wild edibles ratings list

[Canadian-guerilla]

trying to make my wild edibles journey a little easier
i've made a ratings list to keep track of what i know so far

1 - easy to recognize / hands on experience

2 - easy to recognize / no hands on experience yet

3 - to do study list

i carry about 15 pictures of different edibles
from this group with me when i go out, plus a couple books

4 - POISONOUS

i always carry pictures with me from this group
this includes pic of lookalikes from 1 & 2


when i go out, i have a small knapsack for " take home "
and the pictures are in my camera bag on my side

[LudwigVan]

This is a great approach. Good luck with your foraging, maybe you could keep us posted?

[Rick]

I've suggested this before. Maybe it would work for you. Instead of taking pictures (which is a great idea) why not try drawing the plant? Here is what it will do for you.

1) you will spend a great deal of time studying the nuances of the plant. You'll concentrate on the type of leaves, stem, etc. far more closely than you will just snapping a picture.

2) You'll ingrain the image and characteristics into your brain and won't be as likely to forget it as you would just looking at a picture.

It doesn't matter how good or bad of an artist you are. It's not a lesson in art. It's a lesson in learning the plant. It will certainly take longer to draw the plant but probably spend less overall time learning them. Besides, you want to spend time outdoors and that's a pretty good way to do it.

Let me know if you try it and how you feel about it.

[erunkiswldrnssurvival]

an intimate relationship with the plants is how i learned to identify. I agree with Rick,draw every fold and fuzz,you will know the plant like you know your brother. the dandy lion-like plants are least difficult to learn, the wild indian potato,and the little red choke berries (wild cranberry) are more difficult. learning to identify 1st year growth plants can be hard too.just study draw and eat.

[Stairman]

I actually prefer a book with an artists drawing of the plant. That way all the identifying features are usually covered. I find a few in the same family to be hard to differentiate even still. I have identified more edibles this year than ever before. I love the leaves of Sheep Sorel and chickweed raw. Also Purslane isnt too bad and also have a wide variety of wild lettuces here that are a bit confusing as well as Sow Thistle. We have Bull Thistle growing like crazy here but I wont forage beside a highway where you see them the most. Good luck and be safe. Eattheweeds.com is a good set of you-tubes to check out.

[erunkiswldrnssurvival]

queen annes lace is a tough one, so simular to poison hemlock, the smell qives it away though. and the easyest to identify, poor mans pepper.and also there is the Yarrow, it also resembles carrot and poison hemlock. the yarrow makes tea, and pultice and apply to a cut to stop bleeding.

[wareagle69]

trying to make my wild edibles journey a little easier
i've made a ratings list to keep track of what i know so far

1 - easy to recognize / hands on experience

2 - easy to recognize / no hands on experience yet

3 - to do study list

i carry about 15 pictures of different edibles
from this group with me when i go out, plus a couple books

4 - POISONOUS

i always carry pictures with me from this group
this includes pic of lookalikes from 1 & 2


when i go out, i have a small knapsack for " take home "
and the pictures are in my camera bag on my side

well after well over 100 books and close to a thousand dollars i can sum this up quickley, google ontario weeds choose the omfafra website and purchase publication 505 but you can also view it for free, hands down the best tool you need for any wild edibles research. oh for all you folks around ontario is it great for ya'll too

[KhonHd]

well after well over 100 books and close to a thousand dollars i can sum this up quickley, google ontario weeds choose the omfafra website and purchase publication 505 but you can also view it for free, hands down the best tool you need for any wild edibles research. oh for all you folks around ontario is it great for ya'll too


I just ordered a copy. $15.75 taxes in (no shipping cost, at least none in Ontario)

Thanks for the info.

[ClayPick]

Fiddleheads are right around the corner ..... the real ones, Ostrich fern. My spot is cultivated and very productive ( i carry in knapsack loads of cow poop during the winter for fertilizing them). Selective harvesting keeps my spot from getting cleaned out. I plan is to take pictures so they can be identified and picked properly by anyone.:)

[lanahi]

One of my favorite wild edible plants is dock (broad leaf dock or curly dock), Rumex category. The young leaves are used as greens, either raw in salads or boiled like spinach. After the first year, a tall seed stem grows up in the center of the plant and turns reddish brown in the autumn, and the seeds can be eaten like buckwheat (which it is related to). This stem is handy because you can see it sticking up from a distance, but young plants will not have the stem yet. Also, if you are hesitant about identifying the plant, the seed stalk will guarantee it is dock.
Dock comes in two varieties (broad leaf and curly dock), and of the two the curly dock isn't as bitter, but I collect broad leaf dock too when the leaves are young and they are not bitter then. When they are older, I simmer the leaves in water to cover it and pour out the water and either then continue to boil it with little water or it can be sauteed in butter. It is delicious if you like greens, much better than spinach and more nutritious. You have to pick twice what you need for a meal because they boil down to half the volumn that you started with.
The roots of the curly dock (otherwise known as yellow dock) is edible.
Dock grows all over the nation in both wet and dry areas. Near wetlands, the ducks and geese love to eat the seeds, so if they are in seed you can expect waterfowl there too.
http://www.1atexasduckhunting.com/duckfood.htm

Another of my favorite edible plant foods are acorns. Here also you have to soak them in several changes of water to remove the bitter tannic acid, but then they are sweet. After that, I dry them and ground them into flour or coarser for nuts. This is even fairly easy to do between two stones, since they are soft nuts. I have a recipe for acorn bread that adds only 1 tablespoon of sugar but it makes a sweet desert bread that everyone loves! Acorns have all the protein and fat that other nuts have.

BTW, save the tannic acid in that first change of water...it is handy for an antibiotic as well as tanning hides.

[oly]

Its a good idea to make notes of locations, elevations, and there seasons.