Foraging

As a child I often accompanied my maternal grandmother on her foraging trips -an activity also known as "scrounging". In the spring we gathered "poke" and"dock"; in August sand plums and currants and after a hard freeze the persimmons would be bletted enough that they were no longer astringent. And of course pecans and black walnuts in the fall. On rare occasions we might find the "haws"- red ones and less often the black ones - very scarce even then. What stirred my memory about this is the recent discovery that the beans produced by the mesquite trees in my backyard can be ground into flour for breadmaking - both the seeds and hulls are used.Here is an extensive reference on the many treasures we may still be able to gather. http://www.ssrsi.org/ods/food.htm