Wild Edibles 10 Great Tips

Wild Edibles made Easy with 10 Great Tips!

 

Wild Edibles ginger
Wild ginger plant

Foraging for wild edibles?  It’s fun.  Yes, there IS a world of food outside the supermarket!

And it’s super green and ecofriendly – as well as great fun!

But you need to be safe – here are loads of resources for courses and the best books for wild plants that are edible

Why is it good to find wild edibles?

  • Wild edible plants are free.  Yes, free!  (That’s even cheaper than a burger filled with junk!).  So you save money.
  • Some fruit for example is wildly expensive in stores – you can get free if you forage for food and fruit in season.
  • You get out into the fresh air, and you get some gentle exercise.
  • You learn about the fruits and vegetables that nourish you.
  • You get to eat super-fresh, healthy food, without pesticides or other toxins.
  • It’s fun!
  • Imagine coming across an unexpected find, like a bush filled with blackberries!  It gets your creative juices flowing – what will you use them for?  Will you eat them raw, or bake them or cook them into something?  It’s exciting!
  • Wild edible plants are local (no food miles) and sustainable.  So if you forage for food you are being very eco friendly and living green.
  • It’s a great way to engage kids.
  • You will find that when you forage for food, your senses are sharpened and you are more connected with your surroundings – something we miss out on in our busy city lives.
  • Many people have fruit that they can’t harvest – perhaps they are elderly, or there’s too much fruit at once…. you can help.  It’s a win-win!

squirrel foraging for wild edibles

Wild Edibles Top 10 Tips

  1. Remember to look both up and down.  For example, if you find a nut tree, look around its base for fallen nuts as well as in the branches for ripe nuts.
  2. Check out where the best fruit trees are located during the spring and summer.  Then foraging for ripe fruit later in the year will be a breeze!
  3. Get into the habit of always carrying a reusable bag with you.  If you find ripe fruit but don’t have a bag with you, use your pockets, a hat, anything.
  4. Put an ad in your local ad paper offering to help harvest organic produce, or weed and tend gardens for a share of the produce. This could also apply to fishing, nut gathering, or other heavily harvested food in your area.
  5. Be a responsible forager, asking for permission when necessary.
  6. Be kind to the trees  and plants you harvest; leave enough behind for them to regenerate or reseed, and leave some for the wild birds and animals that depend on them for survival.  Take a little here and a little there like the animals do.
  7. Ask the elderly what wild plants they used. One forager said his family gathered big bags of marijuana for his grandmother to soak in for her arthritis!
  8. The most overlooked area to forage is our own property.
  9. If you have a brook or spring, or even somewhere water develops, then plant mint, watercress, or other water-loving plants that can take care of themselves and don’t need much.
  10. If you have ditches, reservoirs, or damp areas in your area, try planting watercress, sunflowers, herbs, trees, or seeds and care for them periodically during their initial growing stages. A few squash or pumpkin seeds can yield enormous amounts of food – either for yourself or for other foragers.

Remember – “If we were all to give as freely as Mother Earth, no one would ever go to bed hungry”

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Related Articles:

Why Should we Forage for food when there are supermarkets?
Wild Plants that are edible – How to stay safe while foraging
Courses and books on foraging

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Tags

foraging, foraging for wild edibles, safe foraging, safety in foraging, tips for foraging safely, top 10 tips, top 10 tips for foraging, top 10 tips for wild edibles, top tips, wild edibles


  • Clare,
    be kind to the trees! I love it! I all must treat our real mother and her gifts with love and respect.

  • I am really enjoying your series on wild edibles. It goes well with an ecofriendly lifestyle. A lot of the elderly where I live can forage. I wish I had paid more attention when I was younger and my grandparents tried to teach me.

  • My yard is great at growing dandelions, which is great for the liver. My mom used to put dandelions and nasturtiums in our salads when I was growing up. She was great at foraging.

    Yours In Health!

    Dr. Wendy

    • I love nasturtiums, and they look great on a plate too. Dandelions good for the liver? Thanks, I knew they were good for us, but I didn’t know that.

  • I relate to some of your suggestions … my father was a fanatic on his fruit trees … yield was high and difficult to give away (different times)

    Lyle R. Johnson

  • Yesterday I made salsa with herbs from my own garden!!! How wonderful to feel so connected with nature.
    Sonya Lenzo

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