Look-alikes Kill
Never eat a wild plant or mushroom on one photo or app. U.S. Poison Control: 1-800-222-1222.
Safety & Ethics →Seasonal Foraging Guide
Wild greens, berries, fruit, nuts and mushrooms month by month — where they grow, how to use them, and the look-alikes to watch for.
Foraging Tracker
Log what you find and when, and build your own calendar for your land.
Open the Tracker →Best foraging near you right now
What’s in season this month and actually being found within about 50 miles of you.
Your location is rounded to about 7 miles and never saved on our site.
Sightings from iNaturalist research-grade observations. Photos © their photographers via iNaturalist, used under Creative Commons licenses.
Season calendar
| Wild food | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wild strawberries | |||||||||||||
| Mulberries | |||||||||||||
| Blackberries & dewberries | |||||||||||||
| Black raspberries | |||||||||||||
| Wild blueberries & huckleberries | |||||||||||||
| Elderberries |
Typical seasons for the eastern and central United States. Farther south things come in earlier; farther north and higher up, later.
What to look for
Berries · August–September
Elderberries
Sambucus canadensis
Where: Wet ground, ditches and fencerows; creamy flower heads in June.
Look-alikes & cautions: Raw berries, stems, leaves and unripe fruit are toxic — cook ripe berries and remove every stem. Water hemlock (deadly) and pokeweed grow in the same places; elder is a woody shrub with opposite, compound leaves.
Use: Cooked syrup, jelly and pies
Learn With Others
The best way to learn wild foods is alongside someone who knows them. Ask for identification help in the Foraging group — post clear photos of every part of the plant or mushroom — and never eat anything on an online ID alone.