What do you forage?

[DelcoMama82]

Here, in south eastern PA, pa pa have tons and tons of wild raspberry bushes, blackberry and wine berry bushes. And tons of them pesticide free in our local state park. They start ripening between May and July depending on the weather. I’ve taken my kids out the last 3 years and end up with about 10 pounds and a hell of a lot of scratches. But hey! Free berries!!!
We’ve also found this park is a great place to find rosehips (for tea) and crab apples (for jelly) in the late fall and early winter.
So I want to know: what do you forage? Where? What time of year? And what do you use it for?

 

[frustratedearthmother]

We have tons of pecan trees all around us...on the college campus...in lots of parks. We can pick them up in the fall. We also have dewberries and blackberries that ripen in the spring/summer.

 

[DelcoMama82]

We have tons of pecan trees all around us...on the college campus...in lots of parks. We can pick them up in the fall. We also have dewberries and blackberries that ripen in the spring/summer.

Jealous of the pecans! I take it you’re down south!

 

[NH Homesteader]

Blackberries and raspberries, and crab apples on our property. Chaga anywhere we find it, we'd like to forage for other mushrooms but we're mildly afraid of poisoning ourselves so that and chicken of the woods is about all we're brave enough to get. Fiddleheads, dandelions...

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Here's a thread that might give you some information:

https://www.sufficientself.com/threads/foraging.15973/

 

[tortoise]

Not much foraging (yet), but blackberries and hazelnuts. Sometime dandelions. From our property in WI

 

[NH Homesteader]

@tortoise are fiddleheads a big thing there too? People are nuts about them here... I didn't know it was such a cult thing but apparently it is

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Unfortunately, I do not know where to forage fiddleheads, though I have a friend who let me do some picking on her property a couple years ago. Fiddleheads rank right up there with asparagus in terms of being delightful to eat. If I had to choose between the 2, I'd choose fiddleheads. Therefore... they just might be my favorite vegetable. They can be bought here when in season. There is an Indian reservation about 25 mi. away. Those folks harvest and sell a lot at good price in the College town that their reservation island abuts. Also, many Mainers collect and sell fiddleheads at road side when they are in season. Absolutely yummy, buttery flavor, with melt in the mouth texture. They MUST be well cooked, otherwise, they are toxic.

People guard their picking places, thus... I can't get anyone to take me out harvesting! Similar to hunters who won't tell anyone where their favorite hunting spot is... or Mushroomers who guard their morrel sites! Or, fishermen never telling WHERE they caught the big one.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I take it you’re down south!

I am south of Houston...

We do have chickweed and purslane all over. A neighbor had a wild persimmon tree and chopped it down...argh!

 

[Britesea]

chokecherries, elderberries, wild plums, "feral" apples (planted long ago on land that no one's living on now), nettles, purslane, dandelions, mullein... I've been watching a baby wild blackberry that started last year by the river, but no berries yet.