Learn With Others
Foraging Group
Ask for help with an ID and learn from experienced foragers.
Join the Group →Foraging Safety & Ethics
Be certain of every identification, ask permission, harvest lightly and give thanks — the earth is the Lord’s.
What’s Ready?
Seasonal Guide
Month-by-month wild greens, berries, nuts and mushrooms with look-alikes.
See the Guide →Be 100% certain
- Never eat a wild plant, berry or mushroom unless you are completely certain what it is. “Pretty sure” is not enough.
- Check every feature — leaves, stem, flower, seed, smell, spore print, where it grows — against two or three trusted field guides, not a single photo or app.
- Learn the dangerous look-alikes before you learn the edible plant. Water hemlock, poison hemlock, death camas, moonseed and deadly Amanita mushrooms all have edible twins.
- Learn mushrooms in person from an experienced forager or a local mycological society before you eat any.
- Try a small amount of a new wild food the first time, cooked if it should be cooked, and keep a sample in case you react.
Ask first, follow the rules
- Get the landowner’s permission before you forage on private land.
- Check the rules for parks and public land — many state and national parks limit or ban foraging; some national forests allow personal-use gathering with limits or a permit.
- Never take plants that are protected, threatened or rare in your state (ginseng, goldenseal and some ramps areas are regulated).
Harvest with care
- Take no more than about a tenth of what is there, and never the only plant in sight.
- Leave the roots and bulbs of perennials unless you planted them — take a leaf, not the plant.
- Leave plenty for wildlife and for the next forager. Spread out instead of clearing one spot.
- Carry a mesh bag or basket so mushroom spores fall as you walk.
Pick clean food
- Avoid roadsides, railroad tracks, ditches below fields, lawns and parks that may be sprayed, and polluted water.
- Wash everything well. Cook wild mushrooms and anything the guide says to cook.
- Watch for ticks, chiggers, poison ivy, snakes and hunting seasons — wear long sleeves and bright colours.
If something goes wrong
- In the U.S., call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 (open 24 hours) or call 911 if someone has trouble breathing, has a seizure or collapses.
- Keep a piece of what was eaten, and note when and how much.
Give thanks
- “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof” (Psalm 24:1). We gather as stewards, not owners — gratefully, carefully and with enough left for others.