The best foraging books ... ever

Where to get these foraging books

You can find our favorite foraging books, and bonus DVD, at the following links:

• Natures Garden by Samuel Thayer

• The Forager’s Harvest by Samuel Thayer

• Incredible Wild Edibles by Samuel Thayer

• The Forager’s Harvest bonus video

Yes, we earn commissions when you order through the links on this page. That’s how we fund the site, but we only review items we use and highly recommend for the journey toward self sufficiency. Learn more in our FAQs.

Why we like them

Learning to forage takes time and requires reliable resources so you can forage safely and build on your existing knowledge. It requires that you connect with the information and can make it useful for your situation.

I’ve been through several foraging class-type experiences over the years. They usually go something like this. “When you’re starving in the desert or get lost camping, try eating these sticks for nourishment. Don’t eat berries because you’re too stupid to know what they are. Lick this rock for minerals. Oh, and all mushrooms are bad.” Can’t say I learned much from this.

I’ve actually received some completely ridiculous advice from “educators”. Most of us aren’t green berets, and chances are if we can learn basic survival skills, getting lost while camping won’t be too much of an issue. What I wanted was to learn how to sustain a better life that includes food I can find around me. I’m not looking to play Rambo in the woods.

Along with the classes over the years, I’ve picked up several foraging books, but they mostly have the same theoretical, science guy dumping a lot of barely useful information on you. In contrast, Samuel Thayer lives the life of a practicing and avid forager. He’s not going to teach you about some fibrous, barely edible, vegetative, turd stick that you would only eat as a soldier in the jungle. You can eat a lot of things and survive it, but Samuel Thayer teaches you about edibles you might find in your local forests and neighborhoods. And get this, he focuses on things you might actually enjoy (**gasp**) and can make a regular part of your diet. This is what makes these books so compelling and useful, and in my opinion, the best foraging books you can buy.

Each foraging book covers around 40 plants that are strategically ubiquitous throughout most of the continental United States. So regardless of your location, you’re going to find most of these plants in your region. They also provide:

• Many high-detail photos

• Thorough descriptions

• Uses of the various plant parts

• Directions on how to prepare them

While you will get a very in-depth education from these books, they’re also the most approachable materials I’ve found on the topic. Don’t worry, you don’t need to be a biologist to understand these books, which is actually the point. Just be curious, Thayer’s material will do the rest.

I’ve lived in multiple places since falling in love with these books and have been able to apply them to multiple environments. As I’ve begun teaching basic foraging classes to others, these books have become the primary basis for getting newcomers excited and learning “the way.”

How these foraging books impact our prepping efforts

Wherever we live, and wherever we call home (local towns, parks, etc…) we take stock of what’s around us throughout the seasons, asking ourselves:

• What seems to grow where?

• What grows better here or there?

• What can I find with enough to share?

• Look at the gooseberries everywhere?

Ahem, excuse me while I wax Dr. Suessy. Where was I?

And more questions like:

• What do we have nearby?

• What’s good for a quick snack (yellow wood sorrel)?

• What can we harvest tons of and put food up for later (chokecherry, curly dock, ground cherry)?

These foraging books have given us a great education and perspective of what is around us and how we can use it. Especially around our property, we look at wild plants as an extension of our garden. We weed around the plants we want to keep to encourage better growth. We look for the different plant parts during different seasons and try to take advantage of their best qualities. We don’t forage like crazy, but it’s an amazing thing to bring in a harvest of ground cherries, or several bags of choke cherries, or a bunch of delicate curly dock stems, and process them to be eaten later.

It connects me to my God and the harvest he gave me when I throw some fresh sorrel or purslane on a salad. It takes our awareness and self-sufficiency to the next level. Did I mention that these are the best foraging books I've ever bought?

And, when you're foraging, take time to learn how to preserve your harvest. One way we do this is with this solar dehydrator. We've used it to dry mullein, chamomile, wild sunflowers, and mint — to name a few. Read our complete review of the solar dehydrator.

Specs

Binding: Books are paperback. Some of them are available in spiral binding (ideal).

Size: Handbook/field guide size, great for the field.