Foraging

My subconscious still plays the tape of my mother telling me not to eat plants because they are poisonous.

I went on a very pleasant hike yesterday, and along the way, I sampled white sage (whew! nice mouth rush on that), ate several manzanita berries (tastes like dried apples), nibbled at a few species of flowering plants, and finally had two nice full bunches of elderberry (see the pic).

Do I know what I'm doing? ...Yes, sort of. I'm at the "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing" stage. I can recognize certain species of plant, and in other cases, the genera, and I have participated in some group foraging. I know how to pay attention to animal droppings to see what they are eating, and if it seems to be good for the animal or not.

I can recognize poison oak.

I'm also tuned in to muscle strength/intuitive sensing for whether something might harm me or not. So when I eat a mouthful of elderberries, I feel the dynamic zing! that tells me these are excellent in moderate quantities.

Most of our food plants aren't native, such as bananas, apples, almonds, and many of the green leafy types. Yet, there are native food plants for this area, such as elderberry, huckleberry, reedmace, and I want to be at the forefront of bringing those into our diets.