best foraging tools for beginners

Best Foraging Tools for Beginners

The best foraging tools are a few simple items that you will need to get started. You may even own some of these already. You can easily start foraging in your own yard or any land nearby. There are many plants you walk by regularly that are actually edible and maybe even medicinal. Most likely, you find at least dandelion and plantain in your own backyard. You may even find wild rose, stinging nettle, or sweet violets if you are lucky.

Basic Foraging Tools

  • Foraging Basket – The most important thing you will need is a basket to collect all of your plants. I got mine at a local farm that imports them, this one is similar. Any basket will do, but preferable one made of natural materials.
  • Garden Clippers – a sharp pair of clippers are important to cut delicate or woody stems. You won't want to disturb the root system of the plant so it continues to grow so having clippers help keep the plant healthy.
  • Mesh Bags – Sometimes you may come across some delicate flowers or berries to forage that you will want to keep separate in your basket. These cotton mesh bags are perfect for this purpose. Plastic bags are not a great option here because it holds in the moisture which will make them spoil or get moldy quickly.
  • Sharp Trowel – a trowel with a sharp tip is helpful for harvesting roots like dandelion root. Many roots have medicinal properties and you may want to harvest them when you find them on a foraging walk.
best foraging tools for beginners

More Helpful Foraging Tools

  • Herb Drying Rack – some herbs you will use fresh but many you will want to dry for tea or for later use. An herb drying rack is very helpful for this purpose.
  • Garden Gloves – these come in helpful when you are harvesting something like stinging nettle or plants with thorns. It's important to protect your hands with gloves from these types of plants.
  • Food Dehydrator – thicker roots and berries may dry better when put into. dehydrator. This method also drys herbs quicker than a drying rack.
  • Glass Jars – once you start foraging and dehydrating herbs you will need containers to store them. Glass jars are ideal, mason jars used for canning are a great option. I also like these tops for the mason jars to store dried herbs.

Advanced Foraging Tools

  • Bark Tool – if you start to get into the medicinal properties of barks, you may want to invest in a tool to help strip bark off trees like cherry bark which is used in cough remedies.
  • Pruning Saw – this pruning saw will come in handy when you need to trim branches or thicker stems.

You can start foraging with just a few beginner tools and add on more things as you need them.

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