The Weed Forager’s Handbook

A guide to edible and medicinal weeds in Australia

Step into the world of our least admired botanical companions. The Weed Forager’s Handbook peels back the layers of prejudice and helps you discover the finer side of the plants we call ‘weeds’. An astonishing number are either edible or medicinal. This is an ideal introductory book for anyone new to foraging with ten ‘rules’ for safely identifying, gathering and eating these nutritious plants.

The Weed Forager’s Handbook has chapters on:

• Appreciating Weeds – includes ‘Notes of Caution’ on poisonous plants, weed consumption during pregnancy and contaminants.
• Top 20 Edible and Medicinal Weeds – detailed descriptions of common Australian weeds, advice on how to differentiate edible plants from similar-looking plants that aren’t edible, their history, where you are likely to find them, their appearance, taste and odour, other important information and tips, and full colour photos and botanical illustrations.
• Other Weeds – briefly profiles 14 plants that are “generally less common, harder to harvest or process, or offer some other impediment to free and easy enjoyment by comparison to those in [the previous chapter].
• Weedy Recipes include Mixed Weeds Salad, Weedy Frittata and Nettle Gnocchi.
• Weeds in the Garden – discusses the role of weeds, getting rid of them and how to make ‘weed tea’ as a liquid fertiliser for your garden.
• Resources – has an excellent list of websites and books for readers who are interested in exploring the topic further.

The compact book size is ideal for popping in your pocket and taking outdoors on a walk to help identify plants. This handbook will change your concept of where to go looking for lunch!

Book Description

Authors: Adam Grubb and Annie Raser-Rowland

First Published 2012
Hyland House Publishing
Format: Flexi cover, 166 pages, full colour photographs and illustrations throughout
Size: 175mm (H) x 130mm (W) x 120mm (D)
ISBN: 9781864471212

FAQ

Who is this book for? Anyone interested in learning about foraging and self-sufficiency or discovering more about the weeds in their own garden.

Australia is a big place! Is it relevant to me? The answer is yes if you live near any of the capital cities other than Darwin, or anywhere around Perth or in South-Eastern Australia.

The Weed Forager’s Handbook Reviews

“This handbook is the essential text for both novice and experienced wild food foragers. The guidelines, excellent ID photos and choice of most useful and common species will give the novice confidence while the facts and recipes will extend all but the most advanced weed aficionados. For the gardener tired of joyless weeding Adam and Annie open our eyes to the fact that the problem can indeed be the solution.” ~ David Holmgren, co-originator of the Permaculture concept

“In other words, if you eat, then this book is a must-have companion.” ~ Costa Georgiadis, host of Gardening Australia

“Small and concise and perfect for Australia. Great starter guide for foraging with the most common weeds depicted.” ~ Del

“Our world is changing rapidly – we have to be able to feed ourselves. We need to learn to live sustainably. This book is a good start.” ~ Lis

“I love this book! I never knew so many plants we consider weeds were edible, and actually are more nutritious than a lot of the superfoods they market, now when I’m weeding the garden, I leave the ones I know we can eat.” ~ Mel

More Reader Feedback

“We were delighted to find a lot of the ‘weeds’ featured in this book growing right in our own backyard! It is a compact size which makes it very portable when traipsing around in the great outdoors. The clear pictures make identification easy. It is also a lovely guide to share with your children. My youngster loves to wander around in the garden and help to identify the plants there and I feel such joy at being able to share such an important survival skill. I feel comforted knowing we have a local food source to bolster us through these times where food insecurity is a growing concern. Being Australian, too, I was glad to find something that caters to locals. Also a good way to support Australian authors. It can serve as a friendly way to broach contemporary ecological issues with friends and family. Many people are keen to get back to basics, to reconnect with nature and here we have a book that can be used by almost anyone. A lot of these weeds can be found even in urban environments, striving through cracks in the pavement, a reminder that life, uh, finds a way.” ~ Tassie Mum

“Very useful. I like that it has photos of every plant as well as detailed botanical hand drawings. The book explains the details of the plant like leaves, flowers and seeds so you know what to look for and explains the difference of any other plant that may look like it but is not edible. There is some history on the plant and where in the world it originated from which I enjoyed. It explains which parts are edible and when in season, whether to eat raw or cooked.” ~ Maddie

“I use it as a field book as my garden is full of weeds! It helps me identify what’s useful and/or edible and which weeds to stay away from. It is also small enough for me to take it on bushwalks and hiking tracks. There are plant identification apps, but sometimes in the bush, we may not have an internet signal, so this book comes in handy. The illustrations and short descriptions are sufficient for my needs. I would recommend this book as a field reference guide to anyone interested in the edible or medicinal qualities of weeds and how to identify them.” ~ Skyangel

Photos used on this page are taken by the authors.

Bonus PDF Download on Managing Weeds

When you purchase The Weed Forager’s Handbook, I’ll gift you my ‘Introduction to the Basics of Managing Weeds Organically‘. It covers why weeding is important, the best times to weed, what to wear, key strategies for weed management and how to make weed tea fertiliser. It’s packed with practical tips and insights.