- Consider where your food is growing. Harvesting plants next to roadsides or in areas exposed to fertilizers, pesticides and waste products is obviously not ideal.
- Choose to harvest in places where the plant is naturally abundant rather than sparsely available.
- Before you go, educate yourself on ways to sustainably harvest wild plant species or ask a knowledgeable friend to join you. There are many techniques for treading lightly in nature. For example, rather than pulling up an entire violet plant out of the ground, you can pick one or two leaves each from several plants and help preserve the entire violet patch.
- Remember to bring a paper bag or basket to hold your wild finds.
- Gloves and/or shears can be helpful tools for prickly or touch-sensitive plants.
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