Mud climbs up my ankle as my feet slip deeper toward the creek. 

I twist and pull, and out comes a light green shoot. Its roots hang like small tentacles caked in dirt. The cattail is smooth, about the size of a scallion, its trademark brown tuft has not yet formed. Later, I’ll fry up the cattail shoot in butter. It’s a little bit sweet, with a nice crunch, much like a leek. 

Foraged fiddleheads sautéed in butter and served with pine nuts, create a simple seasonal dish.

Photo courtesy of David Gladish

Spring is a great time to forage in the Seattle area, and you don’t have to go far to find nature’s tasty treats. At Boeing Creek Park, less than a mile from my house, you can harvest cattails and fiddlehead ferns. Further south, in Carkeek Park, my wife and kids (ages 5 and 3) and I feast on orange, red, and yellow salmonberries. We fold them into delicious muffins, sweet as the sun. In June, we pluck the delicate petals from rose hip blossoms, turning them into sugary lemonade.

Summer brings even more berries—red huckleberries, wild raspberries, thimbleberries, and blackberries. They show up in almost any woodsy park, sometimes hiding in dark, damp places. Other times they’re so prevalent (like blackberries), you can’t miss them. In August, our kids and their grandma bake blackberry tarts, purple juice squirting everywhere and staining their cheeks dark red like little vampires. 

Fall is mushroom season, trickier in nearby locales. Some mushrooms prefer old burn spots or dark, wet areas, but edible mushrooms can still be found in the city. Chicken of the Woods grows on dead trees, and oyster mushrooms cling to logs. Rose hips ripen to a dark red, perfect for syrup on pancakes, and if you’re lucky, you might still find huckleberries outside of the mountains. 

The beauty of foraging is its simplicity. You don’t need much to get the job done, and it feels like a small miracle to find real food in the city. My kids light up when we discover juicy morsels, though it’s hard to save any for home. Sometimes they don’t even like the taste—like when we steam nettles or sauté fiddleheads. But the act of foraging is what matters. It’s so tactile, hands-on, and always rewarding. 

Our go-to book is Pacific Harvest: A Northwest Coast Foraging Guide by Jennifer Hahn. It clearly lays out what to forage, when to pick, and how to use it, including recipes. Until we found this book, foraging seemed daunting, even dangerous. Now, our family goes around the city pointing out what’s edible and thinking up recipes. 

As the season progresses toward winter, it becomes trickier to forage. Hardy greens like chickweed can be used in salads, and acorns can be ground into flour. Perhaps you’ve stored or canned some delicacies for the colder months, or maybe it’s time to rest and prepare for spring. Either way, my kids are always up for an adventure, eager to uncover nature’s secrets—especially if they get to eat them.