California Foraging Guide for Beginner Foragers
California Foraging Guide for Beginner Foragers
California Foraging Walks
While in California I filmed two of my Foraging Walks. These are ideal videos for an introduction to foraging in California. The blogs include transcripts for those that would rather read the information. The blogs also include the plant lists.
Foraging Walk for Beginners in Griffith Park, Los Angeles
Foraging Walk for Beginners in Santa Cruz, California
Foraging Books
These are the top books I recommend for foraging in California:
Medicinal Herbs of California: A Field Guide to Common Healing Plants by Lanny Kaufer
Foraging books are one of the most excellent resources that exist to learn how to forage. Not that long ago, there were very few books written by knowledgeable foragers, but now there are quite a few excellent books. I’ve shared some of my top foraging books below.
My absolute highest recommendation for books that are not focused on California is to get Samuel Thayer’s first three books and then his field guide to top that off. These books are one of the best investments that a forager can make and they can quickly pay for themselves with the money you can save at the grocery store. His books are relevant across the entire United States, but more the East coast than the West coast.
The Forager’s Harvest, Nature’s Garden , Incredible Wild Edibles, Samuel Thayer’s Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Eastern and Central North America
Find A Forager Database
There are an incredible number of people who desire to connect with the land and learn how they can work with the plants in their region. There are already many online resources and books available to begin foraging but I believe the best way to begin foraging is by learning from a knowledgeable forager in your area. Many local foragers are out there, but they can be hard to find, especially for people who have just awakened to this possibility.
Find A Forager is a database that we created to help you to find a forager near you that you can learn from in person.
Here are all of the foragers in California from the Find A Forager Database. I can personally recommend Christopher Nyerges/School of Self Reliance, Lanny Kaufer, Pascal Baudar and TrashPanda Permaculture as excellent foraging teachers.
Bryan W. Bramlett
Berkeley, California, USA
healingecosystems.com
Classes
healingecosystems@gmail.com
Pascal Baudar*
La Crescenta, California, USA
Arizona, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Oregon and abroad: Belgium, France
urbanoutdoorskills.com, Facebook
pascal@urbanoutdoorskills.com
Calflora**
Berkeley, California, USA
calflora.org
510-883-3148
Aaron Grabiel
Palo Cedro, California, USA
harvestwild.com, Facebook, Instagram
Classes
harvestwild@gmail.com, 530-356-2189
Lanny Kaufer
Ojai, California, USA
Santa Barbara / Ventura / Agoura, California, USA
herbwalks.com, OjaiHerbal.org,Facebook, Instagram
Books
805-646-6281, 805-797-2072, lanny@herbwalks.com
TrashPanda Permaculture (aka Jung & Christopher O’Maelmacasa)
Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, USA
trashpandapermaculture.com, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube
Classes
Trashpandapermaculture@gmail.com
Catch’ n Cook California – Dr. Kev
All of California coast
catchncookcalifornia.com
Charles W. Kane
California, Texas, Arizona
medivetus.com, Facebook
Tim Corcoran
Mount Shasta, California, USA
hwos.com, Facebook
Classes
info@hwos.com, 530-938-1304
Kevin Feinstein*
Oakland, California, USA
feralkevin.com
feralkevin@gmail.com
Kyle Dall
Redding, California, USA
kyledallmt@gmail.com, 530-722-8349
Terry Sardinas
Aptos / Santa Cruz Mountains, California, USA
birdvalleyorganics.com, Instagram
regenerativebynature@gmail.com, 510-502-6629
Headwaters Outdoor School*
Santa Cruz, California, USA
hwos.com, Teachers
Classes
info@hwos.com, 831-423-3830
Ellen Kelley*
Santa Catalina Island, Avalon, California, USA
USC Wrigley Marine Science Center
Christopher Nyerges/School of Self Reliance
Los Angeles, California, USA
schoolofself-reliance.com, Facebook, Instagram
Classes
info@schoolofself-reliance.com, 626-791-3217
Heather Pier*
Auburn, California, USA
916-996-1739
Jim Robertson*
Santa Monica, California, USA
aboriginalskills.com, Facebook
Classes
j3rbrts@dslextreme.com, 310-395-0943
Hank Shaw*
Sacramento, California, USA
honest-food.net, Facebook, Instagram
scrbblr@hotmail.com
Jess Starwood
Greater Los Angeles, CA, USA
jstarwood.com, Facebook
Classes
jess@jstarwood.com, 805-208-2511
Alexandra Hudson
Davis, California, USA
alchemistress.world, Facebook
Classes
alexandraevanshudson@gmail.com
Tanya Stiller
Berkeley, California, USA
healingtide.com, Facebook, Instagram
Classes
tanya@healingtide.org, 510-517-7862
Jane Bothwell
Kneeland, California, USA
dandelion.com
Classes
707-407-5617
Carrie Galore
Berkeley / North California, USA
forkinthepath.org, Facebook, Instagram
Classes
forkinthepath100@gmail.com
Foraging and Mushroom Hunting Women
Southern California, USA
womenforagesocal.com, Facebook Group, Instagram
Info@womenforagesocal.com
Nature Reconnection: Earth School
Wrightwood, California, USA
naturereconnection.org, Instagram
Classes
community@naturereconnectionclass.com
Bat Vardeh
Pasadena, California, USA
Los Angeles, Ventura County, Orange County, San Diego, Santa Barbara
Facebook
Bat@womenforagesocal.com
Daniel Goldberg
San Francisco, California, USA
yelp.com/biz/gracious-harvest-and-the-shuckers-prize-san-francisco
Classes: Offering guided forays and wild food cooking classes, please reach out via phone or email to schedule.
shuckersprize@gmail.com, 347-454-4914
ForageSF
San Francisco, California, USA
foragesf.com, Facebook, Instagram
Classes
info@foragesf.com
Lauren Kemple
Gold Hill, Oregon, USA
Rogue Valley and beyond, Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion of Southern Oregon and Northern California
backyard-wildcraft.com, vitalistbotanicals.com, Facebook, Instagram
Vitalistbotanicals@gmail.com, 541-450-2871
Intro to Foraging
Food and medicine is growing freely and abundantly all around us! And most of us are walking, cycling or driving past this food and medicine every day without even realizing it.
We are a society that has largely become disconnected from the land. For many of us, our food simply comes from the grocery store and that’s the end of the story. For others, we’ve connected to the farmers who grow our food and maybe even have visited the farms, or we grow some of our own food at home. But, while we spend much of our time and money on growing and purchasing food, the earth is growing much of our food freely, right in our own yards, gardens, public parks and wild spaces – perfect places for foraging!
Now, much of the industrialized society will say, “Yeah, but you’ve got to leave that for the animals!” Guess, what? There’s food and medicine for the animals, and for us, too! We can not only harvest in a sustainable way, but in a way that gives back to Earth and the plants and animals we share this Earth with. This is called reciprocity.
Whether it’s a deeper connection to Earth, healthier food or to simply reduce your monetary needs for food, this guide is here to help you harvest the abundance of food and medicine that is growing all around us. And yes, I can assure you, that there IS food and medicine growing around YOU, too!
I have foraged from the colder Northern climates of the Great Lakes region in both Canada and the United States down to the tip of Florida, from the Atlantic coastal states to the Pacific Ocean of California and the deserts and prairies in between, not to mention countries around the world. I’ve been to 49 states and six continents, and from West to East and North to South, food is growing all over! Cold climates, deserts and tropics all have their own abundance whether in the city or the wild. The resources exist to help you get started, but only if you apply yourself. Nobody else can learn this skill for you.
For more information beyond this California specific guide, see my Foraging Guide for Beginner Foragers
In this guide you will find:
- How to forage sustainably
- How to forage safely
- Top tips for new foragers
- Books for foraging
- Social media accounts to follow
- Gatherings to attend
- General Resources including the Find a Forager database, Find a Spring database and Falling Fruit – a foraging app and map. The Find a Forager database is designed to help find foragers and resources regional to you.
- Videos to teach you foraging and inspire you
Gatherings to Attend
Imagine spending multiple days immersed with expert foragers and other folks who are reconnecting to the Earth through learning the skill of foraging. These gatherings exist. Here I’ve shared a few with you.
Earthskills gatherings are often a wonderful resource to learn the skills of foraging, but there are so many more skills to be learned at these gatherings. These are weekend to week-long gatherings ranging from a few dozen to a few hundred (or even a thousand) people depending on the particular gathering. They are focused around teaching and learning the skills to work with the earth. Earthskills gatherings are a wonderful place to not only take foraging classes but to connect with other foragers in your region and build your community. The same goes for all of these gatherings:
Buckeye Gathering: “At Buckeye we gather around reverence for all of life, around ancient knowledge and life-giving practices. We gather around craft, beauty and connection. We are exploring and rediscovering how to embody a reciprocal relationship with the earth. We are intentionally focused on building a healthy culture that deepens connection among all beings. It’s a place that people return to year after year to celebrate the spring and share wisdom and ideas with one another. We are a watering hole for embodying our ancestral roots. What all of our ancestors had in common was each other, being in community and a shared culture deeply rooted in place. In pre-industrial times people were more tapped into the rhythms and wisdom of nature, ceremonies rose out of reverence and direct relationship with the land, and so did tools, homes, vessels, everything really. We gather to practice, to be immersed in life-ways that help us remember our deepest humanity grounded in love and connection to all of life.”
The Acorn Gathering: “The vision of the Acorn Gathering is to create a space where all walks of life can come together and share earth-based, primitive and ancestral skills. For us, there’s no greater joy than seeing a village of people doing what they love, teaching and learning, playing music, eating around the fire, hearing the laughter of children, and watching young and old eyes find new passion. Whether it be making their first friction fire, weaving a basket or shooting their first bow, this is a time where we can let go of the patterns of our daily lives, connect with each other and enjoy being together on this Earth.”
More Resources
Find a Forager Database – I created this database to help you find a forager in your area. There are over 300 foragers in the US database and 100 foragers in the international database. It’s likely the largest public forager database in the world. Through this database, you can also find foraging resources specific to your region.
Find A Spring – Using this website you can find pure wild water!
Falling Fruit website and app – Thousands of people have taken the time and energy to map out foods that are growing freely all around us on the Falling Fruit website and app! There are hundreds of thousands of fruit trees and other edibles on the map already. I have used this in numerous cities to find an abundance of food. You can add the foods that you find as well. If you have trees in your front yard that you want to share, add them here!
See a lot of fruit going to waste in your neighborhood? Start a group to collect the food and distribute it the community. Concrete Jungle in Atlanta is one example of a gleaning food rescue program. See How To Start a Food Rescue Program for some guidance.
