Even children can go out and easily identify delicious natural treats. Wood sorrel is a great example with its tangy flavour, and during a recent ’survival’ class that we taught for third graders, the children tasted ‘Golden Birch’ (yellow birch), and were delighted with the minty taste of the buds.

Learning wild edibles, however, isn’t always that easy. Field guides can leave you in doubt about identifying plants, and the negative mystique built up around wild edibles (Wild plants are poisonous! They’ll kill you!) has created a culture of doubt and fear around the whole subject.

For us, Samuel Thayer came to the rescue. His first book on edible plants, The Forager’s Harvest, introduced us to a new way of establishing a relationship with wild foods. Samuel doesn’t perpetuate the negative mystique — he not only eats all the plants he writes about, but during his classes he has his students eat them. From notes about where to find the plants, how to harvest and prepare them, and how they taste, his knowledge is based on personal experience. The result is that you become intimate with each plant he describes. The Forager’s Harvest opened new worlds of wild food exploration for us — including introducing us to some wild foods that were right in our own yard!

Now Samuel Thayer has worked his magic a second time with Nature’s Garden. Continuing in the tradition of his first book, he covers less species than conventional guides, but each species is introduced with stories, detailed descriptions, photos of all the edible parts, and personal accounts that leave you feeling like each plant is a new best friend. Prior to the actual plant descriptions, Samuel delivers a wealth of information on poisonous plant fables (including his take on Chris McCandless’s supposed poisoning by wild sweet pea), an account of Samuel and his wife eating ‘wild’ for an entire month, notes on conservation, a wild food calendar, and a chart showing the percentage of plants in the book that grow in each of the states and Canadian provinces.

Each time we open Samuel’s books, we find old myths turned on their heads, and feel renewed confidence in our ability to enjoy wild foods. This year we have a host of new plants to explore, thanks to Nature’s Garden. If you’re interested in edible wild plants and want a truly helpful guide, both of Samuel’s books are a must in your library.

Now, we’re off to see what green things are poking through recently-thawed earth . . .

Here are their current top eight choices –

Albacore Tuna, caught by pole or trolling from waters off of British Columbia or the United States.

Farmed Mussels

Farmed Oysters

Wild Caught Pacific Sardines

Wild Caught Pink Shrimp from Oregon.

Wild Caught Salmon from Alaska.

Wild Caught Spot Prawns from British Columbia.

Farmed Rainbow Trout

Their report, found here, contains a wealth of other information. The only warning — it’s a large .pdf, and takes a while to load if you don’t have high-speed internet.

Our own research led us to a wonderful discovery last year. We were trying to find a canned tuna that would be healthy, delicious, environmentally responsible, and affordable. After a long time on the computer, we placed an order with Oregon’s Choice. Their website fulfilled our desire to know everything we could about their tuna — how it is caught, how it is canned, and its nutritional content. Spend some time on their site and you’ll be fully educated about the tuna situation.

Best of all, their tuna is GOOD! We get the regular gourmet albacore lightly salted, canned in its own juices (tuna and salt and nothing else), and were pleasantly surprised to find that it is totally different than the cat-food quality tuna we had previously eaten at the grocery. There are big flakes of meat, the flavour is exceptional, and if you add the juices to your meal you get an extra dose of Omega 3 fats. If you enjoy tuna, it’s definitely worth the purchase. When comparing prices, note that they have two can sizes — one of which is quite a bit larger than the standard grocery cans.

The life in the sea is being hit hard by the impact of fishing. We do enjoy eating fish, but it tastes a lot better when you know that you’re eating a species that isn’t on the brink of destruction.

Here’s our favorite tuna fish sandwich recipe: Take one 7.5 oz. can of tuna and mix with 1/4 cup finely chopped carrot, 1 green onion (the long thin ones), and 1/2 cup finely chopped purple cabbage. Add your choice of mayo or miracle whip. Squeeze in one slice of lemon, and get liberal with the cracked pepper. A dash of garlic salt and some hot pepper flakes, and you’re ready to serve on some nice whole-grain bread. Yum!

Well, we’ve finally found our dream guide to edible wild plants.  Samuel Thayer has put together a guide that has added considerably to our wild edible harvest.

Samuel has obviously actually tried all of the edibles he writes about.  He writes about each one intimately, sharing stories of different encounters with each plant.  He explains exactly how to harvest the plants, and has great photos of the plants’ different edible stages.  For instance, in the chapter on milkweed (in which he debunks the great ‘bitter milkweed myth’), you’ll see photos of the young shoots (and detailed instructions on how to differentiate them from the toxic dogbane shoots), the flower buds, and learn all about ‘milkweed white’, which we’re very eager to try this summer.

Mr. Thayer has chosen to include fewer plants and give more detail, and he’s chosen plants that are local to his location (since he’s from Wisconsin, the plants are also local to us , but a quick browse through his book should tell you if the plants are relevant to your ecosystem.  Luckily, he’s chosen many common plants that grow throughout the United States and Southern Canada, and you’ll likely be surprised at the delicious edible treats offered by some of your favorite and most familiar plant species.

One of the best features is the wild edible calendar he includes in the book.  It serves as an easy-to-use guide that lets you know what’s available out in the woods and fields.  It’s based on a 45 degree latitude and 1000 ft. elevation in the U.S., and is going to be most accurate in ecosystems similar to Wisconsin’s.  The book also includes tons of info for beginning foragers, including tools, harvest methods, and identification tips.

We’ve experimented with many new edibles this spring and early summer, thanks to Samuel’s book.  It’s a must-have in any naturalist’s library, and will add a whole new dimension to your hikes and wanders, whether you’re currently familar with wild edibles or not.  You can purchase your own copy here.  Enjoy!