Download PDF The Skillful Forager Essential Techniques for Responsible Foraging and Making the Most of Your Wild Edibles Leda Meredith 9781611804836 Books

Product details Paperback 296 pages Publisher Roost Books (March 12, 2019) Language English ISBN-10 1611804833

The Skillful Forager Essential Techniques for Responsible Foraging and Making the Most of Your Wild Edibles Leda Meredith 9781611804836 Books Reviews

• I have been foraging for 5 years, and own a large collection of books on the topic. Leda's newest book offers a totally different perspective on foraging, which I have not seen elsewhere. Instead of focusing primarily on plant accounts (although those are included), the aim of this book is to offer tips, tricks, and techniques for taking your foraging skills to the next level. She covers strategies for keeping foraged items fresh longer, as well as a variety of preservation techniques (particularly useful if you happen upon a large quantity of something and need quick ideas on how to preserve all of it).
  
  It is evident the recommendations draw upon the author's many years of experience, and I am excited to continue digging into this book and putting new ideas into practice!
• This is terrific guide for new and old wild and foraging enthusiasts. Especially in the Northeast of the U.S. I’ve barely started it and will update more when I’ve read deeper but I love the way it’s setup to teach foragers how you can harvest responsibilly. Leda is a natural and national food treasure.
• A book that will guide you through nature to identify, harvest and preserve edible plants needed to be written and here it is. It’s written for those looking to go a little further than simply looking at their surroundings, it’s meant for those wanting to live off the land in some way even if it’s just a little, to gain health and get back to the earth like we were meant to be.
  
  Is a priceless reference tool for any herbalist!
  
  Thank you to Netgalley, Leda Meredith, and Roost Books for the ARC! I truly enjoyed it and will be going back to it time and time again!
• I'm confused by several of the earlier reviews. At first I thought they had the wrong book, because The Skillful Forager is beautifully illustrated with color photography throughout. (Clearly, a few people received advance copies that were pre-release, B&W, not-for-sale copies.) Don't believe the naysayers! This is an excellent book for anyone interested in foraging. Not only does it offer many, very tasty recipes (yes, I've tried several), but how it's organized is uniquely helpful. By categorizing the plants according to their edible part (e.g. bark & twigs; shoots & stalks; flowers, pollen, & buds) Leda teaches us preservation and cooking techniques that can be used across the entire category. So helpful!
• I don't know how the negative reviewers came to their conclusions. They must have been having a bad day. It does NOT have black and white photos, they are all full color. Of course it doesn't cover every plant everywhere - that's impossible. This is a case of bad reviewers. This book is beautiful and full of information. The author clearly knows what she is talking about and is passing that information on, and I am grateful for that. I love the book, and will be using it on my first-time foraging adventures.
• The author delves into plant categories that I've not seen elsewhere such as, edible barks,
  seaweeds, tree pods, and lists of edible flowers. I own a few other books written by the author, Leda and
  none of her books have been disappointing thus far. (And believe me, I have a book about foraging that's terrible called "Foraging for Everyone".)
  So many books on wild edibles only describe dandelions, mulberries & a couple of the old standbys. Leda, the author, includes so much more for your foraging knowledge & future adventures in food exploration.
  This book, The Skillfull Forager has up close colorful photos to assist you with identification too, no mere tiny thumbnails in this book. Easy recipes are included too so you'll have ideas on how to best prepare each plant and the optimal time to pick. Let's face it, we all know how to discern when the best time is to grab some tomatoes out of our gardens (unless you're planning to make fried green tomatoes, that's a different story)
  But, how about beautiful cat tail pollen or exotic magnolia buds?
  I have this book in my bookshelf along with other landmark foraging books written by such authors as, Samuel Thayer,
  Dr. John Kallas, Ellen Zachos, Pascal Baudar, The Three Foragers, & many more whom some of you experienced foragers know well.
• While this book was packed with lots of great information on the techniques, rules and ethics of foraging, it was still missing quite a bit. It was like this book was trying to be everything to everyone, and ended up not really being anything except a high-level introduction with a handful of really in-depth specifics (how to make acorn flour, for example?). The info on identifying various wild edibles was pretty sparse, and there were only one or two pictures of only a few plants throughout the entire book. There were drive-by mentions of other plants, but without any other real information on them. Good thing I read this while in the vicinity of WiFi, as I referenced Google as often as this book! And honestly, this book didn't really make me want to try many of the foraged edibles - there weren't many descriptions of tastes/textures beyond "hey cook this or it will be inedibly bitter" or "some people eat this part of the plant but I find it mucousy" (barf!). I guess if I'm ever lost in the woods I might remember some of this info, but likely I'll eat the wrong thing, having not seen an actual photo of it, and die.
• I learned a lot about proper harvesting techniques, I have killed many plants that I could have returned to for multiple harvests. The pictures are beautiful. Can't wait for spring to break so I can start trying some of the recipes. The book covers plants across america and will come in handy on my camping trips outside on the NE where I live. I attended a lecture that Leda Meredith did 2 years ago at Cornell Botanical Gardens. I learned then how to sustainably harvest Ramps and have cultivated a small patch of native ramps on my property. I feel guilty for all the ramps I have ripped out of the ground over the years.