse people about Phytolacca americana - some call it poke weed, poke root, or even inkberry.. I do not use the root and I don't advise people to.. From my understanding you cannot eat the root..

Pnbrown: while your at it pick some plantain.. Dandelion and plantain almost always grow together.. Man up and eat it raw.. Cooking it dilutes the health benefits..

Joe

Anyone interested in foraging.. "eattheweeds" on YouTube has hundreds of video that specify each plant and how to identify it,etc.. It is very helpful for the novice forager to get familiar with the looks of plants.. It's one thing to see a picture in a book, it's another thing to see it in video..

Here is a link of the website..

Here is a link that might be useful: EatTheWeeds

Raw, I googled mullien and it's definitely not that. I've seen it elsewhere in pastures and hayland and I've never seen it get that tall or even put up a flower stalk (that I remember). The leaves look more like this pic (see link below).

As for the cat tails, in our particular situation, they're a result of totally man-made conditions, so I would have no qualms at all about harvesting them if it was worthwhile. Our neighbour made a dugout close to our property line eons ago (before we bought the place). It flooded a few years ago (since we've been here) and the whole area, going into our front paddock, remains flooded even now, even though the levels have gone down. It's not terribly deep, but it's muddy and saturated and gross. Lots of frogs and birds and tiny creatures, but no fish. There's a natural wetland and scads of cattails to the north of us that we don't touch. It's not officially Ducks Unlimited land, but it might as well be because the land owner leaves it totally alone. We wouldn't touch that area. We don't even walk down there so the birds feel safe.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:34479}}

A small point of fact, Raw - mullein is not aromatic, so would not have a sage-like smell.

macky77's picture looks like an Artemisia, not a Salvia.

If you want a reliable id, mackky77, take a picture of the actual plant you have and post in on the Name That Plant Forum.

Macky not sure what that is, doesn't ruming a bell.. Definitely not mullien!

Flora: you'd be surprised what a plant could smell like.. Alot of wild plants are strong smelling, similar to herbs.. Depends of plants maturity.. Mullien does have a "green" smell, but your correct not sage..

Macky - take a picture of the actual plant and post it.. You could look at the eattheweeds website I linked above..

Joe

Looks like absinthe, to me; Artemesia absinthum. I grow it in my garden. It's related to sagebrush, which is also an artemesia.

Absinthe has a sagey smell and will get 2 or 3 feet tall and wide. It does 'flower', but the flowers do not have petals so they might not seem like flowers. I have had it get 6 feet tall when flowering.

It dies back partly or fully in winter. I would look up whether it's toxic to livestock, if you have livestock.

It will be quite a while until I can post a photo. We're still under a whole lot of snow and the only area on our property where I've seen this plant is an area that we mow regularly (around our flagpole to facilitate access). I think I've trained this patch to grow low by now! It does look a lot like an Artemesia (google pics are more familiar), though I'd have to let it grow to see. I haven't looked closely at it for a long time. I've seen it in the brush of my in-laws' pastures and it's listed as an invasive species in Saskatchewan.

I didn't actually set out to identify this plant in this thread. It was more of a passing comment. Come summer, I'll take it to the plant ID forum if I get to it. Thanks, though! :)

Nettle, purslane, violet, evening primrose, various edible flowers, wild rice, fiddleheads, morel mushrooms, puffballs, ramps, wild asparagus, rose hips, abandoned apples/pears/cherries, mulberries, chokecherries, wild black cherries, wild plums, wild grapes (possibly escaped), wild currants, elderberries, black gooseberries, wild blueberries, serviceberries, wild red raspberries, wild black raspberries, wild strawberries, black walnuts, butternuts, american hazelnuts. I most certainly forgot some things...

I roast and grind chicory and dandelion root for brewing. I have become quite partial to a 50/50 brew comprised of chicory or dandelion and dark roasted coffee beans.

Make my own maple syrup. Have made birch syrup a couple times, but was only assisting an acquaintance - I do not have reliable access to such trees. Wish I did...

Not sure if it is technically foraging, but I also occasionally eat crickets and grasshoppers (locusts and wild honey, anyone?). Sounds disgusting to many I know, but I must say they kind of grow on you. I like them in a stir fry with all my fresh garden vegetables. A great source of "free range" protein, so to speak. From experience, I recommend removing the legs or the critters tend to get stuck in the throat. That can create an unpleasant experience by causing a gag reflex - kind of like when a fish bone gets lodged in the throat. I doubt the legs have any nutritional value anyway, and they look more appetizing with the legs removed. For the record, I would rather eat wild bugs any day over feedlot beef. Now, grass-fed angus? That would be a completely different story, but I digress...

Not a big fan of bitter wild greens, but I know which ones to harvest if it were ever necessary. They would taste pretty good to me if my situation ever necessitated consuming them (or other bugs for that matter). In an emergency situation, the need for nutrition and to satisfy a grumbling empty stomach will trump taste buds and food biases every time. But for goodness sake, have a clue and know what the heck you are putting in your mouth.

When foraging, respect private property rights, public land usage regulations, and protected species laws. Due to past negative experiences I no longer have any tolerance or sympathy for trespassers, be they explorers, curiosity seekers, nature lovers, birdwatchers, foragers, hunters, poachers, plant stealers, illegal pot growers, illegal garbage and junk dumpers, whoever. Zero tolerance now. No matter what the excuse I will not hesitate to contact law enforcement and have people cited or prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for trespassing on my property (legally posted signs are the warning I give).

Be safe, respectful foragers, and have fun.
-Tom

Macky: nija brings up a interesting point, it kind of looks similar.. Still you need much better pictures of your plant,etc.. Im just saying Artemesia absinthum(wormwood) it is very medicinal! Take wormwood with the black walnut hulls I was talking about earlier and you have a powerful de-wormer! Wormwood is very very powerful.. Always research before you take anything.. Be safe, not sorry.

Joe

@soilent_green:

What do you do with evening primrose?

Get your foraging boots on boys! It's almost the prime time to collect edibles where I'm at! Yesterday, I was grazing on cleaver and dandalion.. Keep your eyes out!

Happy foraging,
Joe

Ha! My chickens forage, I reap second hand benifits. I choose to do other things with my fairly limited time. Is it considered foraging if you have let things grow, like persimmon and blackberries and wild grapes.?
Honeysuckle?

It doesn't take much time to forage... Go outside and find plants growing right in your lawn.. It might take you two minutes, if that! Now if you want to find rare exotic mushrooms or something, you need time. But plants are all around us..

Joe

That's what I do, Joe. I harvest from my own lawn. Dandelions mostly. But I've also snagged a grape leaf or two. I have a black walnut tree that tosses a ton of nuts every fall. Unfortunately, I don't like their flavor. Now, butternuts, they're another issue. I'd harvest them if I could. And I gladly let black raspberry canes grow in my lawn. Keeps me from wandering into the woods behind the house.

Tempus:

There is far more to a black walnut than a nut, the hull is very powerful medicine.. Research: "black walnut hull medicinal" research how to make a tincture or juice it.. You might see worms coming out of you.. Anyways, funny story about grape leaves.. I was in new York visiting family.. And I'm a freak about filtered water and health.. So I was going to bring my water filter.. They said the have a carbon filter in their fridge, I thought carbon has to be pretty good... Got there, that water sucked! So, they were bragging to me about a fishing tournament, they know im an avid fisherman.. So,they asked me if I wanted to go fishing the next morning, real early.. I said hell,why not, how often do I see them, got to spend time.. I couldn't sleep on their damn couch all night... I finally fell asleep and they woke me up at 4 in the morning to go fishing... I barely had time to fill my bottle with that crap water, let alone eat before they dragged me out.. So were fishing and couldn't drink that damn water, felt sick.. I needed something good.. I walked the creek and bingo, tons of grape vines! Boy did that do the trick! Chowed down like no other.. Some people think leave are I astringent and sour, but compared to that water they were a delicacy! My cousin was watching me in amazement - "You really know alot about that stuff dont you", i laughed with a mouthful if grape leaves. Knowing which plants are around you is a very very good thing to know.. At least research the top 10 common weeds that grow around the world. You never know when you are going to need them.

Keep on foraging,
Joe

Interesting post. The only things I've ever foraged are blueberries in the poconos when I was a kid. My grandparents would make the trip up every summer to gather blueberries, which grow wild all over the place up there (or did). We have walnuts growing along the road here, but I've never bothered to gather them. We also have blackberries growing along the same road.

Went to a covered dish dinner this evening. The most beautiful desert - and tastiest - was a pretty simple frosted white sheet cake covered in redbud blossoms. There were also a few wild violets scattered among the redbud petals. The flavor was amazing. Only in April could this be possible. I'll remember it next year!

I know this is an older post but I just found it and I felt like chiming in. I have only started to forage this year but I know where to find:
Blackberries- wild *
Raspberries- wild *
Grapes- wild *
Shagbark Hickory nuts*
Shellbark Hickory nuts*
Black Walnuts*
Crabapples*
"Wild" Apples*
"Wild" Pears*
Hawthorn- wild
Rose hips- wild
Strawberries- wild*
Cattails
Staghorn Sumac*
Sassafras*
Elderberry- wild
Beech nuts*
Chinquapin Oak acorns*
White Oak acorns*
Morel mushrooms*
Dryad's Saddle mushrooms*
Violets*
Dandelions*
Plantain
Purslane
Chicory
Goldenrod
Redbud
White Mulberry*
Spring Beauty
Mayapples
Trillium
Milkweed
Aparagus- wild
Prickly Pear Cactus*

The plants marked with an asterisk are the only ones I'm interested in. Also, just because I know where to find all these plants, it doesn't mean I've eaten them. And foraging doesn't affect what I plant in my garden because I don't rely on what I forage too much for food, it's just a hobby.

Rodney

This post was edited by theforgottenone1013 on Thu, Sep 12, 13 at 10:04

What do you do with Milkweed? I grow it for the Monarchs but didn't know it was edible.

I occasionally nibble on something while wandering out in the wild - wintergreen berries, wild grapes, rose hips, Autumn olive berries (Elaeagnus umbellata - invasive here in Mass. but the berries are pretty good at peak ripeness). Have cooked dandelion greens as well as lambs quarters and they are okay. Should try poke one of these springs, there are only about 500 plants growing in part of the yard.

Indeed, autumn olive is rampant around here. Makes superb fruit leather if one is willing to do the labor - which I rarely am. I agree the berries are pretty good out of hand when very ripe and from the best bushes, we find there is a lot of variation in flavor.

I haven't eaten milkweed but I know that the milkweed pods are edible when very young, around an inch or two long. They have to be boiled first. And I believe that the young shoots of milkweed are also edible but I'd have to look this up to be sure.

About a quarter of the things I listed, I haven't eaten and I probably will never eat unless I was starving. I look for them nonetheless because I think it's fun.

I forgot to include Spruce, Daylilies, and Serviceberries to my previous list.

Rodney

Blackberries for jam.

We have been foraging for our chickens because they are naughty and wander to far away.

My son has found that the chickens love gum tree leaves, wild cucumber berries, and any kind of wild grass that has gone to seed (they pick the seed off the tops).

I've attached a picture of the wild cucumber vine - I'll bet many have seen it and didn't realize what it was. Humans can eat them green but when fully ripe (purple) they have a laxative effect.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wild Cucumber Picture

Two of my chickens escaped and are living in the woods, at least last I saw them some days ago. I'm not sure I want to spend the time required to capture them.

I have eaten milkweed shoots several times, and frankly, they are not worthy. They are also available when everything else is producing shoots, and wild asparagus is much better. Bamboo is a pain to clean, but much better. Fiddleheads are much better (make sure you cook the latter two). Cattail has a window of one nanosecond, going from too young to fibrous, but if you catch it in that window, it is better. Grape tips are better (raw). Garlic shoots are much better, and you don't have to go far if you let a few garlic plants go to bulbils. Surely walking onions are a pleasurable food too.

pnbrown and LKZZ- You two are lucky that you can have chickens. I've wanted to keep chickens for years but my city's ordinance doesn't allow them (or any farm animal) but the city owns a petting farm. Which I find ridiculous.

Getting back to foraging, I've always wondered if dandelion leaves would be less bitter and more palatable if they were blanched for a week or two prior to eating. Like how one would blanch endive or frisee. However the impracticality of it has prevented me from trying this.

Cattails, haven't eaten them, but not only are the young shoots edible, the green, immature bloom spikes can be cooked and eaten like corn on the cob and cattail pollen can be collected and added to bread recipes and such.

Rodney

Rodney, I'm in a half-acre lot size neighborhood. I'm not sure exactly what the deal is regarding rules on chickens in this township but I'm pretty sure there is a chicken exemption from the ban on livestock (under 5 acres) because lots of people have them, and some even free-roaming, like mine.

only one neighbor has complained so far about having her flowerbeds chicken-tractored, and she wasn't too upset.

pnbrown- My city is strict when it comes to animals, regardless of lot size, as evidenced by their official ordinance:
"Section 14.09 Keeping of Animals
(a) Domestic animals, dogs, cats, birds and non-breeding rabbits, respectively, are limited to a total of three (3) adult animals per household.
(b) Unless otherwise provided in this ordinance, no building or land in any district shall keep, raise, procreate or otherwise allow on the premises any wild or exotic animal, fowl, farm animal or livestock.
(c) Excluded from this regulation are facilities owned and operated by the City and fully accredited academic institutions. All are subject to the health and sanitation provisions of the City of (name withheld) and shall not become a nuisance."

In the next township over, a mere half mile from my house, I'd be able to keep chickens and other livestock.

Rodney

i am really into wild foraging. =)

just yesterday i found some matsutake mushrooms! woo hoo, gonna make a nice stir fry with them later. went to a spot with a lot of tan oak, seems they must like this kind of wood.

of course it helps that i live in some really awesome wild land, with thousands and thousands of acres in every direction being an abundant forest, lots of rivers, and hardly no humans!
unfortunately areas like this are too rare.

some of my favorite wild edibles are mallow, very mild taste to the leaves, i find it quite pleasant in salads and on soup. sheep sorrel, i love the zing of any sorrel but this one has the best flavor, chicory, wild grapes, elderberries, and mushrooms among others.

I have tremendous respect for people who grow food and who also look to the outdoors.
I'm a lifelong southern Californian suburbs type, and container gardening is all I can do, so when I read (drooling with envy) about your harvests, wild or not, I really am impressed.