Foraging Wild Foods in June

June is wonderful in the High Country of North Carolina. There is so much to forage. There are also plenty of April and May wild foods still available for foraging where I live in Western NC during June:

• Bluntleaf dock (Rumex obtusifolius)
• Dandelion (Taraxacum)
• Bishop’s weed (Aegopodium podagraria)
• Purple Deadnettle (Lamium purpureum)
• Violets (Viola)
• Lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina)
• Mint (Lamia)
• Plantain (Plantago major)
• Sweet Cicely (Osmorhiza)
• Watercress (Cardamine rotundifolia)
• Branch lettuce/saxifrage (Micranthes micranthidifolia)
• Burdock (Arctium lappa)
• Woodland Stonecrop (Sedum ternatum)
• Common Vetch (Vicia sativa)
• Hawthorn (Crataegus)
• Spruce Tips (Picea)
• Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)
• Beech (Fagus)
• Wood Nettles (Laportea canadensis)
• Geranium (Geranium spp.)
• Wood sorrel (Oxalis stricta)

June (new) wild foods, in general order of their appearance:

 

Honewort (Cryptotaenia canadensis) — leaves, flowers, stems raw or cooked

1. Honewort and Wood Nettles in Miso Soup

Red and White Clovers (Trifolium pratense and Trifolium repens) — leaves and flowers raw or cooked

1. Red Clover and Plantain Salad
2. Clover Cornbread

Spiderwort (Tradescantia) — blooms raw, stems and leaves raw or cooked, depending on age

1. August Greens and Flowers for Lunch

Berkeley’s Polypore (Bondarzewia berkeleyi) — tender outer edges of the mushroom “leaves”, sauteed

1. Berkeley’s Polypore Harvest
2. Berkeley’s Polypore Mushrooms

Bee balm (Monarda) — leaves and blooms raw or cooked, or for tea

Asiatic dayflower (Commelina communis) — upper stems, flowers, and leaves, raw or cooked

1. 8 July Greens and Two Flowers

Daylily (Hemerocallis fulva) — buds and flowers, *young* stems and leaves raw or cooked

1. Green Salad with Daylily Buds
2. Wild Nettles, Mushroom, and Daylily Feast
3. Daylily Buds, Stems, and Leaves with Rice

White Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) — young leaves and flowers, raw or cooked 

1. Mock Strawberries, White Yarrow, and Spiderwort

Morels (Morchella esculenta) — whole mushroom, cooked

1. First Ever Morel

Chicory (Cichorium intybus) — root roasted and ground for tea

1. Chicory, Ghost Pipe, and Hiking Buddies

Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) — flowers raw

1. August Greens and Flowers for Lunch
2. Jewelweed, Maple Leaf, Wood Sorrel, Red Clover, & Goutweed Salad

Clearweed (Pilea) — leaves raw or cooked

Galinsoga (Galinsoga parviflora) — flowers, stems, and leaves raw or cooked

1. Heal-all and Galinsoga Greens
2. Galinsoga Greens

Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis) — flowers raw or cooked

1. 8 July Greens and 2 Flowers

Heal-all (Prunella vulgaris) — all but the root raw or cooked

1. Heal-all and Galinsoga Greens
2. Mung Bean, Heal-all, Wood Sorrel, and Daylily Salad

Pennsylvania Smartweed (Polygonum pensylvanicum) — leaves and stems raw or cooked 

1. Foraging Pennsylvania Smartweed Greens

Lady’s thumb (Polygonum persicaria) — leaves raw or cooked

Lamb’s quarters (Chenopodium album) — leaves and stems raw or cooked

1. Staghorn Sumac, Lamb’s Quarters, Purslane, and More

Wild (black and red) raspberry (Rubus) — young leaves and fruit, raw or cooked

1. Raspberries and Spiderwort
2. Black Raspberries are Ripening!
3. Male Io Moth & More Black & Red Raspberries

 

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Please remember: Always be 100% certain of your identifications before harvesting or eating any wild food. Harvest sustainably, so that the plants can keep growing. And don’t forget to tell the earth and all her gifts “thank you.”