DropBarFan

Are the wild asparagus fairly easy to find? In Virginia mountain areas some of the locals gather wild ginseng, IIRC the folks have their secret spots, often a bit difficult to reach. Also Appalachian folks gather ramps in the spring, a wild green that is supposed to be tasty. A friend once brought over some fresh figs from her friend's tree, they were surprisingly nice; I had thought figs only grew in areas w/mild winters like California, Middle East etc.

In elementary school a classmate knew how to spot sassafras shrubs & dig the root-beer flavor roots. The shrubs are common in the area actually. Expert foragers know which mushrooms are safe; in cooler areas one might even be able to find the prized morels. Foraging is a good skill to have but perhaps difficult for bike tourists that don't have local knowledge. Many of the goodies have short seasons before they become tough or bitter.

thumpism 

Figs grow here in Richmond. We had them in our rental property's yard and a huge tree overhung the alley in the next block from our house.


My bro-in-law spotted the asparagus at the roadside on the Parkway. Looks just like asparagus, but without a steak and a baked potato next to it.

FBinNY 

Fig trees are a staple of Italian gardeners here in Westchester county. Of course they're a challenge since they won't survive our winters without help.

Most people wrap their fig trees and winter them where they're growing. My friend's dad had his tree in a monstrous wheeled tub, buried in a wedge cut into the earth. Every fall, the wedge was dug out, and it was my friend's job to recruit all his friends to push/pull/drag the tub up the ramp and into the garage for the winter. Every Spring, we got to reverse the process and "plant" the fig tree again.

B. Carfree

When I used to live in the Central Valley, it seemed like there was always something in season. Figs, pears, apricots, peaches, apples, strawberries, lettuce, tomatoes, you name it and we stole it (in small portions). Sadly, many of those fields are now walnut and almond orchards.

Now I live where the farms mostly grow grass seed, which is fine since I mostly ride in the hills where the berries are. However, when I bonked about twenty-five miles from home on a ride a couple of years ago a nice man came out of his house and offered me a Mountain Dew, which got me home. I think he wanted to get me off the end of his driveway where I had simply collapsed, much to my tandem partner's dismay.

bradtx

A BOB would be handy, eh?

Brad

robow

When I was touring this past June, a friend decided to randomly stop for some shade and respite from the wind, when I praised his choice as to where to stop, he looked puzzled but unbeknownst to him, he was sitting beneath a Mulberry tree laden with berries and in the brush right behind it were some blackberries that were beginning to ripen. I should always be so fortunate.

btw 10 Wheels, I like your photo! But I do wonder how the local road commissioner dealt with that?

10 Wheels

The Farmer can be Fined for allowing the animal to break out of his fence.

10 Wheels

They can cause a very bad accident

robow

Payback time for riding on a Brooks !

DropBarFan

Read a web page that said avocados were poisonous to dogs; I was concerned 'cause my dog loves dried avocado skins. A Californian replied that they lived next to avocado groves & their dog used to gain weight eating fallen avocados. That'd be a nice free treat for bikers, healthy & filling.

stevepusser

Hands off the avocados! Growers have a big problem with avocado rustlers and would not take kindly to any trespasser, even if you only wanted a couple.

I can't see how they are poisonous to dogs, coyotes gobble up any they can get.
Pet Poison Helpline | Avocado Poisoning in Dogs and Cats

The skin and insides near the skin are poisonous to birds, though; never feed any to your parrot, for example. This is because the oil-rich fruit, with its large seed too big to be carried by birds, evolved to be eaten by mammals--maybe even megafauna like the extinct ground sloth and mastodons. Contrast this with the wild chili pepper "berry", red to attract birds, and they don't have receptors for the hot capsaicinoids which repel mammals.

10 Wheels

Black Birds Stop for Berries

Darth Lefty 

I ate all the easily-reached blackberries before [MENTION=147740]prathmann[/MENTION] got to the bramble.

We have some wild grapes around here but they are mostly seed and peel with a thin layer of flesh in between. I think they're wine grape escapees so they aren't big and sweet to begin with.

Bay leaves! Mmmm

There are locally a lot of cherry trees planted for decoration and no one cares if you pick them in season, they're just as glad not to clean the sidewalk.

There's probably a lot of other things I haven't tried like miner's lettuce.

DropBarFan

I wouldn't take avocados off trees, maybe they sometimes fall off trucks or something, I dunno. those would probably be pretty bruised anyway.

thumpism 

One afternoon while touring in France I had the pleasure of riding behind a grape harvest wagon being pulled by a tractor, similar to the rig pictured below. Driver's speed was perfect for me to draft and I did so for many miles, bathed in the aroma of the ripe grapes that had me wondering if it would be possible to leap into the trailer and gorge myself. I did not try it.

FBinNY 

You're supposed to ride beside it, and reach over and pick.

thumpism 

Drafting made it possible to keep up while riding a loaded touring bike. Beside would have been nice but undoable.

DropBarFan

Wine grapes or eating grapes? I read that wine grapes can be very tasty, just don't ship as well. I wonder what sort of security the Grand Cru wine growers use with their super-expensive grapes? I'm sure bike tourists wouldn't steal 'em but I'm sure some folks would pay big $$ for some.

stevepusser

Weirdly enough, grapes and raisins seem to be toxic to dogs and cats, but the actual toxin has not been identified.

About cattle--many roads in the west cross open range, where you always must be alert for one of those suckers in the road, plus encountering one of those lovely cattle guards.

I've gathered a few pine nuts after setting up camp, but that was more of a snack; it would take a lot of work to get many calories. There's probably lots more wild nut trees in the Eastern US, though California is the land of fruits and nuts. I hear cattails are good eatin', though.

CliffordK

Thimbleberries are some of the most exquisite raspberries around here. Only 1 or 2 per bush, and only ripe for a short time, but worth stopping when seen.

Blackberries are great.

I must admit that I had more than one fig when I was in Italy. The figs can barely survive around here. They got hit bad with the big freeze a couple of years ago.

I don't like eating people's domestic plants though. There is one plum, however, that ripens early, overhangs the sidewalk, and I find on my commute home that I've snitched a couple off of.

Booger1

It's passion fruit time in California.....They are everywhere if you look.

DropBarFan

I've seen dogs snack on a couple of grapes with no problem, maybe if they eat a lot of grapes or raisins it can cause digestive problems. Cats don't seem to like veggies/fruit very much though they love munching on young wheat grass. Cattails are interesting esp since can provide food thru the different growth stages. Locally there's a few spots but I'd guess biker foragers would need to wade in barefoot to gather?

Lug

I will add rosehips and crowberries to the list of wild edibles to be found along the trail. I tend to be careful with snacking alongside busy highways because of the amount of herbicides used by some highway departments and have a concern with how much car and truck exhaust nastiness, engine oil, and coolant that the wild edibles have absorbed.
Justin

DropBarFan

In Germany I was surprised to see vineyards right next to Autobahns. OTOH perhaps occasional roadside wild foods might give enough nutritional benefit to outweigh trace amounts of pollution?

zonatandem

As a kid in Europe during WW2 we made 'coffee' out of ground acorns.
Due to lack of food (the Germans appropriated everything) mom and I had one sparrow each to eat for supper whenever I was able to catch some with a homemade trap.