By Tom Seymour
So, then, let me introduce myself. I am a lifelong forager who teaches foraging and also writes books on the subject. Many of my books are available on this website. I teach groups and private individuals and give presentations at Maine colleges. I also taught at Eagle Hill Institute in Gouldsboro. I look forward to sharing my thoughts and foraging tips in this column.
As with any other endeavor, foraging requires the one-step-at-a-time approach. In other words, learn one plant inside out before going to the next. Learn to identify the plant at all seasons, from early spring through maturity in summer and fall.
I have often found stands of edible plants while driving down the road in winter. The old seedstalks, stark against a white, winter landscape, are easily identifiable, even at 50 miles per hour. Noting the location of the seedstalks, I’ll revisit the site in spring.
Always remember that it is illegal to forage on other people’s property without permission. This was never a problem in the past, but commercial harvesters, mostly fiddlehead and mushroom hunters, have acted imprudently in the past, causing a crackdown on unfettered access to private land.
With several hard frosts behind us, the foraging season in Maine nears its conclusion. But the season isn’t over quite yet. We still have some wild treats to lift our spirits.
Common dandelions, Taraxacum officinale, become too bitter to use in summer. Most people wait until the spring to resume harvesting these vitamin-packed greens. But we have a second season for dandelions. Here’s what happens.
A hard frost, better yet two hard frosts, eliminate the bitter principal in dandelions. But don’t run out and dig old plants from the past year because they have long since become tough and unpalatable. Instead, select only young plants. These are tender and tasty.
Late last spring, dandelions set seed and now that seed has produced new plants. It’s surprising how quickly these new plants spring up. After doing a thorough weeding of my asparagus bed back in September, dandelions have already cropped up and are ready for harvest.
Short Windows
Note that these fall-picked dandelions haven’t the fullness of those harvested in spring. Then, the plants are packing in nutrients and developing blossoms. But now, the young plants don’t have time to add bulk before really cold temperatures and, even snow, put an end to foraging.
This serves to illustrate the brevity of harvest seasons for wild plants. Each plant erupts from the ground in spring, puts on growth rapidly and eventually matures. Somewhere in the middle of those two events, the plant is at its best for harvesting. The window of opportunity for most edible, wild plants is short, in some cases only two weeks or so. That, though, only makes our favorite wild plants all the dearer.
But Maine has so many useful, wild plants that when the season for one passes, another species comes into its own. Mainers can harvest wild plants beginning in early spring, in some cases as soon as snow melts, until killing frosts put an abrupt end to most plants.
Even then, some wild foods remain available to foragers. This column will detail the wild edible and medicinal plants in Maine throughout the season.
