Don’t overwhelm yourself, start with one or two plants in your area you can easily identify. Take pictures of anything you find and want to identify so you can reference it later. Pick a location that is free of pesticides and that has a clean water source. If you are foraging mushrooms, don’t eat any that are growing off of treated wood! They are contaminated. It is also a good rule of thumb not to eat anything 30 feet within a road. Mushrooms and plants may suck up some of that smog, road run off, and the sides of roads are usually chemically treated. Think about the water that the plants are being exposed to, that’s what you will be consuming!
Research everything! You need to know the fakes and lookalikes just as well as you need to know the edible plant. The most dangerous types of poisonous plants for foragers are lookalikes. Especially when it comes to popular edible and medicinal plant life. An unexperienced or careless forager can really hurt themselves if they do not make sure they are doing the proper research. Do not eat anything you are not sure of! Taking note of what mushrooms are growing on or around for proper identification.
Stay away from identification apps! They are not always correct, and it can be dangerous to have a false answer. Instead, try looking for books about forgeable plants and mushrooms in your region. Many forums like reddit and Facebook have groups dedicated to identifying plants. You can post your pictures there to get help on identification, and it also has helped me a lot by learning through others posts. Use multiple resources with your research and identification! This is going to make sure you have an accurate idea of what you found.
Wait for the wild plants to ripen. Don’t pick them just because you found them and are excited! You should be familiar with what it looks like ripe and unripe, as lookalikes may only look like the younger version of the plant. Don’t over harvest! If foragers over harvest these plants and mushrooms they won’t grow back. Also when we are foraging in the wild we are taking food sources from wild life. Make sure no endangered species need the food to survive that you are about to take. If it does, don’t take any at all!
When hunting mushrooms, use a breathable sack or a basket for transporting them. This allows the spores to spread as you move along and will promote more growth! You should also bring a knife with you, it is best not to disturb and uproot the mycelium by pulling a mushroom out of the ground. It’s also handy to be able to cut them open when you find them, to see if they’ve been hollowed out by bugs and to help your identification. A good rule is to only take 10-20% of what is there to leave some for other foragers and wildlife. Don’t take the last few left of any either, they need to keep some of whatever they grow to propagate and keep growing. Don’t get greedy, stay kind and courteous.
Speaking of being kind and courteous… be kind to your fellow foragers. You don’t have to tell them all of your spots but gatekeeping a hobby is never cool. Don’t intentionally mislead someone else, or be selfish. Don’t be that guy, don’t leave your trash! Littering is disgusting and scummy. People do it anyway, help out our planet and bring a trash bag with you to collect trash and toss it when you get to a trash can.
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