A focused practical guide to useful and edible plants found in the San Francisco Bay Area that can also be helpful in discovering similar plants in other regions of California.
I purchased this one because it looked raw, hand printed. Why should the urban forager support BIG PUBLISHING. This book is as organic as the fennel i like to collect from the pulgas water temple.
My first book on foraging! Solid content and I appreciate the author's foraging philosophy and their emphasis on sustainability. Re-reading until I commit all the plants to memory!
Enough information that if you already have a good understanding of what each of the plants look like before picking up the book you would now have a few additional facts to consider while picking them. Unfortunately there is only one smashed up close to the camera picture of most of the plants and very little in the way of size or other helpful descriptive factors. Maybe this is just how plant identification books are made, but i did not feel anymore comfortable nibbling on anything i found on a trail after reading this.
This is a great book and it's very well written with both a common and scientific name index. I only wish it was clear on the cover that this was just for plants and not for mushrooms or intertidal foraging.
This book was a lot of fun, well thought out, and very well organized. If you are interested in foraging, and you live in the SF Bay Area, this book is for you.