When to Forage

Seasonal foraging calendar.

Pigments, fibers, tannins, and gums by the month. Tuned for a Northern Hemisphere temperate climate — shift by six months below the equator.

January

— Charcoal from cold firewood
— Iron-rich bog water
— Indoor avocado-pit dye

February

— Last winter twigs for ink-stick brushes
— Willow shoots before bud-break

March

— Daffodil & onion-skin dyes (kitchen)
— Birch bark from fallen branches
— Nettle shoots (very young, for fiber)

April

— Iris & daylily leaves
— Spring clay (riverbanks newly exposed)
— Cherry-tree sap (gum substitute)

May

— Young bamboo culms for paper
— Dandelion roots (yellow dye)
— Rhubarb leaves (mordant)

June

— Madder root (3+ year plants)
— Elderberry (early)
— Fresh nettle stems for retting
— Cattail leaves for paper

July

— Walnut hulls beginning to drop
— Pokeberries ripen (handle gloved)
— Goldenrod tops for yellow

August

— Peak walnut hulls (best ink)
— Sumac drupes (red-brown dye + tannin)
— Milkweed bast (stems standing dead)
— Indigo if you grew it

September

— Oak galls (peak — wasp larvae have emerged)
— Acorns for tannin
— Black-walnut harvest
— Pine resin (cool nights)

October

— All bark from felled trees
— Last leaf pigments (eco-print)
— Yellow ochre from roadcuts (dry season)
— Cattail down for soft-fiber paper

November

— Bog manganese (low water levels)
— Dry rosehips (pink dye)
— Bring all materials indoors before frost

December

— Fresh charcoal from the woodstove
— Pine soot for lampblack
— Read & plan the spring batch