FORAGING
Their central Ohio company sells organic specialty berries, tea and spice blends and foraged goods such as paw paws, persimmons and acorn-flour cookies. They sell their urban food offerings at the Clintonville farmers market and online.
The business partners and friends believe foraging is an accessible way to connect with urban wildlife. But for now, rules and competition for scarce resources has mostly relegated the community to secrecy.
“I would love food and raw, real ingredients to be more valued, period,” Tayse said. “You can’t talk about how special and amazing these things are, because somebody asked you where you get it.”
Most of Foraged & Sown’s goods are planted, cultivated and harvested on urban farms. Tayse and Hodge collect the rest: wild plants that crop up, without human help, at a handful of private properties.
They avoid foraging on public lands, where rules vary from state to state and park system to park system.
In Wayne National Forest, foragers need a $20, one-year permit to collect anything other than blackberries, pine cones, mushrooms or rose hips for personal use. Metro Parks rules prohibit the removal of any flower, vegetation or fruit.
Similar blanket restrictions exist across state nature preserves, said Rick Gardner, an Ohio Department of Natural Resources botanist.
“That’s one of the big misconceptions: that public land is there for you to take whatever you want,” Gardner said. “Those things are for everybody. Removing them means other people won’t enjoy them.”
But Gardner understands the urge. He forages regularly on his grandparent’s Indiana farmland for wild leeks, dandelion greens and berries of all kinds.
His advice: It’s best to assume that collecting plants without express permission constitutes trespassing and theft.
“There is typically a restriction of some sort,” Gardner said. “Depending on the owner and land management agency, it differs. You need to do a little research.”
Those rules keep rare wild foods — such as ginseng and ramps, a species of wild onion — from being harvested right out of existence, Hodges said.
Still, newbies don’t always know the rules. Enforcement can be spotty and there’s no formal program emphasizing foraging stewardship. And some collect stealthily because they know access to a precious patch is against the law or highly competitive.
“It’s an underground, secret-society kind of feel sometimes,” Tayse said.
The organic and local food movements have fostered renewed interest in foraged persimmon pie, dandelion root tea and ground cherry salsa.
It’s likely that wild foods are more densely nutritious than traditionally harvested crops, said Kristen Rasmussen de Vasquez, an adjunct faculty member at the University of California-Berkeley.
In one California study, researchers found wild dandelion was higher in potassium and had twice as much fiber, calcium and iron than its conventional counterpart.
“It’s just one sample from one place, but it’s really promising,” said Rasmussen de Vasquez, who also owns the consulting company Rooted Food. “No one’s making money off of wild foods so there’s less funding for that kind of research.”
Her theory is that wild urban plants are both more inherently nutrient-dense and also develop more nutrients to help survive harsh environments.
“Those compounds are there to protect the plants, but benefit us, too,” she said.
Foraged & Sown, established in 2014, was built out of a lifetime of enjoying the perks of urban foods.
Hodges’ family was big into gardening and she remembers sucking the nectar out of red clover blossoms on walks home from kindergarten.
Tayse’s dad often brought home hats and shirts full of wild black raspberries. She grew up harvesting mulberries and snitching fruit from alley trees.
About a decade ago, the pair began seriously teaching themselves from field guides and outdoor excursions.
“There are limits to what we know,” Tayse said, explaining she’s only comfortable identifying and eating eight mushroom varieties. “That number gradually increases.”
Foraging requires observing the same space year after year, noting what returns seasonally and is safe to eat.
“It’s more like facial recognition. The plants are a sea of faces — and maybe you only know a couple of people in that crowd, but you can see them very easily,” Hodges said. “More people don’t do it because it’s a skill that takes a lifetime to develop.”
They understand it can be an intimidating hobby.
“I think a lot more people know more than they think they do,” she said. “It is really gratifying to start in your backyard.”
They suggest people collect mature plants so juveniles can grow and reproduce, tag along with experienced foragers, and above all, beware of poisonous lookalikes.
“If you’re not sure, don’t collect. You don’t want to take it lightly,” Gardner said. “If there’s something you’re not sure about, it’s not worth taking a chance.”
When Tayse and Hodges scout new foraging spots they asses a landscape’s tree species, odors and wet spots. They also gather tiny bits of mushrooms and leaves for later examination. And they depend on all five senses.
On a recent scouting outing, a fruity, floral smell directed Hodges to an enormous witch hazel tree. Black curly scraggles at the base clued the pair in on a shelf of oyster mushrooms perched 20 feet above.
Tayse identified it as pheasant back mushroom by its tell-tale cucumber odor. Later, an astringent, bittertasting sample disproved her hunch about a beechnut trove.
“There’s the opportunity for excitement every time,” Hodges said, “or disappointment.” Blood drives are open today at:
4820 Sawmill Road, 12:15-6:45 p.m. 2400 Olentangy River Road, 11 a.m.-5 1327 Cameron Ave., Lewis Center, noon-6 p.m.
337 Stoneridge Lane, Gahanna, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. 4327 Equity Drive, 1-7 p.m.