On Edible Plants and Foraging

We are lucky.

Here in Los Angeles County, there are several experts on wild edible plants. I've worked with two of them thus far--all for the cost of $20 per class.

I've only taken one class with Alan Halcon, although I believe he's more known as an overall survival guy than a plant expert. However,  I learned from him that you can use coyote weed to stun fish and that there are many varieties of willow. I first saw watercress with him. The class I took with him was on trapping basics, but I learned a little about wild edibles as well.

Christopher Nyerges is probably the best known in the area, as he's been teaching survival skills to the Los Angeles public since 1974. His field guide, Foraging California, is an excellent resource for wild edibles found in our own state. He also teaches regular classes at Pasadena City College, and has been a go to resource for National Geographic as well as the TV show, "Naked and Afraid".


He was the first one to show me how similar deadly Poison Hemlock and Filaree are. Through Christopher I was exposed to Curly Doc, Watercress, certain mushrooms, Filaree, wild cherries, Chickweed, Buckwheat, mustards, Yucca, Purslane and Carob among others. I also learned how to make incredible acorn flour pancakes from him.

Christopher taught me how to make a bird trap and some basic dead falls. I honed my skills with a bow drill and hand drill because of Christopher. I also now carry a magnesium ferro rod on my key ring at his suggestion that "everyone should always have a knife and a ferro rod wherever they go." You can find him on Meetup.com .

Pascal Baudar is mainly a plant expert--specifically in making wild edibles into gourmet fare. His new book to be released on March 4, 2016, "The New Wildcrafted Cuisine: Exploring the Exotic Gastronomy of Local Terroir" promises recipes using bug shit which turns to sugar, fermented beers from Mugwort and recipes incorporating mushrooms collected near Hansen Dam. Pascal not only knows a tremendous amount about foraging edible foods in California, the creations he concocts are nothing short of truly inspirational and forward thinking.

He hosts weekly meetups at $20 a pop under the name The Los Angeles Wild Food and Self Reliance Group. There are always at least 10 people along for the culinary ride. I honed my knowledge of Watercress, Curly Doc, Buckwheat, Chickweed and Yucca from him. I learned about Turkey Tail Mushrooms, firmly learned how to distinguish Poison Hemlock from Filaree and/or Chervil, learned about Blue Dick, poisonous Wild Cucumber, Miners Lettuce, Wood Sorrel, Mugwort, White Sage, Black Sage, Yerba Santa, Meditteranean Mustard, Everlasting, Cleaver even Agave from Mr. Baudar.

I even now understand how to easily tell blackberry from poison oak.

Through him, I got to enjoy pears poached with mugwort and sage topped with a sugar made from bug poop. Extraordinary! If there's one thing Pascal has taught me it's that perhaps I won't have to choke down charred squirrel, Instead, maybe I can wrap it in wild herbs and bake it in a clay oven. Perhaps rather than simply surviving, I will be thriving.

Both his and Mr. Nyerges' Meet-Ups are a steal for the money. I highly recommend them both.

I depart for my wilderness trip the last week of July, 2016. I still have much to learn, but my plant identification skills are right on track.

I get to hunt wild turkey on Saturday, and I've got a navigation class next week. I study every spare chance I get.

Things are getting exciting!