Wild Foraging

[freemotion]

Since it is September, it is time to resurrect this one again!

I have recently foraged elderberries (juiced 'em and froze the juice), pears, straws (reeds I cut to use as drinking straws as an experiment and just for fun....will do more of that next summer when they are still green.)

This week I picked black walnuts for both the hulls (goat dewormer, maybe) and the nuts (to give away...allergic!). I got about a gallon of white oak acorns so far, they have just started dropping. Experiment in chicken feed.

I have 7 sacks of nice lawn hay for the chickens and turkeys for this winter. I have a sack of tree leaves for treats for the goats, or if any of them needs a boost for some reason this winter.

I picked up a few dropped pears from a tree that overhangs the parking lot where I rent office space. I found 4 nice apples growing wild on my dog walk today, along with the acorns.

 

[Blackbird]

Where has the time gone?


Today my brother and I went to a local lake and soon I was digging up any interesting plants in sight to bring home for my collection!

I found a great big patch of beautiful mullein, much of it was in bloom, but I found a smaller plant to take with me.

Nearby I found some wild Evening Primrose, I wasn't positive about this one until I got it home and make sure.

Another plant I seen near the roadside that I couldn't resist digging up was what I later identified as Lotus Corniculatus or "Birdfoot Trefoil". Apparently it is poisonous to humans but VERY pretty;
http://www.threatsummary.forestthreats.org/images/threats/Bird's-Foot_Trefoil_191.jpg

I found a couple other plants, but one that's I'm most excited about was wild onion! I found about a 2 ft x 1ft stretch of it in bloom. A quick rub against the plant and I knew exactly what it was. Very tiny bulbs, smaller than a dime.

 

[~gd]

I know where there is a whole acre of wild onion, my lawn it is dormant right now but when it cools down it will make a mad dash to try to get to seed before the ground freezes. I mow just to knock it down before it blooms. It will turn my lawn green in the spring as it tries another race to reproduce before the heat forces it to go dormant. I have to wait for a windy day to mow because that much cut onion will knock you right off the mower in tears if the wind stops!
You Eat these things? You are a better man than I am! I love onions and go through a 3 pound bag of yellow onions about every 2 weeks. I put onions in everything and had a onion omlet for breakfast this morning. (1 small onion and two Large eggs, season the onions while cooking and set them aside to add as the filling for the omlet) One little pea sized wild onion crushed is too rank for this dish! I have tried pickling them hoping that would cut the taste but nobody would eat more than one. The only use I have found is that the tops while young and tender make super strong chives, just remember to cut your usage by a factor of 5 or so.
Is there something I should be doing to make these things more edible? The only way to get rid of them is to dig the pea sized bulbs and for all that trouble I would love to make use of them...~gd

 

[rty007]

Blackbird, one questions if I may?

Just out of curiosity... is it legal to take cutting/ dig up and replant wild plants into your garden in your area? I ask, couse I know it is not here in Poland and a friend of mine got caught while digging up bilberries to transplant into his own tiny forest, And if it wasn't for the fact, that he knew the wood wanderer (like a forest ranger i suppose) he would have paid a astonishing fine. what is funny though... that the guy told him for the future to take cutting and when caught, claim to need it for herbal use.

 

[Tallman]

My wife picked 18 gallon of wild blackberries this year!

Rty, interesting post about your country.

 

[Blackbird]

Funny about mowing your yard, Gd!
No, not much of a fan of onions, but I thought I'd plant a couple and see how they do anyway. I have them in a raised bed right now, so thanks for the tips. don't want any in the lawn I guess..

Rty, the trefoil and some of the other plants were along side the road, so it's legal to take them, in fact I'm actually very weary of digging plant from roadsides because of the chemicals from vehicles and litter, but either way, the plants at roadsides get cut regularly.

The lake is a public access area with minimum care. I had to go a ways into the woods into a clearing and through a patch of poison Ivy to get the rest, so if it is illegal (shh!) no one will notice. Herbal use is the only reason I collected the plants in the first place, aside from the trefoil. Of course I'm always generous to the plants too, taking only what I need, so I'm sure that helps.

Wood Wanderer.. what a great term!

Hi Tallman! 18 gallons? Holy cow!!

Speaking of cows, on my bike ride yesterday afternoon I identified 'Cow Parsnip' seen here;
http://oakhillhome.com/files/cow_parsnip_heracleum_sphondylium__lanatum_.jpg

 

[~gd]

Funny about mowing your yard, Gd!
No, not much of a fan of onions, but I thought I'd plant a couple and see how they do anyway. I have them in a raised bed right now, so thanks for the tips. don't want any in the lawn I guess..

Rty, the trefoil and some of the other plants were along side the road, so it's legal to take them, in fact I'm actually very weary of digging plant from roadsides because of the chemicals from vehicles and litter, but either way, the plants at roadsides get cut regularly.

The lake is a public access area with minimum care. I had to go a ways into the woods into a clearing and through a patch of poison Ivy to get the rest, so if it is illegal (shh!) no one will notice. Herbal use is the only reason I collected the plants in the first place, aside from the trefoil. Of course I'm always generous to the plants too, taking only what I need, so I'm sure that helps.

Wood Wanderer.. what a great term!

Hi Tallman! 18 gallons? Holy cow!!

Speaking of cows, on my bike ride yesterday afternoon I identified 'Cow Parsnip' seen here;
http://oakhillhome.com/files/cow_parsnip_heracleum_sphondylium__lanatum_.jpg

I hope you know what you are doing with the Cow Parsnip. I know just enough about the group of weeds that look like that to avoid them! when I opened the picture I was sure you had wild giant Hog Weed. Myself I have been taught not to leave the road ways unless invited. we have moonshiners and pot growers in some places to and they like to use their guns to warn people off. Thursday we had a girl suffer a wound to her neck and she refused to show or tell where it happened. The Sherriff will take his dogs out to back track Monday( if something else doesn't come up) He won't catch anybody but make the point that you can't actually hit someone and and expect him not to do anything. Elections are early november.

 

[rty007]

I wasn't sure what was the proper translation for a "leśniczy" and the dictionary spited out a wood wanderer, and that term nails it. What you need to understand is that over 80% of the forests in Poland are government owned forest. Since the government actually tries to make the best use they can out of the forest, they divide the forest into "nadleśnictwa" which we can call a "national wood areas" and a "nadleśniczy" lets call him a wood wanderer veteran he is in charge of planting, cutting and managing the hauling of wood from the forest. he can have up to or even more then 30,000 ha = 74,000 ac of forest under his management. However he obviously wouldn't be able to make it all by himself, so under the "nadleśnictwa"/""national wood areas" there are "leśnictwa"/"wood area districts" which have up to 3000ha= 7,400ac of woods in their governing range. the man in charge of this institution is called a "nadleśniczy"/"wood wanderer" and that is precisely what he does, he walks ALOT through the forest checking out, if anyone is poaching, or illegally cutting down trees. If they find anyone doing one of the above the police is called and you are on your way to prison for a couple months.
Most of them are people for whom it is a passion, not a job, so you can go there talk to them, and you would be able to listen to the guy a really really long time talking about the forest, game and everything that is happening in the forest. Harvesting the pine/spruce resin, all kinds of medicinal plants and uses of various trees parts for medicinal purposes from pine sprouts(new growth) for pine syrup or maybe even pine liqueur to the countless uses of birch. While you can take spouts(new growth) from the pine trees and and may many more thing, it is illegal and highly fined to dig up any plants from tiny voluntary trees (even if it is obvious they are gonna die if left there) to any bushes, shrubs or simply medicinal herbs. While you can cut it down, dry it and use it, when you try digging it up, you instantly become a criminal... NO IDEA where that idea came from but.. oh well.

 

[Blackbird]

Cow parsnip and hog weed are related, so that would be why I guess. It can stay there.

Can't say that happens very often up here in the north, at least in our parts. There's enough mary jane growing wild that no one fights over it. The cow parsnip was right across the road and we know most everyone in the area. Been a couple robberies but otherwise it's very peaceful around here.

 

[me&thegals]

Funny about mowing your yard, Gd!
Speaking of cows, on my bike ride yesterday afternoon I identified 'Cow Parsnip' seen here;
http://oakhillhome.com/files/cow_parsnip_heracleum_sphondylium__lanatum_.jpg

Well, cool beans! I finally know what that exotic-looking plant that grows in our low lands around here is called!

I have been foraging for wild blackberries, although I'm nowhere near 18 gallons yet. It has been so hot! I need to kick it into gear before they are gone...

rty--that is so interesting! It is fascinating to hear the doings of other people and governments. Your wood wanderers sound a bit like our DNR, although here most of the forests (I believe) are owned by private citizens. Here, you can wild forage, as long as you are not digging up plants, although some special protected areas don't allow even flower picking.