The Wineberries have come and gone. The delicious Black Raspberries are in their prime. The Blackberries are just coming in and we still have another few weeks until the Blueberries ripen. It goes without saying berry season is in full swing!
The Green River Ranch is situated in the perfect location to take advantage of nature’s delicious bounty. Perched at around 1000 feet elevation on the banks of the Green River this area is the first part of Western North Carolina to see wild berries come in. Just across the river Walcott Bottoms is truly one of the best foraging places anywhere. When the season has passed at Walcott Bottoms a short (but steep) hike can take you a 1000 feet up to Long Ridge Trail where the berry season is usually about two weeks behind the valley floor. This makes for an incredibly long and diverse harvest season!
Along with berries there are countless other edible plants, mushrooms and fruits thriving in the Green River Gorge. Below is a list of prime seasons for most of the the wild edibles on and around the Green River Ranch and please remember to always be careful when eating anything out in the wild. Lastly if you ever stay at the ranch in late September through October ask us where on the property our delicious Persimmon Trees are. We promise you won’t be disappointed!
January
onion grass, bittercress, rose hips, sassafras root, dandelion root, honey locust pod, turkey tail mushroom & chaga fungus (both year-round)
February
rose hips, onion grass, bittercress, sweet birch twig, pine needle, honey locust pod, chaga fungus
March
pine needle, sweet birch twig, bittercress, wintercress, onion grass, chickweed, dead nettle, garlic mustard, daylily tuber, wild ginger, burdock root, evening primrose root, chaga fungus, tree syrups
April
black morel, ramp, wild ginger, violet leaf & flower, redbud flower, forsythia flower, daylily shoot and tuber, burdock root, Japanese knotweed shoot, creasy greens, bittercress, onion grass, stinging & wood nettle, dandelion leaf & flower, dead nettle, evening primrose root, waterleaf, sweet cicely, sochane, chickweed, wild mustard, garlic mustard, daisy leaf, oyster mushroom, toothwort leaf & flower, spring beauty leaf & flower, spiderwort, basswood leaf, solomon seal leaf, stone crop, sweet birch twig, spicebush twig, trout lily leaf, angelica leaf & stem, cattail pollen
May
waterleaf, violet flower & leaf, onion grass, ramps, yellow morel, wild ginger, bamboo shoot, wisteria flower, black locust flower, milkweed asparagus, dryad’s saddle mushroom, chickweed, money plant pods, stinging & wood nettle, sochane, reishi mushroom, greenbriar tips, spruce & hemlock (tree) tips, strawberry, elder flower, chicken of the woods, pine pollen, rose, Oregon grape fruit, sassafras leaf, sweet birch twig, spicebush leaf, stone crop
June
chicken of the woods, strawberry, reishi mushroom, greenbriar tips, mulberry, serviceberry, feral cherry, elderflower, day lily bud, daisy, honeysuckle & other flowers, blackberry, wood nettle, milkweed flower buds, sassafras leaf, sweet birch twig, mimosa flower
July
chanterelle mushroom, lambsquarter, wineberry, blackberry, may apple fruit, purslane, elderberry, bee balm leaf & flower, day lily, milkweed & rose of Sharon flower, sassafras leaf
August
elderberry, blueberry, lambsquarter, purslane, milkweed pod, paw paw fruit, lobster mushroom, leatherback milk cap, boletes, and other mushrooms
September
honey mushrooms and many others, fairy potato, autumn olive berry, amaranth seed, paw paw, persimmon, wild black cherry, chestnut, kousa dogwood fruit, pears, apples, quince, lambsquarter seed
October
acorn, hen of the woods mushroom, brick top mushroom, fairy potato, autumn olive berry, kousa dogwood fruit, persimmon, chestnut (for grubs), chickweed, beauty berry, calendula, honey locust pod, nettle, sochane, waterleaf, fox grape, prickly pear fruit, red sumac berry, quince, hickory nut, spicebush berry, hawthorne berry, black walnut, evening primrose seed
November
brick top mushroom, jerusalem artichoke, burdock root, dandelion root, sassafras root, lambsquarter seed, chickweed, nettle, acorn (for grubs), black walnut, beauty berry, prickly pear fruit, passionfruit, red sumac berry, acorn grubs
December
burdock root, dandelion root, sassafras root, chickweed, foxtail millet