Wild Harvests

 ESCI 477 WETLAND PLANT IDENTIFICATION This IN PERSON FIELD CLASS meets MWF June 21-July 9 for 8 all day field trips. Learn to Identify wetland plants found in the freshwater marshes, salt...

http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2021/05/wetland-plant-id-class.html

Softstem Bulrush (Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani) I don’t usually start an educational article by trying to prove how confusing something is, but bulrushes are a bane for many botanists...

http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2019/09/how-to-eat-bulrush.html

Velvetleaf Blueberry I dropped my wife off at the Vancouver Airport so she could fly to the United Arab Emirates to study their coastal wetlands. When saying our goodbyes, she pronounced ...

http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2019/09/the-blueberry-bounty-of-burns-bog.html

For years my brother Christian has been working as a guide in SE Alaska. While I always closely follow his explorations on his “Life on Water” blog, this summer he persuaded me it was tim...

http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2019/08/wild-food-adventures-in-glacier-bay.html

I never knew Sand Verbena (Abronia latifolia) until I took an ethnobotany class at Fairhaven College with John Tuxill in 2007. One of our assignments was to create a Coast Salish ethnobotany ...

http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2019/07/sand-verbena-mana-of-sand.html

In early January, I spent a week foraging for wild foods along the coast of the Olympic Peninsula with some kindred spirits. Typical of winters on the Peninsula, we had some intense rain, but ...

http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2019/06/coastal-wild-food-mission.html

Last week I paddled down the North Fork of the Skagit River to Craft Island with my brother Christian and Lindsey for a barbeque on the beach. I found a healthy population of Giant Vetch (...

http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2019/06/giant-vetch-sketchy-vetch-pea-or-tasty.html

This fall I took 13 Western Washington University students to Nepal to study the biodiversity, culture, and ethnobotany found in the central Himalayas for seven weeks. We trekked through Langtang...

http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2018/01/nepal.html

Dwarf Bilberry The Pacific Northwest has a whopping 14 species of Vaccinium, the genus containing huckleberries, blueberries, bilberries and cranberries. With such dazzling diversity, it has...

http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-elusive-and-excellent-dwarf-bilberry_1.html

Blackcap Raspberries (Rubus leucodermis) are as beautiful as they are delicious. Yesterday while picking, these ripening fruit inspired a photo shoot. Look for Blackcaps in clear-cuts and sunny ...

http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2016/07/blackcap.html

While the native Edible Thistle (Cirsium edule) may be my favorite (see previous post), the introduced Bull Thistle (Cirsium vulgare) is pretty darn good too. Bull Thistle is a well armored ...

http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2016/07/another-tasty-thistle.html

I first ate Edible Thistle (Cirsium edule) a few days after my 15th birthday while hiking with my Boy Scout Troop. Each year we spent a week on a “high adventure,” and this particular year w...

http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2016/07/edible-thistle-unprickled.html

In the Pacific Northwest, we have several ethnobotanically significant angelica species. Many are so aromatic that I have never thought of them as food, but this weekend while hiking in t...

http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2016/06/eating-angelica.html

Katrina and I just returned from a long weekend ricing in Idaho. Here are some videos of our techniques. © Wild Harvests 2011-2012. Wild Harvests by T. Abe Lloyd (http://www.arcadianabe.blogspo...

http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2015/09/how-to-harvest-wild-rice.html

Spring has arrived. The cheerful song of the American Robin wakes me up each morning, their is enough daylight for late afternoon frivolities, and the Western Chorus frogs are calling so jubi...

http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2015/03/how-to-eat-horsetail.html

Our warm winter has not been good for Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum) sap production in Bellingham. There were some decent freezes in the late fall, but I didn’t bother tapping. In the past,...

http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2015/03/birch-maples-sappy-boyfriend.html

Inspired by my brother's video of the rice hulling, I decided to put together a video of my rice parching equipment. Using this system I can parch 10-12 lbs of rice in 20 minutes. © Wild Harves...

http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2015/01/wild-rice-parching.html

My brother produced this fun video of my bicycle powered Wild Rice husking/hulling machine. I designed and built it myself with the help of my dad. It is made from a recycled 55 gallon steel dr...

http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2014/11/wild-rice-husking-machine.html

My bicycle powered wild rice hulling machine. Photograph by Evan Abell WWU student writer Michelle Dutro and photographer Evan Abell spent an afternoon harvesting and processing wild foods w...

http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2014/10/klipsun-magazine-features-local-foragers.html

Ripe Beach Peas in the half shell I first learned that Beach Peas (Lathyrus japonicus) were edible from my college friend Joe as we were walking along the south shore of Lake Superior. I was...

http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2014/09/beach-pea-elusive-edible.html

Ripe berries of Coastal Black Gooseberry In my estimation, the tastiest of the many types of currants and gooseberries that are found in Western Washington is Coastal Black Gooseberry (Ribes...

http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2014/07/coastal-black-gooseberry-ribes-to-rave.html

The last camas flowers have fallen, their green leaves withered, and the grass around them parched golden under the long day’s sun. All around the Salish Sea the plants of thin soiled sites ar...

http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2014/06/harvest-brodiaea.html

The Methow Valley in north central Washington is a paradise of plants that explodes with color during the short period between the bitter cold winters and the dry dusty summers. For the last sev...

http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2014/05/yellow-bell.html

The branching taproot of Bitterroot A few weeks ago Katrina and I traveled to Missoula for the Northwest Scientific Association Conference. She presented her Master’s research and we both ...

http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2014/04/bitterroot-mts-live-up-to-their-name.html

It snowed 8” in Bellingham on Feb 23rd and for the last week, the Bigleaf Maple taps have been running copiously. February 26th was the best day of the year so far and I collected 66 gallons o...

http://arcadianabe.blogspot.com/2014/03/bigleaf-maple-sap-running-strong.html