How To Get Started Foraging - Practical Guidance For Absolute Beginners

Afterthoughts and addenda
TOUCHING PLANTS - you see me touching plants during the ID process here. There aren't many plants in the UK that are unsafe to touch (there are a few) but that doesn't hold true in all parts of the world, so... look with your eyes only until you at least have a working knowledge of any irritant or unsafe-to-touch plants in your locality.
USING AN APP - there are apps you can get that will try to ID a plant from a photo. As a cautionary note, I tested one of these with a photo of Poison Hemlock and the top suggestion from the app was Cow Parsley (and Hemlock wasn't anywhere in the list). These apps may have a use in supplementing other references, or pointing you in helpful directions, but an ID-by-photo app is not a substitute for the processes of identification I discussed in this video. You should never rely solely on an identification from an app, if you cannot make the same positive identification by observing the detailed features of the plant.

1&3 are poisonous

My guess purely based on appearance is that 1 is poisonous and the rest are edible. Obviously I have no foraging knowledge and would not eat 2–4 without knowing what they are.

This edible ain't sh- 🤯

The other day I found what looked like wild raspberry’s in the woods and ate some like a dumbass. Turns out they were wild raspberry’s

This is the resource I've been looking for to teach me how to think while foraging. Brilliant! Thank you!

I said 3 and 4

Guessing all are safe to eat except 3!

I guessed 4 and thought 321 was poisonous. Comes to find out cow's parsley is edible but similar in looking... 😅better safe than sorry...

For those who don't have access to a handbook, the plant net app is a good tool to help identify plants alongside the handbooks. Not sure if I'd use that app to determine whether things are edible because it can be wrong sometimes

I picked 3 and four I survived I only chose 3 cause in looks kinda spiky plants tend to be spiky when their edible to protect themselves

I live in NZ and I can assure you that if I tried to forage for my food here, I'd be dead within the hour. So many delicious looking berries..

Have you ever dehydrated ground elder? If so, does it work has a dried herb?

For the game I guess two. Number one is water hemlock which is poisonous.

eyy, I identified the plants at the beginning correctly! Though I still always stay away from feathery plants, just cause the chance of making a mistake is too large for comfort.

Blimey!

Brilliant video, very comprehensive, presentation excellent going out tomorrow for a looksee . Thank you, subbed

Nettles, ramsons, hedge garlic, cleavers, dandelions - there's plenty to go at that's dead easy. This time of year.

Another good tip for beginners is to identify the plants that you already know.
The common daisy (Bellis perennis) has obovate scalloped leaves that grow from a basal rosette. The flowers are bright yellow discs with ray florets, sometimes tinged pink at the end. Go and have a close look at daisy's and you'll start to understand what these terms mean and it will help you identify other plants in the family or with similar features.
Do this with every plant that you know, there will be more than you think. Dandelions, tulips, bluebells, ect.
Be 100% sure.

No 1 looks like hemlock, non hairy carrot leaves.

Man… I will probably never forage anything in my life but I am so relaxed by this video. Soothed to the bone.

PS....Oh, listen those Chiffchafs, makes you glad to be alive.

Dear Atomic Shrimp, could you explain to us one day how the pinate sytem of classifying Hemlock and Apeciae leaves works, apparently there are five splits but I can't work it out, many thanks.

Foraging is nice BUT should talk about gathering seeds, cuttings to be more accessible even at home, including indoor in winter with sprouts, microgreen, Kratsky hydroponics etc. That is how gardens transformed a foraging society!

i knew what the first two were. i didn't know what the others were, but i knew at least the ones that would kill me for sure!

I guessed right as a fluke, I assumed that the one with hairs/needles was the only one that seemed to developed a defence. The others seemed pretty confident they weren't at threat of being eaten.

I just purchased the two books from the channel "home is where our heart is" they are very very detailed foraging guids called "the knowledge to forage"

Yeah... Foraging is kinda scary when you're not a pro... Or like, looking to become a pro.
There's a reason I only forage Blackberries, Raspberries and Strawberries, which don't have any poisonous lookalikes. At least in my country, dunno about others lol.
Also did rosehips one time, but they were a pain to get actually edible in comparison to the others lol.

Fun fact, the flora guide in my country is organized by color, and then sub-catergorized by numer of flowers/leaves etc.
So if you come across a plant with a purple flower that has small clusters of flowers, you just go to the purple chapter, look up plants with flower clusters and then look at the images until you find one that matches exactly.

Leafy plants/grasses and other "non flowering" plants have their own chapter... it is 🥁 the green chapter

This is very informative and refreshing experience. Thank you!

Be careful with cow parsley too though! It looks very similar to Giant Hogweed, whose sap is phototoxic (it will burn your skin on contact with sunlight). If you're going to cut a patch of it down, wear as much clothes as you can and probably some eye protection too. The sap tends to fly everywhere when cutting.

The section when you take us thru most of the book pointing out the different pages that contain similar but different plants to the common comfrey was super comforting. Have you ever done storytime for kids?

I reckon 2 & 3 are unsafe as they have no holes in the leaves and thus might be unsafe

So I would have survived No.1 but died from No.2 😅

2parsley

1 with its blotchy stems?😮
Oh,dear r.i.p. me!!

Thanks to this video I have been trying to spot some plant on my walks 👌

My first foraging mistake was when I was so excited to eat the pile of fiddleheads (ostrich ferns) I had found in the woods until I got home, second guessed myself, and realized I had nice, fuzzy, not so edible Christmas ferns. That gave me the lesson I needed to really pay attention to things like the shapes of stems, which would have been an immediate tell-tale sign that I had the wrong plant. 🫣

Lesson learned!

This is an excellent video!

The picture of the crane is a heron.

Ye beware fools parsley!

Wild edibles? Hell yeah count me in.

If you eat number 1 and number 2 the effects cancel each other out and you’re fine.

*wanders through forest

"Let's see if we can find some plants to identify"

It's chilling to think of all the people who blithely recommend foraging if there is a food shortage.

This has been a useful guide!
Now we know to troll the yanks!
Slice up some dropwort (a non lethal dose), put it in a sandwich, (or a cheeseburger to get their attention!) Mix it with some lettuce and offer it to them!
"Here you go American buddy! I know our countries had our differences, but I think it's time for that to change! A toast to new friends!"
And watch them gag. 😈

Oh look, there's cow parsley in my comments section.

Where should people get good proper field guides?