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Picture
From left to right: onions, green basil, yellow St. John's Wort flowers, red currants.

HARVESTING, EATING 
& PRESERVING LIST

From Theresa:
I made this harvest list for several reasons:
  • Mostly to remind myself what I could be harvesting, and how to eat it and/or preserve it. There are so many types of plants growing in my yard and that can be foraged nearby, it's easy to overlook the available possibilities.
  • To convince myself that there is a lot of food in my yard, even though I often don't feel very good at conventional gardening.
  • To help myself remember where to find further information among all the books and records I have. (Sources mentioned or indicated in parenthesis are at the end of this page.)
This lengthy list is more of a wish list of what I'd like to do than a list of everything I can find the time to do, so don't be intimidated. It may make it look like we harvest enough to feed ourselves year-round, but that's not the case at all. When I list the wild grape harvest, it doesn't mean I get enough jars of the best grape jelly I've ever had to last me the whole year, I get one or two. If I actually pay attention to this list, and post it in the kitchen every Spring, I expect the amount of foods and medicines I harvest will increase. The list is meant to inspire me to do more. 

I first got the idea of creating a harvest list from Sharon Astyk's book, Independence Days (see Sources below). in which she shared her own version. I've included my lists below for viewing, but you can also get a version in a Word file so you can modify it for your own harvest year: 
Harvest List in a Word file
Safety Note: I wild forage plants to eat and I use plants medicinally, both of which should only be done it you have sufficient knowledge of how to do them safely (because many plants have poisonous look-a-likes and some people may be allergic to some herbs). The information below is just a list, it's not meant to tell you how to do either of these activities, but it may inspire you to learn more about them when you see how much the plant kingdom has to share with us.

SPRING HARVEST: 
MARCH, APRIL, MAY, JUNE

  • Black Walnut syrup: tap trees in Feb/Mar
  • Fiddlehead Ferns (leave 1/2 for fern to survive)
  • Morel Mushrooms
  • Wild ramps: great in pasta
  • Giant Solomon’s Seal: eat shoots like asparagus
  • Burdock:  shredded w/carrot, fried
  • Spring greens:  nettle, chickweed, dandelion, chives, garlic chives, perennial onions, sorrel
  • Soup:  Yard soup/ Spring greens in cream base
  • Sorrel: in soup (need 2 large handfuls), stir fries, mixed greens, use like cooked spinach, with fish sauce; can do multiple cuttings per season- first tips in April can be dug up and eaten in salad with lovage, chives, dandelion greens, Egyptian onions; when stems grow tall in mid-summer, cut the plant back and new leaves will grow until Winter
  • Rhubarb stalks:  don’t harvest all at once; use for sweetened sauce, chutney, sweets, drinks, in soup, savory recipes, rhubarbaide drink; leaves are poisonous
  • Rhubarb stalk:  freeze (no blanching) or can sauce; simmer in a little water & sweeten- eat like applesauce
  • Rhubarb flower buds: edible like cauliflower
  • Chives:  in cheese ball, freeze in cubes, dry leaves & flowers (use in omelets, potatoes, soups, stews); good on rye bread; make lots of chive blossom vinegar for salad dressing
  • Dandelion:  eat crowns steamed; leaves: steam or double boil & serve with butter and vinegar or cream with nuts;  Grandma’s recipe:  leaves wilted with bacon, add sugar & vinegar, serve over mashed potatoes, hard boiled egg on top; make wine; blossom vinegar for salad dressing; flower oil is good for sore muscles- is anti-inflammatory
  • Yard salad:  base:  violet leaves, chickweed, lamb’s quarters, baby kale/chard, beet leaves; use small amounts of more sour herbs, or only young leaves of:  lovage (emerging purple tips), sorrel, dandelion leaves, beebalm leaves; use flowers:  chives, calendula, white clover, borage, beebalm, scarlet runner bean

Picture
Nettle, chives, and Spring garlic from our yard.
  • Lovage:  young, raw leaves (before flower stalk grows) for: salads, eggs, fish;  fresh celery- like stalks for:  soups, compost; dry leaves for: soups, salt substitute
  • Herbs & Spices to dry:  nettle, chives, lovage, feverfew, thyme
  • Lactoferment:  greens
  • Roses:  dried petals for tea, butter, or sugar (add fresh petals to layers of either)
  • Perennial onions- bunching: use raw like scallions when small; when large, white base can be used like onions, don’t eat when flowering (just before or after)
  • Spring tonics:  nettle, chickweed, burdock, dandelion (make infusions)
  • Violet flowers: good for sore throats & cough- soak flowers in honey for a month, refrigerate
  • Chickweed:  vinegar for Winter use, pesto, tincture for weight loss
  • Sunchokes:  dig up, very sweet, eat raw in salads, make coleslaw?
  • Spring garlic in butter pasta (see recipe at the end of the Celebrate Spring page)
  • Poppy: harvest seeds to sprinkle on breads?
  • Lettuce from garden

SUMMER HARVEST:
JUNE, JULY, AUGUST

  • Plant bush beans wherever harvesting has opened up space
  • Strawberries, fresh, frozen, dehydrated (ID)
  • Garlic scapes:  with pasta, can pickle (ID)
  • Lettuce
  • Summer Solstice herb harvest to dry:  mint, sage, bee balm eaves, oregano, dill, thyme, catnip, savory, feverfew, comfrey, NJ tea, yarrow
  • St. John’s Wort flowers: oil & tincture (for backaches)
  • Plaintain leaves: oil for salve (for wounds, bites, stings)
  • Comfrey: make medicinal oil for salve, make compost tea for garden
  • Elder flowers: tea, wine/cordial
  • Red clover flower:  dry for tea
  • Mint:  can mint syrup for adding to water in Winter (ID, p. 152)
  • Oils: comfrey, St. John’s Wort, plantain
  • Tinctures: St. John’s Wort, yarrow (stops bleeding)
  • Feverfew leaves & flowers:  chew 3-4 leaves a day to prevent migraines (can add honey), dry leaves in tea for 20 min. infusion; also good for arthritis
  • Bee Balm:  leaves fresh or dried for tea (young ones best), tomato dishes; fresh leaves: in fruit cups, in salad (young ones); makes a great vinegar that is good to add to water for drinking (not sure if flower or leaf)
  • Basil: pesto, pesto pizza, in salads, see drying instructions on index card, cut back to almost lowest leaves once per month to keep from flowering so can reharvest
  • Drying parsley and basil:  see instructions on index cards to retain color and taste, use dehydrator
  • Borage:  flower- candy, in salad (tastes like cucumber), in drinks; young leaves in salad
  • Swiss Chard:  in Peasant Rissotto recipe
  • Wild Salsify (June)- identify:  white sap when broken, all parts edible when tender, leaves before flower stalk grows, shoot 4-16” steamed, flower bud steamed w/butter, flower bud stem very tender to 6” best raw, root can be cellared like carrots (NG p. 471)
  • Turkish rocket- raw young leaves like mustard greens; flower buds, steam like broccoli, don’t let them flower (PV)
  • radishes
  • green onions
  • snap peas
  • peas:  buy from farmer’s market and freeze
  • grape leaves:  see Stalking the Wild Asparagus, eat, preserve in salt
  • Lamb’s quarters: young leaves are great fresh in salads, all leaves can be eaten cooked
  • Plantain leaves: youngest leaves are best, before flower stalk appears, raw or cook lightly
  • Zuchinni/ Summer Squash:  muffins, rellenos recipe, dried spicy chips (ID, 152), grate & freeze for baking/extending ground beef, Winter muffins
  • Cucumbers:  make pickles, can relish
  • Cucumbers:  Fresh salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, basil, vinegar & oil; or mayo/yogurt, onion, dill
  • Tomatoes:  ambrosia (bake w/garlic & olive oil on low temp until all moisture is gone), canned, tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, V8, dehydrate, can salsa for Spanish rice & Mex beans, fresh in no cook tomato sauce
  • Sweet peppers:  freeze, dehydrate
  • Hot peppers:  freeze serranos, dehydrate poblanos for use in Mexican food; can banana peppers for pizza & sandwiches
  • Beets:  beet burgers to eat/ freeze
  • Yard Salad:  baby chard, basil, calendula, nasturtiums (leaves & flowers), parsley, dill, lamb’s quarters, tatsoi
  • Cabbage:  make coleslaw
  • Kale:  sautéed fresh with bacon/garlic/olive oil, freeze for winter soups, dry for thickener
Picture
Garlic and beets from the garden.
  • Sweet corn:  soup (Love Soup- p. 302), fresh and frozen; freeze, dehydrate
  • Tomatillos:  salsa verde to can or freeze (recipe in blue binder)
  • Beans:  fresh, frozen, leave some to dry
  • Greens that are going to bolt:  dehydrate & grind up as fillers for flours or soups
  • Can jams to use to sweeten oatmeal
  • Raspberries- July:  pick from bike trail/yard, freeze, eat in yogurt cheese pie, cheesecake, make vinegar
  • Wild Grape: make jam
  • Elderberries: make syrup, dehydrate berries
  • Currant berries:  jam, dehydrate, eat raw, use in bread dough, black current in tea is a cold remedy, juice (Living w/Herbs, p 118)
  • Gooseberry
  • Goumi: eat raw
  • Blueberry: eat raw, make cobbler
  • Mayapple: eat fruit when it’s turned brown and soft (poisonous otherwise)
  • Beets:  pressure can, store in damp sand in root cellar
  • Fermenting:  sauerkraut
  • Plant in July to store in root cellar:  carrots, beets, cabbage, celeriac
  • Plant in July:  more kale and collards
  • Garlic: harvest (late July) when at least 3 green leaves remain on stem; dry for winter, save some for replanting
  • Lamb’s Quarter seeds (late Aug):  like quinoa, put in soups and stews, use like poppy seeds, make flour- use in place of 1/2 flour in a recipe, cook & eat as a hot cereal
  • Winter fires, prepare:  fill small shed with twigs, wood chunks, make paper bricks
  • Dry Herbs:  marjoram, oregano, basil, dill
  • Salad burnet:  cucumber flavor, only use fresh, add to dips/spreads/cheese, use in cider vinegar for making salad dressing, add to salad dressing with basil, dill, garlic
  • Peaches:  can whole, can BBQ sauce, brandied peaches, freeze 
  • Vinegars:  raspberry, bee balm leaf
  • Calendula flower:  use fresh in salads, dried has a sweet & salty flavor in soups & stews, turns rice yellow
  • Edible flowers:  bee balm, calendula, borage, chives, scarlet runner beans, nasturtiums
  • Plantain seeds: for fiber, dried- can let dry on plant or pick when green and hang to dry- wait until after they flower, leave the husks on for the most fiber; winnow to remove husk (seed is tiny & dark) & grind to a powder, add butter 1:1 & freeze for peanut butter
  • Sumac berries (red only, white is poisonous): pick from bike trail beyond restaurant, when stem still green before rain washes away lemon flavor, remove from stem to make drink; dry berries for Winter use as drink & Turkish condiment
  • Prickly Pear cactus: pads, fruits (NG)
  • Yucca: eat flowers, fruits

Bear's Cute Quote:
Know Thy Yard & Eat It

FALL HARVEST:
SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER, NOVEMBER

  • Amaranth seed:  harvest & winnow dried seed
  • Amaranth leaves:  use like spinach
  • Apples:  apple sauce, dehydrate behind wood stove
  • Brussel sprouts
  • Cider syrup for pancakes (ID)
  • Venison: freeze, can (hunting season starts around Thanksgiving)
  • Beef, lamb:  buy from Holly
  • Cabbage:  sauerkraut, coleslaw, red cabbage w/raisins, cabbage rolls (freeze)
  • Herbs:  dig up and pot to take into house for Winter:  parsley & basil
  • Valerian:  dig up root, dry (for insomnia)
  • Beans:  dried on vine, store for soup, save seeds to replant
  • Seed saving for replanting:  cilantro, dill, lamb’s quarters
  • Last farmer’s market- take a wagon:  buy garlic for winter ($20), squash will be on sale in large bags, carrots and beets for root cellar
  • When consistently cold, fill root cellar:  sunchokes, beets, apples, onions
  • Multiplier onions:  dig up, replant small bulbs, store large bulbs
  • Plant multiplier onions mid-Sept:  plant in mid-Sept, 6” apart, tip of bulb even with surface
  • Plant Garlic:  plant in mid-Sept, 3-5” apart, 1” deep
  • Groundnuts:  harvest part of patch each Fall, can be harvested year round- stores best in ground, must stay moist in storage- will last to Spring in leaf mulch, store in plastic bag in fridge

Picture
Scarlet runner bean ready to harvest for use in soups.

  •  Walnuts:  harvest, dry, shell; dried green husks have <5% ascorbic acid; dried fruit rind or bark used as tooth cleaner; fruit rind used to paint doors, window frames (tannins protect wood), rind of unripe fruit is a good source of tannins; leaves used as tea, crushed as an insect repellant, in root cellars keeps mice? away
  • Pine cones: store to use as fire starters

After Frost (happens between Sept. 27 & Oct. 3):
  • Sunchokes:  dig up tubers & store in sand in trash can in attic, leave some for Spring harvest
  • Rose hips:  for tea- cut in half & remove seeds, dry; syrup; jam; soup
  • Kale tastes best after frost
Picture
Carrots in the process of being stored in our root cellar.

WINTER & ONGOING 

  • Manage stores- check for signs of spoilage: 
         Onions:  when start to shrivel, can dehydrate them
         Apples:  if going soft, make sauce
         Squash:  if gets a spot, cut it up and freeze or can it
  • Use up what you have preserved.

Key to Sources Mentioned:

ID = Independence Days: a Guide to Sustainable Food Storage & Preservation, by Sharon Astyk.  ISBN: 978-0-86571-652-0

NG = Nature’s Garden:  A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting, and Preparing Edible Wild Plants, by Samuel Thayer.  Wild forging book from a Wisconsin author.  ISBN: 978-0-9766266-1-9. 

PV = Perennial Vegetables:  From Artichoke to “Zuiki” Taro, a Gardener’s Guide to Over 100 Delicious, Easy-to-Grow Edibles, by Eric Toensmeier.  ISBN: 978-1-931498-40-1.  $35.   A great source for information about little known perennial vegetables.

Stalking the Wild Asparagus
 by Euell Gibbons.  ISBN:  0-911469-03-6.  A classic published in 1962 about edible weeds and wild foraging.  Has very good instructions on preparing  wild foods. 

Living with Herbs:  A Treasury of Useful Plants for the Home and Garden, by Jo Ann Gardner.  ISBN:  0-88150-359-2.  Learn about some multi-purpose, edible plants.

Index Cards, Blue Binder = These are other ways I try to keep the vast amount of information I'm learning accessible. The index cards have my garden notes and recipes, the blue binder stores my canning records. I'll be adding more about these later.

May You Be Inspired to Learn More About What You Can Harvest in Your Area!

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