Author Topic: Foraging - finding free wild food  (Read 19920 times)

SeaEhm

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #50 on: July 22, 2016, 05:05:00 PM »
On a more serious note, I am too paranoid to eat anything in nature that I am not 1,000% sure what is it.  I am just starting to get over eating tomatoes straight from the vine in my backyard! haha

Am always jealous of people that are very knowledgable and can eat fresh items while on a hike or in the wilderness.

Anje

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #51 on: August 02, 2016, 03:04:31 PM »
I'm only eating a fraction of what could be eaten. I eat what I'm 110% sure of. And every year I try to learn one or two new things. So far my mushroom-skills are one type: chanterelles.

Picked half a kilo of raspberries and made jam yesterday. So tasty and sour-sweet. Will go back once more of them ripen and pick berries to freeze.

Rural

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #52 on: August 02, 2016, 06:16:46 PM »

 It's going to be a pretty crappy year this year because of drought (now partially broken). But on the bright side, my husband located a couple persimmon trees on the property a week or so ago. It's been several years since we had persimmons, since our last move, actually. Still waiting to see how the nuts will do.  The best possible use for persimmons is in persimmon-acorn cookies.

I think we're going to get a few elderberries – not very many because most of them dried up, but some. Got just a couple handsful of blackberries before the real dry spell hit and they all dried up, but I ate those right there by the canes. No blueberries at all this year.

 And, thanks to a wonderful idea from my husband, I'm trying a new tea out: sassafras and blackberry with just a little bit of stevia. I think it will be fabulous. I grew the stevia, but the other two are foraged.

 Passionfruit are doing well – there are passionflowers all over the area in front of the house. They're gorgeous, and maybe this year I'll actually do something with the fruit.

clarkai

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #53 on: August 02, 2016, 07:12:40 PM »
I'm doing a lot of suburban foraging this year; my town has a lot of renters in places with fruit trees, very generous gardeners, and himalayan blackberries. So far this year: blackberries, plums, apples, pears, peaches, and figs.

Tom Bri

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #54 on: August 02, 2016, 10:13:49 PM »

 It's going to be a pretty crappy year this year because of drought (now partially broken). But on the bright side, my husband located a couple persimmon trees on the property a week or so ago. It's been several years since we had persimmons, since our last move, actually. Still waiting to see how the nuts will do.  The best possible use for persimmons is in persimmon-acorn cookies.

I think we're going to get a few elderberries – not very many because most of them dried up, but some. Got just a couple handsful of blackberries before the real dry spell hit and they all dried up, but I ate those right there by the canes. No blueberries at all this year.

 And, thanks to a wonderful idea from my husband, I'm trying a new tea out: sassafras and blackberry with just a little bit of stevia. I think it will be fabulous. I grew the stevia, but the other two are foraged.

 Passionfruit are doing well – there are passionflowers all over the area in front of the house. They're gorgeous, and maybe this year I'll actually do something with the fruit.

How do you prepare acorns? I have tried and never got anything edible.

Rural

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #55 on: August 03, 2016, 03:24:10 AM »

 It's going to be a pretty crappy year this year because of drought (now partially broken). But on the bright side, my husband located a couple persimmon trees on the property a week or so ago. It's been several years since we had persimmons, since our last move, actually. Still waiting to see how the nuts will do.  The best possible use for persimmons is in persimmon-acorn cookies.

I think we're going to get a few elderberries – not very many because most of them dried up, but some. Got just a couple handsful of blackberries before the real dry spell hit and they all dried up, but I ate those right there by the canes. No blueberries at all this year.

 And, thanks to a wonderful idea from my husband, I'm trying a new tea out: sassafras and blackberry with just a little bit of stevia. I think it will be fabulous. I grew the stevia, but the other two are foraged.

 Passionfruit are doing well – there are passionflowers all over the area in front of the house. They're gorgeous, and maybe this year I'll actually do something with the fruit.

How do you prepare acorns? I have tried and never got anything edible.


Start with acorns from one of the sweeter varieties in the white oak group, not the black. I use chestnut oak because they're also big enough it seems worthwhile to shell them. Shell and either soak or simmer on low to pull out the tannins - if you're going to chop them anyway, they'll soak out faster chopped. Simmering is faster, maybe by an order of magnitude. Keep changing out the water when it turns dark and test every now and then by biting an acorn. Drain and dry thoroughly when they no longer taste like ass. Roasting improves them, I think, so I often dry in a low oven.

Anje

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #56 on: August 26, 2016, 04:23:32 AM »
So far this season my "catch" has been:
-fish for 3 meals (I need to work on actually getting fish..)
-Chanterelles for probably 10 meals.
-Rasberries - made into 5 jars of yam and 1 big bag of frozen berries
-Blueberries - made into 1 bag of frozen berries in adition to eating lots of fresh berries
-a small yar of rosepetals and rosebuds for tea, from wild roses
-elderberry flowers made into 2 litres of cordial

Next out is:
-rosehip for jelly (nearly ripe)
-lingonberry for jam (need rain to stop so that I can pick some)
-crowberries for juice (ditto)
-more chanterelles
-possibly look into making elderberry cordial for winter

.x.

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #57 on: August 26, 2016, 01:08:30 PM »
Went for a 3 day hike and found wild blueberries and black huckleberries.  Delicious!  First time for black huckleberries. 

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #58 on: August 27, 2016, 02:54:26 AM »
I found a mango tree in the neighborhood and fruit falls into the street. I got 4 mangos two days ago. I ate them today. They were yummy, so I'm going back tomorrow.

Tom Bri

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #59 on: August 28, 2016, 08:27:27 PM »
Not exactly wild, but since I moved to this house I've been tossing peach pits into the garden, and many have grown. This week I've been eating about 10 peaches a day, as they ripen and drop.

clarkai

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #60 on: August 29, 2016, 02:49:40 PM »
Not exactly wild, but since I moved to this house I've been tossing peach pits into the garden, and many have grown. This week I've been eating about 10 peaches a day, as they ripen and drop.

I've been doing the same thing, but with plum pits. And I'm in a rental, so it's fairly likely that I won't ever taste their fruit. But on the other hand, these pits come from plums that seem to have grown from pits that someone else spit out, so I'm just continuing the cycle.

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #61 on: December 11, 2016, 10:11:19 AM »
I'm fortunate enough to be in a warmer latitude (Atlanta) where we had persimmons in late October. You can also still find pecans on the ground here, though you'll be competing with the squirrels. Pecan trees seem to produce every other year, though mine produced abundantly last year and slightly less so this year (perhaps a response to having a large branch trimmed this spring?)

In October I visited south-central Indiana and picked buckets full of shagbark hickory nuts. They are delicious, but very time-consuming to get the nutmeat from. I've been told by a naturalist in North Georgia that the Cherokee would pulverize the hickory nuts and put everything in containers of water where the shells would sink and the oily nutmeat would float. They would then scrape it off the top and use it as a flour. Here some good pictures and descriptions if you're not familiar with shagbark hickory nuts: http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/10/foraged-flavor-wild-hickory-nuts.html

Anybody doing any (Northern Hemisphere) winter foraging?

Mtngrl

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #62 on: December 11, 2016, 11:47:40 AM »
The only winter foraging I've done is that you can sometimes find rose hips that have freeze-dried on the canes. They'll be wrinkly and leathery, but you can still use them to make rose hip syrup, which is a great source of Vitamin C and tasty to sweeten tea. I read a blog by a wild food expert who split these dried rose hips, scraped out the seeds and used them in place of Craisins in cookies and granola. Obviously, it helps if you can find the larger hips.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #63 on: December 11, 2016, 11:56:09 AM »
At our current house we have lots of blueberries and a few mushrooms. At our previous house we had wild and not wild raspberries. In Norway in general you are allowed to pick wild berries and mushrooms. I have been picking a few types of mushrooms for many years. This autumn I did a course in becoming a mushroom expert, so now I can eat many more types safely. We also eat self caught fish regularly. Fishing in fresh water requires a fishing permit, but fishing in the fjords is for free. We do both.
« Last Edit: February 01, 2017, 04:56:41 AM by Linda_Norway »

MishMash

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #64 on: December 14, 2016, 08:57:06 AM »
Anyone have any tricks for black walnuts?  We lucked out this year and DH was invited to hunt on a property that has a TON of old black walnut trees.  However, getting the husks off, and then the shells is painful.  Anyone know any tricks for next year?

We also lucked out and found a huge American Chestnut tree, free from blight, that produced a ton this year.

Tom Bri

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #65 on: January 31, 2017, 05:44:08 PM »
Anyone have any tricks for black walnuts?  We lucked out this year and DH was invited to hunt on a property that has a TON of old black walnut trees.  However, getting the husks off, and then the shells is painful.  Anyone know any tricks for next year?

We also lucked out and found a huge American Chestnut tree, free from blight, that produced a ton this year.

Spread the walnuts on the driveway and crush them underfoot to remove the husks. Use a hammer to break the shells. A messy process.

Wherever did you find a living American Chestnut! Practically extinct. Let some land-grant university forestry professor know, so they can save the genetics.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #66 on: February 01, 2017, 05:07:22 AM »
About the wild garlic... This has become really popular in Norway. So much that trips are organized to pick it, where 100 persons come to the trip and large areas are invaded. I went by myself to a place that on the map has a name that suggests wild garlic should grow there, but I didn't find it. It is supposed to smell really strongly of union.
But last autumn someone gave me a clue of where to find that plan in another direction, not too far from my home. So I'll go there next spring.

My husband made this summer icecream flavored with leaves from the rowan/mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia). This had a very good taste.

About foraging: a farmer some 10km from our house has planted grapes. In the autumn grapes need to be topped. My husband has taken off the tops of some of them standing near the road and has put them in a growing pot to make new grape plants for our garden.

MishMash

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #67 on: February 02, 2017, 12:32:50 PM »
Anyone have any tricks for black walnuts?  We lucked out this year and DH was invited to hunt on a property that has a TON of old black walnut trees.  However, getting the husks off, and then the shells is painful.  Anyone know any tricks for next year?

We also lucked out and found a huge American Chestnut tree, free from blight, that produced a ton this year.

Spread the walnuts on the driveway and crush them underfoot to remove the husks. Use a hammer to break the shells. A messy process.

Wherever did you find a living American Chestnut! Practically extinct. Let some land-grant university forestry professor know, so they can save the genetics.

Found 3 productives total this year on properties he hunts and an absolutely MASSIVE one (largest I've ever seen, easy 40 feet plus) on the property of the woman who we use for dog boarding.  One I think is going to end up being important.  There are 6 trees in that area, all of them except this one are stunted, misshapen fruit, all the classic signs of the blight.  This one though, nothing, it's 25-30 feet tall, huge producer, no signs of blight or mold.  and it's surrounded by infected trees under 10 foot away.  I talked to the farm manager and he said those trees had been like that for years and he's wondered why the one has always been OK.  I'm currently trying to convince the landowner (who is a seriously private guy) to allow scientists from the American Chestnut foundation onto the land to take samples.

The other ones, both land owners allowed me to send in paperwork to the foundation, but those were lone trees.  All of these areas are seriously OLD farms, one's been in the family since the 1800's, another is one of the oldest farms in MD (new owner though)

My husband did not share in my stupidly giddy excitement over those finds, I kinda wanted to hug those trees lol. 

gaja

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #68 on: February 05, 2017, 04:56:51 PM »
I ate handfuls of purple clover on my hike the other day.  So delicious.
That sounds very nice.
One of my goals for this summer is becoming better at recognizing edible plants. I've recently learnt that several of the green veggies used regularly in Asian cooking grows wild around here. But we've never eaten them. So odd.

I had some Asian students who claimed the same thing, but when I looked at what they picked, it weren't the same species at all. Some were in fact poisonous; not enough to kill, but you would have some bad stomach pains and puking. There have been several cases of people coming from other parts of Europe to forage for mushrooms here, ending up in the hospital. Yes, we don't use enough of our wild growing resources, but some things are traditionally left alone for a reason.

The last couple of years our foraging has been limited to the bilberries we grab when passing them in the forest. Growing up, I can't remember my parents ever buying seafood, mushrooms, cordial, or jam. The later years, they have kicked it up a notch and also hunt all their meat. It takes a lot of time and work to gather and process all that food, and I'm not sure I want to take it to that level. I like being able to know what to eat or not in a forest, being able to dress an animal and clean a fish, but I don't miss the regular family gatherings of 3-4 days in a soggy quagmire filled with mosquitos, to gather this year's supply of cloudberries (funny how much faster your bucket fills when you hate the taste). Going fishing now and then is fun. Going out in sub zero temperatures at 0800 the fifth saturday in a row to sort out the nets - that is work.

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #69 on: February 05, 2017, 07:07:34 PM »
I like foraging nuts - in Wisconsin this means black walnuts and hickory nuts primarily.

Hickory nuts are delicious - taste a lot like pecans, but it takes some work to shell and its hard to get halves or even quarters.  Some trees have more cooperative nuts than others.

The best way to crack black walnuts is in a vice - once you get the hang of it, it is pretty easy to get halves and it is easy to control the cracking process - unlike using a hammer...

I live in a rural area - there is way less public foraging available than a city/suburb...

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #70 on: February 05, 2017, 08:35:00 PM »
Anyone have any tricks for black walnuts?  We lucked out this year and DH was invited to hunt on a property that has a TON of old black walnut trees.  However, getting the husks off, and then the shells is painful.  Anyone know any tricks for next year?

We also lucked out and found a huge American Chestnut tree, free from blight, that produced a ton this year.

Spread the walnuts on the driveway and crush them underfoot to remove the husks. Use a hammer to break the shells. A messy process.

Wherever did you find a living American Chestnut! Practically extinct. Let some land-grant university forestry professor know, so they can save the genetics.

Found 3 productives total this year on properties he hunts and an absolutely MASSIVE one (largest I've ever seen, easy 40 feet plus) on the property of the woman who we use for dog boarding.  One I think is going to end up being important.  There are 6 trees in that area, all of them except this one are stunted, misshapen fruit, all the classic signs of the blight.  This one though, nothing, it's 25-30 feet tall, huge producer, no signs of blight or mold.  and it's surrounded by infected trees under 10 foot away.  I talked to the farm manager and he said those trees had been like that for years and he's wondered why the one has always been OK.  I'm currently trying to convince the landowner (who is a seriously private guy) to allow scientists from the American Chestnut foundation onto the land to take samples.

The other ones, both land owners allowed me to send in paperwork to the foundation, but those were lone trees.  All of these areas are seriously OLD farms, one's been in the family since the 1800's, another is one of the oldest farms in MD (new owner though)

My husband did not share in my stupidly giddy excitement over those finds, I kinda wanted to hug those trees lol.

Would love to hear updates on the American Chestnuts if anything comes of it!


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Linea_Norway

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #71 on: April 19, 2017, 12:27:11 AM »
I should join this thread, and bring it up to date.

Yesterday I picked a shopping bag full of wild garlic that was growing somewhere beside a road along the coast. So far, I have made it into herb butter, pesto, herbal oil, dried a bunch for later use, frozen leaves for later use. Yesterday my DH put some in an asian stew, but we didn't taste much. Should have used much more.

On Monday we went to the south coast, where my DH went freediving. He caught a small tarbot and picked different types of sea weeds. I have dried the weeds and will try to use them for food.

I am also keeping my eyes open for mushrooms, as the morels should be appearing any moment. Men so far no luck finding anything edible.

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #72 on: April 20, 2017, 04:46:20 AM »
You guys are so inspirational!

(Our area has poor wild foraging--chaparral desert/scrub--and marginal urban/suburban foraging. My favorite thing to find is purslane. Easy to identify, easy to find, delicious.)

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #73 on: April 22, 2017, 08:09:13 AM »
Joining this thread.

My mum and I have foraged for wild asparaguses that we have now bought asparagus implements (they look like weed diggers). The asparaguses are soooo yummy, thinner than the commercial variety and sweet and unctious.

What does wild garlic look like? Am interested if we can find them here. Also, am having chanterelle envy upthread...

Linea_Norway

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #74 on: April 22, 2017, 10:41:01 PM »
Joining this thread.

My mum and I have foraged for wild asparaguses that we have now bought asparagus implements (they look like weed diggers). The asparaguses are soooo yummy, thinner than the commercial variety and sweet and unctious.

What does wild garlic look like? Am interested if we can find them here. Also, am having chanterelle envy upthread...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allium_ursinum
I picked at the coast.

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #75 on: April 23, 2017, 06:40:41 AM »
It's morel season here. Finding them is competitive, even non mustachians go out looking for these delicious, expensive mushrooms. With a newborn, we won't partake this year.

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #76 on: April 28, 2017, 06:04:57 AM »
Our loquat (nispera) season just ended and getting into early berries. Some years they run together and I love me some loquat berry tart. 

Was hoping to get a bunch for holiday jam gifts but spent the Easter weekend with family out of town and missed the prime harvest weekend.

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #77 on: April 30, 2017, 10:07:44 AM »
Fiddleheads are up! Picked a bunch yesterday and cooked them for supper.

Not sure if it counts as foraging because they are in our yard, but I didn't know that they were edible until about 3 years ago when I was thumbing through a cookbook. Went home and googled it to make sure I had the right kind (ostrich ferns). I seem to get more of them every year.

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #78 on: April 30, 2017, 08:40:31 PM »
Salad of wild greens and radish th innings from the garden for lunch today.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #79 on: May 02, 2017, 12:32:54 PM »
I picked two types of seaweed to be used as flavoring in food.
My DH cought a big cod and some cam shells that we ate the same evening.

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #80 on: May 02, 2017, 08:23:29 PM »
Anyone have any tricks for black walnuts?  We lucked out this year and DH was invited to hunt on a property that has a TON of old black walnut trees.  However, getting the husks off, and then the shells is painful.  Anyone know any tricks for next year?

We also lucked out and found a huge American Chestnut tree, free from blight, that produced a ton this year.

Spread the walnuts on the driveway and crush them underfoot to remove the husks. Use a hammer to break the shells. A messy process.

Wherever did you find a living American Chestnut! Practically extinct. Let some land-grant university forestry professor know, so they can save the genetics.

Found 3 productives total this year on properties he hunts and an absolutely MASSIVE one (largest I've ever seen, easy 40 feet plus) on the property of the woman who we use for dog boarding.  One I think is going to end up being important.  There are 6 trees in that area, all of them except this one are stunted, misshapen fruit, all the classic signs of the blight.  This one though, nothing, it's 25-30 feet tall, huge producer, no signs of blight or mold.  and it's surrounded by infected trees under 10 foot away.  I talked to the farm manager and he said those trees had been like that for years and he's wondered why the one has always been OK.  I'm currently trying to convince the landowner (who is a seriously private guy) to allow scientists from the American Chestnut foundation onto the land to take samples.

The other ones, both land owners allowed me to send in paperwork to the foundation, but those were lone trees.  All of these areas are seriously OLD farms, one's been in the family since the 1800's, another is one of the oldest farms in MD (new owner though)

My husband did not share in my stupidly giddy excitement over those finds, I kinda wanted to hug those trees lol.

Updates on the American Chestnut please. If the fellow doesn't want foundation people coming, could you get permission to collect nuts and send them in?

I'm from MD - family was there for hundreds of years. Would appreciate an idea of the area (PM is fine)

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #81 on: May 06, 2017, 06:55:42 AM »
Think I have found a good patch of samphire - next to the ocean on a grassy meadow near a couple of tidal waterholes with varying levels of seaweed rottenness.

http://tasteaustralia.biz/bushfood/samphire/

But not too sure how much I can take and the toxicity of it. The advice is to blanch the samphire. However, no one else seems to be foraging for it, nor the abundant presence of sea urchins at said location.

Hmmmm...

Linea_Norway

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #82 on: May 07, 2017, 01:00:15 AM »
Think I have found a good patch of samphire - next to the ocean on a grassy meadow near a couple of tidal waterholes with varying levels of seaweed rottenness.

http://tasteaustralia.biz/bushfood/samphire/

But not too sure how much I can take and the toxicity of it. The advice is to blanch the samphire. However, no one else seems to be foraging for it, nor the abundant presence of sea urchins at said location.

Hmmmm...

The linked site also says the samphire is best to use in October to March. If you pick close to Sidney, I would advice picking it a bit away from the big city.

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #83 on: May 07, 2017, 05:30:29 AM »
We love foraging in Detroit. Loads of abandoned fruit trees - pears, apples especially. The apples can be a bit wormy but the pears are awesome. Plus we map where we find sweet cherry and mulberry trees on the side of the roads. Mulberry season is pretty short and the berries are super fragile but great cooking.

It's on my list when FIRE to get trained up for mushroom hunting, although morels are easy to spot (if you can find them) and taste divine.

I'm tempted by the idea of hunting pheasant (loads of them in the city) but I think they're protected.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #84 on: May 08, 2017, 01:14:42 AM »
It's on my list when FIRE to get trained up for mushroom hunting, although morels are easy to spot (if you can find them) and taste divine.


I am currently studying my mushroom books really hard to do an exam in autumn to become an authorized mushroom expert. Next Sunday I will go on a (free) trip with a mushroom professor to study springtime mushrooms.

It has been really dry for months here around Oslo. I am checking several times a week whether there are morels growing behind our garage, but there is nothing. We found 2 morels there last year, but they were at that time past their "best before" date. We just need to get some good rain now, those few drops yesterday hardly helped.

I hope the trip with the professor will show some mushrooms, despite the drought.

By the way, last year it was my DH who spotted the morels. They were not easy to spot and the hood was almost colorless.

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #85 on: May 09, 2017, 06:52:06 AM »
Anyone have any tricks for black walnuts?  We lucked out this year and DH was invited to hunt on a property that has a TON of old black walnut trees.  However, getting the husks off, and then the shells is painful.  Anyone know any tricks for next year?

We also lucked out and found a huge American Chestnut tree, free from blight, that produced a ton this year.

Spread the walnuts on the driveway and crush them underfoot to remove the husks. Use a hammer to break the shells. A messy process.

Wherever did you find a living American Chestnut! Practically extinct. Let some land-grant university forestry professor know, so they can save the genetics.

Found 3 productives total this year on properties he hunts and an absolutely MASSIVE one (largest I've ever seen, easy 40 feet plus) on the property of the woman who we use for dog boarding.  One I think is going to end up being important.  There are 6 trees in that area, all of them except this one are stunted, misshapen fruit, all the classic signs of the blight.  This one though, nothing, it's 25-30 feet tall, huge producer, no signs of blight or mold.  and it's surrounded by infected trees under 10 foot away.  I talked to the farm manager and he said those trees had been like that for years and he's wondered why the one has always been OK.  I'm currently trying to convince the landowner (who is a seriously private guy) to allow scientists from the American Chestnut foundation onto the land to take samples.

The other ones, both land owners allowed me to send in paperwork to the foundation, but those were lone trees.  All of these areas are seriously OLD farms, one's been in the family since the 1800's, another is one of the oldest farms in MD (new owner though)

My husband did not share in my stupidly giddy excitement over those finds, I kinda wanted to hug those trees lol.

Updates on the American Chestnut please. If the fellow doesn't want foundation people coming, could you get permission to collect nuts and send them in?

I'm from MD - family was there for hundreds of years. Would appreciate an idea of the area (PM is fine)

The society came out for 2 of the spots, third guy wouldn't let anyone on the land, I'm going to approach it again this fall with the "well can I send in samples"  I can't piss this guy off, DH hunts his land and he allows me to metal detect it.  It's in prince georges county.

MishMash

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #86 on: May 09, 2017, 06:54:41 AM »
We love foraging in Detroit. Loads of abandoned fruit trees - pears, apples especially. The apples can be a bit wormy but the pears are awesome. Plus we map where we find sweet cherry and mulberry trees on the side of the roads. Mulberry season is pretty short and the berries are super fragile but great cooking.

It's on my list when FIRE to get trained up for mushroom hunting, although morels are easy to spot (if you can find them) and taste divine.

I'm tempted by the idea of hunting pheasant (loads of them in the city) but I think they're protected.

I recently quit my job, don't plan on looking for another one for a couple of months.  SUPER excited about finding new mushroom sites this year.

Frugal Lizard

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #87 on: May 09, 2017, 07:36:48 AM »
It's morel season here. Finding them is competitive, even non mustachians go out looking for these delicious, expensive mushrooms. With a newborn, we won't partake this year.

I found these in my front yard.  photos online look more white than these - are these morels?  They are hollow inside and white like the stems.

MishMash

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #88 on: May 09, 2017, 07:51:33 AM »
It's morel season here. Finding them is competitive, even non mustachians go out looking for these delicious, expensive mushrooms. With a newborn, we won't partake this year.

I found these in my front yard.  photos online look more white than these - are these morels?  They are hollow inside and white like the stems.

Were they growing in grass, or in wood litter, like around the base of a tree?  Also, are the caps slimy at all?  Any smell other than glorious mushroom smell?  If so it may be a stinkhorn, but those usually only occur in hot summer, not normally in spring.  There are various types of morels, some are lighter than others (yellows for example).  And make sure they are completely hollow from stem to cap.

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #89 on: May 09, 2017, 08:27:26 AM »
Morels are done here (Indiana), I found about 8 pounds total.   Other family members are now finding them in northern Michigan.
Was in grocery the other day and they were selling for $49.95 per pound.

Right out my back door we could harvest; fish, deer, rabbits & squirrels, turkey, quail & pheasant, ducks, geese, black berries, rasberries, morels, walnuts, wild onions, sassafras (for tea), mulberrys, tap maple trees, etc.

MishMash

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #90 on: May 09, 2017, 08:40:19 AM »
Morels are done here (Indiana), I found about 8 pounds total.   Other family members are now finding them in northern Michigan.
Was in grocery the other day and they were selling for $49.95 per pound.

Right out my back door we could harvest; fish, deer, rabbits & squirrels, turkey, quail & pheasant, ducks, geese, black berries, rasberries, morels, walnuts, wild onions, sassafras (for tea), mulberrys, tap maple trees, etc.

I kind of hate you a little bit right now (not really, just SUPER jealous!).  Sounds awesome.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #91 on: May 10, 2017, 12:55:09 AM »
Morels are done here (Indiana), I found about 8 pounds total.   Other family members are now finding them in northern Michigan.
Was in grocery the other day and they were selling for $49.95 per pound.

Right out my back door we could harvest; fish, deer, rabbits & squirrels, turkey, quail & pheasant, ducks, geese, black berries, raspberries, morels, walnuts, wild onions, sassafras (for tea), mulberrys, tap maple trees, etc.

You eat squirrels? I didn't know they were food. We see squirrels often and I tend to feed them almonds by hand. But never thought of eating them.

I am waiting for the morels in my garden to grow, if they will appear at all. But today they are covered under 15 cm of snow...

Linea_Norway

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #92 on: May 10, 2017, 12:57:21 AM »

I found these in my front yard.  photos online look more white than these - are these morels?  They are hollow inside and white like the stems.

Yes, these are morels. Morels shall have a hollow stem.

(I am almost a mushroom expert, but only for Norwegian mushrooms. Not in doubt about these ones though.)


Fishindude

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #93 on: May 10, 2017, 06:54:14 AM »
You eat squirrels? I didn't know they were food. We see squirrels often and I tend to feed them almonds by hand. But never thought of eating them.

Didn't used to be very many deer around so we grew up hunting small game.  We ate squirrel several times every summer after shooting a few.  Four legs, two pieces of back, and a head if you're gutsy.  You need 2-3 to make a good meal.   Fry them crispy in an iron skillet like chicken, then cover and slow cook until tender. 

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #94 on: May 10, 2017, 08:19:11 AM »
Earlier this spring my lawn and flower garden were invaded by purple deadnettle weeds- which i wanted to get rid of and I found out they happen to have edible (though a bit fibrous) leaves- so a two-for one salad and de-weeding special! There was something very satisfying about eradicating the weeds and then eating them for good measure.

We also picked a bucket of dandelion flower petals mixed with violet flower petals that grow all over our lawn (we kinda encourage it now, once in a while the whole yard yellows up), and another of greens, the flower petals are currently fermenting into my grandmother-in-laws delicious dandelion/violet wine recipe, while the greens kept us in salad for two weeks until the plants got older and leaves became bitter.

We transplanted a small mulberry tree a friend of ours wanted to get rid of for some unknown reason. Last year it was in transplant shock but this year its LOADED with berries starting to grow- though we will be competing with the birds for these and the blackberries/raspberries that grow along our backyard roadside.

I avoid some wild plants that have seriously poisonous lookalikes- Wild carrots are great, but the plant's leaves look extremely similar to poison hemlock which is also becoming prolific around here. There are ways to tell them apart, but I like to play it safe and I have no desire to end up like Socrates.

You eat squirrels? I didn't know they were food. We see squirrels often and I tend to feed them almonds by hand. But never thought of eating them.

They also do well in a Brine/stew, I was lucky enough to grow up with forest land for a backyard, so I learned how to shoot while hunting squirrels, but yes you definitely do need several to make a meal as there isn't a ton of meat on one individual.

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #95 on: May 10, 2017, 09:27:15 AM »
I picked two types of seaweed to be used as flavoring in food.
My DH cought a big cod and some cam shells that we ate the same evening.

Linda_Norway:  I thought of you as I bought the package of Frozen Cod from Norway from Costco.  Not exactly foraging on this end.

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #96 on: May 10, 2017, 04:22:52 PM »
Morels are done here (Indiana), I found about 8 pounds total.   Other family members are now finding them in northern Michigan.
Was in grocery the other day and they were selling for $49.95 per pound.

Right out my back door we could harvest; fish, deer, rabbits & squirrels, turkey, quail & pheasant, ducks, geese, black berries, raspberries, morels, walnuts, wild onions, sassafras (for tea), mulberrys, tap maple trees, etc.

You eat squirrels? I didn't know they were food. We see squirrels often and I tend to feed them almonds by hand. But never thought of eating them.

I am waiting for the morels in my garden to grow, if they will appear at all. But today they are covered under 15 cm of snow...

European squirrels are a different species; much smaller. It is possible to hunt the European ones too, but it is restricted to a few winter months, and only in the south.

As to mushrooms, I would be very reluctant giving advice on species across borders. Some mushrooms and plants are very easy to identify here, but in the US, or Eastern Europe, there might be poisonous look alikes. I've seen examples the other way around, where I've stopped immigrants picking poisonous plants, that they were sure were food plants they remembered from their home country. Another example are the Boletaceae mushrooms, which in large parts of Europe are considered an "easy" type, since practically all species are edible. In the north, however, there are several species of Boletaceae which will make you violently ill.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #97 on: May 11, 2017, 01:08:51 AM »

As to mushrooms, I would be very reluctant giving advice on species across borders. Some mushrooms and plants are very easy to identify here, but in the US, or Eastern Europe, there might be poisonous look alikes. I've seen examples the other way around, where I've stopped immigrants picking poisonous plants, that they were sure were food plants they remembered from their home country. Another example are the Boletaceae mushrooms, which in large parts of Europe are considered an "easy" type, since practically all species are edible. In the north, however, there are several species of Boletaceae which will make you violently ill.

I am aware of that. That is why I specified that I only have local knowledge.
Exactly this morel as a species was easy to recognize and I know they get eaten in the US. I confirmed the species, but did not say anything about edibility.

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #98 on: May 11, 2017, 10:17:15 AM »
You eat squirrels? I didn't know they were food. We see squirrels often and I tend to feed them almonds by hand. But never thought of eating them.

Didn't used to be very many deer around so we grew up hunting small game.  We ate squirrel several times every summer after shooting a few.  Four legs, two pieces of back, and a head if you're gutsy.  You need 2-3 to make a good meal.   Fry them crispy in an iron skillet like chicken, then cover and slow cook until tender.


There is nothing I won't eat if I'm truly hungry, but having been there, I'll tell you squirrel falls firmly into my "got to be existentially hungry" category. Foul-tasting, greasy-ass, little bitty fiddly bits of ick.


If truly hungry, though, the grease becomes an advantage. That's a whole extra meal there, especially if you have some flour for gravy and biscuits or even some cornmeal for cornbread or flatcakes to soak it up, plus you can render it. Meanwhile, though, I'll continue to be grateful for rabbits and deer.

Linea_Norway

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Re: Foraging - finding free wild food
« Reply #99 on: May 11, 2017, 10:48:57 AM »
You eat squirrels? I didn't know they were food. We see squirrels often and I tend to feed them almonds by hand. But never thought of eating them.

Didn't used to be very many deer around so we grew up hunting small game.  We ate squirrel several times every summer after shooting a few.  Four legs, two pieces of back, and a head if you're gutsy.  You need 2-3 to make a good meal.   Fry them crispy in an iron skillet like chicken, then cover and slow cook until tender.


There is nothing I won't eat if I'm truly hungry, but having been there, I'll tell you squirrel falls firmly into my "got to be existentially hungry" category. Foul-tasting, greasy-ass, little bitty fiddly bits of ick.


If truly hungry, though, the grease becomes an advantage. That's a whole extra meal there, especially if you have some flour for gravy and biscuits or even some cornmeal for cornbread or flatcakes to soak it up, plus you can render it. Meanwhile, though, I'll continue to be grateful for rabbits and deer.

Then I'll keep the cute, red squirels alive. We have been considering catching ducks and phasants. Sometimes they make themselves very easy targets. We have never been hungry enough to do it for real, though. The one time we were really hungry, all there was, was fish to catch. So we ate that.

 

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