Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants

Videos:

Herbal Wisdom: Session 1: Tracker Audio: If you’re just beginning or have some experience, this is a great place to start. This video is of Karen Sherwood, long time instructor at the Tracker School and co-founder of Earthwalk NW. She an amazing herbalist and teacher. This video talks you through the whole process of beginning to learn plants including, the physical skills of gathering and identification, books, how to begin, gatherers as caretakers, cautions and so much more. She then goes on to introduce a number of specific plants. 

Learn to Forage Wild Edibles with Samuel Thayer and Rob Greenfield; A walking and teaching time with the experts!

Tapping the Birch: The Traditional Way:  Alexander Yerks  A detailed video- but he uses some manufactured items. It still shows how to make your own spile and use it. It’s worth watching just for that!

Making Birch Oil from Birch Bark: Ancient Medicinal and Natural Super Glue: Wilderstead  I like this particular video because she speaks about harvesting- and sustainable harvesting of the bark. This video (and others I’ve viewed on the topic) use modern containers, but, although I haven’t tried yet, I believe pottery containers could be made specifically for this purpose. 

Uses of a Coconut, Tropical Survival Skills; Caribbean Earth Skills Former Tracker instructor, Matt Corridino created this video at his school in St. Croix. Excellent information on the harvesting and various food and utilitarian uses of the coconut.

Bread from Acorns, 1933 I love this video! It is of a Native elder processing acorns in the traditional way. Very educational!

Eat the Weeds | Neighborhood Foraging Plant walk to find wild edibles. Many more videos on YouTube.

Foraging Texas Comprehensive website and videos by Mark “Meriwether” Vorderbruggen. Author of Idiot’s Guide: Foraging.

Wild Food Foraging: Season 1: The Outsider:  Harvesting and making dandelion root coffee.

Wild Food Foraging: Season 2: The Outsider:   In this video, he covers Grape, raspberry, clover,  morels, cedar, ramps,  and birch. Good identification and identifying poisonous look-alikes. Including harvesting and preparation.

Wild Food Foraging: Season 3: The Outsider:   This edition includes milkweed, tree cambium, fiddlehead, pine, cattail, evergreens and birch. Provides good information about identification, what and when to harvest- with video of how it should look for harvesting. Also includes some important information on look-alikes.  Also provides preparation guidance.

Articles:

40+ Wild Plants You can Make into Flour; Practical Self Reliance.com   Great article with information about a lot of different kinds of plants and plant parts that can be used to make flour. The author provides information from her own experience and provides enough information and photos to get you started.

A New Family Herbal 1810  This is a downloadable document written in 1810. It provides description and historical information as well as medicinal uses of various plants. It would be good in conjunction with modern books to find out more specific uses and methods of use for plants you know. It uses Latin names but also has some common names. It has transplanted (many European) as well as native plants. 

A Brief Treatise on Various Ailments and their Treatment by Nature’s Remedies  This was written in 1895 and is unique because it starts with the illness and gives information on different plants that treat that ailment.

Matera Medica  5th Edition by Michael Moore of the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine. Over 500 major botanical medicines with methods of preparations, environmental status and potential dangers.

Darrel Joy’s Tutorial on Making and Using Plants from Belize for wound powder.  This is a recipe he learned from Rosita Arvigo.

The Serviceberry  This article by Robin Wall Kimmerer is much more than information on the serviceberry. It is part caretaker, part community, part indigenous wisdom. And yes, it’s also about the serviceberry!

60+ Unique Fruits and Nuts for cold climates; Practical Self Reliance:  Short descriptions of various fruits and nuts that will grow in zones 3-5, some down to zone 2.

Link to Pinterest page with information on various wild edible and medicinal plants.

Link to Pinterest page with edible and medicinal trees