Fall foraging
Comments
-
Miya I had no idea there was such a thing as acorn flour, cool!
-
It is the season for nuts and mushrooms for me, wild grapes and apples, still fishing and time to start scouting game trails.... the first frost will bring persimmons and and the season for hunting and trapping.... shellfish at the coast.
-
I have mentioned in another post about finding hazelnuts. Really looking forward to that harvest this year. Another 5 or 6 weeks probably. I am hoping to get my apples done this week or next, if I can get to them before the bear. Many bears hanging around in my area this year. Haven't seen much deer as usual this summer. But elk have been spotted close by. The rose hips are starting to colour up. But a frost is needed so hopefully, it will be a little while yet. As soon as we've had a frost then I can start digging roots. Oregon Grape, Dandelion, Chicory, Burdock. Lomatiun, Balsamroot, Aralia, Valerian, etc. I really want to try to make scratch root beer this year.
-
Does sassafras grow where you live?
-
@judsoncarroll4 No, it doesn't. I wasn't sure if it might be in a region close to me so looked it up. It seems to be a primarily eastern North American plant. I didn't know that it had been banned along with sarsaparilla due to the safrole content and the possibility of liver cancer. Also, had no idea that the hallucinogenic drug MDA is derived from safrole! Thanks for the learning journey you sent me on.
I would love to smell it. I'll have to see if I can find a specimen at a botanical garden next time I have the chance to visit BC's southern coast. There are several lovely gardens with species from around the world.
The sarsaparilla that I intend to use as one of the ingredients in my root beer is actually False or Wild Sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis) which grows prolifically in my area. It is a member of the ginseng family so will be a nice tonic ingredient.
-
I don't worry about the safrole. From what I've read, those studies involved pumping mice full of so much, it would be like a human drinking a swimming pool full of sassafras tea, repeatedly. The old folks in the Appalachian mountains drink it regularly as a tonic. I can dig a few roots and send them to you once they are dried, if you like.... if you promise not to get out your chemistry set and make MDA, LOL! If memory serves, Skeeter Pilarski compared sassafras and comfrey tea to 1 sip of beer, in terms of potential toxicity.
-
@judsoncarroll4 Yes, I did read that it was mass amounts fed to mice. But just enough info to have the FDA jumping on the ban.
That would be awesome if you could send me some roots! And no, I won't get out my chemistry set. No trippin' for this old girl.
-
Sure, no problem and glad to do it! I'll dig the roots after the first frost - usually the end of Oct in the mountains. You can also make DMT from the roots of Acacia and Mimosa trees.... LSD from morning glory seeds... Datura...Syrian Rue... even Nutmeg! One can misuse a lot of herbs if they are of a mind to.
-
@RachelWrites it probably is the same plant as it grows in many places. I hear the yucca flowers are edible as well, but you want to pick them the first or second day they open. When foraging in the wild I very rarely get that opportunity. If you found a fruit with good seeds, just drop those where you would like to grow one. Most of the seeds in my foraged ones were bad.
-
@RachelWrites Cassava and yucca are not the same plant, although apparently cassava is sometimes referred to as yuca. Yuca is the root of the cassava plant. Yucca roots are not edible.
-
I'm just looking forward to the first roasted coon or possum, with acorns and/or hickory nuts, persimmons and, onions, sage, thyme, a bit of hot pepper, salt and pepper and sweet potatoes!!!!! All that fat will render down into a porky type goodness, but with rich red meat.... biscuits or baked cornbread are a must for sopping! Oh, gosh, I almost forgot the turnips! You can toss the roots in with the roast, then cook the greens in some of the fat... serve with hot pepper apple cider vinegar!
-
We have a lot of acorns here in Southern Ca but they are a lot of work to make into flour but it is an amazing process😄 one of my favorite things to forage this time of year is olives (not in the wild though) but from neighbors
-
A lot of great comments here. I have made acorn flour, it reminds me of coarse cornmeal. You do need to process it to remove the tannins that make it bitter. One trick I learned was to spread a sheet or plastic under the tree to avoid picking up old acorns, you don't want to waste time cracking them to find them full of bugs or empty.
I've eaten cactus paddles in salads, they are very high in vitamin C. Prickly pear as well, processing takes a while. I use leather gloves to hold them, while I skinned them. They skin similar to aloe, they just put up a bigger fight!
Its a great idea, to experiment when you are not in a crisis situation. That gives you and your family a security blanket. You can't "you tube" if there is none. :)
-
Another part of fall foraging that no one has mentioned yet. Firewood.
We have 10 pick up loads out of our goal of 20 for the furnace. Then a bit of extra (3-4 loads) for my kitchen stove. Feels great to have so much of a head start.
I love getting firewood. Hours in the bush. Good exercise. Possibility of finding a great berry patch along the way. Later in the season we will carry the rifle and/or shotgun so maybe come home with game for the freezer or maybe a grouse or two for dinner. We burn mostly fir and pine but occasionally come across a stand of dead birch.
-
Oh @torey that sounds so wonderful! Those sorts of days would be our retirement goal, but for now things are a bit more indoorsy. Yay for the firewood, the berry patches, and the game for the freezer!
-
That sounds so yummy, @judsoncarroll4 ! It almost makes me long for fall. But for now I'm eating supersweet cherry tomatoes, carrots, melon, raspberries, and a tin of herring for supper, the latter 'foraged' from the pantry.
-
There is never a bad time for herring!
-
Well, another load of firewood today. But a big surprise. We found several wildflowers in the middle of another bloom. Arnica, yarrow, chamomile and several others. And not just a few, lots. I took advantage and picked yarrow and chamomile. I was on the look out for rose hips but I think the bears had beaten me to them, at least where we were. No hips to be found.
-
I love leaf-collecting to make cards for friends and for Christmas. I'm in upstate NY, planning to start foraging for mushrooms, berries and medicinal plants too! Acorn flour sounds so interesting! Thank you!
-
I was reading about Birch bark flour. Never know it was something https://practicalselfreliance.com/birch-bark-flour. I would only do this with downed limbs or trees.
Guess I haven't had to think about what I can use to make flour. All nuts, or seeds seem like an ok choice. Including, burdock, any docks I guess. The list keeps getting longer of the things I'm watching for, when out and about.
Happy foraging and stay safe!
-
Yucca and yuca confused me for a long time, and I thought they were the same. David the Good has a great explanation on his website. Yuca is cassava, and yucca is the spiky ornamental plant.
https://survivalgardener.com/2014/11/difference-yuca-and-yucca/
An interesting explanation for the confusion between the two completely unrelated plants on Wikipedia is that Linnaeus was confused when he was naming plants and so he has confused us.
-
I picked persimmons today - they are nice and big this year. Most were not ripe yet, so I'll go back to the trees every few days.
-
Agreed. But, the spikey yucca does have edible flowers, that are very nice in a salad.
-
Nice! I'll try them next time I see some.
-
Recently harvested from around the homestead: Hawthorne berries, Rose hips, rose petals, nasturtium, bee balm, lemon balm, cat mint black currants, and mullein flowers.
-
@ArleneWoods good to know about chewing the leaves before going to the dentist so you don't need a shot. I will give that a try, thank you.
-
@blevinandwomba You're not that far away. Come up in the fall. I have tons of wild grape
For anyone looking for an easy plant and easy bonsai, wild grape makes a great one. Beautiful in bloom and amazing when it has a hanging bunch of grapes.
-
Thanks, @Denise Grant . I'll keep that in mind.
This Week's Leaders
Categories
- All Categories
- 34 Our Front Porch Welcome! (Please Read Before Posting)
- 27 Introductions & Region-Specific Discussions
- 354 Educational Opportunities & Resources
- 460 Current Events & Breaking News
- 49 Emergency/Disaster Preparedness & Resiliency
- 1.4K Our Garden: Growing Food
- 1.7K Our Apothecary: Natural & Home Medicine
- 516 The Back 40: Animal Husbandry & Harvesting
- 40 The Bush: Wild Game and Survival
- 527 Our Kitchen Table: Food Prep
- 396 The Homestead: DIY
- 1.2K Personal Journals
- 106 The General Store: Sell, Buy, & Barter