You have most likely seen usnea, also known as Old Man’s Beard, when you are out in the forest. I see it all the time hanging in long strands from conifers when I’m hiking here in the pacific northwest. What you may not have known is that usnea is a super medicinal lichen! I love…
Forage
Foraging and wildcrafting for your own food and medicine is a great way to get outside and reap the benefits of being out in wild areas. It gives you access to some of the most nutrient rich and healing plants, all while getting some much needed exercise and fresh air. Foraging is good for your body as well as your mind and soul! I love teaching others about the benefits of wild food.
Learn about foraging through the seasons, with guides on fall foraging, winter foraging, and spring foraging. If you want to learn about wild mushrooms, then read about these 5 easy to identify edible mushrooms.
Foraging for Chickweed
Ever since I’ve been a wild food forager, I’ve always known about chickweed, but haven’t really come in contact with it all that much. This is strange, because chickweed is really quite a common and abundant plant! It’s not that I had never seen it, I know that I’ve pointed it out on a few…
Foraging for Wild Violets
I think the thing that I love most about wild violets is that they are usually the first flower to show their face in early spring. Actually, where we live in Southern Oregon they come up in mid-February! These little purple flowers give us a nice little foreshadowing of spring when we’re still in the…
What to Forage in Winter: 30+ Edible and Medicinal Plants and Fungi
Foraging in winter is not always easy, and it gets even harder the further north or higher in elevation that you are. The super cold temperatures, low light, and heavy snow cover in these areas can really make it difficult for anything to persist and survive through winter. There are a few wild plants that…
5 Easy to Identify Edible Mushrooms
Mushroom hunting can be a bit scary, especially if you’re a beginner. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t do it, though. Everyone has to start somewhere! I always advise that beginners should first start mushroom foraging by simply paying attention. Observe the different mushrooms that you may see, and consult a guidebook as you go…
Foraging for Chicory
Chicory might be one of those plants that you’ve probably seen a thousand times but never knew what it was. It is extremely common along roadsides in many areas of the country, and I’m sure that you’ve passed it by a time or two. What you may not have known is that chicory is an…
Foraging for Oyster Mushrooms
Hunting for mushrooms is always one of my favorite pastimes. To start with, the areas that most mushrooms prefer to hang out in are usually gorgeous. They are often near water, in lush green rainforests, which we have plenty of here in Oregon. Many times when I actually find wild mushrooms I’m not even actively…
Foraging for Wild Fennel
I’ve been visiting family on the central California coast, which has been wonderful. I always like going to other parts of the country to see what I can forage, and the temperature here is so mild that you can pretty much find edible or medicinal plants year round. Late spring and summer is when the…
Foraging for Salal Berries
On a recent camping trip to the central Oregon coast, we went on hike like we usually do, and came across what we believed to be salal berries! I snapped a few photos, then double checked my guidebooks when we got back to camp, and discovered that they were, in fact, salal berries. We decided…
Foraging for Wild Poppies
Hello and happy summer solstice! We are fully into the summer season now, and wildflowers are popping up everywhere. I love finding and identifying them, especially when I discover that they are edible or medicinal (or both!). Wild California poppies are a common sight for us here in Southern Oregon. No, they won’t quite put…
