Pacific Northwest Wild Food, Foraging and Ethnobotany

For the most updated information, please now see the new dedicated event & resource page for Wild Food, Foraging, Mushrooms, Fishing & Ethnobotany.

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Of all the urban homesteading kinds of activities, foraging is probably tied with canning for most daunting to the cautious newbie.  With canning, you have the threat of botulism; with foraging, it's the potential of bringing home some hazardous produce.

So while one might feel like being a little loosey-goosey when attempting other new culinary adventures, with foraging, it's a good idea to put in some study time before heading into the wild.

Where to get started?  Well, for one, you can read a local urban forager's account of his experiences learning the land.

Langdon Cook is the author of the Fat of the Land blog, and the book by the same name came out on August 30th.  His Puget Sound area events related to the book are in the listing below, but also check out his site to keep up to date on the other areas he’ll be in and more additions.

And here are some other resources and events to put you on your way.  Foraging classes are often outside the immediate metro area, but look worth a day trip.

GENERAL RESOURCES 

• Here’s an article Cook wrote in Seattle Met about Jeremy Faber of Found and Foraged Edibles. Faber is also now on Twitter.
• You can follow his co-founder Christina Choi on her Nettletown blog. She is offering her Wild Food Recipes Calendar again for 2010 and they are on sale now!
• I checked to see if Chef Becky Selengut was planning any foraging trips as she’s done them in the past. She didn’t have any on the agenda as of then, but subscribe to her newsletter for the earliest scoop on her offerings.
• Here's an article from Seattle Weekly with some good tips and book suggestions.

MYCOLOGICAL SOCIETIES & MUSHROOM CLUBS

Many local mycological societies have helpful resources, including mushroom fairs, classes and foraging trips.  Here are some area groups:

• Puget Sound Mycological Society
• Snohomish Mycological Society
• Kitsap Peninsula Mycological Society
• Olympic Peninsula Mycological Society
• South Sound Mushroom Club
• Below is a slideshow of a mushroom walk I took at Bridle Trails State Park on October 31, 2009.  Click through to Flick for the details on mushroom names and other tidbits.

ETHNOBOTANY RESOURCES

• The Washington Native Plant Society isn’t only about edibles, but can help you learn more in general about our local plant life.
• I went on an ethnobotany float trip on the Skagit River through Pacific Northwest Float Trips. I had an excellent time and would recommend.
• The Burke Museum has an Ethnobotanical Garden, including some used for food and medicine and an online image guide to native plants.

  The Arboretum offers ethnobotany tours.

WILDERNESS SCHOOLS

Here are some schools that offer wilderness training, including classes on wild edibles. Some of their upcoming classes are pulled out in the events below, but also check their sites for more info and resources.

• Wild Food Adventures
• Alderleaf Wilderness School
• Earthwalk Northwest
• Wilderness Awareness School
• North Cascade Institute
• REI, while they might not always be food-focused, if you need to learn more about outdoorsy-type stuff in general, they do offer many free classes in backpacking, navigation, hiking, etc. Each store has their own events page: Downtown, Alderwood/Lynnwood, Redmond, Issaquah, Southcenter/Tukwila.

EVENTS

Chanterelle pic in sidebar via Wikipedia.

Comments

[Paulie L]

Nice feature!! If you enjoy WIld Food, WIld Mushrooms or Fishing in the UK and need a blog as helpful as this one check out my WIld Food Blog. Fresh Picked Seattle keep up the good work, you make me want to visit!!