What is Wildcrafting?

As people are getting more interested in identifying and collecting mushrooms and other wild foods, recently the term 'wildcrafting' has been popping up in contrast to foraging. We invited Camille from MuseumEats to share her thoughts and stories on wildcrafting, and folks were able to ask questions they had about harvesting wild plants.

The bottom half of this page covers the Urban Foraging workshop we did with Lori Snyder in 2014, which talks about foraging for common urban 'weeds' that are beneficial to plants and people.

Wildcrafting vs. Foraging

If you're talking about going out into the forest to collect your food, think of foraging as the Gold Rush style of harvesting, where you discover a few patches of chanterelle mushrooms and take everything in sight.

Wildcrafting, on the other hand, is approaching the forest like you would a garden. This means understanding the ecosystem that you're engaging in, and giving back to it so that it continues to grow. We're not talking about being sustainable, we're talking about being regenerative!

Here are some wild plants and topics we talked about and their uses. For more in-depth information, pharmacists can be a great resource on wild and herbal medicines and possible health implications. The smartest way to enjoy wildcrafting is to go with someone you trust with experience in identifying and collecting wild plants.

Fungi

• Red belted Conk: The base is used for heart, outside belt for arms & legs (harvest the outside belt and leave the rest intact)

• Turkey Tail: Used to help immune system and treat cancer

• Oyster mushrooms: Besides being delicious, they are used to replenish toxic soils and even clean up oil spills!

• Drying mushrooms in the sun helps boost their Vitamin D content in a big way

• A great mushroom identification resource is All that the Rain Promises and More...

Flowers

• Dandelions: The flowers are eaten as a protein supplement and allergy treatment (see below for more on dandelion)

• Stinging nettles: For important minerals

• Pollen: Instead of eating bee pollen, eating flowers like fireweed and daisies can help with allergies

Fiddleheads and Ferns

• Where do you find edible fiddleheads? The usual one is called Ostrich Fern (though pricier as it's imported from Ontario), and the local fiddlehead is called Lady Fern, not to be confused with the toxic Spiny Wood fern. The Lady Fern is found in places with brackish water, such as ditches. Its crown has 12 fiddleheads, so the rule of thumb is to harvest a maximum of 3, so they'll reproduce the following year. Full details on @MuseumEats on Instagram.

Bioremediation

• Plants such as mushrooms, nipple wort, cat tails and buttercup can be used to replenish toxic soils by accumulating, breaking down and re-organizing toxins. Some of these plants such as cat tails and mushrooms are edible, but they shouldn't be eaten if used as bioremediators, as they contain accumulated toxins.

• Buttercup can also be used as green mulch for your garden, as their deep roots bring up soil nutrients for other plants

Making the most of medicinal plants

• Tinctures or herbal vinegars are an easy way to get more nutrients out of wildcrafted plants

• Try using a live vinegar, like apple cider vinegar with the mother (find one that is labelled 'with the mother')

• You can also use alcohol like high-proof vodka or food-grade ethanol

• Harvest cottonwood (aka poplar) buds in the spring and soak in vinegar to draw out the propolis. This can be used to treat many illnesses. Try the same with turkey tails to create a powerful medicine!