Sometimes the Bounty is Just Too Much!

June 3, 201

It's early June--the time of year when foliage is at its peak and the diversity of edible plants just explodes. I snapped these photos of just a few examples in a three-minute walk up my driveway!

A few of the foragables out and about in New England right now:

• Milkweed

• Wood Sorrel

• Sheep Sorrel

• Prickly Lettuce

• Garlic Mustard

• Plaintain

• Peppergrass

• Dandelion

I'd love to introduce you to each and every one of them! But the goal of this blog is not so much to be comprehensive, as to be an introduction to the world of plants--many of which you can eat. My hope is to share my experience of walking in the world, enrich your experience of the world, and learn together about wild edibles. I definitely don't know everything! And wouldn't have the space to share it all, if I did.

If you want to get serious about wild edibles, you need to get yourself a good field guide. My first handbook was Bradford Angiers' Feasting Free on Wild Edibles. Did I dog-ear that book! I glued little tabs to select pages to highlight local plants to be looking our for. The edition I had was published in 1966; I was perhaps ten years old. I also read every Euell Gibbons book I could order through my local small-town library.

This is another good one I bought recently: Northeast Foraging by Leda Meredith (I hope she won't mind the free plug.) Each entry contains "How to Identify," "Where and When to Gather," "How to Gather," "How to Eat," "How to Preserve, and "Warnings," along with information about the sensitivity of the plant to being harvested.

Should I eat this? and How? I encourage you to look at multiple websites and reference books. And if you're not sure, or not totally confident in your knowledge--don't eat it.

I'll post about particular plants to avoid some time soon.