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YouTubeI noticed some publicly accessible fruit trees in Marion Village last fall, and just recently read an NYTimes article about urban foraging. I'm curious, what are our urban foraging opportunities here in Columbus? Has anyone come across public fruit trees/berry bushes? Maybe there's some delicious stuff going to waste (or maybe not, since we're not exactly Cali)...
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Urban Foraging
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michaelcoyote
!seabus
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Lukos7 wrote >>
I noticed some publicly accessible fruit trees in Marion Village last fall, and just recently read an NYTimes article about urban foraging. I'm curious, what are our urban foraging opportunities here in Columbus? Has anyone come across public fruit trees/berry bushes? Maybe there's some delicious stuff going to waste (or maybe not, since we're not exactly Cali)...There are plum trees and raspberry bushes in fruit right now as well as wild greens coming up just about everywhere.. Manatee knows about this stuff.. She's pointed out wild shisho, chicory and other edible plants.
Posted 2 years ago # -
hungrywoolf
Victorian Village
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The library has quite a few books about wild food/ edible plants and foraging. It might be worth checking some of them out.
http://catalog.columbuslibrary.org/?q=wild%20foodPosted 2 years ago # -
Core_Models
Columbus
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Mulberries can be found in the big bush at Schiller Park too. Of course, I know this because every year Bugsy rolls in them under the bush and comes out a bit purple.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Manatee
The eternal present
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If you take Pacemont west off of High Street in Clintonville, it dead-ends at the river/bike path. Make a left on that bike path and there are TONS of mulberries, a limitless quantity if I remember correctly.
There is also a white mulberry on my street, this is the first time I've tried them, they're really good!
And check this out, from wiki: The White Mulberry is scientifically notable for the rapid plant movement of the pollen release from its catkins. The flowers fire pollen into the air by rapidly (25 µs) releasing stored elastic energy in the stamens. The resulting movement is in excess of half the speed of sound, making it the fastest known movement in the plant kingdom.
The other thing that is nice about mulberries is that, in traditional Chinese medicine, the fruit is said to help the very symptoms one experiences when mulberries are in fruit: when it's really frigging hot.
P.S. Although chicory root is sometimes used to blend with or substitute for coffee, I wouldn't use any from the city, because of the soil quality here.
Roots of plants like chicory chelate heavy metals out of the soil, don't want to mess with that. Just admire the pretty flowers-- but don't try to pick them, they will fade immediately!
Posted 2 years ago # -
michaelcoyote
!seabus
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I see a berry picking meetup in our futures...
Posted 2 years ago # -
turnedNOTburned
Grandview/Columbus, Ohio
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I would hope that people pick and eat as many mulberries as possible, those trees as SO invasive and difficult to kill. Consider it a public service to keep the population in check :) (did you know they're related to oSage orange? good for naturally repelling spiders in basements - hang them in pantyhose near spiders and they'll go away)
Posted 2 years ago # -
blammo
in the shadow of the wonder of bread
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Manatee wrote >>
This has the potential to be a really awesome thread with possible legal entanglements :DThe best threads are! I see mulberries all over the place, especially on Say by 5th right by my place. I haven't really indulged in those since I was a kid & they sort of "liberated" my bowels a bit. A handful or so can be pretty tasty though. Has anyone ever encountered an urban apple tree that wasn't either sour as hell or eaten up by bugs & critters?
Posted 2 years ago # -
Mercurius
First Avenue
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I like making sumac-ade
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/staghorn.asp
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/Sumac-Lemonade-Recipe.aspxThere are staghorn sumacs in Goodale Park.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Mercurius
First Avenue
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blammo wrote >>
Manatee wrote >>
This has the potential to be a really awesome thread with possible legal entanglements :DThe best threads are! I see mulberries all over the place, especially on Say by 5th right by my place. I haven't really indulged in those since I was a kid & they sort of "liberated" my bowels a bit. A handful or so can be pretty tasty though. Has anyone ever encountered an urban apple tree that wasn't either sour as hell or eaten up by bugs & critters?
There is a good apple tree on E. First Ave that my friend Sarah (the queen of urban foraging) made apple crisp from. It was delicious.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Tenzo
Chicago Lakeshore
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awwww dman, I just remembered I missed gooseberry time again.
It's just near the end of asparagus season. A good asparagus area will continue to produce multiple times a year. What we eat are actually asparagus shoots. they make pretty bushes, but you can only eat the shoot.They are mostly found along the edge of cow pastures, so I'm not sure if that qualifies as urban.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Lukos7
Merion Village
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Hmm...here's the link to the google map, I can't seem to get the image to imbed correctly... Hopefully, anybody can add to this as spots get discovered!
View Urban Foraging in Columbus in a larger map</small>
Posted 2 years ago #
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