It’s day 2 of the blog every day of May challenge. The topic today is educate us about something you know a lot about or are good at. I chose foraging. I’m not an expert by any means but having grown up in the woods and on a summer camp I’ve picked up a thing or two. If you’re starting from scratch though I would recommend a few things.

-DON’T ever just eat something you found in the woods unless you’re absolutely sure it’s edible and even then proceed with caution.
-take a foraging class with someone who has been doing it for a long time
-I don’t recommend foraging for mushrooms unless you’re with an expert (they are easily to mistake with deadly consequences).
-borrow from the library or buy some foraging books with good photos.
-it’s good to know which plants have poisonous look a likes.
-take a walk and test some of your skills but I wouldn’t recommend eating anything until you’re more than 100% sure of what you’ve found.
-when you’re more comfortable with identifying edible plants I would still start off with the most recognizable ones like wild strawberries, raspberries, blackberries or if you live in a place like Texas-pecans.
-if you don’t feel comfortable with what you’ve found just don’t eat it.
-I pretty much stay away from anything that looks like a wild carrot because it looks so much like poison hemlock and that is not something you DO NOT eat.
-if you’re looking for a more informed foraging blog to follow I recommend Langdon Cook’s blog. He’s a forager in my neck of the woods and he knows what he’s doing.

I’ve been foraging for years but I stick to what I know-mainly wild berries, cherries, apples, wintergreen and their berries, juniper berries (for tea not eating), sorrel, and a few others.