A Calendar For Gathering Edible Food

Knowing when to search for wild food is the first step in putting some on your table.  My wife Linda and I have actively gathered food from the wild for a number of years and occasionally we teach classes where we share our gathering techniques. 

The following is a calendar that we have compiled after our years of gathering. The calendar identifies the best times to harvest many of the wild food targeted.  A quick glance at our calendar may inspire us to make an outing in search of something edible for the dinner table.  Results of this inspiration are always good. 

The food gathering mentioned requires little more than a plastic bag, pocketknife or possibly a small shovel.  For us gathering is just another excuse to enjoy Washington outdoors, although several of our finds have resulted in memorable delicious meals.  

Vegetables

• Nettles: March-April in moist shaded areas of Western Washington

• Wild Asparagus: May in eastern Washington along irrigation ditches, streams or moist areas

• Camas (blue only): May. Eastern Washington:  Sunny areas that are damp in spring and go dry in summer

• Cattails: June-July.  Fruit is only good when it is beginning to form although roots are edible too.

• Wild onions: May.  They are often found with Camas. 

• Skunk Cabbage: Year round-damp areas (requires lots of boiling).

• Potatoes and commercial onions are often found on eastern Washington roadsides during September harvest following harvest truck spills.  

Fruits

• Peaches: July-September

• Cherries: July (Pie, Bing, And Rainier)

• Pears: September-October depending on variety. 

• Apples: July-October (depending on variety).

• Grapes: September-October,

• Plums: August-September

If you notice unharvested fruit in your neighborhood year after year, don’t forget to ask for permission to take some home.  People are often happy not to have fruit spoil in their yards plus it normally works out as a good excuse to meet your neighbors.  

Mushrooms

• Morel May-June Look around cottonwood trees or pine. 

• Chanterelle: September-October in well established fir forests with good rainfall. 

• Shaggy Mane: Fall in sunny grassy areas.

• Oyster: Fall. Orange Peel: Fall on recently disturbed soil or chipped bark. 

Other varieties contact:
Puget Sound Mycological Society @ 206-522-6031 or web page www.pms.org.
Poison Control: 206-526-2121.

Berries

• Strawberry: Late June-July at local commercial farms. 

  • Wild Strawberry: June-September.  Found in full sun with rocky to dry soil. 

• Blackberries: Himalayan: August-September (Widespread). 

  • Blackberries-Mountain: July.  Sunny patches along hiking trails.  These are small firm berries growing close to the ground. 

• Blueberries: August-September commercial or wild. 

• Huckleberry-Red (July-August).  Widespread and found in forest setting often growing from old stumps. 

  • Mountain Huckleberry: August-September.  Mountain passes. 

  • Evergreen Huckleberry: August-September Widespread.  Currents: July-August as commercial.

• Raspberries-Commercial: June-July western Washington.

  • Wild Raspberries (black) July.  Found near edge of woods near blackberries. 

• Thimble: July Look along hiking trails in damp soil. 

• Salmon: July.  Look along hiking trails in damp soil.  

Nuts

Filbert, Acorn, Pine, Chestnut, Walnut (black) fall.  Look for abandoned trees but be prepared to race the squirrels as the nuts ripen.  Sunflower-wild: Fall.