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This time of year is when I update my garden book. In the spring, I put in seed names, planting dates and when I fertilized. In the summer and early fall, I log harvest dates and general amounts harvested, and frost times. And this time of the year I make sure I update the back of the garden book.
You see, not all the food I keep track of grows in my garden. Some of the food is outside the garden, and that is what the back of my garden journal is for.
In the back of my garden journal is a list of all the wild food places I pick: where the asparagus grows in ditches, where ground cherries and wild grapes grow at fence rows, where autumn olives and sunchokes grow in waste places, and where cattails and watercress grow near clean water. I have notes on the location of a ditch full of dock that gets to enormous size, and where I put some pawpaw seeds and a tiny seedling is growing. There are maps marking places I’ve found edible mushrooms, blackberries, and even some ginseng (that I’m leaving alone, probably forever. )
This time of year is also when I locate new asparagus spots. The ferns turn a beautiful red-gold and are easy to spot. If the land is public, I’ll be there next spring to get some of the bounty, because I’ve put it in my book.
I make notes about when to gather the invasive garlic mustard seeds that make such nice prepared mustard and goes so well in so many spice blends, and notes on which forest preserves allow people to gather the seeds. One local preserve even puts a sign up each year now when it is time to gather the mustard seeds, as a way to help control the weed.
I also keep a list of all the fruit trees I find. I try to give general ripening times (when the fruit starts falling) and if I’ve discovered the owner of the property, and asked to pick on their land. I keep an eye on the trees, even if the owners say they don’t want them picked, just in case the land sells, or life changes or whatever.
I also keep notes on where the oaks with big acorns grow, and hickory trees, butternuts, black walnuts and hazelnuts. Most of these are in forest preserves that make the nuts off limits, but if my family got hungry you can bet I would be out there fighting the squirrels for those little protein packed nuts.
I don’t forget the smaller foods either. I’ve found quince and currant bushes growing in yards, and fields full of wild garlic. I have my choice of chokecherry and mulberry trees, and I’ve found medicinal herbs too, like elderberries, solomon’s seal, bloodroot, echinacea, sumac, mallows, and loosestrife. If I have permission, I pick what I need, and leave the rest— making sure there is a note with a map in my garden book.
Each year my garden book grows more valuable as I store more and more food in it. If you live in a city, look around. Is that a currant bush in your neighbor’s front yard? Does that tree at the park have huge acorns that could be cracked, soaked, and eaten? Are those mulberry trees growing in the alley? Write it down, and store that food in your book. Do you live in the country? Where are the cattails growing near you? Some part of a cattail is good eating all year long. Are those crab apples in the field down the road, and is that a hickory tree? Your chickens and rabbits would like those if you were low on feed for them during an emergency time. Your family would be grateful to know that they abandoned house down the road has a cherry tree in the back yard.
So, get out your garden journals and start keeping track of the food growing outside your garden.