“Why farm? Why give up the 20-hour work week and the fun of hunting in order to toil in the sun? Why work harder, for food less nutritious and a supply more capricious? Why invite famine, plague, pestilence and crowded living conditions?” Harlan (1992)
The late summer foraging season is upon us in Alaska. As our own raspberries start showing hints of pink (an unlucky few matured early and made their ways into eager bellies, already), Mother Nature’s bounty is ripening up, as well! While societies around the world have thrived and grown in the wake of the development of agriculture, hunting, gathering and all around foraging are still great ways to supplement our diets with fun new (and often previously unknown to us) ingredients.
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I love Blueberry stained hands!
I live in So. Cal in a VERY dry area, but here are a few things we find here that are good; wild radish, prickly pear cactus,mallow and miners lettuce along with nettles in wetter areas. My favorite is nettle. when it is cooked up in a soup it tastes like cream of asperagus soup to me…yum!
At the beginning of spring, we have wild blackberries. There are large wild brambles everywhere. The birds and I squabble over them vigorously! We usually have some pretty good mushrooms but not so much this year because of the dryness. Wild sage, mint, and other herbs are usually abundant. I love fresh "stuff" whether cultivated or wild.
I always enjoy your blog so much! Including this one. I’m aware of many edible and medicinal plants in my area (including in our own woods and growing wild in our garden area), yet I’ve barely used them. I really want to get into it and make use of what’s there! So, your posting inspires me to do so.
While I’m here, I have a question for you or anyone else reading this: does anyone know if only certain species of ferns are edible in the fiddlehead form? Or are all fiddleheads edible? I’ve been having trouble finding the answer. Alexandra – maybe your friend Henry could help me with this one? 🙂
Checkout Backyard Harvest, Fallen Fruit and other websites for urban foraging ideas.
I live in Ketchikan and I consider myself a hunter gatherer and gardener. I love picking rhubarb, Fireweed and spruce tips for jelly, red huckleberries, blueberries, high brush cranberries, salmonberries, wild strawberries, raspberries and salal. I make jams,jellies and syrups for my growing extended family. This year I am making 4 oz jars of jams and jellies for my wedding favors. We have lots of mushrooms here in Ketchikan too but I don’t know enough about them to pick them.
I loved your blog post about slugs too. This year they were extremely bad in our garden. They ate our green beans and beets even after using Corry’s slug death. I even found them on the branches of the raspberries and huckleberries I have been picking this year!
So glad to met another Alaska girl who enjoys foraging! Have a great winter!
I’m sort of surprised that I haven’t found any educational type blogs about GMO’s… would love to see this topic spread like wildfire and for people to have their eyes opened. Thanks in advance for any consideration of this topic 🙂