2011 was a good year for us foraging wise. Our year started out with maple syrup season. We cooked syrup from March 15th till April 15th. We ended up with 9 gallons of syrup so have plenty for ourselves plus some to trade. We have made sugar some years but didn't this year. In mid May we gathered ostrich fern fiddle heads and Ann canned 56 pints of them. We use them as you would use asparagus. We also dug wild ginger the same day. We enjoy the taste of wild ginger in our Labrador tea. It adds that extra zing. By the end of May we were eating nettle greens which I like better than spinach. It is very good steamed with a little bacon grease and some rice vinegar.
June was productive also with our first mushroom find of the year when we got 5 pounds of oyster mushrooms on the 22nd. Wild strawberries were abundant this year but they take so long to pick that we quit after we had a pint and a half. Ramps are easy to find early in the year before a lot of under growth gets going and we picked a couple of quarts on the 20th.
The foraging year kicked into high gear in July , I had 14 entries in my foraging journal for the month. More ramps and nettle greens start off the list followed by lambs quarter greens, cattail pollen, elder flowers, june berries, wild blueberries, and wild raspberries. I counted up 57 pounds of wild berries in July and the first week of August. We picked some hazelnuts the last weekend of July but sad to say that was jumping the gun and they were not mature yet.
August started out with 11 quarts of black cherries found when we were scouting wild rice. There was very nice rice on one of the flowages we checked this year although it was tipped in every direction by strong winds early in the season. It made harvesting the rice a little tricky but we are happy with our harvest of170 pounds of dry rice. We still have to thresh much of that but that is another post.
September turned out to be our best month for mushrooms. We found more oysters, hen of the woods, pig snouts, hedge hog and honey fungus. All together we found about 12 pounds of mushrooms in September. We also picked about 20 pounds of nanny berries which yielded 25 pints of puree when Ann was done.
42 pounds of bur oak acorns topped the list for October but the four gallons of hazel nuts , dehusked but in the shell, was a close second. We picked a cup of wild cranberries at our boat landing which got us enthused to go hunting for more the 5th. of November.
We considered the hunt a success when we brought home 7 quarts of cranberries. We found some creeping snow berry so had to try a tea made with the vine and berries. It was not as good as we had heard it might be. The coup de gras of the season was Ann's. She brought home 8 bushels of black walnuts gleaned from a neighbors lawn. I just finished a piece of chocolate fudge with black walnuts.
June was productive also with our first mushroom find of the year when we got 5 pounds of oyster mushrooms on the 22nd. Wild strawberries were abundant this year but they take so long to pick that we quit after we had a pint and a half. Ramps are easy to find early in the year before a lot of under growth gets going and we picked a couple of quarts on the 20th.
The foraging year kicked into high gear in July , I had 14 entries in my foraging journal for the month. More ramps and nettle greens start off the list followed by lambs quarter greens, cattail pollen, elder flowers, june berries, wild blueberries, and wild raspberries. I counted up 57 pounds of wild berries in July and the first week of August. We picked some hazelnuts the last weekend of July but sad to say that was jumping the gun and they were not mature yet.
August started out with 11 quarts of black cherries found when we were scouting wild rice. There was very nice rice on one of the flowages we checked this year although it was tipped in every direction by strong winds early in the season. It made harvesting the rice a little tricky but we are happy with our harvest of170 pounds of dry rice. We still have to thresh much of that but that is another post.
September turned out to be our best month for mushrooms. We found more oysters, hen of the woods, pig snouts, hedge hog and honey fungus. All together we found about 12 pounds of mushrooms in September. We also picked about 20 pounds of nanny berries which yielded 25 pints of puree when Ann was done.
42 pounds of bur oak acorns topped the list for October but the four gallons of hazel nuts , dehusked but in the shell, was a close second. We picked a cup of wild cranberries at our boat landing which got us enthused to go hunting for more the 5th. of November.
We considered the hunt a success when we brought home 7 quarts of cranberries. We found some creeping snow berry so had to try a tea made with the vine and berries. It was not as good as we had heard it might be. The coup de gras of the season was Ann's. She brought home 8 bushels of black walnuts gleaned from a neighbors lawn. I just finished a piece of chocolate fudge with black walnuts.
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