Is Foraging Safe? You Decide

I started foraging on purpose back in 2006 when I went out picking blackberries along the side of the road and brought them home to make jam. Foraging wild fruits is a great way to get started because there are many fruits that we can all recognize easily (blackberries, raspberries, apples, rose hips, and more) and when you KNOW what plant you’re looking at you’re not likely to get hurt.

The Number ONE Rule of Foraging is this: Do NOT eat something unless you are 100% certain what it is.

The same goes for making herbal medicinal compounds and remedies. I don’t want to hear about you accidentally poisoning yourself with the wrong plant or mushroom any more than you want to have that experience.

When I talk about foraging on social media, my goal is to encourage you and get you excited about the prospect of finding your own wild foods or medicinal plants and help provide you with the tools and resources you need to turn those plants into delicious food dishes or powerful herbal medicines.

I want you to know that it IS possible to live a sustainable, self-sufficient lifestyle. You CAN learn how to do this safely.

But I also want you to understand that I’ve been learning how to do this through books, the internet, and trial and error for over 18 years. And I STILL occasionally misidentify things.

So while I want to encourage you more than anything to start foraging and to know that herbs and plants can change your life (whether they’re made into food or medicine) I also need you to be aware that there ARE risks involved in foraging.

If you are a beginner, the best place for you to get started is right outside your own back door. Many plants are both edible AND medicinal (plantain, calendula, burdock, dandelion, etc.) and getting to know those plants on a deeper level is much more important than trying to identify every single plant (or mushroom) that you see everywhere you go.

Foraging becomes riskier when you start venturing into the woods or fields or places that you are unfamiliar with. A good rule to follow for yourself if you’re identifying any new plant is to positively identify it at least 3 times before you consider picking it for food or medicine.

You can use a plant identifying app, sure, but they are not always 100% accurate. I recommend you also join a foraging group online or attend some in-person foraging classes so you can get your eyes on these plants over and over. Touch them, smell them, and (if it’s safe) taste them! Using all your senses to experience a plant is going to help you develop a relationship with it and cement its identification into your memory.

When working with plants as medicine, if you are a beginner, please stick to safe plants. There are many wild plants that are safe if consumed even in large quantities and that can really help your body in different ways (stinging nettle, cleavers, ginger, and more). Even as a seasoned Herbalist, I will tell you that most of what I work with are safe plants. How do you know if a plant is safe? The most certain way is to check in your herbal reference book whether the plant is safe for pregnant women to take. You can’t get any safer than that!

My eBook, Commonly Misidentified Plants, can give you a good start on learning to identify some very common edible and medicinal plants and their lookalikes. But you also want a good field guide like a Peterson’s Guide or one of Sam Thayer’s wild foraging books!

If you want to become more confident about working with plants medicinally or you feel a calling to become a practicing Herbalist, I encourage you to take a class! You can take my Remedies From Nature herbal medicine making class to learn the techniques and foundations, but I encourage you to take as many classes and read as many books as you can. I went through Heart of Herbs Herbal School for my certification and can highly recommend them for furthering your herbal studies.

Medicinal plants can support our bodies in many wonderful ways, and supporting your body’s natural functions is the main way I work with herbs. But remember, I’ve been doing this for a long time and I have discovered that I have a knack for it.

Not everyone is cut out to be an Herbalist. And that’s okay!

You can still get out there and safely learn to identify a handful of plants that you can add or incorporate into your diet and lifestyle. The vitamin and mineral content of many wild plants exceeds that of what you can buy at the store, and for that reason I do encourage foraging. Once you recognize the plants.

As far as herbalism goes, there absolutely ARE plants that can kill you. And there are certainly mushrooms that can kill you too. The most common symptom from eating something toxic is going to be vomiting, but that’s why you should always try just a SMALL AMOUNT of the plant or mushroom once you have positively identified it. Because even if it’s not toxic to 99% of the human population, YOU might have an allergic reaction to it or it might not agree with YOUR stomach. I don’t like to talk about it often, but I have absolutely eaten a new plant or mushroom for the first time and gotten diarrhea. It’s not fun!

Another thing I want to mention, because lots of people send me messages or comments asking for help, is that if you have a serious medical condition (stroke, brain aneurism, poisoning, broken leg, chronic severe constipation, and more) PLEASE go see a doctor. I’m not a doctor. Do not message ME (or some other herbalist) asking how you can heal it at home.

There are times you need a physician or surgeon! If you’re using your last few breaths to type a message to me about how to get snake venom from your thigh instead of calling 911, I do not know what I did to give you the idea that I could cure you but you need professional help.

There are hundreds of symptoms and conditions you can help yourself with at home (the common cold or flu, a sprained ankle, sliced finger from a kitchen knife, mild diarrhea or fever, and others) and those are the kinds of problems I love helping people figure out. You can learn how to take care of these regular, everyday problems at home.

If your kid is staying home from school with a sore throat and cough or an upset stomach for a day or two, I can probably recommend a few remedies. If your husband is vomiting profusely to the point of dehydration or your child’s fever is so high that they passed out, YOU NEED A DOCTOR.

It’s up to YOU to determine the severity of a physical ailment for you or the members of your household. I hope that makes sense. I know there are some people out there who are determined not to have anything to do with doctors, hospitals, or pharmaceuticals. But sometimes you need them!

Some medications are necessary life-savers (i.e. Insulin or heart failure inhibitors). Some medications are unnecessary and just line the pockets of the pharmaceutical executives. YOU have to do your own research or rely on your experience to determine which ones are right for you. Everyone’s body is different. And yes, I take thyroid medication, so I can say this from personal experience.

Your health decisions are both YOUR right and YOUR responsibility.

Thousands of foragers practice herbalism on themselves and their families. Very few of them talk about it publicly. Mainly because of what I’ve said in this post. It’s simply too dangerous to be giving any kind of health advice when saying the wrong thing to the wrong person can result in a lawsuit, or even worse, land you in prison. I WANT to help you heal yourself, but I don’t want to go to jail because you asked me how to cure your cancer. Even if I thought otherwise, I can’t talk about “curing” anything. Even doctors don’t cure people most of the time.

I hope I can be part of helping you learn how to help yourself when the situation demands it. Herbalists like me can be step one, but we will not give you medical advice. And I will ALWAYS tell you if I think something you’re asking me is out of my scope of knowledge or if I think you should see a doctor.

Please be safe, and be responsible. And comment if you think I missed anything!