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Mountain States Foraging: 115 Wild and Flavorful Edibles from Alpine Sorrel to Wild Hops
338Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781604696783 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Timber Press, Incorporated |
| Publication date: | 06/15/2016 |
| Series: | Regional Foraging Series |
| Pages: | 338 |
| Sales rank: | 489,491 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.40(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.90(d) |
About the Author
Briana Wiles is a herbalist and wild plants expert. She teaches classes on foraging and medicinal plants. Wiles also runs Rooted Apothecary, which offers bulk herbs, herbal remedies, and her own line of body-care products made with foraged botanicals. Visit her online at rooted-apothecary.com.
Read an Excerpt
Preface How can I forget my Italian grandfather’s love for food? He had a garden plot with a variety of grapes, figs, plums, eggplants, tomatoes, and peppers, all staples of his old country. I fondly remember feral pears and apples scattered on Grandpa’s dashboard. I can taste Grandma’s giardiniera and see the giant jars of pickles from the harvests lined up in the basement. I come from a family who loved to celebrate food, and those roots give me passion for everything I do. Whether it’s the garden I plant and feed my family from or the shrubs that I forage, I am connected to my family’s traditions wholeheartedly. Foraging for food has a feast of fans already. A movement is happening to rewild, regain, and revolutionize our tarnished food system. We want to eat local produce and to know where our food comes from. This can mean getting to know local farmers, food producers, and ranchers. We can also empower ourselves by being gatherers and heading into the woods, not just for the free food but also for respite. Foraging is about returning to the land with humbled hands. Let’s learn to take the time to sustainably prune the plants of the forest, spread seeds of the fields, and ensure the success of native plants by tending nature’s garden. There is something to be said for spending time in nature, with keen eyes, a slow pace, and a soft impact. It betters us as humans to connect our feet and fingers with the matters of the earth in a way that brings us nutrients. Just a pinch of wild in each dish is a success to celebrate, a way to start incorporating the freedom of foraging. It is a true blessing to live in a rural town in central Colorado. Here, I am surrounded by different climates within an arm’s reach: moist mountains, arid sagebrush, and riparian havens. The sands of Utah and the metropolitan Front Range are only four hours away, providing me with yet another variety of plants not found near my home. I can’t help but always be prepared to make a few gathering stops on the way. I chose the plants for this book based on my personal taste preferences and my experience with each plant as food. My wish is to provide the reader with the skills to seek out and harvest a plant with a sustainable mindset and then to preserve your harvest and prepare these feral foods for feast. My hope is not that this book will sit on a shelf or table but rather that it will somehow land, open, in the hands of a bored child or an adult waiting anxiously for time to pass. When they leave that spot, I want them to greet the lamb’s quarters, dandelions, and salsify with an irresistible urge to pick a leaf and taste it. This is how foraging lures you in, takes hold of your whole being, and welcomes you to the wild side.
Table of Contents
Preface 8
Introduction: Foraging High and Low 10
Timing Your Forage: A Guide to Seasonal Harvests 22
Wild Edible Plants of the Mountain West 35
Alfalfa 36
Alpine sorrel 39
Amaranth 41
Angelica 43
Apple 46
Asparagus 48
Aspen 51
Balsamroot 54
Beebalm 56
Bistort 59
Black walnut 61
Bluebells 64
Blueberry 66
Blue mustard 69
Brandegee's onion 71
Bullberry 74
Burdock 77
Cattail 80
Chick weed 84
Chicory 86
Chokecherry 88
Cleavers 91
Cota 93
Cottonwood 95
Cow parsnip 98
Crabapple 101
Dandelion 104
Dock 107
Douglas fir 110
Elderberry 112
Filaree 115
Fir 117
Firewood 120
Glacier lily 123
Golden currant 125
Goldenrod 127
Gooseberry 129
Ground cherry 132
Hackborry 134
Hawthorn 136
Hyssop 139
Juniper 142
King's crown 145
Lamb's quarters 147
Lilac 150
Linden 152
Mallow 155
Mariposa lily 158
Miner's lettuce 160
Mormon Tea 162
Mounta'n ash 164
Mountain candytuft 166
Mountain gooseberry 168
Mountain parsley 170
Mulberry 172
New Mexico locust 175
Northern bedstraw 181
Orache 183
Oregon grape 185
Ox-eye daisy 187
Pennycress 190
Pepperweed 192
Pine 194
Pineapple weed 197
Piñon 199
Plantain 202
Prickly pear 204
Purslane 207
Raspberry 209
Red clover 212
Salsify 214
Scrub oak 216
Serviceberry 220
Sheep sorrel 222
Shepherd's purse 225
Showy milkweed 227
Skunkbush 230
Smooth sumac 232
Sow thistle 234
Spring beauty 236
Spruce 238
Stinging nettle 241
Stonecrop 244
Strawberry blite 246
Sunflower 248
Sweet clover 250
Sweet root 253
Tansy mustard 256
Thimbloberry 258
Thistle 260
Tumble mustard 263
Twisted stalk 265
Veronica 267
Violet 269
Watercress 272
Wax currant 275
Western blue flax 277
White clover 279
Whitetop 281
Wild caraway 284
Wild chives 287
Wild grape 289
Wild hops 292
Wild lettuce 295
Wild licorice 297
Wild mint 299
Wild plum 301
Wild rose 303
Wild strawberry 306
Wintercress 308
Wolfs currant 310
Wood sorrel 312
Yarrow 315
Yucca 317
Metric Conversions 321
Useful Resources 322
Acknowledgments 324
Photography Credits 325
Index 326