Tips to Make the Most of the Growing Season
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Get Ready to Forage!
Summer is here and the foraging season is in full swing! One of the great things about foraging is its relative accessibility and low input cost. That said, there are some tools, guides, and gadgets that will help you in your practice. Keep in mind that these things aren’t absolutely necessary. If cost is a problem, you can get some of these guides for free online or from your local library, and some of these tools can be found at thrift stores or online second-hand retailers. Also, this list ends with tip that’s completely free!
But without further ado, here is the list:
Plant ID/Mushroom ID
It is of utmost importance to learn to positively identify what you harvest before consuming it. Below are some of my favorite online and print identification guides.
Online
Mushroom Expert - mushroom field guide by Michael Kuo. Does not contain edibility information. Also for some reason he is super against medicinal mushrooms.
Wildflowers and Weeds - guide to plant families by Thomas Elpel. Based on his book Botany in a Day.
Minnesota Wildflowers - my go-to guide for plant identification in the Upper Midwest.
Books
Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide by Lawrence Newcomb - helpful field guide, but it’s a bit old, so many of the Latin names are outdated.
Sam Thayer's Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants by Sam Thayer - large, full color, in-depth guide to identifying wild edible plants in Eastern and Central North America.
Mushrooms of the Upper Midwest by Kathy Yerich and Teresa Marrone - small mushroom guide by two Minnesotans. Great for beginners!
Mushrooms Demystified by David Arora - in-depth guide, but it’s a bit old, so many of the Latin names are outdated. Focuses mostly on species in western North America.
Foraging Guides
These guides to foraging help with identification, harvest, and preparation of wild edible species. They are some of my favorite online and print resources.
Online
Forager Chef - amazing website by Alan Bergo, contains many recipes for wild foods.
Wild Food Girl - informative blog by Erica Davis, who lives in the Rocky Mountain Region.
Botanical Arts Press - a business out of New York state with a beautiful and informative blog and helpful video tutorials.
Books
Anything by Sam Thayer - Sam Thayer is a wild foods author based out of Wisconsin. He currently has four books published and all of them are excellent.
100 Edible Mushrooms by Michael Kuo - this is a good beginners and intermediate guide to foraging and cooking wild mushrooms.
Wild Remedies by Rosalee de la Forêt & Emily Han - this book focuses on wild plant medicine, but also includes culinary uses of wild herbs.
Foraging Apps
I generally recommend that people do not over-rely on apps for foraging purposes. Definitely cross-reference with a field guide or other trustworthy source before consuming anything identified by an AI. That said, here are some apps that I enjoy and find useful.
iNaturalist- Worldwide community of people sharing outdoor finds. Can be useful for identification help and finding foragables.
VILD MAD - Danish wild foods app, but has much overlap with North American species. Also includes recipes.
PictureThis Plant Identifier - This is the most accurate plant ID app I've tried. Paid and free versions available.
Plant.id - This is technically not an app, but a browser-based program that identifies plants. It can also recognize plant diseases, which can be helpful for gardeners and foragers alike.
Map Your Finds!
There are many ways to do this, but trust me when I say it’s a worthwhile practice. Unless you have photographic memory, you’re probably not going be able to recall every wild edible plant and mushroom you have picked along with the date and location. However, you have to remember your foraging spot in order to find it again the following year! That’s where mapping comes in. Here are some suggestions to help you get started:
Storage Solutions
It’s true that you can act like a wild animal and devour wild edibles right in the field (assuming they’re safe to eat unprocessed of course)! Trust me, I love that method and employ it regularly. However, it’s also nice to have the option to take home foragables to cook with them or preserve them for later use. To that end, stuffing wild food in your pockets or carrying them in your hands is not the best method. Bags, baskets, and containers are a minimal investment and will drastically improve your foraging experience!
Bags - I prefer breathable bags from natural materials, like cotton or linen. Mesh bags also work well. Brown paper bags work fine in a pinch, but I suggest avoiding plastic, especially for mushrooms, as some food has a tendency to rot if stored in plastic. I love carrying bags like the ones pictured around in my pockets or backpack in case I find something to forage. They are light and compress well.
Baskets - you can often find nice baskets with handles for cheap at thrift stores. Again, I suggest buying one made with natural materials and/or a woven basket with plenty of air flow. Just make sure the weave is tight enough to hold your foraged goodies! For juicy fruits and soft-fleshed mushrooms, find a basket that is shallow and wide. Tall and narrow baskets run the risk of squishing your food into a messy pulp, as the weight of the food presses on itself.
Containers - tupperware, yogurt containers, pyrex, and other glass and plastic wear can be used to collect wild edibles. It’s not my favorite option however, as non-breathable containers contribute to spoilage of fruits and mushrooms. If you choose to collect wild food in glass or plastic, in many cases I suggest transferring them to a different storage method when you get home. The best storage method will depend on what you picked. You can search the internet or reach out to foragers online for tips on storing your specific harvest.
Tools
Sometimes all you need to harvest wild edibles is your hands, but oftentimes tools will make the job easier. Here is a quick list of things you may want invest in to improve your foraging practice. Some of these tools are specialized for certain foods, while others are kitchen gadgets that live at home.
Scissors/knife/multitool: useful for cutting flowers, herbs, large stems, mushrooms, and more!
Trowel, shovel, digging stick: these are typically necessary for harvesting underground edibles like roots, tubers, and rhizomes. If you’re caught in the field without a trowel or shovel, you can always fashion a digging stick with a knife and a sturdy stick.
Blickey, tree hook, berry rake: these are all specialized tools for harvesting berries. They are not necessary, but they do make the process more efficient!
Specialty kitchen equipment: there are many tools and gadgets that will help out a forager in the kitchen! Some of the more common ones are a dehydrator, Vitamix (or other high-powered blender), food mill, French press, and mortar and pestle.
Track the Weather
Checking the weather is important so you’re prepared for conditions out in the field. You wouldn’t want to get stuck in a hailstorm or return home with a burning throat and lungs due to wildfire smoke inhalation. Furthermore, rainfall is vital to the growth of many wild edibles, especially when it comes to mushrooms.
Weather.gov - my go-to site to check the weather forecast. They also provide an hourly weather graph and past weather data.
Airnow.gov - provides information on air quality, wildfires, and smoke. They also have an app version!
Rain precipitation map - this interactive map by Modern Forager allows you to observe precipitation data for the last 6 weeks, which can help you target locations that are likely to hold mushrooms.
Ways to Stay Motivated
The US is fortunately seeing a bit of a foraging renaissance, with the practice of harvesting wild edibles becoming more commonplace and acceptable. Still, the culture has a long way to go, and at times you may feel like you’re swimming upstream against anti-foraging bias. Even if you’re not facing explicit anti-foraging sentiment, you may not receive the support or excitement you would hope for from family, friends, and other people in your life. Here are a few suggestions to help keep you motivated!
Find a community of foragers - this doesn’t have to be an in-person community, though that may help! Try to find a mycological society, herbalist guild, foraging instructor, or other related group for in-person fulfillment. MeetUp might be able to point you to local events that fit your interests. For online resources, I suggest checking out social media. For example, Facebook has many groups dedicated to foraging, and TikTok has a huge online foraging community!
Develop a foraging philosophy - try to figure out your personal values and how they relate to your foraging practice. This can go a long way to help you stay committed! Whether you’re foraging for health reasons, connection to the surrounding landscape, to supplement your food intake, or for any other reason - remember this reason and what foraging really means to you when you’re feeling unmotivated.
Find comfort in the non-human environment - if you don’t have tons of human friends to go foraging with, remember that plants, animals, mushrooms, and the encompassing land in general can provide support and fulfillment. I’m not suggesting that you go snuggle with a bear or something like that - be safe and respect the boundaries of wild beings! However, when you spend a lot of time observing, studying, and eating wild plants and mushrooms (and animals if that’s your jam), you develop a sense of familiarity and connection, and interacting with them can become as uplifting as spending time with human friends.
Conclusion
I hope you find this list helpful! I know they are all things that provide a lot of support to my foraging practice. But please don’t feel bad if some or even most of these options are not accessible to you! I spent several years living dirt poor in rural areas and couldn’t afford books or specialized equipment. Yet I still managed to learn just by spending a lot of time outside and dedicating myself to this skill. Ultimately you don’t need a lot of gear to become a skillful forager, and don’t let anyone tell you any different! Best of luck and happy foraging.
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