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What do you think people ate before there were supermarkets? Go even farther back in time: What do you think people ate before they learned how to farm? Early peoples did very nicely foraging for their food (and hunting game, too, of course). And we can do very nicely today doing the same thing.

There are wonderful edibles out in the wilds of Wisconsin free for the taking. All you have to know is how to positively identify any food you would like to taste.

Do you like strawberries? Then you'll love wild strawberries, tiny morsels that are even better than the kind you find in markets.

Do you like a little bite in your salad? Then hunt for some watercress and toss a few leaves in with the lettuce.

Have you heard that almost all of a cattail is edible? It's true. You wouldn't go hungry if you could find only cattails to eat.

You might want to start out with some plants you already know, like dandelions (the young leaves are good in salad and the roots make a nice tea), or wild mint (the minty smell is unmistakable). Use a clear field guide or this preliminary list of edible plants of Wisconsin (and your parents' help) so you'll know what is what (and what look-alikes to avoid).

Enjoy your gourmet gathering!

[Image: Courtesy of Flickr user QtrFlash]

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What do you think people ate before there were supermarkets? Go even farther back in time: What do you think people ate before they learned how to farm? Early peoples did very nicely foraging for their food (and hunting game, too, of course). And we can do very nicely today doing the same thing.

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Wisconsin holds a vast variety of edible wild plants. From the uplands to the bottomlands and surrounding lake areas, edible plants thrive. Everything from berries, tubers, roots, nuts and greens flourish in Wisconsin. Before eating any type of wild plant, you will want to make sure it is edible. There are a bunch of plants that look just like their edible cousins but can make you ill if not kill you. Always carry a field guide of wild edibles when venturing into the wilds of Wisconsin.

Berries

There is a wealth of various berries growing in Wisconsin that you can eat. Gooseberry is a bush that grows 2- to 4-feet tall and has prickly branches with short clusters of flowers and fruits. They are found in the bottomlands, slopes and openings in the forest. The fruits can either be eaten raw or cooked. Currants grow on a bush that is 2- to 4-feet tall and is somewhat similar to the gooseberry bush but it lacks prickles. The fruits and flowers grow in elongated clusters and can be eaten raw or cooked. Elderberry is a bush that can grow to a height of 10 feet. The plant has broad clusters of flowers that are white and the fruits are purple to black in colorization. These plants can be found growing on the edges of swamps and along roadsides. The fruits can be eaten raw or cooked. The American cranberry grows on a bush that is just 8 to 12 inches in height. It has wiry, trailing stems that hold pink flowers and red berries. Blooming between June and October, it can be found in moist meadows and bogs. The berries can be eaten raw or cooked.

Green and Potherbs

Wild Lettuce grows anywhere from one to 10 feet in height with lance like leaves and yellow flowers. It blooms between July and September and can be found in open woods and meadows. The tender young leaves can be used just like lettuce. Dandelions can reach a height of 20 inches and have fluffy leaves and yellow flowers. This plant can be found almost anywhere within the state and blooms all year long. The flowers and leaves are edible raw or cooked. Spring Beauties grow to 10 inches tall. The plant has slightly succulent leaves and pink to white flowers on it. It can be found in meadows and woodlands. The corms resemble sweet potatoes and when boiled are said to taste like chestnuts. Curly Dock is a plant that can reach a height of 5 feet and has curled green and red flowers on it. It blooms from May through September and be found in fields and along roadsides. The leaves can be boiled like greens and the seeds can be ground and used like flour.

Trees

The Hazel tree is prized for its sweet nuts. The tree can grow to 9 feet tall and has sharply toothed leaves and hairless fruits that are encased in tubular husks. The trees can be found in old fields and woodland clearings. Black Cherry trees can reach a height of 60 feet and are found on the edges of streams and fields. The flowers are malodorous and the fruits are bright red when ripe. They can be eaten raw or cooked. The American Plum tree can reach a height of 30 feet with leaves that are coarsely toothed. The fruits are dark red to purple in color and can be eaten raw or cooked. These trees can be found along the edges of streams or in fields.

Article Written By Joyce Starr

Joyce Starr is a professional writer from Florida and owns a landscaping company and garden center. She has published articles about camping in Florida, lawn care and gardening and writes for a local gardening newsletter. She shares her love and knowledge of the outdoors and nature through her writing.

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Wisconsin holds a vast variety of edible wild plants. From the uplands to the bottomlands and surrounding lake areas, edible plants thrive. Everything from berries, tubers, roots, nuts and greens flourish in Wisconsin. Before eating any type of wild plant, you will want to make sure it is edible.

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Click title or picture for full article.

Wild Edible Plants

We will post pictures of the plants as we harvest them under that particular season.

We practice extreme caution when learning about edible plants. Many plants that are edible have poisonous look-alikes and one part of the plant could be edible while another is not. It takes a lot of reading and practice to know the plants in your area. It is good practice to only eat a small piece of a plant. The best practice is not to eat anything that you are not 100% sure is safe.

**** Let us make it simple, if we are not one hundred percent sure what the plant, we do not eat it. We keep in mind several things, we can live without food for a very long time. If our goal is to get rescued, then shelter, fire and water are our first three priorities. There is no replacement for studying and testing the plants. ****

Many pages cover a document called the Universal Edibility Test. While the document makes a few good points, the test could get you killed. Our point being, during a survival situation is not the time to test if a plant is poisonous. We test the plants while in civilization and we stick with plants that have no known poisonous look-alikes. Want examples, properly prepared acorns or dandelions.

Again to make it clear, there are plants have both edible and toxic parts. Unless you know what you are eating, do not take a chance. Members of the nightshade family (Solanaceae) can be rich in alkaloids (Solanine). Depending on the amount ingested symptoms include: headaches, diarrhea, vomiting and even death. Solanine is found in potatoes, eggplant, and tomatoes to name a few. Research solanine and potato to learn more.

Some edible plant guides will tell you a plant does not have a poisonous look-alike while others will tell you there are similar plants that are very toxic. Never trust one source !

Recommended Reading:
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=TYPHA harvested: May 15,2008
location: North Carolina
Group: Monocot
Family: Typhaceae

Poisonous lookalikes: Wild Iris - Yellow Flag, Blue Flag only cattail has the brown seed spike

The spike or shoots can be harvested from spring until summer. They can be eaten raw or sauteed. We must take the time to identify the plant correctly at this time of the year. In the early spring, it is easier to confuse the plant with poisonous look-alikes such as Sweet Flag (Acorus Calamus) or Daffodils (Narcissus). It is fairly common to find cattail plants from the previous year still standing. Their cigar shapped fluffly head will help verify that we found the correct plant. Later in spring the stalks will be much larger as seen below:

As we peel the stalk sideways we find the edible inner core. We can eat this raw, steamed or boiled. Sometimes added to soups.

** If eating any plant that grows in or near water, keep in mind that the water could be contaminated. If there is ever any doubt, we cook the plant before eating. **

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=TYPHA harvested: June 08,2008
location: North Carolina
Group: Monocot
Family: Typhaceae

Poisonous lookalikes: Wild Iris - Yellow Flag, Blue Flag only cattail has the brown seed spike

It is important to know the plants in the area and how they grow according to the season. From spring to summer, the plant will start to create pollen. The pollen can be used like flour.

Broadhead Arrowhead (Sagittaria Latifolia)
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=SAGIT harvested: June 03,2009
location: North Carolina
Poisonous look-alikes: Arrow arum (Peltandra Virginica)
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=PEVI

Group: Monocot
Family: Alismataceae
Names: indian potato, wapato, duck potato

Edible Parts: Tubers, buds and fruits of this plant are edible in late summer
Preparation: Can be eaten raw, recommend boiling. We boiled the potato for twenty minutes. If the water source should be treated before drinking it, then any plant that grows near the water source should be boiled.

Note: Arrow Arum has high levels of calcium oxylate. Even after boiling parts of the plant for twenty minutes, the plant will make you sick. Will cause vomiting, sweat, and diarrhea.

The leaves should be studied closely and the tubers look nothing alike. Wapato will also flower during mid summer with a three petaled white flower.
harvested: June 03,2009
location: North Carolina

Kudzu (Pueraria montana)

harvested: June 04,2009
location: North Carolina
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=PUMO"

Pretty much the entire plant is edible and is also known for medicinal values. We were blessed to find this great patch of Kudzu surrounded by Blackberries. The leaves can be eaten raw, steam or boiled. The root can be eaten as well.

Kudzu Flower Blossoms
harvested: July,2009
location: North Carolina

Kudzu flower blossoms smell absolutely great ! Unmistakeable smell of grape. The flower can be used to make Kudzu Jelly.
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=RUBUS harvested: July 03, 2009
location: North Carolina

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=OPUNT

Both the pads and the fruit can be eaten. Prickly pear jelly is often found in the South-west states. The pads are supposed to be best if gathered in spring. The fruit here was a little past its best point. The color of the fruit will be a dark wine-like burgundy.

"Prickly pear cacti typically grow with flat, rounded platyclades that are armed with two kinds of spines; large, smooth, fixed spines and small, hairlike spines called glochids that easily penetrate skin and detach from the plant. Many types of prickly pears grow into dense, tangled structures."

The fruit of prickly pears, commonly called cactus figs, Indian[3] fig or tuna,[4] is edible, although it has to be peeled carefully to remove the small spines on the outer skin before consumption. If the outer layer is not properly removed, glochids can be ingested causing discomfort of the throat, lips, and tongue as the small spines are easily lodged in the skin.

Roasting the fruit is one option to remove the glochids.

Nutritional value: Vitamin A, C, and iron. The leaves carry more iron than spinach.

The entire plant can be harvested. The taproot can be difficult to uproot. The plant can be eaten cooked or raw. Boil the root, sometimes changing the water to take away bitterness. The young leaves and buds can be eaten raw in a salad.

Nutritional value: Vitamin A, C, and iron. The leaves carry more iron than spinach.

Wild Garlic (allium vineale) and Wild Onion (allium canadense)

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ALVI
harvested: January 30,2008
location: North Carolina
Poisonous lookalikes: Death Camas (Zigadenus Michx) , Daffodil (Narcissus pseudonarcissus), Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum, O. thrysoides)

Often called Wild Onions, and sometimes ramp. From what I read the leaf of wild garlic is supposed to be round and hollow while wild onion is flat. Wild garlic grows in most of the United States and parts of Canada.

I have found mixed information on the wild garlic and wild onion. What I can tell you is when you pull it up, the smell is what separates it from poisonous plants such as daffodil. Cut the plant and the bulb. Every plant we have harvested so far, looks like a wild onion to me. When I slice the bulb, the rings look like an onion. See image below:

We added the wild onions to salad with vinegar and they tasted great.

Wild garlic is edible and it has also been known to work as a bug repellent. If you read around, you will find that some companies sell garlic products by the gallon to spray on gardens to repel insects that attack plants and trees.

Nutritional value: Vitamin C, A, potassium
Poisonous lookalikes: Daffodil

Poisonous lookalikes: Wild Iris - Yellow Flag, Blue Flag only cattail has the brown seed spike

Cattail 'root' rhizome are very starchy. My personal experience is they are nothing like a potato. Different parts of the plant are edible at different times of the year. In winter we seem to be stuck with just the rhizome. In spring, summer and fall we will cover other parts of the plant such as the pollen, spikes, and shoots.
Nutritional value: Vitamin B, starch
Note: There are different types of red and white oak.

White Oak (Quercus alba L.)
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=QUAL

Red Oak (Quercus falcata Michx)
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=QUFA

Acorns contain carbohydrates, protein, amino acids, vitamins, minerals and even fat. Although they must be prepared to eat, they are an indispensable part of a wilderness diet. The native Americans would harvest the acorns to help them pass the winters.

Acorns have the advantage of being a food source that can be stored. Acorn fat can cause the acorns to get moldy or rotten.

Preparation: Tannin should be removed from the acorns. Reducing the tannic acid from the acorns by soaking them will make them more palatable and less toxic. Some people soak the acorns a process called leaching. Others grind the acorns into flour and then treating it with hot water. Finally boiling the acorns is suggested for rapid removal of the tannins. We soaked the acorns for three days after peeling the outer shell.

dictionary.com
tannin -Any of various compounds, including tannic acid, that occur naturally in
the bark and fruit of various plants, especially the nutgalls, certain oaks, and sumac.

Tannic acid can be harmful to the human body. ** It seems tannic acid is known to reduce protein digestibilities.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9231400
"Apparent protein digestibilities were reduced by tannic acid and quebracho diets. Only the 8% tannic acid diet tended to increase glucuronidation"

The human body uses glucuronidation to make a large variety of substances more water-soluble, and, in this way, allow for their subsequent elimination from the body upon urination.

We peeled the shell of acorns to find that at this time of the year the acrons can be covered in mold. After peeling the skin and scraping the mold from the top, we put the acorn in water to leach the tanic acid out of them. After a few hours the water looked like this:

We want to avoid eating the tannin because it could cause digestive problems. When the Native Americans would prepare the acorns, they would put them in running water for days. Some people use the boiling method. We will be doing more testing. We ate an acorn before leaching the tannin out of it. Since they are moldy, they were chewy and the tannic acid caused a bitter taste. Overall the taste was that of a nut.

Most sources say that white oak acorns have the least amount tannic acid in them. This set of acorns was not very bitter but we still allowed the acorns to sit in water for three days. Changing the water periodically.

Some people say to use a boiling to speed up the process. We will research different ways of removing the tannin from the acorns and include them on the article.

We soaked the acorns for three days and dried them. Eating them and then crushing them into meal.

Here we use the acorn meal to make pancake mix.

Nutritional value: protein, carbohydrates, vitamin A, C and amino acids.

There are over a hundred different species of pine. Not only can the food be used as a supply of nourishment but, also can be used for medicinal purposes.

Edible parts of the pine include:

* Pine needles

* Inner bark

* Seeds
Pine Needle Tea

We cut the needles and add them to the bowl. There are two methods people normally use. One is to add the needles and simmer for fifteen to twenty minutes. The other is to boil the water first, and soak the needles for ten minutes.

Surprisingly the Pine needle tea does not taste as strong as most people would think. Add a little sugar if available.

Pine Needle Tea : possible health benefits

Main Entry: pine-needle oil
Function: noun
: a colorless or yellowish bitter essential oil obtained from the needles of various pines (especially Pinus mugo) and used in medicine chiefly as an inhalant in treating bronchitis
http://medical.merriam-webster.com/medical/pine-needle%20oil
My wishful thinking is that the tea will act as a treatment for sinus symptoms.

Possibly looked at as a form of homeopathic treatment, yet I am of the belief that the Native Americans found treatments for many ailments through indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants. The Native Americans believed in the benefits of pine needle tea. They frequently used it to treat:

phlegm reduction
sinus symptoms
sore throats (high vitamin C content)
ulcers
headaches
scurvy

High in vitamin C content pine needle oil is used by some in aroma therapy for sinus and infections of the respiratory system.
http://www.fiu.edu/~health/assets/pdf/AromaTherapy%20booklet.pdf
"Sinus & Cold Blend: A combination of Eucalyptus, Pine Needle, Cypress, &
Lavender. It is known for its ability to fight infections. Great to use during the
cold and flu season."

It is also believed that eating honey from your local area may help with seasonal allergies. Honey is known for having many medicinal properties. The expectation being that the pollen gets mixed with the nectar during the gathering process. The claims are that eating the local honey will help lessen allergy symptoms.

Now I like to keep an open mind so this is all speculation on my part. The way I see it is, some of the beneficial effects of pine needle tea have been confirmed. Vitamins and minerals found are beneficial to humans. So I drink it, and nothing negative can come from it. However, it never ceases to amaze me how quickly people are willing to put a pill in their mouth because their doctor says it is going to help. This is done without any research, after being told of horrible symptoms, and the daily media posting about horrific side effects of miracle drugs. Yet when offered a possible solution from nature, they become very skeptical and misanthropic.

Some argue that the pine needle oil has antimicrobial, antibacterial and antiseptic properties. On the other side some companies have been penalized for making false representations about the overall benefits of bee pollen. So do your research and make an educated decision.

This is some of the information I found:

Recent study to examine anti-obesity effects of pine needle extract show positive results:
http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/bpb/29/10/29_2111/_article http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17474862
"These results demonstrate that pine needles exhibit strong antioxidant, antimutagenic, and antiproliferative effects on cancer cells and also antitumor effects in vivo and point to their potential usefulness in cancer prevention."

Note:

Thank you to Jan Wilson from bringing this to our attention. It seems that pine needle can cause abortions

This seems to only affect cattle. We do not know if it affects humans, but perhaps a caution to pregnant women should be mentioned.

The ranchers in our area of central BC know well the effects of having their cattle drink from puddles in which pine needles have been soaking. The cows will abort their calves.

scroll down to page 15/16 for the information.
http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:TsGqvjgq_LwJ:www1.foragebeef.ca/%24...

More info here
http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/vetext/INF-BE_cca/INF-BE_cca96/INF-BE_cca9...

and here
http://cekern.ucdavis.edu/Custom_Program813/Pine_Needle_Abortion.htm

researching:

Zizania aquatica

American Ginseng

Western NC Blue Cohosh

Pink and yellow lady slippers

UNDER HEALTH WE WILL HAVE A MEDICINAL PLANT SECTION

The USDA government web site includes a map of Canada and the United States with each plant. The map covers areas where the plant is available. The site includes a name search engine.
http://plants.usda.gov/

Recommended Reading:

practicalsurvivor.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.

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Click title or picture for full article. Wild Edible Plants We will post pictures of the plants as we harvest them under that particular season. We practice extreme caution when learning about edible plants. Many plants that are edible have poisonous look-alikes and one part of the plant could be edible while another is not.

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I speak from experience, having studied wild foods for years and having spent many weekends living entirely on foraged fare. Last year I passed my final exam by living the entire month of August on wild foods alone. All my foraging was done on weekends and after a regular eight-hour work day, and I never felt a serious hunger pang. Matter of fact, I gained two pounds. This article details some methods and recipes for finding and using wild foods.

Foraging For Acorns

One thing to watch for is the tendency of a year to produce bumper crops of a food source. Last year, here in Southern Wisconsin, it was acorns. Acorns fell to the ground so thickly that even a multitude of squirrels could not begin to store them. This spring, when the snow melted, so many acorns lay on oak shaded lawns that homeowners earnestly discussed ways of raking them. To me, of course, it was all manna from Heaven.

Experts say there are 54 varieties of oak in the United States and most bear acorns. Nearly all can be classified in either the White or the Black (sometimes called Red) Oak group. The White Oak family matures a sweet acorn in one year while Red Oak acorns grow more slowly, mature when they are two years old, and are usually more bitter. In our area, we find the best-eating acorns by selecting the biggest ones. All acorns are edible and the biggest ones are usually the sweetest.

Making Acorn Flour

The degree of bitterness in acorns is caused by the amount of tannin in the meat of the nut, and tannin is soluble in water. To make acorns edible first peel or shell the nut.

Peeling can be done with a wide variety of gadgets. One of the best combinations for small amounts is a nut cracker and nut pick. A hammer and helper are advised for larger operations! The helper sorts meat from shells after the hammer has smashed them.

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Food Without Farming | Mother Earth News

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I speak from experience, having studied wild foods for years and having spent many weekends living entirely on foraged fare. Last year I passed my final exam by living the entire month of August on wild foods alone. All my foraging was done on weekends and after a regular eight-hour work day, and I never felt a serious hunger pang.

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So you're stranded in the wilderness. You consumed the last nub of your Clif Bar two days ago, and now you're feeling famished. Civilization is still several days away, and you need to keep up your strength. The greenery all around you is looking more and more appetizing. But what to nibble on? Some plants will keep you alive and are chock full of essential vitamins and minerals, while some could make you violently ill....or even kill you.

Which of course makes proper identification absolutely critical.

Below we've given a primer on 19 common edible wild plants. Look them over and commit the plants to memory. If you'd like to discover even more edible wild plants, we suggest checking out the SAS Survival Handbook and the U.S. Army Survival Manual.

In the coming months, we'll be publishing articles on edible wild roots, berries, and fungi. So stay tuned.

Plants to Avoid

If you can't clearly identify a plant and you don't know if it's poisonous, it's better to be safe than sorry. Steer clear from a plant if it has:

Milky or discolored sap

Spines, fine hairs, or thorns

Beans, bulbs, or seeds inside pods

Bitter or soapy taste

Dill, carrot, parsnip, or parsley-like foliage

"Almond" scent in the woody parts and leaves

Grain heads with pink, purplish, or black spurs

Three-leaved growth pattern

Many toxic plants will exhibit one or more of the above characteristics. Bear in mind that some of the plants we suggest below have some of these attributes, yet they're still edible. The characteristics listed are just guidelines for when you're not confident about what you're dealing with. If you want to be completely sure that an unknown plant is edible, and you have a day or two to spare, you can always perform the Universal Edibility Test.

Amaranth (Amaranthus retroflexus and other species)

Native to the Americas but found on most continents, amaranth is an edible weed. You can eat all parts of the plant, but be on the look out for spines that appear on some of the leaves. While not poisonous, amaranth leaves do contain oxalic acid and may contain large amounts of nitrates if grown in nitrate-rich soil. It's recommended that you boil the leaves to remove the oxalic acid and nitrates. Don't drink the water after you boil the plant. With that said, you can eat the plant raw if worse comes to worst.

Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis)

The vegetable that makes your pee smell funny grows in the wild in most of Europe and parts of North Africa, West Asia, and North America. Wild asparagus has a much thinner stalk than the grocery-store variety. It's a great source of source of vitamin C, thiamine, potassium, and vitamin B6. Eat it raw or boil it like you would your asparagus at home.

Burdock (Arctium lappa)

Medium to large-sized plant with big leaves and purplish thistle-like flower heads. The plant is native to the temperate areas of the Eastern Hemisphere; however, it has been naturalized in parts of the Western Hemisphere as well. Burdock is actually a popular food in Japan. You can eat the leaves and the peeled stalks of the plant either raw or boiled. The leaves have a bitter taste, so boiling them twice before eating is recommended to remove the bitterness. The root of the plant can also be peeled, boiled, and eaten.

Cattail (Typha)

Known as cattails or punks in North America and bullrush and reedmace in England, the typha genus of plants is usually found near the edges of freshwater wetlands. Cattails were a staple in the diet of many Native American tribes. Most of a cattail is edible. You can boil or eat raw the rootstock, or rhizomes, of the plant. The rootstock is usually found underground. Make sure to wash off all the mud. The best part of the stem is near the bottom where the plant is mainly white. Either boil or eat the stem raw. Boil the leaves like you would spinach. The corn dog-looking female flower spike can be broken off and eaten like corn on the cob in the early summer when the plant is first developing. It actually has a corn-like taste to it.

Clovers (Trifolium)

Lucky you - clovers are actually edible. And they're found just about everywhere there's an open grassy area. You can spot them by their distinctive trefoil leaflets. You can eat clovers raw, but they taste better boiled.

Chicory (Cichorium intybus)

You'll find chicory growing in Europe, North America, and Australia. It's a bushy plant with small blue, lavender, and white flowers. You can eat the entire plant. Pluck off the young leaves and eat them raw or boil them. The chicory's roots will become tasty after boiling. And you can pop the flowers in your mouth for a quick snack.

Chickweed (Stellaria media)

You'll find this herb in temperate and arctic zones. The leaves are pretty hefty, and you'll often find small white flowers on the plant. They usually appear between May and July. You can eat the leaves raw or boiled. They're high in vitamins and minerals.

Curled Dock (Rumex crispus)

You can find curled dock in Europe, North America, South America, and Australia. It's distinguished by a long, bright red stalk that can reach heights of three feet. You can eat the stalk raw or boiled. Just peel off the outer layers first. It's recommend that you boil the leaves with several changes of water in order to remove its naturally bitter taste.

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

Sure, it's an obnoxious weed on your perfectly mowed lawn, but when you're out in the wild this little plant can save your life. The entire plant is edible - roots, leaves, and flower. Eat the leaves while they're still young; mature leaves taste bitter. If you do decide to eat the mature leaves, boil them first to remove their bitter taste. Boil the roots before eating as well. You can drink the water you boiled the roots in as a tea and use the flower as a garnish for your dandelion salad.

Field Pennycress (Thalspi vulgaris)

Field pennycress is a weed found in most parts of the world. Its growing season is early spring to late winter. You can eat the seeds and leaves of field pennycress raw or boiled. The only caveat with field pennycress is not to eat it if it's growing in contaminated soil. Pennycress is a hyperaccumulator of minerals, meaning it sucks up any and all minerals around it. General rule is don't eat pennycress if it's growing by the side of the road or is near a Superfund site.

Fireweed (Epilobium angustifolium)

This pretty little plant is found primarily in the Northern Hemisphere. You can identify fireweed by its purple flower and the unique structure of the leaves' veins; the veins are circular rather than terminating on the edges of the leaves. Several Native American tribes included fireweed in their diet. It's best eaten young when the leaves are tender. Mature fireweed plants have tough and bitter tasting leaves. You can eat the stalk of the plant as well. The flowers and seeds have a peppery taste. Fireweed is a great source of vitamins A and C.

Green Seaweed (Ulva lactuca)

If you're ever shipwrecked on a deserted island, fish the waters near the beach for some green seaweed. This stuff is found in oceans all over the world. After you pull green seaweed from the water, rinse with fresh water if available and let it dry. You can eat it raw or include it in a soup. Or if you're particularly enterprising, catch a fish with your homemade spear and use the seaweed to make sushi rolls, sans rice.

Kelp (Alaria esculenta)

Kelp is another form of seaweed. You can find it in most parts of the world. Eat it raw or include it in a soup. Kelp is a great source of folate, vitamin K, and lignans.

Plantain (Plantago)

Found in all parts of the world, the plantain plant (not to be confused with the banana-like plantain) has been used for millennia by humans as a food and herbal remedy for all sorts of maladies. You can usually find plantains in wet areas like marshes and bogs, but they'll also sprout up in alpine areas. The oval, ribbed, short-stemmed leaves tend to hug the ground. The leaves may grow up to about 6″ long and 4″ wide. It's best to eat the leaves when they're young. Like most plants, the leaves tend to get bitter tasting as they mature. Plantain is very high in vitamin A and calcium. It also provides a bit of vitamin C.

Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia)

Found in the deserts of North America, the prickly pear cactus is a very tasty and nutritional plant that can help you survive the next time you're stranded in the desert. The fruit of the prickly pear cactus looks like a red or purplish pear. Hence the name. Before eating the plant, carefully remove the small spines on the outer skin or else it will feel like you're swallowing a porcupine. You can also eat the young stem of the prickly pear cactus. It's best to boil the stems before eating.

Purslane (Portulaca oleracea)

While considered an obnoxious weed in the United States, purslane can provide much needed vitamins and minerals in a wilderness survival situation. Ghandi actually numbered purslane among his favorite foods. It's a small plant with smooth fat leaves that have a refreshingly sour taste. Purslane grows from the beginning of summer to the start of fall. You can eat purslane raw or boiled. If you'd like to remove the sour taste, boil the leaves before eating.

Sheep Sorrel (Rumex acetosella)

Sheep sorrel is native to Europe and Asia but has been naturalized in North America. It's a common weed in fields, grasslands, and woodlands. It flourishes in highly acidic soil. Sheep sorrel has a tall, reddish stem and can reach heights of 18 inches. Sheep sorrel contains oxalates and shouldn't be eaten in large quantities. You can eat the leaves raw. They have a nice tart, almost lemony flavor.

White Mustard (Synapsis alba)

White mustard is found in the wild in many parts of the world. It blooms between February and March. You can eat all parts of the plant - seeds, flowers, and leaves.

Wood Sorrel (Oxalis)

You'll find wood sorrel in all parts of the world; species diversity is particularly rich in South America. Humans have used wood sorrel for food and medicine for millennia. The Kiowa Indians chewed on wood sorrel to alleviate thirst, and the Cherokee ate the plant to cure mouth sores. The leaves are a great source of vitamin C. The roots of the wood sorrel can be boiled. They're starchy and taste a bit like a potato.

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Edible Wild Plants: 19 Wild Plants You Can Eat to Survive in the Wild | The Art of Manliness

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So you're stranded in the wilderness. You consumed the last nub of your Clif Bar two days ago, and now you're feeling famished. Civilization is still several days away, and you need to keep up your strength. The greenery all around you is looking more and more appetizing.

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Natural History, Sustainability, and Agriculture

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Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

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Home page for the Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources.

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By Debra Illingworth Greene | Photos By Jim Klousia

When my children were young, I encouraged signs-of-spring walks in the woods adjacent to our home. We would admire little bits of green coming up through the forest floor or new growth on woody plants-but it never occurred to us to eat what we found. Lisa Nudo, on the other hand, looks at nature through a different lens. She always walks with a bag or basket and a knife. That way she is ready to harvest any wild edibles she sees along the way.

Spring salad walks are a daily affair in May for Lisa. "I stop and get some chickweed, then walk down to the stream and get some watercress. Then, on my way back up, I pick the small violet leaves, which are an edible green. Typically at that time of year, when the violets are blooming, I might be able to find a few other things in the disturbed soil of the garden. The last stop is to snip some dandelion petals onto the salad, then pick a whole bunch of violet flowers for the top. It's beautiful."

Lisa is a wildcrafter-one who harvests plants from the "wild" to eat or use for other purposes. She does much of her wildcrafting on the 35 acres of land outside of La Farge, in the Kickapoo River Valley, where she lives with her partner and two children.

Lisa's earliest memories of wildcrafting, though she didn't have a name for it then, go back to age five or six, when she lived in a rural area of northern Illinois. "I had a lot of free time...so I spent a lot of time lying in a vacant field loaded with blackcaps (wild black raspberries). We would tunnel through the brambles and make rooms where the good eating was. They're sweet and wonderful, like a really rich raspberry. The other two things I remember doing was eating wood sorrel-it looks kind of like a shamrock and is very lemony-and grass. I would pull grass out of its sheath and nibble on it."

Hunting and fishing, which Lisa lumps with wildcrafting, were also learned as a child from her father and the neighborhood boys. Her grandma, a devoted organic gardener, was also a big influence on Lisa. "She instilled in me the desire to make it with your own hands. Make it, grow it, can it, store it, dehydrate it. And if you don't know how, find a book about it. The information is out there. Go out and find it."

Lisa continues to live her life in this way, learning and doing as she goes. "Once you find something you're passionate about, you're a magnet for those things. Over the past 17 years I've found a small tribe of like-minded people around me. I have friends who have the information I don't have, so we're constantly teaching each other."

And what has Lisa learned? Enough to provide between 25 and 45 percent (depending on the season) of her family's diet through wildcrafting, venison, trout and the occasional rabbit or squirrel.

Spring's Things
Lisa's favorite foraged foods in springtime are nettles, chickweed, morel and oyster mushrooms, trout, wild parsnips, dandelions, ramps and maple syrup. Lisa calls nettles and chickweed the "spring prodigals," and she says, "They come up with such vigor and wanting and are so abundant on our land. I dry a lot of nettles for both stews and tea. It's so full of all that chlorophyll and iron and minerals. It's a multi-vitamin in a food source, with 10 times more calcium than kale."

Wild edibles are higher in nutrition than almost anything you can buy at the grocery store, according to Lisa. "I think that's partly because they're growing where they want to grow," she explains. "They have not been manipulated. They're a concentrated powerhouse of sun and elements. That's why I love them so much. They're survivors, not to mention they're free."

In fact, what others see as undesirable plants, like garlic mustard or dandelions, Lisa sees as a valuable food source. "If someone says invasive, I say eat it," she quips. For several years, Lisa and a friend celebrated the dandelion with a breakfast devoted to this "weed."

The breakfast started with dandelion coffee, made from dandelion roots dug up in early spring, then chopped and roasted in the oven until they turned medium brown, then steeped in hot water. The dandelion coffee was mixed with cream and dandelion syrup made by simmering sugar, dandelion blossoms, lemon rind and water. The main dish was a frittata of sorts, flavored with sautéed bacon, garlic or ramps, young dandelion leaves and unopened buds. The women snipped the petals off of big, open dandelion blossoms and sprinkled them into pancakes, which were also served with dandelion syrup.

Such a delightful-sounding breakfast makes me pity those with lawns of homogeneous green grass. If you have such a neighbor, you might want to hit him up for brochures to help you identify nature's delicacies: "Some of the best sources for identifying common weeds-or plants that grow in the wrong spots-are the companies that sell things to kill them. They make great brochures with good pictures," Lisa adds.

More Springtime Favorites
Lisa highlights more of Wisconsin's wild springtime edibles:

Young basswood leaves. A fantastic salad addition.

Cat tails. Different parts are good at different times of the year. The young bit inside can be treated like a steamed vegetable. The pollen can be used like flour for baking.

Lamb's quarters. It can be treated like spinach, but is much more nutritious.

Nettles. "Cream of nettle soup is a spring tradition at our house," says Lisa. They can also go on pizza, in stews and in spanakopita.

Chickweed. A lettuce that is not bitter and can be cut off easily by the handful. Chickweed has loft and really bulks up a salad.

Wild parsnips. While many people avoid wild parsnips because of the skin reaction they can cause, Lisa says they are perfectly safe to dig when they're young, before they flower.

Ramps. A member of the leek family, they can be eaten fresh, dried or pickled.

Top 3 Rules for Wildcrafting:

Be respectful, both to the plants and the land. Use the one-in-20 rule: If you only see five plants, don't harvest anything. Look for a larger patch. Respect the earth, the plant population, the land owner. Use all the plant parts you possibly can.

Honor the plants. Honor what they're giving to you: their nutrition, what they're bringing up from the depths of the soil. Honor your own knowledge: If you're not sure, don't eat it until you are sure. Honor that some plants are deadly.

Be thankful. Leave some behind. Stop for a moment and be thankful for free food.

Tips of the Trade:
Besides her top three rules for wildcrafting, Lisa shares these tips:

Be curious. Look in parks, look in cracks in sidewalks. Pick a leaf, bring it home and Google it.

Be observant. "The art of scavenging is remembering where you find things," says Lisa. "I might be out picking one item and see that those blackcap vines are looking good but they're not in season yet, so I have to remember where they are."

Get permission. If you're foraging on land other than your own, be open and communicate with the owners or those overseeing public land. Usually you're harvesting things that others don't want, so it's not a problem.

Have many books. Cross-reference them and know what you know (and don't know).

Have an open palate. "Another aspect to eating all gathered foods is changing the palate," Lisa says. "Bitter is a hard taste to sell. A lot of early greens are bitter, but nutritionally that's what your body needs at that point [of the year]."

Prepare them properly. Find ways to make your foraged food more palatable. Lisa suggests blanching or steaming bitters. "Mask the taste with vinegars. Bacon makes everything better. Or butter. Add a little garlic to it or a few garlic mustard greens. Throw dandelion greens in with mushrooms."

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Learn More

Lisa Nudo looks to Sam Thayer, a Wisconsin-based wildcrafter, when she needs more information about wild edibles. She recommends both of his books, The Forager's Harvest and Nature's Garden, and his website: foragersharvest.com.

Lisa also recommends Rose Barlow's articles, instructions and recipes at her Original Prodigal Gardens website. Rose was Lisa's "dandelion breakfast sister" and has since passed away, but the web site is maintained in her honor by the Coulee Region Herbal Institute.

I know I'll be looking at the ground differently this spring, and I'm hoping to enjoy my first foraged salad inspired by Lisa's salad walks. Even though I live in the city, Lisa guarantees I can find nettles, chickweed, mushrooms if I'm lucky, burdock, wild parsnip, dandelions, violets, lamb's quarters, pig weed, elderberry, and where there is a freshwater spring, watercress. "Look at the edge of lawns," she encourages, "in any vacant lot-anywhere there is a little clump of earth.

We hope you enjoy the recipe for Creamy Ramp and Chickweed Dressing that accompanies this article.

Debra Illingworth Greene is a Madison-based writer who grew up in the Chicago suburbs thinking food came from Jewel. Slowly, over the years, she has come to appreciate fresh, local foods, and now gardens organically, shops at co-ops and farmers' markets and is a CSA member. She looks forward to the spring thaw when she can take the next step in local eating and use what she learned from Lisa Nudo in writing the article for this issue on wildcrafting.

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Foraging: The Wild Side of Sustainable Eating

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By Debra Illingworth Greene | Photos By Jim Klousia When my children were young, I encouraged signs-of-spring walks in the woods adjacent to our home. We would admire little bits of green coming up through the forest floor or new growth on woody plants-but it never occurred to us to eat what we found.