While I haven’t be able to forage around my home due to how many ongoing home reno projects there are, I’ve been greedily reading all I can from books and Pinterest. I am nowhere near an expert on identifying specific plants besides mint, chamomile and, Japanese knot weed but learning about what I can find in the Northeast is satisfying.
The two books I’m referencing at the moment are “The Wild Weeds of Wisdom” by Katrina Blair and “Northeast Foraging” by Leda Meredith. The second book includes an awesome breakdown of plants by season, then further down into specific areas to look (open meadows, shady woodland, riverbanks and seashores). I’m moving those tables into my garden journal for ease of reference, though the images included are just as important.
With these two books, I’ve been able to identify a number of wild plants in our back yard. Aside from the things I’ve planted in previous years (blueberries, raspberries, mint, chamomile), I’ve been able to find the following. Japanese knotweed, violet leaves and flowers, red and white clovers, purslane and a couple of other beneficial weeds.
Once we find a new home surrounded by thick forests and sunny spots, I’m going to catalog the plants I find into a little field guide. Cottagecore, here I come~