Passing on traditional skills like foraging, cooking from scratch and living well on less
Looking for information on foraging in Japan, or just interested in learning about traditional Japanese wild foods? Eating Wild Japan is a fascinating read, with a few caveats. First of all, it has to be said that I read this book as an American forager. Our family forages hundreds of pounds of wild foods a […]
I have a new favorite mushroom foraging book. How to Forage for Mushrooms without Dying: An Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Identifying 29 Wild, Edible Mushrooms was released this month and I can’t recommend it enough. I was lucky enough to receive a digital Advanced Reader’s Copy of the book last spring, and I have been […]
I read The Joy of Foraging: Gary Lincoff’s Illustrated Guide to Finding, Harvesting, and Enjoying a World of Wild Food while vacationing at a friend’s house, courtesy of her library book pile. It’s a good book to get from the library before purchasing it to get a feel for whether it will be a good fit […]
There’s a fantastic new book that focuses on foraging with kids. Family Foraging: A Fun Guide to Gathering and Eating Wild Plants was released last month and it’s my new favorite book on foraging with kids. The book, by David Hamilton, features 30 commonly found wild edible plants of North America. The plants covered in the […]
A new foraging book is sure to help folks in Eastern Canada and the Northeast United States find all kinds of fabulous wild foods. Eating Wild in Eastern Canada: A Guide to Foraging the Forests, Fields, and Shorelines provides photos, stories, cooking suggestions and recipes for all kinds of wild foods, from lobster mushrooms to […]
2018 was an unbelievable year for fantastic new foraging books. There was something for everyone, from vegans to hunters, new foragers to seasoned experts, whether you live down south, in the desert or in New York City, and whether you want to learn about creating wild beer and wine, how to teach your children to […]
Once you get started foraging, it’s helpful to keep records of what you gathered and when. We usually keep a running list on the fridge, but I decided it would be fun to have some nice looking printable pages to start keeping a more permanent record of all of our wild food harvests. Since I […]
A well-known Instagram star’s popular new foraging cookbook has been pulled by its publisher, thanks to the fact that some actual foragers got a hold of it and alerted readers to some dangerous (and seriously unpalatable) recipes inside it. Tales from a Forager’s Kitchen: The Ultimate Field Guide to Evoke Curiosity and Wonderment with More […]
When I received a digital ARC of Sara Bir’s The Fruit Forager’s Companion, the only thing I didn’t like about it was the fact that it was deleted after the review period and I didn’t get to keep a copy. I absolutely loved this book and plan to purchase a copy of my own. […]
If you’d like to forage your own elderberries later this summer, now is the time to start looking because elder flowers are blooming (or are just finishing) and the elder shrubs so easy to spot. Here’s everything you need to know to find elderberries and elder flowers. Whenever people find out that our family harvests […]
As an avid home brewer of wines and ciders, I was excited to read an ARC copy of Modern Cider: Simple Recipes to Make Your Own Ciders, Perries, Cysers, Shrubs, Fruit Wines, Vinegars, and More, by Emma Christensen, through Net Galley. I am always looking for more recipes and for ideas to simplify the process. […]
I was able to read a digital copy of The Berkeley Bowl Cookbook: Recipes Inspired by the Extraordinary Produce of California’s Most Iconic Market this week through Net Galley. I was excited to read it, not because I have access to an elaborate produce market like the famous Berkeley Bowl, but because some of the […]
Samuel Thayer’s foraging books Nature’s Garden and The Forager’s Harvest are well loved by foragers, and his upcoming book, Incredible Wild Edibles, promises to be another great resource. Thayer doesn’t cover the same wild edible foods in any of his books. Each book goes into great detail about a few dozen wild foods to forage, […]
It’s acorn season, and anybody who follows my Instagram knows that our family has been foraging, processing and cooking with acorns all month. Acorn processing #fallforaging #forageandharvest #wildedibles #foraging #foragingfamily #septemberforaging #fallflavors #acorns A post shared by Alicia Bayer (@magicandmayhem) on Sep 4, 2017 at 11:04am PDT I made up a batch of acorn drop […]
Our family has been busy lately with one of our favorite wild edible foods of fall — acorns. Acorn processing #fallforaging #forageandharvest #wildedibles #foraging #foragingfamily #septemberforaging #fallflavors #acorns A post shared by Alicia Bayer (@magicandmayhem) on Sep 4, 2017 at 11:04am PDT Yes, you can eat them, and they are absolutely delicious. They’re also nutritious […]
Daryl and I have been faithfully checking our elder patches for the past few weeks and he brought home a bag of our first elderberry bounty for the year this week. This particular clump of elders is bordering a nursing home that has given us permission to pick their pears and elderberries. He harvested them […]
Yes, you can feed your family healthy, organic, non-GMO food and not go bankrupt doing it! Welcome to FYFO-100, where I’ll share how we feed our family of 7 for around $100 a week. Every few days, I’ll share more tips for how we make it work. You can go all-in and learn skills like […]
My elderberry book is now available in a paperback edition! We heard from many people who wanted a physical copy of the book, especially to make use of it while foraging and for the cookbook section. I worked over the past couple of months to create the best possible paperback version, with black and […]
Elderflower season is coming to an end and that means elderberry season is coming soon! Make sure you use some of this year’s elderberry crop to make some elderberry jam and elderberry pie filling, because they’re so wonderful in recipes like elderberry cream cheese cupcakes (and elderberry thumbprint cookies, and elderberry fluff, and elderberry frosting….). […]
Have you heard of elderflower soda? This is a traditional elderflower delicacy that is so popular in Romania that it inspired Coca-Cola to release their own version, Fanta Shokata (though theirs contains no real elderflowers). It is also known as Socată or Suc de Soc. Here’s the recipe to make your own, which is another […]
Here’s another easy recipe from my new book, Elderberries: The Beginner’s Guide to Foraging, Preserving and Using Elderberries for Health Remedies, Recipes, Drinks and More (available now on Kindle and in paperback). This is a beautiful, deep purple schnapps that is so simple to make with either fresh or frozen elderberries. See the directions at […]
Here’s a quick, easy and delicious recipe to make use of elderberry jam that you may have put up. I featured it in my new book, Elderberries: The Beginner’s Guide to Foraging, Preserving and Using Elderberries for Health Remedies, Recipes, Drinks and More, which went live on Amazon at the Kindle store on Friday and […]
Has your family tried foraging yet? Foraging for wild edibles is a great way to get healthy, pesticide-free, tasty food for free, plus try wonderful new tastes and get out in nature. There are many great books out there to give you basic information about foraging and I recommend you check out a pile of […]
By Daryl I consider myself an urban forager, and many people have asked me exactly what I mean by that. To me, urban foraging is more than just walking through the woods (although that’s definitely a part of it). And it’s more than just wandering through town looking at people’s yards and gardens. First, let […]