Replies

Random Prepper/Foraging Thoughts

It’s raining today, so I am doing ‘inside stuff.’ mostly meal prep for the rest of the week, and organizing the pantry and freezers.

Had some random thoughts on some of the foodstuffs we harvest from the wild and thought I’d share. Of course, you will find different things in different parts of the USA, but these are things we find in SW Wisconsin:

Fish, Rabbit, Turkey, Squirrel (ick!), Whitetail Deer and Black Bear. (Beau heads NORTH for the Black Bear.)

Black Cap Raspberries - I have two, 1-gallon each bags already frozen for future use with lots more to come. I make syrup or we eat the berries frozen/whole on yogurt or cottage cheese. Freeze them on a cookie sheet and then move into the bags/portions of your choice and keep in the freezer.

Blackberries will be ready in August. We also have Mulberry and they are starting to ripen now, but you have to pick continuously as they do not all ripen at the same time.

Elderberry are in flower right now so I will clip some heads, dry them in a paper bag, and use them for tea in the future. The berries are edible too, right off the bush, but again, very small so you need a TON to get juice or a pie out of them.

We have wild green apples on the property. They’re good for pies or in Applesauce (with other apples) but are much too tart for fresh eating. We also have wild Plums - same issue and they’re relatively small so you need to pick a LOT to do anything with them.

Morel Mushrooms - not a huge year for them, but some.

Golden Oyster Mushrooms - always a good season for them, and a long one, Spring through Fall.

Beau makes a Nettle Tea in the springtime using the new tips of Stinging Nettle. It’s very similar in taste to Green Tea.

Maple Syrup - again, not a stellar season for it; it got too warm too fast this Spring, but we have a number of GALLONS of the stuff on hand right now and Beau has gotten better at it each season.

Fiddlehead Fern. The young leaves, still tightly curled are really good fried in butter...as is anything, really. ;)

Ramps or Wild Leeks are in our woods in the early spring. We need to take better advantage of them. Use them just as you would chives or a green onion.

Sun Tea. Nothing simpler or more delicious. I have a 1/2 gallon Ball Jar with a plastic screw-on cover. Fill with cold water and 6 teabags and set in the sun for the day. You could also use dried Elderberry flowers and/or dried raspberry leaves, etc. Just another idea of how to make your own stuff. No need to PAY for a jug of already made tea from the store.

Of course we raise our own steer each year for the beef, buy pork from the neighbor and now that we have chickens again, we’ll have eggs starting in October if all goes well. And, while this growing season hasn’t been the best so far, we’ll still have tomatoes, broccoli, green beans, drying beans salad greens again in the fall season and herbs to use. Some effort, but a LOT cheaper than buying all of those veggies. Our apple trees are FULL this season, and we had a great cherry crop. Peach tree outdid herself last year, so she’s resting this season - leafed out nicely but didn’t even bloom, and there are a few dozen pears on each of our two pear trees.

So, I’m just saying to look around your property or neighborhood. Also, check out your State Department of Natural Resources to see if they have a page on foraging. If any of you watch ‘Prepper Princess’ on You Tube, she recently did a video just walking around her California neighborhood harvesting all kinds of fruit from trees (with permission, of course!)

Here’s the Wisconsin DNR page on Foraging. In our state you can forage on any public lands or parks, within a few guidelines.

https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/wnrmag/2021/Spring/Forage