Traditional Wild Foods in Canada

[Red Bullets]

I know a few of us enjoy foraging for the wild foods. The season will be here in weeks so I thought I would share this. Loads of great information. For those that do forage please try not to overharvest an area.

http://www.hscdsb.on.ca/wp-content/u...indigenous.pdf

[EZM]

Originally Posted by Red Bullets

I know a few of us enjoy foraging for the wild foods. The season will be here in weeks so I thought I would share this. Loads of great information. For those that do forage please try not to overharvest an area.

http://www.hscdsb.on.ca/wp-content/u...indigenous.pdf

Great reference resource ..... saved on my computer for future research. Tons of information there.

[350 mag]

Thanks for link.

I started doing foraging last few years.

There are so many wild plants in Canada's Boreal Forest.

Everyone knows the obvious ones like Blueberries, Saskatoon's, Starwberries, Cranberries.

Always looking for other plants to use.

Catails, Wild Mint, Labrador tea.

Rather than getting buzzed drinking whiskey and beer around the campfire I now enjoy making a "wild" tea. Labrador tea is nice before bed as it has calming/sedative affect.

[Red Bullets]

Originally Posted by 350 mag

Thanks for link.

I started doing foraging last few years.

There are so many wild plants in Canada's Boreal Forest.

Everyone knows the obvious ones like Blueberries, Saskatoon's, Starwberries, Cranberries.

Always looking for other plants to use.

Catails, Wild Mint, Labrador tea.

Rather than getting buzzed drinking whiskey and beer around the campfire I now enjoy making a "wild" tea. Labrador tea is nice before bed as it has calming/sedative affect.

Labrador tea is ok but there are health cautions with drinking too much labrador tea and pregnant women shouldn't be drinking this tea. Be sure to learn about some side effects of certain wild edibles too so you don't get any surprises. Like labrador tea can make beer more intoxicating too.

This link/book has so much info that you may never look at the plants and trees the same way. The connotations of "wilderness" fade away and a person feels more like they are at home.

[C2C3PO]

Thank you very much for sharing this PDF - great reference material !

[Talking moose]

Fiddleheads!!!!!!!

[Selkirk]

Originally Posted by Talking moose

Fiddleheads!!!!!!!

Watch yer language there ^ ... this is a family show!!!

Selkirk

P.S.
Thanks for the link, Red!
.

[walking buffalo]

Originally Posted by 350 mag

Thanks for link.

I started doing foraging last few years.

There are so many wild plants in Canada's Boreal Forest.

Everyone knows the obvious ones like Blueberries, Saskatoon's, Starwberries, Cranberries.

Always looking for other plants to use.

Catails, Wild Mint, Labrador tea.

Rather than getting buzzed drinking whiskey and beer around the campfire I now enjoy making a "wild" tea. Labrador tea is nice before bed as it has calming/sedative affect.

I'll share a little a little secret here.

For the best Labrador tea, pick the Flowers in the spring (May/June) and the leaves in summer. Mix and enjoy.

Nobody seems to use the flowers, which impart a sweet floral essence.

Think Jasmine Tea....

[Fish along]

Dandelions are my favorite food in the spring cant wait ,after all winter for my first meal .

[owlhoot]

I got this one back in the 70,s. Its well written and has recipes, They also have
"Edible Wild fruit and Nuts" and a "Wild Coffee and Tea Substitutes of Canada

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by Fish along

Dandelions are my favorite food in the spring cant wait ,after all winter for my first meal .

Yup no shortage for sure.

[walking buffalo]

Originally Posted by Fish along

Dandelions are my favorite food in the spring cant wait ,after all winter for my first meal .

If you can't wait....

Fireweed is typically the first green available in the spring, starting in mid to late April.

If you pick them when the stalks are 8-12" tall, the leaves are still in a tight bunch, it is quite similar to asparagus.

Very high in manganese, which helps the bones after a long winter.
And PMS.

[drhu22]

Very interesting... thanks for that Red Bullets

[Little red riding hood]

Thanks Red, I downloaded it and will definitely be reading it!

[Fish along]

Originally Posted by walking buffalo

If you can't wait....

Fireweed is typically the first green available in the spring, starting in mid to late April.

If you pick them when the stalks are 8-12" tall, the leaves are still in a tight bunch, it is quite similar to asparagus.

Very high in manganese, which helps the bones after a long winter.
And PMS.

I just last summer tried pig weed ,that was shown to me by a 95 year old lady, I like it ! I'll be looking for this fire weed now,problem is most people can't identify the plant ,including me ,I'll Google it .or maybe you have a link or picture, thank you.

[KegRiver]

I can remember gathering wild plants for the table from when I was a child.

Over the years I learned and expanded on what I learned back then.

I did add one reference book to my library to further my information on the subject.


Aboriginal Plant Use in Canada’s Northwest Boreal Forest

Robin J. Marles, Christina Clavelle, Leslie Monteleone, Natalie Tays, Donna Burns.



Thanks for the PDF Red, it's a great addition to the information I have.

[Eagle Trapper]

Great resource, thanks for sharing! What are some other plants you have good luck with or enjoy The Prairie turnip was a favorite of mine, shown to me by my grandfather.

[grouse_hunter]

Good read. Too bad that the fungi are essentially dismissed as mostly inedible. Quite odd too, especially if you consider that the Eurasian relatives of the modern Native Americans consume fungi for both dietary and spiritual purposes.

[Peace Meal Farm]

Check out 'Boreal Herbal'. It's written by a girl from here in Whitehorse named Beverly Grey. Lots of good info and full of vivid, colour pictures for plant ID.

Wifey and I use our share of high bush cranberries, raspberries, juniper berries, fireweed and wild sage.

[Red Bullets]

Originally Posted by Eagle Trapper

Great resource, thanks for sharing! What are some other plants you have good luck with or enjoy The Prairie turnip was a favorite of mine, shown to me by my grandfather.

Luckily central Alberta is a mecca of wild foods.
I pick and enjoy-
- Hazelnuts and would like to try harvesting pine nuts.
- Over a dozen types of berries. Some of the berries stay on the bush all
winter and are better when they have a snow and frost on them.
-a few types of local wild mushrooms and fungi. field mushroom, giant
puffball, morels, boletes, shaggy mane, chanterelle, combtooth, bearshead
and a few others. Just finished eating my last spring morels in time for the
coming season.
- Nettle, thistle, burdock, wild nodding onion, arrowhead/duck potato, cattail root, chickweed, wild rose petals, young dandelion and a few more.

Interestingly, I can go to one local area and in a 3 square mile area pick most of these things seasonally.

[NSDucknut]

is the link broken now? Can't save it

[Red Bullets]

Originally Posted by NSDucknut

is the link broken now? Can't save it

The link seems to be working alright. Not sure of your problem.

[calgarychef]

Your flower bed will yield some yummy stuff. Lambs quarters come first, let them get about 2 inches tall then cut them off and make a wilted salad with bacon. Then the pigweed comes, use it small for wilted salad or let it get a bit bigger and cook like spinach. Dandelions are a weed introduced from Europe by the way.

[walking buffalo]

Originally Posted by Fish along

I just last summer tried pig weed ,that was shown to me by a 95 year old lady, I like it ! I'll be looking for this fire weed now,problem is most people can't identify the plant ,including me ,I'll Google it .or maybe you have a link or picture, thank you.

I couldn't find any pictures in the field, just this one from the kitchen.
Google images probably has pictures of young fireweed. Also learn what it looks like throughout the year.

Learning wild foods from scratch without a mentor can take years to figure out a single species. Learning to identify the plant throughout it's life cycle just takes time.