Foraging for Wild Edible Plants

By Annie Stewart
Published on February 13, 2014
article image
by iStockphoto.com/zorani
Spend time with family and friends as you forage for treats such as ripe blackberries.

 The Quest for Wild Edible Plants

Spending hard-earned money at the produce department of my local grocery store became a bad habit I decided to break. Limp cucumbers and zucchini, rock-hard tomatoes tasting like plastic, and pencil-thin asparagus for $4 per pound — it had to stop!

Today, I loaded up my two young granddaughters, swathed them with tick repellent, handed each of them a plastic bucket and a pair of scissors, and we were off for the woods. Burrowing our way through overgrown blackberry thickets and pushing steadily forward to the old fence line, we found our pot of gold. There, like soldiers lined up for inspection, were the prettiest, firmest, thickest stalks of asparagus you would ever want to see. We quickly filled our buckets, then headed south through the stand of sassafras trees toward the little freshwater creek that runs through our place.

Ugly, wrinkly morel mushrooms lined the creek rock path, almost hidden under fallen, rotting logs. We scavenged them, then rolled up our pants and walked into the creek, heading for the bright green watercress.

Hundreds of different species of food are found in the woods, along creek beds, in open pastures, underneath fence rows, and around decaying trees. Spring, summer and fall offer different varieties of food, each delicious and nutritious. There are no preservatives, no waiting for them to ripen on the kitchen counter, and, with permission, they’re completely free for the taking. The physical exercise of traipsing through the woods is an added bonus, along with the fresh air and sunshine, and time spent with family and friends.

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