by Mark Zeiger

Created on: November 26, 2008   Last Updated: September 20, 2011

Would you like learn how to forage for herbs? Grab a guidebook and a digital camera, set your search patterns, and go!

Foraging herbs or "wild crafting" seems to be regaining popularity thanks to the slow food and eating locally movements. You can't eat much more locally than from your own yard, or neighboring fields and forests. Foraging is fun, healthy, and easier than you might think.

Our increasingly commercial and globalized world places heavy emphasis on "approved," meaning "marketable" produce. In the 21st century, few people know that dandelions, for instance, were brought to North America as a food crop! Disregarded today as a weed, dandelions are everywhere, and their value as a nutritious, flavorful food has not diminished one bit. All that has changed is our perception of it.

This is merely one example of wild food that can be found as close as your front yard. Pick up a book on wild edible and medicinal plants for your region, and read the myriad uses of commonly found plants for food, medicine, paint, fabric, and much more. Often the variety of uses for a single plant is staggering!

The first step to wild crafting is to get one or more of these good local guides for your area. This is very important. The old adage, "forewarned is forearmed" applies to wild crafting, because often herbs that are not poisonous in and of themselves may have adverse effects on certain people! A good plant guide will warn you of these possibilities. Portable field guides that you can take with you on your hunt are best.

Once you've found some good guides, study them well. Learn to identify the plants you seek as they appear when they are ready to harvest. If you can, find both actual photographs and line drawings. Compare and contrast the two, rather than relying on just one or the other. By learning what the plants look like, you'll set your search patterns. You'll know when your search patterns are set when you start to notice these plants all around you. Even after this happens, continue to study your guides. Refresh your memory often, rather than relying on information you may only think you remember correctly! There's no shame in reminding yourself of the key features of the plants you seek.

When you're ready to go out and forage wild herbs, take a digital camera. If you're not sure you've got the right plant, snap a photo of it, and compare your shot to other photos of the plant. With a camera-equipped cell phone you can send your photo to someone with the knowledge

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