In season now!

Wisteria- Only the flowers are edible. Everything else is poisonous.

English Plantain- The seed heads taste like mushrooms. Cook them.

 Redbud- The flowers are edible. They do not not taste like much, but sure are pretty!

Wild Lettuce- Looks like dandelion, but has hairs along the mid-rib. Mild bitterness with classic lettuce flavor and crunch. My favorite Spring salad green.

 Curly Dock- The best part of the plant is the stem. Get it before it starts to form a flower bud. Peel the stem. Crunchy like celery. Delicious raw or cooked. Not every plant tastes great. Any red on a plant means it is going to be bad bitter.

 Blue Violet- Use the flowers in salads or candy them. The leaves are also edible. They have a mild peppery-ness  and a chewy texture. Do not take too many leaves.

 Field Mustard- The blooms are the best part. Classic raw brassica flavor.

 

 Field Garlic- Use the tops like chives. Onion flavor with hint of garlic.

 

Field Garlic- The bottoms are tiny. Perfect for pickling.

Virginia Pine- The needles are more fragrant than any other around. Citrusy, Piney, Grapefruit, Pomelo. Infuse them into liquids.

Winter Update

Below is what is in season right now.

Wild Watercress

Hoary Bittercress

Closeup of Virginia Pine Needles

Virginia Pine Needle Tree

Field Onion bulb

Purple Dead Nettle

Chickweed

A quote from Michel Bras

     There are strong bonds which link man with his native land, with the familiar landscapes, the summits, the springs which sculpt their way across the pastures, the villages which evolve slowly, or those that die, hamlets in the lee of the immobile rock or hidden in the beech woods dreaming of the past.  Whatever education and life may bring later on, each in his own way, every child has their native land- a country of their own- in their flesh, in their blood, and in their conscience.  Each person derives both their qualities and their faults from their upbringing, their liveliest instincts, their most acute feelings, their engrained habits, their deepest rooted prejudices, their most banal superstitions- all of these are rooted in the land where they grew up.  One's native land illuminates one's conscience.

Early Fall Update

Below are items in season right now.  

Wild Persimmon

Butternut

Black Walnut ready for it's husk to be removed

Chestnut Oak Acorns

Field Onions

Wild Lettuce

Curly Dock

In Season Now

Below are some pictures of wild edibles that are in season right now.

Wild Green Shiso also known as Perilla Plant

Wood Sorrel

Smooth Sumac

Loomis Mountain Mint

Kudzu Blooms

Blackberries

     The wild blackberries are earlier than ever before.  This year everything is 2- 3 weeks early.  I started picking some last week and this week I have picked several quarts.  Blackberries are one of those things that people get nostalgic about.  They remember as a kid walking along the side of a country road and picking blackberries.  They did not mind how hot or eaten up with bugs they got.  It is all about the berries!  Unfortunately wild blackberries are becoming increasingly harder to find.  Most counties spray or if you are lucky mow the side of roads.  I hike for several miles to the backside of my property where it is wilderness to pick them.

     I love picking blackberries, but one of the worst things about picking the berries are the chiggers.  No matter how much or where I put on bug repellent, I get eaten up with chigger bites.  Chiggers and blackberries are like peas in a pod.  Chigger bites also show up a day after you have been picking.

     While you are picking blackberries be sure to look out for dewberries.  They start to ripen as the blackberries are fading away.  Dewberries have darker green leaves and a rounder, softer fruit.  Be careful picking them because they squish easily.

Have you ever eaten a Pine Tree?

     This was an infamous quote from the godfather of foraging, Euell Gibbons.  The inner bark is edible, but that is for another article.  I’m here to talk about pine needles.  Pine trees are everywhere here in Alabama.  There are different types of pine that grow here.  Different varieties smell and taste different.  My favorite is the Virginia Pine.  It has short twisted needles in bunches of three.  Its fragrance is stronger than the other varieties around.  Besides the pine smell I get a grapefruit/citrus smell.  Pine needles have five times more Vitamin C than in one cup of orange juice.  Pine Needle Tea is also used by Native Americans to treat coughs and colds.  It helps expel phlegm from your body.  The easiest way to use pine needles is to make tea.  You can use any pine needles from a tree.  Make sure they are green and not brown, clip the brown ends off and put them into a tea or coffee cup.  Pour boiling water over the needles, cover and steep for 10 minutes.  You can drink it straight up or sweetened.  It has a nice clean flavor.  Not like pinesol at all. You can also infuse the pine needles into other things.  Really, the sky is the limit for creativity!

A word of caution.  You should not eat pine needles or drink the tea if you are pregnant.  Eating pine needles has been known to cause abortions in cows.