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A Forager’s Year

A Forager’s Year

This is the companion website to A Forager’s Year, the wall calendar of wild foods around Washington, DC. Each of the calendar’s 81 plants has a page here with everything the calendar has no room for: how to tell it from lookalikes, where it grows and where you may pick it, how to use and keep it, and the source behind every line.

Scan a plant’s code on the calendar to come straight to its page, or find it below. Plants are listed month by month, as on the calendar’s pages, with the same numbers.

Mushrooms and other fungi are left out on purpose: mistaking a poisonous mushroom for an edible one can be deadly. National Capital Poison Center

In season in January

In season in February

At their best in March

Also around this month: Burdock, Chicory (roots, bulbs & tubers) (taproot), Common blue violet (flowers, buds & pollen) (flowers), Common blue violet (leaves & tender stems) (young leaves), Dandelion (flowers, buds & pollen) (flower heads (yellow florets; green bracts removed for sweets)), Dandelion (roots, bulbs & tubers) (taproot), Eastern redbud, Field garlic / wild onion (roots, bulbs & tubers) (underground bulbs and the aerial bulblets on field garlic flower heads), Japanese knotweed, Maple, Stinging nettle

At their best in April

Also around this month: Black walnut (sap) (sap (boiled to syrup)), Burdock, Cattail (young shoots) (young shoots / inner core of the stalk), Chicory (roots, bulbs & tubers) (taproot), Chicory (leaves & tender stems) (young basal leaves), Cleavers, Curly dock, Dandelion (leaves & tender stems) (young leaves (rosettes), best before flowering), Field garlic / wild onion (leaves & tender stems) (leaves (green tops), used like chives), Garlic mustard, Hairy bittercress, Japanese honeysuckle, Lamb’s quarters, Orange daylily (young shoots) (young shoots (3-8 in)), Spicebush (leaves & tender stems) (twigs, young leaves and early flowers, for tea (berries covered separately)), Wild mint, Wood sorrel

At their best in May

Also around this month: Cattail (flowers, buds & pollen) (immature green flower spikes and yellow pollen), Common blue violet (flowers, buds & pollen) (flowers), Common blue violet (leaves & tender stems) (young leaves), Common chickweed, Dandelion (flowers, buds & pollen) (flower heads (yellow florets; green bracts removed for sweets)), Eastern redbud, Field garlic / wild onion (leaves & tender stems) (leaves (green tops), used like chives), Field garlic / wild onion (roots, bulbs & tubers) (underground bulbs and the aerial bulblets on field garlic flower heads), Henbit, Japanese knotweed, Linden (leaves & tender stems) (young leaves and leaf buds), Linden (flowers, buds & pollen) (flower clusters with their papery bract, for tea), Plantain, Purple deadnettle, Ramps, Red mulberry, Sheep sorrel, Spicebush (leaves & tender stems) (twigs, young leaves and early flowers, for tea (berries covered separately)), Stinging nettle, Wild mint, Wood nettle

At their best in June

Also around this month: Blackberry & dewberry, Cattail (young shoots) (young shoots / inner core of the stalk), Chicory (roots, bulbs & tubers) (taproot), Common purslane, Japanese honeysuckle, Plantain, Sassafras, Sheep sorrel, Spicebush (leaves & tender stems) (twigs, young leaves and early flowers, for tea (berries covered separately)), Wild blueberry, Wild mint, Wild strawberry, Wood sorrel

At their best in July

Also around this month: American elderberry (flowers, buds & pollen) (flower clusters (umbel-like cymes)), Black raspberry, Cattail (flowers, buds & pollen) (immature green flower spikes and yellow pollen), Chicory (roots, bulbs & tubers) (taproot), Field garlic / wild onion (roots, bulbs & tubers) (underground bulbs and the aerial bulblets on field garlic flower heads), Ground cherry, Japanese honeysuckle, Lamb’s quarters, Linden (flowers, buds & pollen) (flower clusters with their papery bract, for tea), Orange daylily (flowers, buds & pollen) (unopened flower buds, open flowers and spent (wilted) flowers), Plantain, Red mulberry, Spicebush (leaves & tender stems) (twigs, young leaves and early flowers, for tea (berries covered separately)), Sumac, Wood sorrel

At their best in August

Also around this month: American hazelnut, Black huckleberry, Blackberry & dewberry, Carolina rose, Chicory (roots, bulbs & tubers) (taproot), Chokeberry, Crabapple, Japanese honeysuckle, Lamb’s quarters, Pawpaw, Plantain, Spicebush (leaves & tender stems) (twigs, young leaves and early flowers, for tea (berries covered separately)), Spicebush (fruit) (ripe berries (drupes), dried/ground as spice), Wild blueberry, Wild mint, Wineberry, Wood sorrel

At their best in September

Also around this month: Allegheny chinquapin, American beech, American elderberry (fruit) (ripe berries (cooked)), American persimmon, Autumn olive, Black cherry, Blackhaw viburnum, Carolina rose, Common blue violet (leaves & tender stems) (young leaves), Common purslane, Cornelian cherry, Dandelion (leaves & tender stems) (young leaves (rosettes), best before flowering), Dandelion (roots, bulbs & tubers) (taproot), Ginkgo, Ground cherry, Hawthorn, Hickory, Japanese honeysuckle, Lamb’s quarters, Multiflora rose, Plantain, Rugosa rose, Sheep sorrel, Spicebush (leaves & tender stems) (twigs, young leaves and early flowers, for tea (berries covered separately)), Sumac, Wild mint, Wood sorrel

At their best in October

Also around this month: American hazelnut, Burdock, Chicory (roots, bulbs & tubers) (taproot), Chicory (leaves & tender stems) (young basal leaves), Chinese chestnut, Common blue violet (leaves & tender stems) (young leaves), Common chickweed, Common purslane, Curly dock, Dandelion (leaves & tender stems) (young leaves (rosettes), best before flowering), Field garlic / wild onion (leaves & tender stems) (leaves (green tops), used like chives), Garlic mustard, Ground cherry, Henbit, Japanese honeysuckle, Jerusalem artichoke, Kousa dogwood, Multiflora rose, Orange daylily (roots, bulbs & tubers) (small, firm root tubers), Pawpaw, Plantain, Purple deadnettle, Rugosa rose, Sheep sorrel, Spicebush (leaves & tender stems) (twigs, young leaves and early flowers, for tea (berries covered separately)), Spicebush (fruit) (ripe berries (drupes), dried/ground as spice), Sumac, Wild grape, Wild mint, Wood sorrel

At their best in November

Also around this month: Allegheny chinquapin, Autumn olive, Black walnut (nut & seed) (nuts), Blackhaw viburnum, Carolina rose, Chicory (roots, bulbs & tubers) (taproot), Chicory (leaves & tender stems) (young basal leaves), Chokeberry, Common chickweed, Common hackberry, Common purslane, Crabapple, Curly dock, Dandelion (leaves & tender stems) (young leaves (rosettes), best before flowering), Field garlic / wild onion (leaves & tender stems) (leaves (green tops), used like chives), Garlic mustard, Hairy bittercress, Henbit, Hickory, Japanese honeysuckle, Oak, red oak group, Oak, white oak group, Purple deadnettle, Rugosa rose, Sheep sorrel, Spicebush (leaves & tender stems) (twigs, young leaves and early flowers, for tea (berries covered separately)), Wild grape, Wood sorrel

In season in December

Not on the calendar

Not recommended, or practically nothing to pick near DC. Their pages carry the warnings.