Anybody Forage Wild Edibles?

[chickenbottom]

so i pick the pinecones and heat them do the pinecones have to be on the tree still what if its the wrong kinda pinecone? lol i dont wanna croke

 

[pookiegoldman]

Chickenbottom, I never have got them, but from everything I read, you can pick them off the ground. There's 20 species of pine that's good, most of the other species are very small and wouldn't be worth your effort. You can hang them up in a sack in the sun for a few days to dry out, or place near a fire to open the seed pod.

 

[Damummis]

I stopped counting pounds of blackberries after 125#. Power lines are a great place to find them. DH an I just found a cranberry bog out back in the swamp. Tons of "blue" berries. I love to forage. Keeps me touch with that inner cavewoman.

I would love to figure out mushrooms. There is a class coming up at the botanical gardens here. I might have to look into it.

 

[PeepsInc]

10# of black caps,40# of elderberries, 60# of mulberry's,Several bushels of wild apples,pairs,& choke cherry's,grapes a sack of water crest,horseradish(which is now wild). Oh yea & countless acorns & Hickory nuts to replant our property we just had logged. I'd like to learn about mushrooms, but it's just to risky to take chances with.

 

[flgardengirl]

Our backwoods are full of wild blackberries, grapes, and the other day I found beauty berries bushes which I found out are a favorite of deer and bobwhites and its okay for the chickens to eat them. Some people make jams with beauty berries as well.
ETA: we have tons of acorns as well. Do people eat those? I have one chicken who will eat them if she can. I have been gathering them up for our baby squirrel that is being weaned from nursing our cat now.

 

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

I've never eatedn them, and according to my NAS prof (an old Indian man and one of the all around coolest people alive) mostly the natives used acorns only as an emergency food source around here.
When times were scarce, they would make acorn meal. He said they gather them, dry them, shell and grind them then put them in a shallow pit (can't remember what he said to line with) and pour water in. Let it sit till it all seeps away and then repeat several times. This proccess leaches out the bitterness and the remaining meal can be re-dried and used to make bread if ground even finer, or as an alternative to oatmeal.
Like I said, never tried it myself, but I love gathering knowledge on stuff like this.