Customer Reviews

Wild Harvest: Edible Plants of the Pacific Northwest

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

An edible plants book for the Pacific Northwest! I was so very eager to get my hands on it - and I'm glad I did. There are quite a few plants that have been left out, mostly those plants which exist on the east side of the Cascades, but I think the author also leaves out plants that could be confused with a poisonous look-a-like.

Even so, there were quite a few plants that I didn't know about. For example, there's "Lamb's Quarter" which I've been pulling out of my little garden for years. I didn't know it before I bought this book, but the author says it's good eatin' and I'll be trying it the next time I see it (it's winter now).

The plants are listed in order of it's annual appearance - so it starts with the plants you meet in the late winter with nettles and tree sap and then works on to the end in the fall talking about berries. Each plant covered has a colored photograph along with a black and white hand drawn picture. I know some people who like one or the other, but this book provides both. Very Nice.

Have used this book for over 15 years. It's strengths are its detailed descriptions of ebible plants and the excellent color photos shown. Its weakness lies in its failure to mention and show numerous common edibles that appear in other similar texts. All in all, though, a good reference handbook

What I love about this small (under 100 pages) book is the wealth of information in so little space. You get nice color pictures of wild edible plants in the pacific northwest, a brief description of how they were used, and you get it all at a modest price. The book is not as thorough as other wild food manuels, and the author does disagree with mainstream authors on some plants (he states you can eat common butter cup if cleaned properly while other authors just say stay away). What I don't like about it is that it doesn't list poisonous look alikes, and at times your left wanting more information. All that aside if your looking to pick up wild edibles in the pacific northwest you should have at least three GOOD field guides for proper identification. If you live in the pacific northwest this should be one of them. Well done.

As the review's title says, I was expecting a book that was more concise. I'm from the area, I know all these backwoods like the back of my hand, so, I was hoping to find more knowlege in this book about all the plants that I already have all around me. I see all these plants, just never knew if they were edible. And I was hoping for a bigger section on what NOT to eat. There were only 3 plants that he cautioned about, with no pictures or descriptions, just a descriptions of their danger to you.
On the other hand, I would recommend this book to those of you new to the pacific northwest, not the detailed field guide, for backwoods living... but a good guide for a backpackers day hike.
Can someone recommend a broader book for me? Ive looked all over this site, came across this book, but just didnt meet my expectations.

The book has nice pictures and good descriptions but it's so short (less than 90 pages including bibliography) that it leaves a lot of stuff out. It pays to shop around as some retailers on Amazon are selling it for much more than its listed price of $9.95.

This is a good book for the beginner +. A real bonus is that it is specific to the N.W.,and not from the E.coast to the W.coast.

The great thing about this book is that kids can safely use it. Not only does this book have great color pictures of easily recognizable plants in our yard, but it tells how to prepare them. The information was easily retainable by kids and I have been catching them nibbling on some of the plants as they're out playing. The book was not large or overwhelming, was organized into seasons and easy to read. We all loved it and will be studying the edible plants through the seasons. It's great for teaching some survival skill.

This book lacks in both description and variety. Don't get me wrong, if you live in the pacific northwest and are just starting out in foreging...buy it. Just don't expect more than half a page reviewing the plant, half a page for color photo, and one page for sketch used to depict the scale of flora. There are 40 species discussed, and in my limited opinion, are common and well known. Some examples are...the maple, thistle, nettle, huckleberry, wild strawberry, thimbleberry, blackcap, salmonberry, clover, rose hips, mustard, miners lettuce, and various garden weeds.