Wild Foraging

Forage: To wander in search of food or provisions.

It's unbelievable what delicious bounty our city has to offer for free if we'd only look for it. My friend Brad has a secret spot for wild asparagus. A nature hike near my cottage turned up fiddlehead ferns long before I knew they were one of my favourite vegetables. Almost every forest contains copious amounts of rhubarb. And you'll find an unreal variety of edible berries within our city. You can eat dandelion leaves, sorrel and nettle to name a few.

Yesterday I picked a quart of saskatoon berries from a tree outside my work. I ate a few and then made the rest into jam. The only tricks to eating wild edibles are finding them and confirming that they aren't poisonous. Sources tell me that all wild berries with a crown are edible. Typically if I see animals eating them it's a pretty good sign - but a quick check at the library and a test on my lip a few hours before the big chow down is my standard protocol.