We brought home oodles of free food from our fair city this year.
I’ve wanted to try my hand at foraging for years, but never had the guts to go out and do it. I always just assumed I would mess it up and end up in the hospital from a terrible mistake. Some encouragement from a friend who knew what she was doing got me started this year and I’m totally hooked! Hooked on urban foraging!
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In our own city backyard we harvested plants that popped up naturally in the grass. I believe some people refer to them as ‘weeds.’ I dug up dandelions and ate the greens in salads and cooked them into stir fries. The roots were roasted in the oven to make a bitter tea rich in vitamins.
It blew my mind when I went to the grocery store and saw ‘Dandelion Greens’ selling next to the lettuce for 4 dollars a pound. I heard someone wonder aloud what they were. I wanted to say: those are those weeds growing for free in your yard, that you pay someone $50 a month to come spray with pesticides so they’ll go away. Yes, those very same plants. You could walk out your back door and pick them yourself, saving you gas, time, and money. How silly these humans can be.
We also have bazillions of plantains growing in our crappy city soil. Plantains love clay based soils that are practically devoid of nutrients, perfect for our yard. We picked them while they were young and fried them up in olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper. They were definitely different than anything I’ve ever had. Maybe it’s an acquired taste?
Other delightful edible weeds that grow in our yard are purslane and lambsquarters.
In June we found Juneberries growing along the concrete pathways in our biggest city park. We harvested them by the bucketful, greedily shoving every other handful into our mouths. The taste was all its own, but could be compared to blueberries mixed with grapes. The Juneberries were mixed into smoothies and made delicious muffins.
We ventured over to the hospital a few blocks away and shook mulberries off a tree in the courtyard. Frightened onlookers wondered aloud if they should alert the authorities that hippies were stealing berries from their bushes. We snacked on them in the shade before heading home with berry-purple stained hands and faces.
In September we scoured the city parks for wild fox grapes. We picked them by the bushel, harvesting over 10 pounds in only an hour. People looked at us like we were nuts. We turned them into 15 gallons of practically-free wine. Who’s nuts now, strangers?! Probably still me, but whatever.
Throughout all of Autumn we harvested black walnuts falling from trees in our yard and pouring onto sidewalks all over the neighborhood. I bashed them between rocks in the backyard to remove the husks, much like my cave woman ancestors would have. Commence terrified and nosy neighbors staring through windows. The crazy lady is bashing nuts in her bathrobe again.
In a few months we’ll tap our Maple trees again to harvest the sap and boil it into syrup. Performing this task last year really opened my eyes to the reason behind high prices for real maple syrup. It’s nowhere near free to make our own, but certainly delicious enough to make it worthwhile!
Have you ever gone foraging for food? What grows wild in your area? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
kinda sounds like fun!! It’s like hiking and grocery shopping all in one, only you can leave the coupons and the cash at home. Makes me inclined to try a little next year. I know that Craig would be down to do it. 🙂
Yes, you must try it! It’s so much fun, there’s free food everywhere!
We pick wild muskedine grapes an wild black berries here in NC.
Awesome! What do you make with them?
Loved your stories…I used to forage wild blackberries near my first apartment when my husband and i were first married…made the best blackberry pies from that…then the kids and I used to collect wild berries behind our home (before houses were built)…
Keep on foraging…and keep those stories coming…
Sol
Thank you! That’s so cool that you used to forage for berries near your home. It’s amazing how much wonderful free food there is out there if you just know what you’re looking for!
Such awesome bounty!
Thanks Kathie! We sure had fun this year.
This is a beautiful post! It’s amazing what people pay for Nettles, Dandelions, and even Plantain. And it all grows our backyards!! I’m sharing this post 🙂
Amber
http://www.herbalacademyofne.com
Thank you so much Amber, I really appreciate it! 🙂
Hi! I do quite a bit of foraging in a suburban – semirural area. You are so right that you don’t need to go to the woods to forage. I find that there’s actually a lot more variety along roads, because sun exposure is better, resulting in more herbaceous growth, and more fruit and nut production. I post a lot on wild edibles – feel free to check out that section of my blog: http://ouroneacrefarm.com/topics/wild-edibles/
I would love to check out your blog! I don’t know many other foragers, it will be nice to read your posts. I’ve definitely found more wild foods in more populated areas than out in the woods. If only more people knew they could eat some of the plants that grow in their yard rather than spraying them with pesticides!
We have a ton of wild blackberries and wineberries growing on our property. We also have lots of nut trees- chestnut, black walnuts and hickories. On my list it to see if maple sugaring is feasible in our climate and to find a local area to forage for elderberries!
How much do I LOVE that you’re foraging in urban areas?!! SO MUCH. I’ve gleaned – collected fruit from neighbors (who may or may not have known I was doing it) and made stuff from it and it’s been amazing. I’d love to go on proper foraging treks though. Especially where dandelion greens are concerned. They’re delicious, nutritious and generally AWESOME. They should never be considered weeds 🙂 xoxoxo!
We have a few mammoth black walnuts on our property and we crack open the husks by putting the nuts on our driveway and I make a few passes back and forth with the Jeep. It really saved some labor. 🙂
That’s such a good idea Mike! I must try that this year. Last year my hands were stained brown for over a week from ripping off the husks. It made for good stories but definitely freaked people out.
Hey I recognize that courtyard! You guys might have some crazy hippie company this year for mulberry foraging!
We just harvested some dandelion greens and flowers this past weekend for breakfast. We have lemon balm all over the place as well right now, along with violas (wild violets), Creeping Charlie (Glechoma hederacea), Purple Deadnettle (Lamium purpureum), and Grape Hyacinths (Muscari sp.) although I haven’t figured out what species of Muscari we have yet – neglectum or botryoides.
Yes!! You must join in the fun this year. That tree is so heavy with fruit it can barely stand up!
I’m so glad you’re having fun foraging! This is the best time of year as everything starts popping again. I can’t wait to get back out there.
Blackberries, stinging nettle for pesto, dandelion.
I’ve never made stinging nettle pesto, I’m going to have to try that!
We do wild plums from a city park for jam. Prickly pears (cactus fruit) from in front of a pizza place. Mulberries, loquats (Japanese plums), pindo palm fruit, elderberries (fruit and blossoms), dandelions, stinging nettle, cleavers, plantain and anything else we can find for food and medicine. Last fall we found chanterelles in one of the local parks. Some other things you don’t think of as edible, as well. We have a podocarpus hedge in front of our house. It sets berries that are edible. You don’t get much, but they are an interesting little snack. We pick the growing tips from greenbrier (smilax), which is an obnoxious weed everywhere around here. I recently noticed a vendor at our local farmer’s market selling Bidens as a green. If I could sell what grows in my yard, I would make a fortune!! Then I discoverd it is medicinal as well. Haven’t eaten it yet, but have definitely tinctured it!
Wow! You guys have a bounty of food growing on your property! How amazing! Maybe you can trade some of it for other goods instead of selling it, I’m sure a lot of people would want to get in on that goodness!
I live in the Netherlands, so the plants I can forage are a little different. Some are similar though.
In June we go to the woods to pick blueberries; well… the Dutch version of blueberries, called ‘bosbessen’ (woodberries). This year was no fun though, we ended up fleeing the woods, because of all the ticks. We had an exceptionally mild winter, and it didn’t kill enough ticks (and other bugs, had lots of ‘m this year)
In autumn the whole families collects chestnuts. And if I remember on time I like to go and pick elderberries.
This year I found out that a little unknown park in our village has new fruittrees planted. Definately keeping my eye on that next summer/autumn (apples, cherries, plums and pears).
And you know what else I found? A website dedicated to urban foraging in the Netherlands! Still new, and not a lot of towns use it (yet), but it’s going to help a lot in finding out where to forage (it uses Google maps to pinpoint exact locations of edible fruits, herbs, plants!) and what plants to find in a particular time of the year (I’ll get an e-mail to tell me what I can forage). Can’t wait to find out if it works just as well as it sounds! 🙂
That’s amazing!! You’ve found a lot of great foraging opportunities in your area. I’ve been searching for elderberries but haven’t found any yet. Hopefully this year will be my year! It’s so lucky too that you found an urban foraging site for your area. Every zone is totally different. We’re lucky that there are tons of books that feature our area of the US, but I know not everyone is so lucky!
love your website!!!
I’m from Australia and I hope we have some kind of edible weeds over here!!:)
I WOULD love to do urban foraging!!!