Foraging
Currently this is a passive interest that I have no acted on in any significant way.
Small things I've done that come to mind
- Some years my parents make maple syrup from the maple trees in our backyard/woods
- Our yard has had wild asparagus and raspberries before. I'm not sure if we ever tried the asparagus, but definitely the raspberries.
- Recently (February 2026) in southeast Florida I was with my parents and we tasted some fruit that had fallen from a tree (retrospectively perhaps we should have more carefully identified it first. We only had a small nibble.)
- In Arizona (September 2025) my family took some prickly pear fruit from a cactus while on a hike and we tried some of it (took it home and washed it first).
- Tasting a random pine needle in Montana (during Glacier National Park trip by a lake).
- Luxuriating in the caramel scent of the Ponderosa Pine (No I don't think smelling really counts as foraging, but it counts as appreciating a plant)
Apparently Central Park has edible plants that can be foraged. Video by Robin Greenfield of a CP foraging tour. I'd like to try this out sometime.
- Video recommends Sam Thayer's books (The Forager's Harvest, Nature's Garden, Incredible Wild Edibles) for actually learning how to identify and prepare specific plants.
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