Foragers Report – 4.21.15*

Pick Now

Nettles (Urtica sp.)

Twistedstalk (Streptopus amplexifolius)

Fiddleheads (Matteuccia struthiopteris)

Fireweed shoots (Epilobium angustifolium) – thanks Amy & Corinne for the heads up!

Pick Really Soon (Next Week)

Pick Soon-ish (Next Couple of Weeks)

Seaweeds – sea lettuce (Ulva lactuca) & bladderwrack (Fucus vesiculosus)

It’s spring! Hooray! Finally! Although that excitement comes with a small caveat, because it’s been cold and rainy here for nigh on two months. Not snowy. Rainy. And that kind of weather can get even a life-long-Southeast-Alaskan down. Having heard the siren call of nettles, I made a promise to myself that no matter what, I was going to put on my big girl pants (aka rain pants) and get out there.

On Sunday it was pissing down, but I had made myself promise, so I went through my gear, set-up my foraging go-bag, and hit the road. Amazingly enough, the rain let up! I still had to wear my rainpants so that I didn’t get drenched by the wet under-brush, but it was actually a really nice day in the field.

I’ve been itching to get my hands on some devil’s club, so that was priority number one, check to see if it was time yet. It’s not. I would say we have another week and then the warmest part of town will have devil’s club and as the weeks pass, the devil’s club will be budding throughout the rest of Juneau. Learning the ways that weather moves through your geographic region is a great way to extend your foraging season. It also makes you feel like a bad-ass when you can accurately make calls about when and where things will be either in season, or out. So think about it, where does the snow stay longest and where does it melt the fastest? Devil’s club in particular has a short season for picking in that you can only really pick the buds when they’re between one inch and two inches, so finding some good patches of devil’s club in multiple parts of town is a must if you want to really take advantage of this awesome foraged goodie.

While I was putting together my go-bag, it occurred to me that it might be helpful to share what I bring with me in the field and the general safety precautions I take. Now, considering where I live (psssst! Alaska!), these precautions may be a little bit more than most folks’ in the Pacific Northwest, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Every year we have people who disappear in our backyard. Last year hiker Sharon Buis went missing on one of the most popular trails in Juneau, and a place I regularly visit for a variety of foraging needs. Sharon was never found.

Foraging Go-Bag

Nylon Bags – I really like those packable nylon bags for foraging, they’re light, fold up, dry quick, and are easy to clean.

– I really like those packable nylon bags for foraging, they’re light, fold up, dry quick, and are easy to clean. Mushroom Knife – a totally dorky purchase that I love and use constantly, especially the bristle brush on the opposite end from the blade.

– a totally dorky purchase that I love and use constantly, especially the bristle brush on the opposite end from the blade. Bigger Knife – you never know.

– you never know. Emergency Kit – mine is really simple: space blanket, parachute cord, flagging, and band aids in a ziplock bag.

– mine is really simple: space blanket, parachute cord, flagging, and band aids in a ziplock bag. Whistle

Bear bell – A gift from my parents, it’s the perfect bear bell, velcros on my pack and has a little magnet that can be placed on the bell to quiet the sound when you don’t want to chime with every step.

– A gift from my parents, it’s the perfect bear bell, velcros on my pack and has a little magnet that can be placed on the bell to quiet the sound when you don’t want to chime with every step. Scissors

Full Leather Gloves – last year I had mostly leather gloves, like you see for gardening, with a cloth backing – nettles stung me through them. Not anymore!

– last year I had mostly leather gloves, like you see for gardening, with a cloth backing – nettles stung me through them. Not anymore! Hand Warmers – I have an allergy to the cold, so this is kind of an emergency measure for me if my allergy meds aren’t working.

– I have an allergy to the cold, so this is kind of an emergency measure for me if my allergy meds aren’t working. Paper Bags (not pictured) – once we get into mushroom season, I’ll always have paper bags to separate out different species

What’s not in my go-bag: guidebooks. I honestly take them out and look at them so much when I’m home, that I often forget to put them back in my bag. I also very very rarely gather anything the first time I see it. I take a lot of pictures, pick a sample, bring it home and look through all my guidebooks, and then if I am 100% sure I can positively identify it AND I think it’s something I’d like to use, then I’ll go back out and gather.

Safety Precautions

I double check my go-bag to ensure everything I think is in there, is actually in there.

my to ensure everything I think is in there, is actually in there. I make sure my cell is charged and on.

is and on. I tell someone (who is not coming along) where I/we are going and when we’re expecting to be back. If I’m thinking I might be visiting multiple locations, I go into that detail as well. I also will usually mention if the place I’m going has cell service. You can’t always know about this ahead of time, but if you do, mention it.

(who is not coming along) where I/we are going and when we’re expecting to be back. If I’m thinking I might be visiting multiple locations, I go into that detail as well. I also will usually mention if the place I’m going has cell service. You can’t always know about this ahead of time, but if you do, mention it. If I’m by myself, I’m almost constantly singing . This might sound weird, but I’m totally bearinoid (paranoid about bears). While I’m walking, my bear-bell does the job, but a lot of times when I’m foraging I’m either standing or crouched down in one spot and moving minimally, so singing means that I’m making noise and hopefully bears will recognize that I’m an annoying human.

. This might sound weird, but I’m totally bearinoid (paranoid about bears). While I’m walking, my bear-bell does the job, but a lot of times when I’m foraging I’m either standing or crouched down in one spot and moving minimally, so singing means that I’m making noise and hopefully bears will recognize that I’m an annoying human. I regularly look up and around in all directions. Especially when your head is down and you’re foraging it can be hard to remember to look up and take your bearings. Also, when you’re foraging you’re usually off trail, which means it can be really easy to get turned around, so it’s especially important to make sure you’re paying attention to the path you’ve taken. I also think it’s really important to see your path from multiple directions, a path can look completely different when you’re heading up versus coming down.

and around in all directions. Especially when your head is down and you’re foraging it can be hard to remember to look up and take your bearings. Also, when you’re foraging you’re usually off trail, which means it can be really easy to get turned around, so it’s especially important to make sure you’re paying attention to the path you’ve taken. I also think it’s really important to see your path from multiple directions, a path can look completely different when you’re heading up versus coming down. I set a time for how long I’m going to be foraging. Once I find a patch of something, I can get totally in the zone. I lose all sense of time and urgency. So I have to force myself to look at a clock when I walk into the woods and tell myself that I’m going to come back out after an hour, or an hour and a half. This both helps me make sure that I’m doing what I told my contact I was going to do, as well as make sure that I don’t stay out even if I’m too wet or cold.

Shout Outs

I also wanted to give a shout-out to some fellow Alaskan foragers who have been helping me keep up the enthusiasm:

Kanaan Bausler is back in town from his amazing trip and we’ve been chatting a bunch about foraging locally. His website A Trip South has a great video up about the wild foods eaten by some of the communities he visited in the Amazon. I can’t wait to see what he starts posting now that he’s home!

Shannon Kuhn from Anchorage has been promoting local and wild foods through her project the Anchorage Food Mosaic and through her articles for the Alaska Dispatch News. I love checking out anything she’s doing in the kitchen and her recent posts about breaking down a whole hog have gotten me jazzed to do the same this fall.

*I’m planning on the Forager’s Report being a regular part of the blog through the rest of foraging (growing) season! Let me know if this is helpful and feel free to send info if you’re finding things that I’m not talking about. The goal is to post a report once every two weeks. I’m also going to go back through all my old posts and update them with the scientific names for all of the things that I gather so that I can be sure to be as clear as possible.

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