Chapter 6 Foraging

 

        In nearly all parts of the country there are lots of edible wild foods and herbs.  From dandelions to wild onions, there's a whole range of things you can gather to supplement what you grow or raise. 

 

        The first thing to do is to get a really good guide to foraging.  One that is focused on the part of the country where you live is the most useful.  It doesn't do me much good to read about palms, cactus, and seaweed/kelp when I live in Montana!  Likewise, knowing that kinnikinnik is edible doesn't help someone in the south, since it's a northern plant!

 

        The next thing to do, if you are lucky enough, is to find someone in your area who knows plants.  Make sure that they are qualified to teach you, and pick their brains.  Check with the local community college or county extension office and see if anyone is teaching foraging or plant identification. 

 

        Big cities are actually more likely to have such a thing.  In the Los Angeles area Christopher Nyerges teaches plant identification and takes people on “nature walks” in the city, suburbs, and surrounding wilderness to show them the plants.  Check to see if such a thing is available where you live.

 

        If you're going to pick berries, mushrooms, or anything else on federal land such as National Forest, make sure you can do so without a permit.  Usually if you're gathering for your own use and not commercially there isn't a requirement for a permit.

 

        Some plants are so familiar to us we'd know them anywhere, and they grow nearly everywhere.  I'm sure you've seen dandelions, clover, roses, and cattails.  You might not have known they are edible, but they are. 

 

        You've probably also seen plantain and pineapple weed, which are both edible, but you might not know that's what they're called.  They grow in most populated areas, mainly hard-packed places like along roads and sidewalks.

 

        Use caution when gathering plants near roads.  There could be issues with chemicals from vehicle exhaust or other pollutants. 

 

        A lot of wild food is basically “salad” food.  They're greens, herbs, and flowers.  They've packed full of vitamins and anti-oxidants but not very high in calories, protein, carbohydrates, or fat, which are essential to maintaining health and energy.  There are plants that have starch or even fat, and it's good to gather these in addition to salad foods.

 

        Roots and tubers have starch (carbohydrates) and a higher calorie content than greens.  Cattails and Salsify are two that fit in this category. 

 

        Some parts of the country have wild nut trees.  The nuts are a good source of protein and fat.  Some nuts are thought to be inedible, such as acorns, but there are processes you can do that will render them edible.  If you have these nuts in your area, learn the process in case you ever need to harvest and eat them.

 

        The flower heads of white clover can be gathered, dried, and ground into flour.  You can mix it with wheat flour (or other grains) and extend your flour, plus get more variety of nutrients.  Edible roots can be dried and ground or pounded into flour too.

 

        You might have wild grains in your area.  In southern California wild buckwheat grows along roads and hillsides.  Seeds/grains of grass plants are edible but it's tedious harvesting them.  If starvation ever becomes an issue it might be worth walking along snipping the seed heads off into a bag.  Thresh and grind them into flour. 

 

        Grain or seeds can be ground between two rocks.  Find a flat, smooth rock and lay the food to be ground on it.  Use a smaller rock, also mostly smooth and about the size you can comfortably hold in your hand, and rub it over the grains or seeds.  You can use circular motions or push forward and backward, or whatever is comfortable. 

 

        It's tedious but it works.  You probably just want to do a meal's worth at a time.  But if you're living the self-sufficient lifestyle, providing food is your 'job' and you'll have time for some of the things you don't right now. 

 

        Berries are a well-known food source.  Make a point to learn what berries grow in your area and where to find them.  Even if you don't need them now, you'll be ahead of the game if you need them later.

 

        In our area we have huckleberries (sort of a wild blueberry), raspberries, service berries, thimble berries, elderberries, strawberries, kinnikinniks (A bland cranberry-like berry), and Oregon grapes growing wild all over the place.  The times when they come ripe are during a slow time in the garden.

 

        The rains of early summer are over.  The plants in the garden are well-established and the weeds have slowed down.  We mulch the garden good, water it deeply once a week, and start spending whole days in the woods picking berries and other edibles.

 

        Mushrooms are another food you can forage for, but this is an area to use extreme caution.  The safe mushrooms are delicious and nutritious, but you want to make sure beyond all doubt!!! that you are harvesting safe mushrooms.

 

        This applies to all foods.  Some safe foods have poisonous look-alikes.  Wild carrots and Queen Anne's Lace look alike.  One is safe, one is deadly.  BE SURE you are picking the correct plant.  I'm not sure on the wild carrots so we don't harvest them.

 

        Identify the weeds that you pull from your garden.  After we found out that most of what we were pulling were either edible salad greens or useful herbs, we stopped being so thorough with our weeding.  We'd let some of the Lamb's Quarters and other 'weeds' grow a bit, then pull them for a salad with dinner.

 

        You can make delicious teas from several of these plants as well:  mint, pineapple weed (similar to chamomile and a member of that plant family), clover, raspberry leaves, strawberry leaves, blackberry leaves, and others. 

 

        Rose hips, the small fruit that forms after a rose blooms, makes a great tea high in Vitamin C.  Pine Needle tea is also high in Vitamin C. 

 

        To make tea, steep the part of the plant you are using in boiling or almost-boiling water.  Filter or otherwise remove the plant parts, then drink.  A good herb book will tell you more specifically how to do this, such as ratio of plant to water. 

 

        There are more wild foods than I could put in this chapter, but it's more to give you an idea that foraging is a viable addition to your food self-sufficiency plan.  It's also a pleasant way to spend a day while providing food for the table!