Do You Forage To Supplement Your Food Supplies?

[Michael]

We get blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, huckleberries, and strawberries around here. The strawberries are vanishingly rare, so I go years without seeing wild ones around. But the rest are plentiful and worth stopping for, if you know where to look for them.

I can identify one type of wild mushroom: Chicken of the woods. My brother and I were out camping when we found some once, so we soaked it in the same stuff we'd soaked some chicken in and then grilled them. Delicious.

Other than that my foraging skills are weak. I really want to buff them up some. I know that there are lots of edible plants around here, but I need to learn more about them first.

[dinosaur]

Michael, I failed to mention strawberries in my prior post for this time of year. Thanks for reminding me. I found a huge patch of them yesterday on my hike.

[Michael]

Originally Posted by dinosaur

Michael, I failed to mention strawberries in my prior post for this time of year. Thanks for reminding me. I found a huge patch of them yesterday on my hike.

I'm terribly envious. I haven't seen a patch in years.

I suppose I'll just have to search extra hard this year.

[IndianaHiker]

Can't say that I do. If I happen to walk by some berries I will pick some but don't go at all out of the way to look for things to eat. For the most part you burn more energy than you will take in.

[dinosaur]

Originally Posted by IndianaHiker

Can't say that I do. If I happen to walk by some berries I will pick some but don't go at all out of the way to look for things to eat. For the most part you burn more energy than you will take in.

That may be true if distance is the only thing you are looking for while hiking. But I've always been like a stray dog. The path is easiest but that doesn't mean I won't cast off of it.

And, Michael, good luck hunting down those strawberries. Calories aren't the only important thing. The aesthetics of a strawberry patch and resultant sensual pleasure of the ripe fruit will make the search a joy.

[pastywhite]

I'll eat berries but that is about all.

[Eppo]

Young nettles are loaded with nutrition and rival spinach as health food. I gather nettles when I am home!! Where I live in the Pacific Northwest nettles are everywhere in the springtime. Later in the season we have lots of berries including red and blue huckleberries, blueberries, alpine strawberries, thimble berries, and salmonberries. Salal berries are edible but needs lots of added sweetener to become palatable.

In the Rockies I eat wild marsh marigolds, star flowers and stone crop. Pine needles make okay tea. I don't eat them for fun but I have eaten slugs, earthworms, and grubs and would not hesitate to eat them if I was starving.

[dinosaur]

Originally Posted by Eppo

I have eaten slugs, earthworms, and grubs and would not hesitate to eat them if I was starving.

Well said! There are others on this site who will proclaim they would never eat some things even if they were starving. But then, it's obvious they've never been starving.