Harvesting Wild Foods

Many plants in nature are edible, but you have to know which plants are safe. I’ll explore a few of the more common and safe edible plants.

Wild Foods for Wildlife in Rehab

Collecting and sorting wild foods (Photo: K. McDonald)

How You Can Help Wildlife

When I walk I graze, I can't help it. I love looking for wild foods to munch on or smell.  It's a lot fun to introduce students and adults to the bounty of nature that is all around them if they learn how to look. The other part to that is how to identify plants that are safe to snack on.  At a recent conference I was made aware of how I could benefit more than just myself when I'm out there hiking around.  Bear with me as I shift topics, but this will all make sense shortly.

As an apprentice wildlife rehabilitator I've always known that it's important to provide foods and stimulation for the animals that come into our care.  Using foods that are as close as possible to their natural foods and environments as possible is really important.   Until now I've stumbled around using prescribed diets, field guides, and books that could help us approximate those foods. I've pulled worms from compost for rails, to make mud-pie bowls of crawly goodness, and I've picked poke-weed for an impatient grackle, and I've cut oak leaves for squirrels to make nests (called dreys) in their hammocks. Wild food was one of those question marks for me, because I didn't want to bring anything into the center that wasn't safe, and I also wasn't always sure how to prepare it. (Is there a recipe for grubs and worms?)   That's where this fun new website comes in.  It's  called Wild Foods4Wildlife at wildfoods4wildlife.com. The founder, Kate Guenther, is a wildlife rehabilitator who spoke at a recent conference in Virginia. I found her website interesting and very helpful, so I thought I'd share it with you.

If you're not convinced how happy food makes captive wild animals, then watch this video (yes, they really do smack that loudly when eating, especially mice):

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Eastern Black Walnut Harvesting and Nut Preparation

It's not often that you find food lying around on the ground waiting to be harvested. In this post we'll explore how to harvest black walnuts and prepare them.

The Eastern black walnut (Juglens nigra) is a common tree in the Eastern US and provides a delicacy of nut meat. The Eastern black walnut is different from the English walnut that you find in grocery stores. The English walnut has a larger nut and thinner husk and it's easier to crack. The meat of black walnuts tangier and has a more nutty and wild taste. Black walnut trees produce nuts between September and October, with optimal harvest in mid to late October, though November is OK too.

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Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus)

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This time of year it's common to come across the "fruiting bodies" of fungus, from giant puff ball mushrooms to beautiful shelf fungus. One of the most common types of shelf fungus you'll see are Laetiporus sulphureus mushrooms, often called "chicken of the woods" or "chicken fungus." They are edible fungus with bright yellow-orange coloration and a white edge. You can be sure of your identification if the underside of the fungus doesn't have gills, but small pores. Of course the usual cautions apply, make sure you know it is truly edible before you eat it! The brackets of these fungi can be up to about 5" each and collectively they can weigh several pounds. The younger the fungus the more yellow it is. As the fungi age they turn more whitish. The softer and more yellow the fungus the better it is for eating!

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