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This one reason I live in NH. I tapped sugar maples last Spring as usual.I think Ak has paper birch and all birches can be tapped. I don't tap birch now, but have. I like it and it does come later, after maple, but the work is as heavy as maple, and by the end of maple season I am a little worn out, but i can.
After that came fiddlehead hunting and we ate and froze some. Next came milkweed pods and again ate and froze some, about the time come cat tail pods, later in fall comes cat tail roots.
Now there is stag horn sumac, concord wild grape, burdock, but the dandilions are gone by.
There is countless fungi and schrooms, but i am not going there here. To easy to screw up. As of late I have seen and gathered some peaches of these, but just don't dare here.
Sheepsorell in the garden to me is just a weed, and you should not eat lots of it, but the flavor as a salad topping can't be beat. NH has a lot more than that too, I still make white pine needle tea with honey anytime I feel like it and for colds, which it works fine for me. It will make you want to pee a lot though. The black berries are out with related other kinds like thimble berry. Blue berries are in mid season here now too.
I have no real need for a garden, but I do.
Locally but not on this parcell is other berries, like raspberry, and assorted others like service berry.
We normally saute or marinate/pickle the fiddleheads (recipes). Lambsquarter and miners lettuce normally go in salads pr sauteed like any other green. All the berries are either fresh, dried, frozen, or made into syrups or preserves. Rosehips are dried or added into preserves. Labrador tea is mostly a nice herbal medicinal brew for sniffles and upset tummies, but I also add it to my pickling spice for a bit of unique flavor. Comfrey is strictly an external use product for us (although some say it's ok to take internally, it can be highly toxic); and we dry it for later use as a poultice and in salves that help reduce inflammation, soothe burns and draw boils.
I have eaten cattail pods, but they aren't my favorite. We also have some nice wild mushrooms around, but I won't forage those without my native guide yet because we have some nasty lookalikes. There are more wild edibles here in the boreal forest and down closer to the Tanana river and along the creeks... I hope to have more time soon to investigate and sample
It depends on what type of acrons you want to eat. White oak is good to go from the ground, most other will need simmering and water changes several times to end up going down anything like easy.
In NH there is Beech nuts too, which are good to go off the ground. This year is sizing up to be a great year for the beech mast harvest. Baked into a whole grain bread, well crushed they are a delite. If anyone can get brewers waste grains for bread, steaming hot and collected then and there in a clean container and get beechnuts, you can have a delicacy for on the cheap.
Can you tell me about black walnuts? I cracked one of the ones in my yard open, and I think it was wormy or something.
Hi kinkytoes,
You want them when the green rind is still on them, especially in the middle of their season. Those that drop a little early or late are usually more of the empties(you can also learn to use the float test). I rarely find an actual bare nut that is good. The squirrels usually already got to those that are good. With hickory, same thing. That is the classic novice mistake. So stomp the green off and then dry them is a safe area where the black ink will not be an issue. Cure for a couple of months. Its also free dye if you want it. Then crack with a hammer. I consider myself somewhat addicted to them. They are even better than the hickory or hazel nut and in much greater quantity. I would like to try butternut too if I could find a tree.
It depends on what type of acrons you want to eat. White oak is good to go from the ground, most other will need simmering and water changes several times to end up going down anything like easy.
In NH there is Beech nuts too, which are good to go off the ground. This year is sizing up to be a great year for the beech mast harvest. Baked into a whole grain bread, well crushed they are a delite. If anyone can get brewers waste grains for bread, steaming hot and collected then and there in a clean container and get beechnuts, you can have a delicacy for on the cheap.
Hi Mac_Muz,
Hot leach is good for the field. At home I prefer the cold leach product.
There is a European beech in the park I want to check out. Though it does have a weak toxin unlike the American beech. Its still good for oil.
I have never tried them but some of the Indians ate them in North America and people in Europe ate them during Roman times.
The tannin has to be largely removed. I have never tried them but have read some, about how they can be made into bread.
I also read about a farmer in the 19th century obtained some piglets and fed them largely acrons untile they grew large.
In some neighborhoods in North Texas every yard had pecan or oak trees planted. Now those areas just crawl with squirrels...
Hi Tabbycat,
I love acorns. The tannins help protect them. All our sweet crops need pest controls. I use it as a pilaf when processed with wood ash water. I use as a flour for pie and pizza crusts, acorn bread, flat bread and crackers. It just needs to be leached enough. If it does not taste good, leach more. Some have taken 3 weeks. Besides knowing how to put a potato in the ground, there is no other food that can keep you going like acorns. Again several seasons of experience makes a difference.
Though it helps to have the equipment to make it a practical food source.
I love acorns. The tannins help protect them. All our sweet crops need pest controls. I use it as a pilaf when processed with wood ash water. I use as a flour for pie and pizza crusts, acorn bread, flat bread and crackers. It just needs to be leached enough. If it does not taste good, leach more. Some have taken 3 weeks. Besides knowing how to put a potato in the ground, there is no other food that can keep you going like acorns. Again several seasons of experience makes a difference.
Though it helps to have the equipment to make it a practical food source.
I am not disputing your information or experience. But it would seem to me that when you are leaching out the tannins that nutrients would be lost as well, is this the case? Just wondering. (We have tons of oak trees).
What kind of acorns are the best (which variety of oak, I guess is what I want to know). LOL
Wow. Usually we battle wild critters for our mulberries. Cattails are also good. The young shoots taste like celery. Some people eat the roots, but I never have. Wild dewberries, blackberries, blueberries, mayhaw (good for jelly), fiddlehead ferns - all good and free.
Speaking of critters, please do not use crawfish for bait. They are delicious, and free.
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Acrons
White oak is good to go from the ground, most other will need simmering and water changes several times to end up going down anything like easy.
