whats the weirdest thing you ever found while foraging?

[feral chef]

i ask this question because even tho i live in new england i have found a pepper plant as well as a tomato plant growing wild. tropical plants growing in anything but tropical new england is rather unusual so i thought id see if anyone else has seen anything out of place while foraging. (no bigfoot sightings please)

[Winter]

I came across blueberry bushes surrounded by spearmint. That was awesome.

[shiftyer1]

I would imagine a bird was eating someones plant and deposited the seeds where you found them. That is pretty cool. In my case I wasn't foraging but 2 years ago when I first moved in my currant house, everytime I was in the yard I smelled onions which I thought was strange. After looking around I found several growing here and there in the yard. I guess they were wild because nobody would have planted them where I found them.

[wtrfwlr]

When I was a teen we had a spring fed swimming hole in our backyard that had a gravel bottom in it. Each year we drained it to clean the gravel and then it was refilled. We neglected that chore for a year or two and when I was finally order to clean it I drained it and found some small perch or bream minnows in the bottom. I never did figure out how they got there but I've always wondered?

[Rick]

Fish eggs cling to bird's feet when they wade and are transferred from water hole to water hole. Nature's form of Overnight Express.

I wasn't foraging but did find prickly pear cactus in the woods in S. Illinois many years back. My guess is some animal transplanted the seeds from someone's yard because this would not have been on old homestead. Kind of a Holy Cow moment.

[SARKY]

I found an old rusted out Model T with blueberries growing out of it. I also found a rock face that water had cut sluces and holes in the rock.

[Rick]

Ooh. Rocks. I have a petrified wasp nest I found while gold panning. I've still got that.

[Winter]

Gonna need pics Rick, I have a geology fetish.

[wtrfwlr]

Thanks Rick! I did not know that, you just solved a 35 year old puzzle for me. A hunting buddy and I found the remnants of a moonshine still in the Ozarks.

[Rick]

The still works the same way. It sticks to bird's legs, too but you have to have bigger birds. Much bigger birds.

I'll get some pics of the nest tomorrow and put them up. It's pretty cool. I also have a smooth stone with a diatrom embedded that was used as a necklace stone. At least I'm pretty certain it was. I'll get a pic of it, too.

Not trying to wreck the thread but I did find those while out. Just not foraging.

[Sparky93]

My dad was out in the sticks of Kentucky jinsing hunt'n, climbed up a tree beside a little cliff face onto a ledge on the cliff face. As he started to climb onto the ledge he noticed a bunch of new pots setup on the ledge. Then he noticed the pot growing in the pots and quickly proceded to climb back down and promptley leave the area.

Rick, I'd like to see some pics of your wasp nest too, I love fossils. I've been told I have more rocks inside than are in the driveway outside. I find fossilized furns (pecopteris) all the time and I have also found what I think is fossilized wood.

[Canadian-guerilla]

Indian Pipes ( picture from google images )

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[grrlscout]

I was out picking mesquite beans, when:

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This past weekend, I was picking juniper berries, when I saw this:

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Tarantula burrow. Not too weird, kinda cool.

[Sparky93]

Dood, howd you find my stash doood. I thought I hid it good doood, and doood whats with the danc'n banana dooood?

[aldankirk]

I found a pot plant while foraging in a pretty remote area. It was literally miles from the nearest road, and it was one single plant, so I am pretty sure it was not someone's grow operation.

[hunter63]

Found a "medicine" plant while duck hunting, looked like it was being taken care of....hunting buddy, pulled it up and stuffed it down his waders.
All went well until we were loading the canoe....warden stopped to check our licenses...the plant was kinda riding up in his waders, and kinda winking out.

Warden either didn't notice or didn't care, and left.

Hunting buddy had to clean out his waders........LOL.

[wtrfwlr]

So are you gonna let us know how duck and twinkies taste?

[whitis]

Tomatoes aren't requisitely tropical even if historically tropical. The originated in the tropics and weren't native to North America. They are practical to grow in climates that freeze.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2005tomato.PNG
They are grown, in smaller quantities, at fairly high latitudes.

One possible source is an affirmative answer to the question, do hikers sh*t in the woods? Or a raccoon or squirrel raiding garbage or gardens. Tomato seeds are eaten by animals and planted and fertilized a few hours later. That is the evolutionary strategy behind tasty fruit. And since much of the tomatoes we eat are grown in the US, those varieties would be adapted to grow somewhat further north. 8% of US tomatoe farms (but only 1% by acreage) are in new England.

The primary export of Highland county, VA is maple syrup.

Some plants are migrating northwards with global warming. People are growing wine grapes in England while the French are having a harder time with them. Grapes were grown in england during the midieval warming but hat stopped with the little ice age.

China grows more bell peppers than all the other major producers combined. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_pepper
The first south/central american country on the list is Argentina at #20.
New Jersey is the third largest bell pepper producer and the six largest fresh tomato producer in the US.

Tropical fruit trees would be weird.

[Rick]

Winter - Here are a few pics of the wasp nest.

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If someone thinks it's something else then by all means chime in. That's what it looks like to me. I would have not thought something that fragile would fossilize but see is believing I guess. You can actually see fossilized larva inside the tubes. It's all rock.

Here's is a stone I found along Lake Michigan.

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[Amaranth]

Rick....I've found a few of those over the years. What you have is called tabulate coral. I thought they were petrified wasp nests too.