Native wild edibles of the PNW

[The Heretic]

Here are a few that I found and recognized on my property.

Oregon grape. Not ripe yet (I think). I don't have very much of this, but I am thinking of planting some along the road because it is evergreen and the leaves are like holly so they are something of a barrier that people won't want to walk through.

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[The Heretic]

Thimbleberry.

I have a lot of these plants, but you need a lot as they don't produce many berries and the berries are small and crumbly. The berries are not particularly sweet or filling, but they are easy to find and pick.

 

[The Heretic]

Salal

I have a LOT of salal on my property. It is a very common groundcover bush in the woods west of the Cascades (and on the west side of the Cascade mountains).



The berries look like small blue berries, but they are not anywhere near as sweet.

 

[theguncrank]

Thimbleberry.

I have a lot of these plants, but you need a lot as they don't produce many berries and the berries are small and crumbly. The berries are not particularly sweet or filling, but they are easy to find and pick.

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You can also make a therapeutic tea with the leaves good for headaches and minor pains.

 

[edslhead]

Are blackberries wild? I've never paid attention out in the boonies.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Euell Gibbons liked him a pine cone.. up until the habbitrail broke. just kidding!
I have a cousin that gathered, researched, authored, photographed and illustrated a couple a big books all on her own when she was 17 in Montana way before de innernet. Kinda interesting.

 

[The Heretic]

Are blackberries wild? I've never paid attention out in the boonies.

The Himalayan Blackberry is an invasive non-native plant.

That said, they are "wild" in that they are usually not purposely planted by humans (usually their seeds are spread by animals that eat them) and they are plentiful. As a "wild" food source, I have more blackberries on my property than anything else. If I have my way (and I am having my way with them - pun intended) I will eliminate most of them, at least the ones I can get to with my flail mower.

The Himalayan blackberry plant is difficult to control. My current approach is to mow them with the flail, and then spray anything that comes up out of the ground with glycophosphate (generic Roundup weed killer) and to pull them up manually. A more eco-friendly approach would be to use goats, but they are expensive to hire and inconvenient for me to raise/keep.

These blackberries are abundant near civilization or farms of any kind, and even on the edges of more wild areas that abut rural lands. They are a decent source of food, but they also take over land that can be used for raising better crops, and they can take over fruit trees and other food crop plants and even houses and buildings if left uncontrolled. They can also be a fire danger because inside the bush is a bunch of dead and dry bush canes (stems) - when they catch fire they go up like someone poured gas on them.

They are useful in some ways to a prepper; besides being a temporary food source (the berries are ripe for a short time), they can serve as a light barrier to human travel (you can get through them - even quietly - if you have the right tools - it is just slow going) and they can serve as a visual barrier too. They are not stout enough to be a barrier for a heavy vehicle - unless they hide heavier cover inside them.

A place my family used to farm has a barrier of blackberries between the fruit trees and the road - the owners have apparently purposely put all their branches and prunings into the blackberries and it looks to be a formidable barrier to vehicles unless they are large and moving quickly - I think part of the reason they did this, besides the problem farmers have with people stealing crops along a well traveled road, is that that section of the road is an s-curve that is known for people running off the road which bring them into contact with their fruit trees.

 

[edslhead]

Interesting info. I don't remember seeing any out by MT Adams last year , but then I wasn't looking for them. Ya see plenty locally in town. There was lots of mushroom pickers out there.

 

[Chalupacabra]

The young Oregon Grape leaves are delicious before they get tough and flavorless.
I took a useable plant class around Alberta St. that was taught by Rebecca Lerner, who is a local(Portland) author. Very informative. She knows her plants. Kind of a hippie, but it IS Portland lol.
Her blog: http://firstways.com/

 

[Kristina]

Also: the roots of Oregon Grape, while quite hard to harvest and process, contain berberine which is a potent anti-you-name-it.

Dandelion is probably the most common and overlooked edible plant out there. Every part of it is edible and medicinal to boot. Chickweed is almost as common in the PNW and much tastier.

This subject is a bit of a passion of mine. Call me a hippie, but if SHTF I won't have to rely as much on canned goods for my food.

 

[Mark W.]

Camus a root was a staple of the local Indians.

The Wild Black Berry in Oregon is called the Evergreen the produce later in the season and are smaller then Blackberries but with a much better flavor.

Crab Apples are all over the West side mostly along older roads as they were planted and sown for horses to snack on.

 

[edslhead]

Huckleberries are easily found in many wild areas. Make great pancakes.

 

[The Heretic]

The Wild Black Berry in Oregon is called the Evergreen the produce later in the season and are smaller then Blackberries but with a much better flavor.

Yes, I have the wild blackberry (Rubus ursinus) on my property too - I forgot about that. The vines are much much smaller than the Himalayan, and not as invasive; they run along the ground (I am always tripping over them) and through bushes but don't form huge clumps of brambles like the Himalayans (at least not on my property) - you don't notice them that much, and the berries are much smaller and much less abundant. Just the same, I am always removing these vines from my landscaping plants - while the vines are smaller and easier to pull, they break easier so I often don't get them down to the roots like I can with the larger non-native blackberry.

 

[CoastRange57]

My current approach is to mow them with the flail, and then spray anything that comes up out of the ground with glycophosphate (generic Roundup weed killer) and to pull them up manually.

Blackberrries are more of a brush plant and if you go with Crossbow at 1 ounce per gallon of water, a surfactant at the label rate ( + a little bit maybe) and if a little bit of diesel found its way in there too, it will knock the shi* out of them much better and faster than glyphosate. They are just too woody for glyphosate to be effective on them. It simply cannot be translocated with out being diluted too much in the plant.

Controlling black berries is a never ending process. Your mowing method will work on new growth, on older vines the more leaf surface you can spray the better your results will be. Fall and spring are best times to get them.

 

[SOrez]

Here are 3 that I have read are edible.
Purslane also known as pigweed
The leaves and roots of Plantain
Wild Mustard

 

[45alive]

Acorns and the soft skin lining between the Bark and Wood of some Pine /Conifer Trees can be made into Flour. The Pine Tree lining is dried and then ground into Flour. I believe the Acorns are Boiled , Dried and then ground into Flour. Pine Needles can make Tea as well and tastes pretty good. The ''Manzanita'' Tree means Little Apples in Spanish for the little red Berries it produces and I am not sure if the Berries are edible or not. My favorite meat is Rattlesnake and there are plenty of those around.

 

[45alive]

Here are a few that I found and recognized on my property.

Oregon grape. Not ripe yet (I think). I don't have very much of this, but I am thinking of planting some along the road because it is evergreen and the leaves are like holly so they are something of a barrier that people won't want to walk through.
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[The Heretic]

Blackberrries are more of a brush plant and if you go with Crossbow at 1 ounce per gallon of water, a surfactant at the label rate ( + a little bit maybe) and if a little bit of diesel found its way in there too, it will knock the shi* out of them much better and faster than glyphosate. They are just too woody for glyphosate to be effective on them. It simply cannot be translocated with out being diluted too much in the plant.

Controlling black berries is a never ending process. Your mowing method will work on new growth, on older vines the more leaf surface you can spray the better your results will be. Fall and spring are best times to get them.

I've had decent luck with glyphosate, but it has to be high concentration (50/50) and it takes a while (a month or two) but they eventually die. I have had it work on both blackberries and even scrub maple which is much more woody than brambles.

I mow the brambles because I will have to mow them anyway to get rid of them, whether dead or not (it is too dangerous to burn them in place), and then it is easier to just spray the shoots that come up from the roots instead of the whole bush.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Neat stuff. I'd like to take a field class on identification of certain specific plants around here.. kinda been looking at parks and rec offerings just now.
In my stompings, I often find/see (in high "swampy" areas) what seems to be wild leeks or ramps (though I don't think ramps proper occur out here). Never pulled one or anything but they stink so good.

 

[pokerace]

Salmon berries are edible. Orange colored to red (over ripe) Lot of stickers on the branches.