Do you love the idea of being able to harvest fresh, nutritious, local food . . . for free? Yeah, me, too! Foraging is also a way to get outside to enjoy nature and get some exercise. But there are a few simple tips to keep in mind before you head out on your adventure.
Foraging Tips
DOs
Be courteous. Ask the landowner for permission to forage, and offer her some of your bounty.
Be respectful. Don’t leave trash behind or damage nearby plants.
Do take a guide book like this Field Guild to Wild Plants. Be sure you have positively identified a plant before eating. Better yet, go with an experienced forager.
Do look in your own backyard. Foraging doesn’t have to mean a trip to the country if you are a city dweller. Dandelion, purslane, plantain, day lily and more abound in the city.
Check state and local laws. Some areas forbid foraging in parks and state forests.
Be sure the tools you use are clean and disease-free. You don’t want to spread disease.
Do try re-planting some of what you brought home into your own garden, assuming it is not invasive.
DON’Ts
Harvest ramps from the center of the patch.
Don’t take it all. Be sure to leave plenty so that the wild edible can reproduce. If you’re harvesting a patch of ramps, for example, don’t harvest from the edges where the ramps can spread, but rather from the middle. This will give areas where the ramps are already crowded room to grow.
Don’t harvest a plant if there are just a few. Allow that patch to grow and expand for future years. The only exception would be invasive species. Take all you want.
Don’t harvest rare plants.
Don’t harvest close to roads with heavy traffic – the plants may be contaminated from exhaust. And don’t harvest in or near polluted waters.
Don’t waste. Be sure to use what you harvest.
Trout Lily Corms and Leaves
Now that you have some foraging tips, here are some posts to get you started on your foraging adventure:
The Beginner’s Guide to Foraging Resources
Acorns
Autumn Olives
Berries
Elderberry Tincture or Liqueur
Supercharge Your Elderberry SyrupÂ
Black Walnuts
How to Harvest and Crack Black Walnuts
Chickweed
Chickweed Salve for Itchy Skin (and tips for foraging)
Dandelion
Black Magic Chocolate Cake with Dandelion Root Coffee
Roasted Dandelion Root Coffee Ice Cream
Dandelions: Foraging Them, Eating Them, and Keeping Them Out of Your Lawn
Dandelion Oil Lotion Bars for Dry Skin and Sore Muscles
Dock
Elderflower
Fiddleheads
How to Forage Ostrich Fern Fiddlehead Fern
Garlic Mustard
Garlic Mustard
Garlic (Wild)
Hickory Bark
Hosta
Crispy Batter Fried Hosta Shoots
Mullein
Foraging Mullein for Earaches and Coughs
Nettle
Zuppa Toscana with Stinging Nettle
How to Safely Forage Stinging Nettle
Onions, Wild
Salsa and Spinach Pie with Wild Onions
Pine and Spruce
Pine Bath Salts for Natural Stress Relief
How to Harvest Pine Resin and Use it to Make a Salve
Pine Needle and Raspberry Soda
Plantain
From Plantain Leaf to Healing Balm
Plantain and Kelp Plaque-Fighting Tooth Powder
Plantain and Jewelweed Home Remedy for Poison Ivy Rash
Ramps
Ramps and Garlic Mustard Frittata
Rose Hips
Staghorn Sumac
Staghorn Sumac
Violets
Low Sugar Wild Violet Jelly Recipe
Violet-Infused Aloe Soothing Gel
Homemade Violet and Dandelion Pink Lemonade
Watercress
Weeds (General)
Book Review: The Wild Wisdom of Weeds
Is it a Weed or is it an Herbal Remedy?
Wintergreen
The Tip to Delicious Wintergreen Tea
Teaberry (Wintergreen) Extract
What dos and don’t would you add to my list of foraging tips?Â
Thank you for visiting Learning And Yearning. May "the LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace." Num 6:24-26
Kristel Wiesner says
Can’t wait to check out some of these links! I thought of you when I was picking dandelion leaves and violets for a salad the other day. I had no idea Trout Lilies had edible parts. I also never thought to forage from the center instead of the edges. Thanks for the tips.
Susan Vinskofski says
It makes me smile that you thought of me when foraging. 🙂
Kirsten says
Thanks for including my wild violet muffins in your round up!
I am determined to find ramps this year! (Not at the farmer’s market)
Susan Vinskofski says
I wish you success!
Christine says
Wonderful tips! I am definitely saving this as well as stumbling it! Thanks so much for sharing it…
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