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So, you want to forage but aren’t sure exactly where to begin? Believe me, I get it. All the information needed to be effective at foraging and gathering wild edible plants and mushrooms can be overwhelming. I’m not writing this article with the intent of making you a seasoned forager, but rather to hopefully give you some tools to help break down those walls of information in order to be able to learn and grow more confident.
“But I’m new, how on earth can I know and figure out all these things?” This and questions like it are common, and I myself asked many like it starting out. The answer is that you must put in the time, get reference materials, sort, filter, and rule out other species, wrong seasons, and wrong geographic locations of plants you might be confusing what you have with. For example, you probably aren’t going to find cattails growing on a sand dune in the Mojave Desert in August. While that’s an exaggerated example, I think it gets the point across. Identifying individual features on plants and fungi will help keep you safe.
If it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. The same thing goes for plants. If it has the same type of leaves, oriented in the same way, growing in the right type of location, is of the appropriate size for the season, and meets all the criteria for being _________ species, then that’s what it is. Lookalike plants only look alike until you start looking closely at the features it has. And once you see and understand those features, it will become immediately obvious what it is and is not.
Many different species look similar, but they don’t share identifying features. For example, trees generally all look alike; they have trunks, limbs, and branches covered with leaves. This doesn’t mean all trees are the same, you need to get into their features to sort them out. Red oaks and white oaks can look very similar, but red oak leaves will have pointy leaves, while white oak leaves are more rounded on the tips. You can apply this same typology to plants to figure out what you have in front of you.
All it takes is a bit of study, and a few minutes looking at the plant to figure out which one it is. And once you get the knowledge of being able to immediately look and see that the leaves are wrong, the stem is wrong, etc., it takes almost no time at all to figure out which plant is which. Wild carrots/Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota) and Water hemlock (Cicuta maculata) can both look similar, and are in the same family of plants, Apiaceae. However, comparing growth seasons, location, and the different characteristics of each plant, you can avoid one of North America’s most toxic plants and harvest wild carrots that are perfectly good to eat and safe to use.
Scary stuff, right? As well it should be. Again, never eat or use for medicine any plant you aren’t 100% sure of. Taking the time to learn the differences between “lookalikes” and the target species combined with other things I’ve mentioned like location, size, and time of year will have you safely confident of your harvest.
Be aware that there is a ton of misinformation on wild plants out there. Stuff that has been handed down for years and years that simply isn’t true. I’ve heard people say things like “Wild mushrooms aren’t safe to eat if they have bright colors” “White mushrooms are always safe to eat”. Both of which are dead wrong. One of the prettiest white mushrooms you’ll ever see, but also one of the deadliest.
Check some out from your local library or buy yourself some field guides. Peterson’s Field Guides are solid and will get you headed the right direction. Forums exist, there are several good groups on Facebook, and even discord servers dedicated to foraging for wild plants and fungi. Another important consideration for wild edibles and medicinal plants is to check for interactions. For example, you find a 15lb Chicken of the Woods mushroom and want to cook it up for dinner. Some people can have sensitivities to it so instead of making it the main course, use it as a side dish and only try a small bit of it to make sure it won’t make you sick. No issues? Then you know you should be good to go the next time you find or cook some. Allergies can also occur, which applies to any food. Not just with wild, foraged plants and fungi.
As we are well into fall, most plants and fungi that we would be looking for are dying out. That by no means is to say that there is nothing to eat in the woods and wilds this time of year. Acorns, cattails, some tubers, grasses, and even a few species of mushrooms can still be found and eaten. Obviously, as winter approaches and temperatures continue to decrease, you become more limited on what’s available, so my recommendation is to take this fall and winter to learn as much as you can about the plants and fungi in your area. Get your hands on a field guide, check out forums and websites dedicated to foraging, walk through your yard and identify those pesky weeds. Many of which will likely be edible and healthy plants once eaten by our ancestors even just a couple generations ago.
Dandelions in your yard? Edible, medicinal, and delicious. All parts of the plant can be used. My mother used to make dandelion jelly that tasted sort of like apple jelly almost. Fantastic stuff. And the roots can be made into what I’ve heard is one of the most convincing coffee substitutes, minus caffeine.
Greenbriars growing in the edge of the woods beside your house? The tender shoots and tendrils taste a bit like asparagus and green beans together. I’ve eaten them raw by themselves, in salads, and sautéed with butter with a little salt and pepper on them. Absolutely delicious.
Plantain is one of a couple species of plant that is in almost everyone’s yard. And can almost certainly be found in nearly any field. The leaves can be eaten or used as a poultice for dressing wounds.
Mullein is a plant that grows in disturbed soils, often seen growing beside roadways and in the edges of fields. It can be used as medicine, and the leaves can be used for makeshift bandages.
I encourage everyone to learn about the plants and mushrooms that grow where they live. Foraging for food in the wild is an incredible way to connect to the land we live on and can have huge health benefits. Both from a dietary and exercise perspective.
*** The first and most important rule of foraging for food or medicinal plants is to be 100% positive of your identification. If you cannot guarantee that a plant or mushroom you’ve gathered is what you say it is, do not eat it or try to use it for medicine. It isn’t worth it. Also, some parts of plants are edible while the rest is not. Make sure you are taking the appropriate parts of plants if restrictions like that apply. All this information can be found online or in reputable field guides. ***
I just need to know wich ones get me high as fuck!