Nature’s Grocery Store

All of these wild foods can be found in relative abundance in the Kickapoo bioregion (southwestern Wisconsin):

   Early Spring                                                          Late Spring
Maple sap & syrup                                                                    Bracken Fern (fiddleheads)
Watercress                                                                              Wild Asparagus
Burdock Root                                                                            Lambsquarter
Nettles                                                                                     Dandelion (flowers & buds)
Wild Leeks                                                                               Wild Onions
Chickweed                                                                                Morels, Shaggy Manes, Oyster
Dandelion (roots and leaves)                                                      Milkweed (tender shoots)
Yellow Dock                                                                             Cattail (tender shoots)
Wintercress (leaves)                                                                 Wintercress (flower buds)
Violets (leaves)                                                                          Violets (leaves & flowers)
Spring Beauty (bulbs)                                                                Plantain (tender leaves)

                                                   
   Summer                                                               Fall
Wild Amaranth                                                                         Hickory Nuts
Cattail (pollen and flowering head)                                             Wild Apples
Day Lily                                                                                   Black Walnuts
Milkweed (flower buds & tender seedpods)                                 Wild Plums
Mayapples                                                                                Sumac Berries
Wild Strawberry                                                                      Chicken-of-the-Woods
Thistle                                                                                     Oyster Mushrooms
Purslane                                                                                    Puffballs
Sorrel                                                                                      Wild Grapes
Elderberry (flower & berries)                                                   Acorns
Blackberries                                                                             Black Cherries
Black & Red Raspberries                                                           Arrowhead root
Chokecherries                                                                           American Lotus Root
Mulberries                                                                               Cattail Roots
                                                                                               Chicory Root (roasted)

Many of the seasons overlap quite a bit, and some of the plants are available throughout  (for example:  Dandelion leaves and Chickweed greens).   There are numerous other plants that can be made into interesting teas, as well as many more edible greens that can be used as pot herbs or added to salads.  All of the above plants are fairly easy to identify and grow in relative abundance.  None are protected or endangered.