Reddit reviews Edible & Medicinal Plants of West
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Used Book in Good Condition
Edible and Mecidinal plants of the West http://www.amazon.com/Edible-Medicinal-Plants-Gregory-Tilford/dp/0878423591
What general area are you in? I can recommend an excellent starter book for the western u.s., and could try to remember a couple online resources for other areas. But also I have a habit of 1. picking one thing I know is in my area, trying to find it and learning all about it and 2. Intentionally noticing all the plants around me on my daily routine, once they become familiar you may begin to realize how much around you is edible. As you research the plants you are looking for you come across other ones that you thought were weeds on your trip to work. I started with just this book:
Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West by Gregory L. Tilford http://www.amazon.com/dp/0878423591/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_YMTWtb0DC8J3Q
Google what the native tribes in your area ate and see if any of that is familiar/still flourishing. As for mushrooms I usually stick to chanterelles and a few other easy ones, that is just hat I do personally as they sometimes take a lot of work and microscopes, etc... that I dont have to identify. I picked and ate my first chanterelles without asking an expert opinion, but I had seen them many times before in restaurants and markets. Some stuff it is possible to identify without asking someone, if you have a good book or other resource, but if you are not sure, always leave it. Take a photo on your phone and research it later or upload it to /r/whatisthisplant. I found yerba buena on a hike once and now I know when I'm in a certain type of soil/plant community to expect it might be there too. Then I moved to a new house and it's growing with pineapple weed in the edge of the driveway. After a while you will start to see food everywhere.
I've made a very similar move, from Lower Arkansas to the High Plains of Montana. I knew a bit about plants down there, but coming up here I had to buy new books and relearn a lot of the wortcunning. These two books have been particularly useful to me:
Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West
and Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West. The former is a dense book with loads of reliable info. The latter is more of a backpack-size model. Both have good photos and illustrations.
A general tip: you have to be even more careful with fires out west than we were back in AR. Burn bans are common in the summer, so be sure to check the wildfire status before you go to the backcountry.
There are a lot of survival groups in CO, so I would recommend looking for a local meetup.
Would anyone recommend these two books?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Foraging-California-Finding-Identifying-Preparing/dp/0762786841
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Edible-Medicinal-Plants-Gregory-Tilford/dp/0878423591
They have been highly recommended and also seem to be the lightest i can find.