What wild edibles have you found?

[sally]

I was delighted to find food growing wild on our land. A few plants I knew already, but browsing books on the subject have shown me several others here in NE Texas.

So far I have identified and/or harvested the following: mexican plums, sassafras, scarlet sumac, poke salad, pequin pepper, wild garlic, redbud blooms, prickly pear fruit, passionfruit/maypop, and dewberries.

I'm sure there are many more to identify and enjoy. Some day I hope to be able to identify some of the wild mushrooms, but I'm a bit leery. I'd like to find one variety that I can be sure is edible. And I'll have to try young pine needle tea. I'm going to plant other "wild" edibles, like elderberry, beautyberry, etc.

This is such an adventure, learning all the possibilities. :)

[NCLee]

Sally, around here there are a number of those you mentioned.

Adding to your list are
wild strawberries and blackberries
wild plums (makes a wonderful wine)
hickory nuts, black walnuts
persimmons
kudzu
cattails
purslane
dock
BTW, around here we use the term poke sallet.

Couple of notes of caution, if you don't mind.

(1) Guidebooks aren't enough to identify some wild plants. Try to find someone in your area that you trust absolutely to help you identify those plants. I have some here that I suspect are good for food, but I don't have anyone who can tell me for sure. And, along with this, double triple check any information that you may get from the Internet on how to prepare these foods. Often bad info is copied from one site to another. (sigh)

(2) If anyone in your family is taking prescription drugs, be sure to find out if any foraged foodstuff is compatible. This includes herbs used for teas. Some can render prescription drugs ineffective or the opposite, as the case may be.

Lee

[Mom5farmboys]

This summer I too have been trying to school myself in wild edibles. I started with what I could positively identify and then would look it up to see if it was edible or poisonous. Turns out most of what I can identify is inedible!
I tried purslane and poor mans peppers for the first time this summer.

This spring we got over 50 Morrel mushrooms (been getting those since I was a little girl though)
I also picked blackberries, black raspberries, mulberries, crab-apples, wild asparagus, and canned most of it. Feels good to know I am getting the know-how to eat from what others would overlook, should I ever really be hungry. I still have a long way to go though. I wish I knew of someone in my area that could act as a sort of a guide, and teach me. I would even be willing to pay for such a service.

[sally]

Very good point, NCLee, about a mentor and Rx reactions.

A neighbor who's family has lived here for generations pointed out sour dock. The stems in spring are delightful to chew, with their citrus taste. He also pointed out the mexican plum trees. And he crushed sassafras leaves for me to smell their delightful aroma.

I'm enthusiastic about the new knowledge I'm picking up, but I know that natural doesn't mean safe. I'll try small portions of anything new, after carefully identifying it. By the time I was sure I had poke sallat (that looks like a more likely spelling) it was too mature to harvest. But I know where it grows, and next spring I'll try it out, in small amounts. Poke sallat is something completely new to me. :)

Mom5farmboys, I do consider us to be very lucky, to have such a neighbor. He also knows local history and such. A great resource.

[CastIronCook2]

Some day I hope to be able to identify some of the wild mushrooms, but I'm a bit leery. I'd like to find one variety that I can be sure is edible.

Sally, a good mushroom for beginners is the hedgehog because it's easy to identify and, so far as I know, has no toxic look-alikes. If you have a local market that sells wild mushrooms, as we do here in my area, it helps if you can really study a sample; then you'll be able to ID it in the wild.

Also check into the boletes--how to identify them and which ones make the best eating. David Arora's book (All That the Rain Promises, and More) is very helpful here. King boletes are a treasure, if you can find them before the maggots do. But for the other subspecies of boletes, there can be quite a wide range in terms of taste and desirability.

Most chanterelles are safe, though not all that look like true chanterelles actually are. A couple of years ago I thought I'd stumbled onto the mother lode, but a careful comparison check with the points in Arora's "Mushrooms Demystified" showed me that though I had found a nontoxic trove, the specimens were problematic in terms of digestibility. (The gills were the key: instead of being evenly spaced, these had occasional "nettings" which distinguished them.)

Watch also for Lion's Mane. Easily identified and of superb flavor.

All the species I've mentioned can be identified by their gills (in the case of the flute-looking chanterelles, coming down the stem; in the case of boletes, looking like a fine sponge; in the case of hedgehog and lion's mane, looking like thousands of tiny teeth on the underside of the cap).

Stay away from any mushroom with a domed cap below which are fine, radiating gills. Some of these are not only edible but highly prized, but others are deadly. It's not worth the gamble, and you are wise to be suspicious.

Around here there is a once-a-year mushroom fair that is an excellent learning tool. You can see fresh samples of all the local varieties, along with detailed explanations about each. Next best would be to have an expert friend take you 'shrooming. But ultimately, the buck stops with you. So invest in a couple of good field guides and check your specimens thoroughly before sampling. And until you know how your particular gut can handle that carefully vetted 'shroom, start with a small sample only.

[MrGreenJeans]

Starting in spring, morel's (dryland fish), poke sallet, tangelgut (two leaf), wild cress, then the berries, blackberries, rasberry, wine berries, huckel berries, and wild grapes (possum grapes). I'am watching 4 big hanging,s of these now if the dang coon's or possums don't getum first. And a lot more thangs i ain't lernt yet.

[NCLee]

We call them "fox" grapes. Your post reminded me that I need to check the vine that I know about. :wink: Thanks!

Lee

[CapeCMom]

I am still learning about wild edibles myself but I have done some looking around and have found the following.

Cattails
Purslane
Chickweed
dock
wild blueberries
Teaberries
Rose hips
sassafras
Acorns
elderberry
violets
I am sure there is more around, but I need to do some more research first.

[sally]

I found persimmons this weekend!!! I had been puzzling over the trees with the large fruit-like leaves. The small trees never bloomed, but I found a large tree covered with fruit. And I had been wanting to buy a persimmon tree! lol! I was used to the persimmon trees in South Texas; they have a much smaller, differently-shaped leaf.

CastIronCook2, I read the part in David Arora's book about chanterelle mushrooms, and was able to positively identify some. I picked a small one, verified it by the scent and flesh color, and had it in my scrambled egg. Tasted good! Thanks again for recommending that book. I wish he had a pocket reference for the eastern US.

MrGreenJeans, tangle gut sounded awful! Like I would regret eating it. But I looked it up and it's just named that because of the appearance. :) Euell Gibbons called it Spring Beauty. We have muscadine grapes here, but I missed the harvest. The birds or whatever must have pigged out.

CapeCmom, violets? I didn't know they are edible. Neat!

[NCLee]

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Candied-Violets

Enjoy!

Lee

[zbery1]

Fiddlehead ferns, wild cucumber, spruce tips, yarrow, goldenrod, thimbleberries, salmonberries, blueberries, frosted currants, black currants, wild raspberries, highbush cranberries, red elderberries, and after first frost I will gather devils club root.

[bookwormom]

well, my neighbor has a tree just loaded with persimmons. It is too dry for mushrooms. I hope we get rain and some warm days and then hopefully champignons will grow in the pasture. puffballs are still due as well. lets not forget acorns. I have meant to try them. I read they stave off hunger a long time and are great for dieting. I also read they are used in Korean cooking. the only thing I dread about them is shelling them. this year I have not seen a single one yet.

[Mesquite_Bean]

Wow! So many yummies.

Thus far all I have only found is prickly pear and mesquite... tons of mesquite trees. I've been reading up on everything that can be done with the beans and pods -- flour, molasses, jelly, coffee/tea, etc. I had NO idea, and I've lived here all my life, that mesquite had so many uses beyond BBQ. ;)

[NCLee]

Welcome!

Lots of us folks in other areas have never had the opportunity to try those critters. Suspect that you may have some bartering potential with "prickly pear and mesquite" beans. Don't know if it would be worthwhile, but it may be something you'd like to explore.

Lee

[nhlivefreeordie]

Was out picking blueberries again, and decided to stop at a few spots hoping for early flushes of Grifola frondosa, nothing so, did run into a few late Black Trumpets and Painted Sullius.
Here is a Grifola ( Hen of the Woods ) from my motherlode tree, usually weather permiting, I can harvest close to 75 lbs from this one tree.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v86/dj88ryr/hen_of_woods5.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v86/dj88ryr/hen_of_woods3.jpg

[CastIronCook2]

Impressive, that hen of the woods. What kind of tree is that?

[nhlivefreeordie]

That is a Red Oak, Grifola usually relates to a mature oak, and one that is showing signs of stress. I look for the approximate right size trunk first ( 24" diameter or bigger ) then look to the crown, lots of dead branches or diseased sections are just what you are looking for, they will be around the base of the tree. They should be starting here any time now, and it goes through about the third week of Oct.
BTW, that Hen in the picture is only about 15-20 lbs, they have been known locally here to get upwards of 50lbs!!!

[bookwormom]

thanks for the picture and the info. I had never seen one of those 'hens' and no wonder, back home oaks are scarce. Here in Ky we have exactly what this mushroom needs, Red Oaks, distressed, dead branches on top. I hope we get a bit more rain. Can't wait to find one.
how do you prepare this mushroom ? ( like fried chicken lol) how do you preserve the bounty?

[nhlivefreeordie]

thanks for the picture and the info. I had never seen one of those 'hens' and no wonder, back home oaks are scarce. Here in Ky we have exactly what this mushroom needs, Red Oaks, distressed, dead branches on top. I hope we get a bit more rain. Can't wait to find one.
how do you prepare this mushroom ? ( like fried chicken lol) how do you preserve the bounty?

There aren't any dangerous look-alikes for this mushroom, so it is a good one for beginners. Another good trait for this mushroom is that if weather conditions are right, it will come up in the same spot every year. Some years the weather does not cooperate and the spores just lay dormant till the following fall. Rain is important, but you have time, as we are just entering the time for them here, you should have a couple weeks longer before they arrive.
This mushroom is pretty versatile, you can slice it in strips and saute with onions to go with a steak, it is fabulous in mushroom soup, and you can crush to dehydrated mushroom to a powder and add to stews and casseroles as a flavoring, the ideas are really endless.
Best way to preserve is dehydrated, I have some dehydrated from '06 that we are still using, it is just as good as fresh once dehydrated.

[nhlivefreeordie]

Forgot to add, if you have a GPS write down the coordinates in a notebook and save for future reference. When conditions are right, you could fill a truck bed if you have enough trees that produce them, the notebook will no doubt be fought over after I am gone..:D

[CapeCMom]

I forgot about cranberries-they aren't exactly wild here but in a post SHTF situation, We have hundred of acres of cranberry bogs around here that I am sure everyone would raid.
I have read also that you can eat violet leaves when they are really young, but the older they get the more bitter they get. I didn't know you could eat golden rod either-do you eat the flowers, or the leaves? We have tons of it here.
NH-those mushrooms look awesome! Also being in the northeast, I will look for these.

[nhlivefreeordie]

NH-those mushrooms look awesome! Also being in the northeast, I will look for these.

CCM,

I used to pick this mushroom in NH, I am not sure if it is on the Cape, but you should be able to find it close by. They are delicious!!!

[bookwormom]

I am sorry, I am not familiar with GPS? what is it?
talked to my dad today, he found a couple of king boletus and a couple of boletus aurantiacus. Mom was glad, she is tired of cleaning mushrooms.

[nhlivefreeordie]

I am sorry, I am not familiar with GPS? what is it?
talked to my dad today, he found a couple of king boletus and a couple of boletus aurantiacus. Mom was glad, she is tired of cleaning mushrooms.

Ahh King Boletes are indeed tasty and it doesn't take but a couple to make a meal.

GPS...Global Positioning Satellite, a hand held device to use satellites to mark your position, if you have coordinates for a Oak that produces Grifola, ( I have a few :wink:) you can go back year after year and collect the goodies.

[journey149]

How do you know which mushrooms you can eat

[zbery1]

It makes a wonderful tea. I pick the whole stock, bundle it and hang it to dry then strip off the leaves and flowers. I like it alone but what it is really good for is to add to less palatable teas. If I feel a cold coming on I like a combo of yarrow, goldenrod and rosehip tea. It is an amazing plant with lots of uses.

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/goldenrod-000251.htm

[NCLee]

How do you know which mushrooms you can eat

Find someone in your area who is knowledgeable about them. I wouldn't try to learn from books and guides. Those will helpful to supplement what an individual can teach you.

I'd love to know which ones here are safe to eat, but don't know of anyone who can teach me. Sure gets frustrating sometimes, when they pop up in the yard and the woods next to me. But I won't take the chance of incorrectly identifying one to feed my family.

Lee

[nhlivefreeordie]

How do you know which mushrooms you can eat

Lee gives good advice, you only have to be wrong once....

Every area has a few mushrooms that are easily identifiable, or some that fruit only at a certain times when there are no dangerous copy cats. I first started with one mushroom, learned it, found it, picked it and ate it, then I would add a new mushroom each year, eventually I became aquainted with other mushroom hunters in the area, and started becoming a little more bold, but I still go by pretty much a 100% ID before eating. Here in PA we have 6 that can outright kill you, and many that will make you wish you were, I pretty much stay away from their look alikes and focus only a those that I really like anymore. At first it was to find every edible mushroom in the area, then after time, you realize that some are not worth the effort, but others are and have been worth dying for. Morels are pretty easy, as are chanterelles and black trumpets, Grifola is also another easy one for starters.

[nhlivefreeordie]

We went out today to check on one particular tree that has been very good to us, for several years now. We weren't disappointed, we came home with aprox. 60 lbs of Grifola frondosa Hen of the Woods. They are delicious, and there are no copycats, so you can hunt this one with confidence. You will find them at the base of Mature Oaks that are in partially clear areas, and even into the thick stuff. If you find a tree that has them, map it, you can return there year after year and reap the bounty, providing weather conditions cooperate. This mushroom is said to have anti cancer properties and is being studied extensively for medicinal use, and they are high on the list of gourmet cooks as well. You may also see this mushroom called Maitake. I was down to my three last half pints from '06, so this find was exciting.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v86/dj88ryr/Mushrooming/DSCN0866.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v86/dj88ryr/Mushrooming/DSCN0874.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v86/dj88ryr/Mushrooming/DSCN0885.jpg

[NCLee]

Your post aroused my curosity. Didn't think I'd ever seen anything like that around here. No wonder.... looks like we're out of their range.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grifola_frondosa

Wonder if you can inoculate the soil at the base of other oak trees to expand your supply. Had that thought after reading this link that contains info on growing it in sawdust logs. http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/nov2006.html

Lee

[nhlivefreeordie]

I am sure if you spent enough time you might be successful at times. The thing is, a lot of mushrooms have to have specific factors involved to grow. Mycologists have long looked for a way to produce Morels and Chanterelles and have failed, there seems to be more factors involved than what we know so far, I suspect someday someone will figure it out, and then people will stop hunting in the wild for them.
Some mushrooms are grown very easily in an controlled environment, in fact, some of the guys on my mushroom board are very skilled at this. Check out the forum at www.pashroomin.proboards.com there is a thread on growing your own and they give you step by step instructions on how to do it.

Lee, my dehydrators are running full blast ( I would like to know who the mental midget is at Wal-Mart that decided they should be online only and not carry them in the stores anymore, I would have bought another one last night ) trying to get these all dried before they start to go bad. PM me an address and I will send you a bag of dehydrated Grifola to try.

[NCLee]

If you do a lot of dehydrating get yourself an Excalibur 9 tray with timer. I promise you that you won't be disappointed. IMHO, it's well worth the investment for many different reasons.

I appreciate your kind offer. However, since they don't grow around here, I'd like to make a suggestion. Start another thread with Free Sample Grifola Drawing. Folks who live where they grow can register and you'll draw a name out of the hat for a winner. That'll be a special treat for one of them that they can enjoy again and again, after finding their own special oak trees. For me, trying some would be getting just one potato chip with it being highly likely I'd never get another one. (Hope that makes sense.)

Again, thank you for your offer.

Lee

[bookwormom]

we had rain the last couple of weeks, so saturday I went looking for mushrooms. I found absolutely nothing, except some white looking ones that grew on some poplars. Big disappointment. Since we have so many oaks here in all varieties I really had my hopes up.

[tomato204]

I wouldn't be so quick to give up. We have Maitake growing here in middle TN, just west of Nashville. There are micro-climates everywhere that are different than the surroundings, keep looking!

[nhlivefreeordie]

BWM, I can send you some if you don't find any. tomato is right, one of the western PA mushroom clubs did a survey and found that the average is about 1 in 200 trees will have Grifola parasitizing it. And remember, it has to be a mature oak or stump, so the odds are steep, but the beauty is, if you find a couple trees that are good to you, you can go right to the mushroom each year and harvest, if you have a few trees in you inventory, you should be all set for years, when I leave here and move to NH, I will give the GPS coordinates to a couple friends so that they can keep enjoying them.

[Genevieve]

We have red clover, dandelion,hen bit,wild raspberries growing here. Those are the only ones I have found so far. I just bought a wild edibles book and have to search more here in the area. I'm sure theres plenty of other things. I haven't even gone into our woods to see and then theres the neighbor's meadow.

[nhlivefreeordie]

We were out foraging today with a friend. We did real well, we got about 30 pounds of Grifola and about 5 pounds of honey mushrooms, ( Armellaria mellea ) looks like the dehydrator is going to be working over time again.
We found one Grifola that was really strange, almost an albino.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v86/dj88ryr/Mushrooming/DSCN0893.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v86/dj88ryr/Mushrooming/DSCN0889.jpg

My friend Bob holding the strange Grifola, he is DEEP into mushrooms, so finding a strange variation really excited him. All I care about is eating them.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v86/dj88ryr/Mushrooming/DSCN0892.jpg

[bookwormom]

I always appreciate your pictures. thanks so much. I have not found a thing worth writing home about. A handful of persimmons, most of the trees I know have died. no mushrooms. It can't be too cold, I am sure it is colder in your neck of the woods. Huge disappointment.

[nhlivefreeordie]

Don't let a day like that ruin your desire to find things. You don't always score, the dog and I just got back from a two hour cruise up through the state forest, a road I have never been on, we didn't find anything to bring home. But I still expect that this trip will pay off in the future, I will remember a particular stand of trees, or dense growth of a certain specie of tree, and put that to good use at some point in the future. It was great to be out exploring.

[zbery1]

A bad day exploring in the woods beats the best day anywhere else :-D

[nhlivefreeordie]

A bad day exploring in the woods beats the best day anywhere else :-D

Amen to that

[Wildfyre]

My husband grew up eating local wild edibles. His favorite was nettles, his Mom cooked them like you would spinach. They are incredibly nutritious!

Around here we have access to/ harvest; nettles, fiddleheads, filburt nuts, wild camas, black berries, salmon berries, huckleberries, service berries, chickweed, miners lettuce, chanterelle mushrooms and many others.

[4rum]

Read through pretty quick so I may have missed some of the things already listed, but on my place I have:

Mulberries
Dandelion (leaves good for salad, blossoms floured and sauteed in butter taste like fried green tomatoes).
Hazelnut
Chinqapin
Cherries
Pawpaw
Lambs Quarter
Plantan
Sheep sorrel
Wild cherry
Burdock
Sassafrass
Black gum
Beechnuts
Wild grapes
Redbud
Locust blossom (batter and deep fry the whole pod of blossom).
Walnut (black and white 'butternut')
Shag bark hicory (and some white hickory)
Service berry

I'm sure I'll think of more and certainly WANT lots more!

[Wicked Witch]

Whenever I have had trouble identifying something, I have had very good luck with locally owned garden centers. The staff at such places tends to be much more interested in plants than in selling pretties. I just take a small sample of whatever I need help identifying (leaves, part of the stem, berries/seeds, blossoms, depending on growth cycle stage) to them and usually someone who works there knows exactly what it is. They usually can't tell me what it is used for, but can tell me what it is and it's growth requirements, how to get rid of it if I need to and and how to encourage it to grow better/healthier. Knowing what something is, I can find out from my books or the web what to do with it if I'm not sure. Sometimes, in the course of the conversation, I am directed to other plants that I would never have noticed that share various qualities with whatever I brought in. Some of these places are better than others. I am blessed in that the one I have locally has owners who are genuinely interested in educating their customers about the plants that are both native to the area and those that they sell.

[sally]

Greetings, Wickedwitch, welcome to the forum!

You have a good idea. Sounds like a way to find a good plant nursery, also. It would be nice to buy from knowledgeable folks, instead of the big box stores.

[Wicked Witch]

Greetings, Wickedwitch, welcome to the forum!

You have a good idea. Sounds like a way to find a good plant nursery, also. It would be nice to buy from knowledgeable folks, instead of the big box stores.


Hi Sally

That's how I stumbled on this source actually. :) My other half was on active duty for a long time and every time I turned around, we were moving. Every new house had different plants in the yard or growing nearby, and some of them were hard to identify. I took clippings to a local nursery about 15 or so years ago because I wasn't sure whether they were weeds or plantings, and if they were plantings, how to take care of them. I went to the right place, a small family owned business, and they helped me out. After that, every time we moved and I didn't know what something was, or if a plant had a problem, or I wanted to know where to put my herb beds in "this" yard, I found another place similar to the first and have found some wonderful people that have helped me out.

The one near where we live now is owned by an arborist. I've learned more about more trees and bushes (and Roses!) than I want to discuss in the last several years. :) He's not so good about the herbs and wild type edibles, but his wife has an amazing amount of info in her head and loves to share. She's made a number of excellent suggestions that I've implemented and been very happy with. They are also very good about finding me stuff that isn't necessarily native, but will grow well, but is just, kind of... odd. As well as the "odd" things I ALWAYS plant in my herb gardens. Usually things that other places around don't or won't sell. I also have confidence that anything I buy from Chris WON'T have any problems.

Happy foraging!

Wicked Witch

[LyndonStation]

I discovered this in the 70's and have enjoyed the tea ever since.

Identification: This plant is often mistaken for chamomile. In fact, it is a close sister plant to chamomile (M. chamomile). Chamomile is quite rare on the east side of the Rocky mountains (where pineapple weed is quite common). Pineapple weed is an annual, 10 - 40 cm tall with a non-rayed composite flower head. Chamomile can be distinguished from this plant by its white rays. Pineapple looks more like commercial chamomile in a package when all of its white rays have dried up and fallen off. It actually does have a pineapple scent. Its leaves are pinnate.

Distribution & Habitat: Pineapple weed is found in almost all waste areas. It can be seen growing in cracks in the sidewalk in the centre of most towns and along many a backwood s dirt road.

Preparation & Uses: Pineapple weed is tasty as finger food or in salads. As with chamomile, pineapple weed is very good as a tea. In fact, I prefer it because it is sweeter. The Blackfoot Indians called it mat-o-at-sin, using the dried plant as a perfume. They often put it in buckskin bags for this very purpose. It was also used as an insect repellent. As a treatment for diarrhea, the whole plant was decocted. It is similar to chamomile in many of its medicinal qualities but much milder. It is used for stomachaches, flatulence, as a mild relaxant and for colds and menstrual problems. Externally it can be used for itching and sores.

[cubcadet]

We are inundated with burdock. The root, sometimes 2 or 3 feet long and 3 inches thick, can be roasted like pototoes with a beef roast or, a chicken.

If foraging floats your boat, try, Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not So Wild) Places, by Steve Brill, the only book you need to eat things in your yard.

[canuck]

I've found up here (northern Ontario) wild raspberries, choke cherries, wild asparagus, sour apples two varieties, sweet rocket, dandelion, and chives. There is probably a lot more up here ...slowly learning :)

[silvergramma]

so far only found these weird ones on the trail.. lots of fungus and mushrooms yet to identify,, we are not sure what class of cauliflower they are cant find out yet online.. anytakers????http://i902.photobucket.com/albums/ac221/silvergramma/IM002386.jpg

[rae-dean]

sorrel
chamomile
lambs quarters
blackberries
wild strawberries
huckleberries

[Moody Vaden]

I didn't notice a mention, but I've been enjoying loads of pawpaws.

[nhlivefreeordie]

I didn't notice a mention, but I've been enjoying loads of pawpaws.

:sad::man_in_love::mad:...Mine trees won't bear fruit for another two years, and there are no wild ones anywhere near by.....

[Moody Vaden]

:sad::man_in_love::mad:...Mine trees won't bear fruit for another two years, and there are no wild ones anywhere near by.....

How many years does it take for them to bear fruit all together? I have only ever seen them in the wild and only just thought about growing them. I love the taste of them.

[nhlivefreeordie]

6-8 years depending on variety and conditions. They are an understory tree in nature, and never really produce heavily that way. If you get named varieties and take the necessary precautions needed when they are young to grow them in full sun, you have to watch for OVER bearing and damage to the tree, but they are much larger fruits and much sweeter. I have Overlease and Wells, ( you need two different varieties for fruit ) that are 4 years old, so two more years before I will have my own. I may just have to ring up someone to see about overnighting a box to me.

[Moody Vaden]

Thank you for the info. I just might have to look into starting a few.

[nhlivefreeordie]

There is a PawPaw festival in Athens OH next weekend, big three day ta do...we were planning on going but with our vacation to NC in3 weeks we decided to try it next year.

[wildturnip]

We've eaten several wild greens..amaranth, quickweed, lamb's quarter, chickweed. We freeze a wild greens mix every spring.

We tried cooked dandelion for the first time this fall. We all liked it.

Of course, we have bluberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries.

We tried burdock seedlings but they were too tough. Haven't tried the root. We have a list of things to try as the seasons progress.