(Image: Beth Jusino via Flickr)

Ah, the bounty of summer. Fresh food is all around. It may be in your garden and it may be at a farmer’s market. However, it may also be out in the open, green spaces, free for the taking.

Urban foraging isn’t just for hippies. Across on Beacon Hill there’s a whole forest for it. Here on the Hill we’ll have to settle for finding good patches. There is still plenty to harvest from our wilds, the “empty” green spaces within a city.

Below is a list of native and introduced species readily found around Capitol Hill and which don’t take a lot of fuss to procure and prepare. A few of the things I mention here are past their best date for harvest, but you can take note and plan for next year. Finally, I’d also like to mention that I’m no authority and there’s risks involved in eating things you find in the wild, or, say, in a parking strip.

Salal (Gaultheria shallon)
I love blueberries. However, unless you are raiding someone’s yard, there aren’t any native ones in the city. There is however a relative. Salal is a common native shrub that grows in both sunny patches and shaded understory. Its berries are reminiscent of blueberries, but have a bit more skin involved. People commonly make jam, preserves, and pie from the berries. Aboriginal people in our region often dried the berries into cakes for later consumption; salal was traditionally a significant source of food and a common sweetener.

Oregon Grape (Mahonia aquifolium)
Personally, I think these berries taste like sour broccoli. However, this native plant flourishes in our climate and the berries can be mixed with salal in preserves or even fermented to make wine and are good antioxidants. The leaves remind us of holly, but they have no relation, nor are they a grape. Peel back the bark on the stem, it’s bright yellow, a traditional yellow dye.

Stinging nettle, photographed in Interlaken Park. (Credit: Brendan McGarry)

Nettle (Urtica dioica)
I can’t help but laugh when people complain about stinging nettle. Just like humidity, snow, and a myriad of other complaints we contrive in the Pacific Northwest, we can’t complain about nettle; elsewhere it’s poison oak and you can’t eat that (ok, there’s some poison oak in Seattle). Nettle, if picked correctly, using gloves, or by folding the leaf from the base inwards towards the tip to avoid the stinging hairs, can be used in a variety of foods. Use it as a substitute for basil in pesto or make tea, both of which will have an earthy taste, but it’s good in soup and is used across the northern hemisphere in a variety of folk traditions. Aim to harvest when the leaves are fresh and young; it’s a good source of potassium, iron, calcium, and vitamins A and C.

Fir, Spruce, and Hemlock Tips
If you are worried about scurvy, you could collect the fresh growth of several species of conifers native to the Pacific Northwest. Steep them to make a tea, and voila, you’ve got an excellent source of vitamin C with the added benefit of electrolytes. No need to buy Gatorade, you’ve got a free citrus flavored drink, readily available wherever there’s a Douglas fir or Western hemlock.

Miner’s Lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata)
Once you know how to identify it, this low growing annual is similarly a good source of vitamin C. If you’re missing a salad, you could do as Klondike gold rush miners did, and munch on some Claytonia. I wouldn’t call it my favorite leafy green, but when society collapses and all our lettuce bolts, I’ll be pretty stoked to have it. Find it in shady wet places, and note the tiny, pinkish white flowers.

Chickweed (Stellaria media)
Like miner’s lettuce, chickweed is a good option for a foraged leafy green. It is non-native and a common weed in almost any garden. Many people love it, because of the array of vitamins and minerals, similar to that of nettle and miner’s lettuce. Plus, it may be growing just about anywhere.

(Image: Beth Jusino via Flickr)

Dandelion (genus Taraxacum)
This was the first “wild” plant I saw someone harvesting in Seattle. A Chinese woman who lived up the block from me asked if she could take the dandelion leaves in my parking strip. Free weeding! I said of course, but didn’t realize they were so beneficial till later, when I discovered the acrid greens were packed with vitamin K and A. Like most greens, go for fresher, younger greens, and if you can’t get over the taste, try blanching them.

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)
I love fennel bulbs, leaves, and seeds for all manner of foods. The seeds are part of many seasonings from around the world, used in Italian sausage and as a main ingredient in five spice powder. The bulbs are delicious braised and raw in salads. The leaves are a great garnish too. When I first started gardening, I planted fennel. Then I saw it everywhere, growing feral along the freeway and tall spires in sunny forgotten corners. Now I don’t plant it anymore, nor do I buy it when this invasive is growing tall in the summer.

Blackberry (genus Rubus)
Ending on a sweet note, you already know blackberries are delicious. Introduced Himalayan blackberries (Rubus armeniacus) are all over the city, unwanted and hacked at, until they bear fruit. Then we gorge ourselves until we forget how much we hate them. There’s native relatives around too, like salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis) and thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus), but they aren’t as prevalent on the Hill, nor do they bare fruit so extravagantly. Nutritional value? Who cares, they’re all delicious.

A salmonberry bloom (which will soon become a flower). Credit: Brendan McGarry

There you have it. Some urban, wild plants to be eaten. Now remember: learn to properly identify what you’re eating, don’t steal from your neighbor’s garden, and this should go without saying, but consider the place you are harvesting from and always wash what you’ve gathered. If you want to learn more, I suggest just searching online, there’s a lot of great local resources including Pacific Northwest focused books and classes. Now, go forth and eat!