Wild Food Foraging (Green)

[Steve Smith]

In this forum feel free to share ideas and sources of information regarding foraging for foods that grow wild in the Walla Walla Valley and Pacific Northwest.

What are ways of finding and identifying plants that are good and good for you, and how do you harvest them in a way that is good for the environment and in areas where it is legal to do so.

Morel Mushrooms grow in this area, where do they grow and how do you identify them for example, how does one get permission to harvest them, for example.

[MrAnderson]

As far as identification goes I highly recommend going with someone you trust until you are comfortable with identification yourself. Books help, but there are a lot of look-alikes out there. Morels in my opinion are the easiest to identify and one of the best to pick. The only look-alike is the false morel which doesnt hold the same pine tree like shape if you will.
If you pick on private property always ask permission anything else is free forage at least in Idaho.
The best time to find them is in the spring(now) and mushrooms can grow overnight so anytime it rains the day before I like to go out and look. I learned when harvesting to cut the stem leaving about a 1/4 inch or so in the ground without disturbing the root system. Old skid roads and any place that was burnt a year or two before are great places to find them. Here's a pic I found on the net(I can't seem to remember my camera this year) its a black morel, there are also commons that are kinda a yellow or gray color that are found in this area as well.

[Steve Smith]

Mr. Anderson,
Thanks that is good information. Still have not had the time to get up and look for them. Like what you said about leaving the root system undisturbed. They must grow very fast.

MrAnderson said:

As far as identification goes I highly recommend going with someone you trust until you are comfortable with identification yourself. Books help, but there are a lot of look-alikes out there. Morels in my opinion are the easiest to identify and one of the best to pick. The only look-alike is the false morel which doesnt hold the same pine tree like shape if you will.
If you pick on private property always ask permission anything else is free forage at least in Idaho.
The best time to find them is in the spring(now) and mushrooms can grow overnight so anytime it rains the day before I like to go out and look. I learned when harvesting to cut the stem leaving about a 1/4 inch or so in the ground without disturbing the root system. Old skid roads and any place that was burnt a year or two before are great places to find them. Here's a pic I found on the net(I can't seem to remember my camera this year) its a black morel, there are also commons that are kinda a yellow or gray color that are found in this area as well.