Feeling a bit isolated without a car for a few weeks, I spent some time really exploring all of the resources in my own back yard in Early June.

For some reason I’ve taken an interest in foraging since moving here. Maybe it’s from spending so much time surrounded by nature, a strengthened sense of resourcefulness out of necessity, or (likely) a combination of the two. On top of that, I have my very own yard for the first time in my life, and it is mostly just… natural. Before there were houses here there was a glacier, then a forest, and then they cleared out some space and plopped some houses in between the trees. Most of my yard just grows without my input. I have many large spruce and hemlock trees, probably a hundred wild blueberry bushes, and about a hundred more species of grasses, mosses, and wildflowers that just… grow all around my house.

In the spring every few days a new plant or flower will make an appearance in my yard and I usually try to identify it, and wait for the next visitor. As it turns out, I also have a vibrant volunteer wild strawberry population crawling across my yard.

I’ve tried to take advantage of my discoveries and move them to locations where they can be admired. I transplanted about 10 strawberry plants to a flower bed, and occasionally isolate a cool wildflower and move it to a place of more honor. I did this last year and was delighted to see them pop up in the same spot this spring!

Apart from wildflowers and plants, I have a few key forage targets I tried out this year. Behold:

Spruce tips

What: spruce tips are the tender buds that grow at the tips of spruce branches. They’re basically the new growth for the season. When they’re still small and tightly packed, they’re more tender and less like eating a handful of spruce needles. Well, slightly.

How: when they’re still short and compact, and may still have the brown papery “hat” hanging off the end loosely, just pluck them off the branch. You want to harvest responsibly, so avoid plucking all of them off of a branch, or pulling them off of a small tree that needs all the mew branches it can get.

Why: the tips are supposed to have health benefits. Sometimes they’re used in recipes or to make an oil or tea. Eating them fresh is a BOLD experience, much like eating a small spruce tree. I assume if you’re a gin person you might like them.

I prefer them dried and made into tea.

Dandy lions

Probably my most prolific crop is dandelions. I tried making them into syrup. Pretty good, but I didn’t end up using it for much. Very pleasant experience working with the cheery yellow flowers and sweet aromas though.