Tag: reference books

Book Report: Foraging Texas

I got this book at the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center. I’m sure glad I did, because I thoroughly it and learned how many things right outside the house are delicious. Foraging Texas: Finding, Identifying, and Preparing Edible Wild Foods, in Texas (2021), by Eric M. Knight and Stacy M. Coplin, is the most fun and sensible foraging guide I ever read.

The authors, who apparently know my friend Linda Jo, strike a great balance e between caution and curiosity as they teach about edible plants. First, they insist you read the chapter on toxic plants, some of which I could go take you to right now (very healthy poison ivy vines). I do now know my water hemlock and friends, and simply won’t eat anything growing in the water, at all. Even the yummy ones might have pollutants in them. Sigh.

Sample page

The authors focus on plants that are plentiful (many, if not most, non-native) so as not to encourage folks to contribute to a species going extinct. You’re heartily encouraged to eat annoying plants like bastard cabbage (they tell you to pull it up after you harvest the flowers, which proves to me that they have met Linda Jo). That woman hates bastard cabbage.

Bastard cabbage submitted by me to iNaturalist.

For each plant there’s a map of where to find it, a thorough botanical description (there’s an index of terms), comparison with any toxic lookalikes, how to harvest, and a recipe. Some recipes are like, just eat it. Other plants seem so hard to harvest that I wonder if it’s worth it. So many stickers and prickles to remove in your prickly pear fruit (tuna) or heart-leaf nettles. I’d say I’ll pass, but those fruit are so tasty.

Prickly pear with developing fruit at top. 2024.

Very few other plants are described as tasting delicious (dewberries are!). Most are okay.

Unripe dewberries, 2024.

I think the fun is mostly finding edible plants around you and knowing what’s a good hiking snack.

Found these today. You can eat flowers and roots, pink evening primrose.

Today I ate plantain seeds, because there are many in the pasture right now. I’m not going to go gather a bunch to share with the family. I could sneak chickweed in a salad, though. It’s tasty.

Bracted plantain. Much prettier than the kind I ate.

I will probably keep this reference book in the RV for reference when traveling. There are more comprehensive foraging books out there, but I like that this one covers the area where I live and is enjoyable to read. Now enjoy some pasture flowers.

Pink lemon beebalm
Full pond!
Bitter weed
Blister beetle

Do You Need a Bird Book?

If so, I recommend The Sibley Guide to Birds, Second Edition. It’s by David Allen Sibley. Not a surprise. I mentioned earlier this week that I read it from cover to cover (literally, since the covers and end pages are also interesting).

Repeat image. It’s allowed.

Sibley is an incredibly talented illustrator and I have found his detailed photos of similar birds like sparrows and warblers very helpful. His descriptions of birds and their calls are quite accurate but also funny at times. I love how he tries to write out what a bird song sounds like, then calls them dull or wheezing or whatever.

Orioles

The maps are also helpful in trying to see if a bird is likely to be seen or heard where you are. I found a few to look out for here!

It’s a bigger book than many bird guides, so it would be hard to carry around in the field, but I like to really be able to see the images. I carry Merlin Bird ID with me when I’m out. This book is for more detail.

Look! Flickers! They are woodpeckers, you know.

I loved this book while reading it and will refer to it often. It’s a great addition to any nature library.

By the way, we got some reasonable rain. I love how this Eastern Pondhawk glistens against the wet leaves.

Next up? Animal tracks! I do already know dig, horse, chicken, and deer.