Sunday, while Blast was keeping dogs away from his wild edibles class near Houston, Texas, I was enjoying a much less dramatic but similar class in the hills above Napa Valley in North Central California.

While we wandered from black walnut, to black oak, canyon live oak, valley live oak, and tan oak, it was amazing to see and taste test [and quickly spit out] such a heavy acorn crop. As we processed acorn [splitting acorn open, cleaning the meat, breaking it into smaller chunks] we learned about the first fall of insect-infested acorn some months ago and the recent bumper fall of acorn such as we were processing for a hot water leaching process that followed. The brave among us learned how sweet acorn worm grubs tasted!

We also did hands-on processing of starch from cattail rhysomes, hand winnowing of amaranth and millet, did safe-harvest and taste tests of stinging nettle, enjoyed some plantain seed stalks, dock leaves, and many other wild edible greens. Fox grape fruit leather made by the instructors and Australian bunya nuts [huge analogs of pine nuts] were exotic treats.

We then toured a garden of domestic and wild plants for further treats and some instruction on medicinal as well as culinary plant uses. A recent large branch fall let us experience safe-harvest and eating of sugar pine inner bark "spaghetti."

Our day was interspersed with demonstrations of plant food preservation and storage techniques. A long and fun day.

I would like to hear about Fall Harvest in your area!

In Phoenix it was 94* today. There is no such thing as fall here. Its dirt brown or its green. The green is cactus or weeds.

dweste, it sounds like your Fall Harvest day was a very enjoyable and educational event.
I've not been fortunate enough to attend (or find) anything like that in my area yet.

This year, I've been working to see how long I can extend my garden harvest... been getting some really tasty lettuce and carrots out of my garden this Fall.
The weather service has posted a "freeze warning" for our area tonight; so I've put the lid on my Cold Frame. That should keep me going a while longer.

I'm thinking of setting up (or building) a small Greenhouse next year; to see how long I can keep some more sensitive plants (like tomatos) producing.

Lon, it was pretty a good event.

If you add your location to your profile, or otherwise, I bet someone on the forum knows of similar opportunities near you.

Consider letting some "weeds" into your garden. You may find the wild edibles have a longer season than their cultivated cousins.

Note which veggies get better after the frost. Many get sweeter and better than ever.

Have fun!

I can't allow that !!!
I've spent so much time getting the invasive weeds and grasses out of my garden area, it would be "against my religion" to encourage anything wild to move in without a fight.

Just kidding; I know you're talking about wild edible plants that might not be considered "weeds". To be honest, I don't have any experience with those yet.
I do grow items that have "wild cousins"... such as Blueberries, Blackberries, and Strawberries, but none of those bear a crop at this time of the year.

I thought so too, but I've got some green strawberries developing right now in Connecticut. I doubt they will ripen, but I am amazed. I've still got some swiss chard, collards and beans in my garden. Most of it is not going to last long. Swiss chard is beginning to go.

Check out Blast's site for some winter edible ideas:

http://houstonwildedibles.blogspot.com/search/label/Winter

Interested in "sugar pine inner bark "spaghetti.""....

Can you educate us?

I am not very experienced with harvesting or eating pine bark. What experience I have follows this type of preparation:

http://www.ruralvermont.com/vermontweathervane/issues/winter/97012/eatpine.shtml

Another set of information and opinion:

http://www.survivaltopics.com/survival/edible-pine-bark/

I have been eating acorn foods for a week or so. Basically this is acorn chunks with the tannic acid mostly leached out. I tried steaming the chunks and eating them with blueberries: filling but not a taste treat. I have eaten acorn ground coarsely and mixed with wheat flour to become cookies and with vegetables to become a caserole: pretty good.

The acorn is fairly mild and a modest amount seems to be more filling than grains such as rice or tubers such as potato.

What are your experiences eating acorn?