Foraging: Living Off the Fat of the Land
Written by Asinus Asinum Fricat on May 20, 2008 – 3:37 pm -Noun 1. foraging - the act of searching for food and provisions.
The prices of staple foods such as rice could stay high for the next three years, hindering the battle against poverty, a top World Bank official said Tuesday. I personally think this may be the understatement of the year. With oil prices to hit $200, widely predicted by our own Jérome a Paris and others, I doubt very much staple food will come down as the price to fill a gas tank could, more or less, double within the next five years. Foodstuffs need reasonably priced transportation and it looks as though it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
Welcome to world of foraging, a lost art for most as more and more convenient stores and supermarket chains crop up in neighborhoods with dizzying regularity. Try this for a change: take your family to the nearest forest, gather wild produce and see if you can bring home the bacon, so to speak.
There is such a thing as a free lunch after all, the elite forager insists, as long as you know what to look for. Henry David Thoreau, the master forager, understood that gathering foodstuffs was about more than the end crop:
“The bitter-sweet of a white-oak acorn which you nibble in a bleak November walk over the tawny earth is more to me than a slice of imported pineapple.”
Foraging isn’t just fun, it’s green as well. No food miles, no pesticides, no pointless plastic packaging, plenty of fresh air, no money exchanged…what’s not to like?
My life as a forager started early. My great grandmother, a tireless walker with an encyclopedic knowledge of Provencal lore and the woods around us initiated me aged five. Off we went on most clement mornings, our jute bags with large carrying handles over our shoulders and our Opinel knives (a must have for serious foragers) safely sheathed in our back pockets. She would decide, depending on the season, of the day’s gatherings. Most days we would head for the forest and on others we’d go to the seaside and explore our pine trees covered “calanques” for seawed, baby clams, tiny crabs, sea-urchins (my job was to dive and select females only, as males didn’t bear eggs), whelks, and of course pine nuts which were plentiful. The trips to the forest were longer and more exciting: we had to climb the nearest tree to avoid galloping wild boars a couple of times.
When the mushroom or the stone fruit season wasn’t on, we’d set off for specific areas, all intimately known to her and start gathering wild carrots, asparagus, garlic, artichokes, nettles, all kinds of edible berries, wild spinach (though it could have been collards), wild herbs such as thyme, rosemary, and when our bags were nearly full, we’d pick some wildflowers for our favorite family members and head off home. The only bit of food we’d ever take with us was a small loaf of country bread, and two small bottles of olive oil and vinegar, and a little salt, in case we decided to make a salad on the spot. To my best recollection we came back with full bags each foray.
Here are a few tips on what to look for should you wish to explore the nearest woods.
First of all be very sure of what you are eating and know what Poison Ivy and wild Parsnip look like to avoid them while foraging. Be a responsible forager, asking for permission when necessary. Be kind to the trees and plants you harvest, leaving enough behind for them to regenerate or reseed. Always leave some for the wild birds and animals that depend on them for survival. Never gather too much in one area that looks stripped or bare.
Violets: the purple or white flowers of all American violet species are edible and can be found in the early spring on lawns, on roadsides or in the woods. They can be used as beautiful garnishes in salads, or candied for cake decorations or an elegant dessert.
Dandelions: many people know that dandelions are edible, but few know how to deal with them. The leaves must be picked before the flower heads open, or they will be very bitter (my great grandmother used to soak the leaves overnight in water with the juice of one or two lemons). They are very good in a salad, especially one with a Dijon mustard dressing.
Elderberries: it’s easy to pick elderberries, just snap off the entire cluster and drop it into your bucket. They are not tasty fresh or in pies, but cooked into juices or jellies, they are delicious.
Purslane: this plant is a weed in the States but is cultivated in Europe and Asia today and has been grown in India and Persia for centuries. Added to soups and stews, it can help to thicken the broth, as does okra. It is also good fried with bacon, or in an omelet.
Yellow wood sorrel: a tart, delicious three leaved plant that I have gathered in my childhood. It is first seen in early spring, and its tiny yellow flowers are a cheery sight after a long winter. It has a lemony flavor that goes well in salads and cold or hot fruit soups.
Ah, and the mighty chestnut, the most delectable wild source of carbohydrate bar none. There are, of course hundreds more wild eats, and I could go on till the cows come home, but diary size matters!
The most overlooked area to forage is our own gardens, yards, and property, and that could be another diary in the future. In the meantime here’s a small list of websites for your perusal, should you decide to give foraging a try.
LearningHerbs.com is a site with some great wild food recipes. The Journal of Wild Mushrooms; Modern Forager; Fergus the Forager; Backwoods Home; About Forager’s Harvest Classes; Wild Food Foragers.
Tags: Community, Environment, Foodstuffs, Foraging, Teaching, Wild Eats
Posted in Biodiversity, Environment, Food, Frugality |
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That pic, BTW, is from my neck of the woods.
We are a farm community and everything grows in abundance. At different times of the year, folks put boxes of avocados, mangoes, oranges, papayas, coconuts or whatever they have too many of. You just take what you want. Today I have about eighty coconuts in front of my gate for give away.
That’s how it should be, imo.
Lovely diary!
I have both wild and domesticated elderberries. I leave the wild for the critters, though, and keep the domesticated right next to the house.
Many of my neighbors here are foragers or grew up in foraging families. In fact, I hold a pet theory that, for many groups, fast food holds such allure specifically because people grew up foraging in a land of (supposed) plenty.
I can do a little of it by sight, but there are so many poisonous here, I lack their natural confidence.
I do not know if “Stalking the Wild Asparagus” is still in print, but you can find a used copy on Amazon or some such site. As Gibbons says, you are ready to forage as soon as you can positively identify ONE wild food. Between that book and the Wikipedia for more pictures, you will do fine. As I recall, you are east central OK? Warmest regards, Doc.
That picture is beautiful! (I have to get back to Dingle)
I will add, running bamboo shoots. I had a stand in my backyard in Texas. In the spring and late summer the bamboo would run and shoots pop up. Knock the shoots over with your foot when about 2-4″ high and slice and saute in stir fry or soups.
I had wild onions in my front yard that were good in stir fry or soups but not fresh (too tough).
I actually threw out some mint into the creek behind my backyard fence one year and had mint in the creek anytime I wanted it from then on!
Here, in the PNW, we have blackberries as a weed on the highways and byways, just take a bowl and pick some ripe ones and you have a great cobbler or jam or juice! Some bloody scrapes included!
I have blackberries here. Tons of them.
A year or so ago, we had little black bears living down on my hollow, too.
Not those scary grizzling bear bears but those cute little Arkansas black bears who just want to eat berries!
And I have a freezer full of wild onions right now. Mmmmm!
Oh, yeah, CUTE LITTLE AR BEARS, right! Biscuit, maybe you mowed too much today! I don’t know of a bear that was that cute (Having been up close and personal with a suave male black bear in AK)
Seriously, they’re not grizzlies. You don’t want to seek them out or try to adopt them, but they’re shy and will hightail it at the least hint of your presence and go climb a tree or something.
They’re not grizzlies! And other than eating all the damned berries - and the hummingbird feeders (or so my cousins across the state line informed me) - they mind their own business and just hope you mind yours.
The bear on the trampoline is a classic that Olbermann runs now and then on “Countdown”. There are so many bear in AR now that there is an open hunting season, not any lottery or anything.
There are a few blackberries here in KY, but not like there were in western AR and especially not like in eastern MS. At our place in MS, you could pick literally quarts at a time of dewberries, thumb size, and there were no chiggers!
I remember once in AR Mrs. Translator and I went berry picking and did well. As soon as we got back to the house, I stripped, put my clothes in a trash bag, sprayed them with Raid, and tied it up. Then I showered with hot water. Mrs. Translator did not.
The next day she had an itch or two, and by the second day she had whelps all over. We counted over 240 chigger bites, but some had run together, so many of the whelps could have had two or three separate bites. She was miserable for the better part of a week, with fever and a maddening itch all over. Benzocaine cream helped, but it is best to avoid the bites. Warmest regards, Doc.
Chiggers are miserable. Last year, I figured out some good way to deal with the bites - it will take me a day or two to remember what, but I do recall camphor was involved.
Wild onion & anchovy tart! I might have to dig out my own recipe for that….
Two of my favorite things. Thanks, AAF!
We always called it “cane” and a stand was a “canebreak”. Yes, good to eat and useful for other things, too, like skewers at the camping, fishing poles, and strong, rigid handles for frog gigs. It is fun to throw in the campfire, because it explodes with enough report to get your attention, but without any real damage if you take care not to let the sparks flung out catch the world on fire. Warmest regards, Doc.
Scotia, that picture is from my homeland, Provence, not Ireland, though I read Ireland was incredibly woody several centuries ago.
We live just across Dingle, in Blackberry Lane, so you can imagine us in September with our buckets!
Oh, but that picture of Provence is wonderful. I picture my experience in Dingle in my mind’s eye. I still remember walking out on the furthermost point west and look out to the new world. I’ve read books about the woods of Ireland and England. What that must have looked like before the horde moved in and cut it all down.
I love your beautiful bay and “Blackberry Lane” place. It looks idyllic.
Let us all also the late Euell Gibbons, the dean of foraging. Many folks are familiar with “Stalking the Wild Asparagus”, but he also wrote “Stalking the Healthful Herbs”, “Stalking the Blue-Eyed Scallop”, and “Feast on a Diabetic Diet”, amongst others.
Two things distinguish his writings from many other “wild food” books. One was his meticulous research into his subjects and the plethora of recipes that he provided, and the other was the heart felt enthusiasm for his subjects. His books read like a conversation with a dear friend on a common interest. Warmest regards, Doc.
I still have my old copy of Stalking the Wild Asparagus…but none of the others.
Do you like his outlook on things? Warmest regards, Doc.
Not to be braying about it but I actually got to meet the man in 69 or 70 or so. I worked for a news show at a PBS station in TX and we had several interviews with notable people. I was the greeter and water getter and making comfortable person. I got to meet Euell and Bucky Fuller and Peter Seeger among others. All really nice people and larger than life. Memories are really great to relive, thanks for taking me back at a time when I really needed it.
I envy you, my friend. Not just for him, but for the foremost architect and one of the very best folk singers as well! What a wonderful life you have had.
I met Allan Ginsberg and talked with him for around ten minutes once, and have my “Norton’s Anthology of Literature” signed my him on the page from “Howl”. Warmest regards my friend, doc.
Ginsberg came to my restaurant in Sydney, in 1971, wrote a little poem on a napkin (someone nicked it)!
Oh Doc!
We have much in common. I LOVE my Norton’s Anthology I & II. I even taught someone and my reward was Vol II! I read out of them both about once a week. It is so wonderful to browse the great literature of the ages. I just got all “The Story of Civilization” by Will and Ariel Durant which I’ve been wanting for many years. Hopefully I’ll be able to finish them, they are so droll!