Wild Food for Wildlife Kate Guenther Thursday July 3, 2020 Lydia Virginia 12:33 Hello everyone. This is a Message for Kate’s talk at 1 PM. Kate, I am so sorry I have to miss your talk live because I have a 1 o’clock conflict. But want to give a shout out to my fellow backyard habitat friend and tell you I am going to be sure to scroll back and read all of your talk. I am really curious to know more about how you raise these foods for wildlife and how your distribution system is set up. Kudos to you! Kate Guenther 12:33 Thanks, Backyard Habitat Buddy! You are so supportive! Thanks for checking in... :0) Catherine 12:59 First time learning this way Kate Guenther 12:59 Welcome, Catherine! Amanda Nicholson, WCV 1:00 Hey everyone! Thanks so much for joining us today for Kate's moderated discussion session. I'm excited to learn more along with you guys! 1:02 Feel free to type your question for Kate into the comment field, and away we go! Kate Guenther Wild Food for Wildlife Page 1
1:02 Hiya everybody! So nice to be here back with you at WCV today! Thank you SalGal for sponsoring today ’ s cams. And Amanda, for inviting me into this community today! I have fond memories of so many of you. Thing Two 1:02 Excited to learn from Kate today! Kate Guenther 1:02 Sorry Kira must be sick. Kate Guenther 1:03 Amanda Nicholson, WCV 1:03 Hey I know that name ... Wild Food for Wildlife Page 2
Kate Guenther 1:03 I worked at the Wildlife Center from 2011- 2016 as a front desk coordinator. While I was there I developed an interest in the foods wildlife eat in the wild. I enjoy foraging for human wild edibles, so it was not a big leap for me to start collecting wild food for the patients. 1:04 I created a website to make it easier for rehabbers to incorporate wild food into their practices. That website is www.wildfoods4wildlife.com. Catherine 1:04 I don’t hear anything Amanda Nicholson, WCV 1:04 This is a text-based discussion, so nothing to hear! Just enjoy one of the Critter Cams - either bears or more bears or Buttercup our Black vulture and watch the chat. Kate Guenther 1:05 My goal was and is to inspire and empower people who want to help rehabbers by collecting food from their yards and delivering it to their community’s rehabilitators. Almost everyone with any kind of yard probably has stuff in it that could be eaten by some wild thing. It seems like everyone has something like dandelion, plantain, or acorns. PaulaR 1:06 hi Kate, welcome back! i have lots of clover and dandelions.... Wild Food for Wildlife Page 3
Kate Guenther 1:06 Hi Paula! Nice to "see" you! Guest 1:06 Oh, this is cool! I have extra room in my garden, I could do this for the rehabbers in my area. Kate Guenther 1:06 You betcha could! Kate Guenther 1:07 But today, Amanda and I thought it might be fun to focus on Wild Gardening for Wildlife. It’s an ironic topic choice for me because I do not consider myself much of a gardener. I know and like wild plants, but sweating over breaking my shovel into rock-hard ground is not my idea of quality time. Here’s a picture of my pretty messy and crappy garden. PaulaR 1:08 looks nice to me! although your soil looks like it needs some amendment! Wild Food for Wildlife Page 4
Guest 1:08 that website looks really useful! Kate Guenther 1:08 Hope so! Thanks! Kate Guenther 1:08 A couple of years ago, I decided help a rehabber friend of mine by providing her wild food. Linda McDaniels. Some of you remember her from her days at WCV, right? Amanda Nicholson, WCV 1:08 Yes! And she was our guest last night on Untamed Unfiltered! SHe actually mentioned YOU! Kate Guenther 1:08 Wild Food for Wildlife Page 5
Sharon Shneyer, Philadelphia 1:09 Do any foods for the wildlife do better in certain types of weather? I know there is limited space here. Kate Guenther 1:09 Mostly, Sharon, we are talking about wild native foods, so they can handle your "typical" weather patterns. Kate Guenther 1:10 Yeah, so Linda is running a cottontail rehab operation out of her house now and she ambitiously decided to feed ONLY wild foods to her patients. Most rehabbers would not even think of going 100% into wild foods because they could never get enough or they just don’t have the time to forage for that much. Most rehabbers strive to just supplement with wild foods, kind of like a garnish. Amanda Nicholson, WCV 1:11 Wow! PaulaR 1:11 my sister does that with her domestic rabbit...wild sources just aren't abundant or constant enough Kate Guenther 1:11 But when I learned Linda wanted to try for 100%, I thought it would be interesting to see just what it would take to pull that off. Thing Two 1:11 We collect Bunny Greens for Linda at Augusta Cottontails using Wild Foods 4 Wildlife. Right now it is pretty easy considering all the dandelions and plantain in our yard. Wild Food for Wildlife Page 6
Kate Guenther 1:11 :0) Thank you, Heather! Kate Guenther 1:11 This is Benedict, Linda’s non -releasable education adult cottontail. Anyone able to identify what Benedict is noshing on? It’s kinda hard to see. 1:12 Amanda Nicholson, WCV 1:12 a plant. Wild Food for Wildlife Page 7
Kate Guenther 1:13 Amanda, FAIL. Amanda Nicholson, WCV 1:13 it's not a plant???? Kate Guenther 1:13 Okay, it's a plant. But still FAIL. Guest 1:14 oh my i have no idea PaulaR 1:14 looks like carrots, so maybe Queen Ann's lace? Kate Guenther 1:14 YOU GOT IT! Amanda Nicholson, WCV 1:14 Oooooh! Guest 1:14 is that grass growing in the cup? Wild Food for Wildlife Page 8
Kate Guenther 1:14 We'll come back to that! Kate Guenther 1:14 It takes a lot of effort. I collect foods out of my yard for about 2-3 hours a week from April to September and I am able to provide Linda about ½ of the total she needs to feed those hungry bunny mouths — once the babies are old enough for solid food. It takes a lot of time to poke around looking for food, and I decided it would be easier to grow some of the staples that Linda uses a lot of every week. So not only am I a bad gardener, but I may be the only gardener you know who intentionally plants dandelion seed in rows! Ha! Guest 1:15 wow that sounds like a lot of work for linda! but important. what does a plantain look like? Kate Guenther 1:15 remind me to come back to that, when I can grab a picture PaulaR 1:15 :) Kate Guenther 1:16 Wild Food for Wildlife Page 9
Dandelion in the garden. Amanda Nicholson, WCV 1:16 I need to start doing this so my neighbors think that I'm even weirder. Kate Guenther 1:16 Okay, it’s your turn. Without cheating and looking on my website…let’s crowd -source a list of wild yard foods you think rabbits might eat. What plants do you think I have been collecting for Linda? I already told you one main one! PaulaR 1:17 that might push my neighbors over the edge, bad enough that i let them grow in my yard, but to cultivate dandelions...lol Wild Food for Wildlife Page 10
Kate Guenther 1:17 You can harvest them before they go to seed. JudyVA 1:18 Kate, I would like to start a garden with lots of dandelion and plantain. Any suggestions? Kate Guenther 1:18 Those are great ones to start with. And the plantain is not the kind of banana-like plantain. It is a common yard weed. Sharon Shneyer, Philadelphia 1:18 Sort of like a banana Guest 1:18 oh, clover!!! can you harvest grass? 33mama 1:18 Clover Guest 1:18 plantains! PaulaR 1:19 plantain, dock, chickweed, wild blackberries, clover Kate Guenther 1:19 Those are all great guesses. I think you all may be back-yard foragers experts already! The list of plant foods cottontails are better-known than for many wildlife. It is a l-o-n-g list. Greens nuts, seeds, browse, and fruits. Wild Food for Wildlife Page 11
1:20 Here is a list of what I have taken out of my yard for the buns: Amaranth greens Basswood browse Dandelion greens Chickweed greens Bidens greens Dock green Eastern hemlock browse Chestnut nuts Goldenrod greens Honeysuckle greens Hackberry berries Indian strawberry greens Wild lettuce greens Maple seeds Plantain greens White poplar browse Ragweed greens Spiderwort greens Smartweed greens Sow thistle greens Violets greens Virginia creeper browse Wood sorrel greens Willow browse Yarrow greens Grass greens Hickory nuts Bristlegrass seed Elm Seeds Bittersweet fruits Amanda Nicholson, WCV 1:20 Wow 33mama 1:21 Green beans? Someone ate all of mine. Wild Food for Wildlife Page 12
Kate Guenther 1:21 Hmmm, I am not sure who would eat those. Guest 1:21 Ohhh, what's dock? Kate Guenther 1:21 Dock is another common yard weed, you can see many pictures of it on my website in the left column of highlighted foods. PaulaR 1:22 wow! yes, i forgot about the violets...have seen the cottontails happily nibbling on them. what is Indian strawberry? the one i think of as barren strawberry? Sharon Shneyer, Philadelphia 1:22 Sounds like bear food. Kate Guenther 1:22 You can search for bear foods on the website and see which ones overlap with cottontail's foods. Kate Guenther 1:22 Indian Strawberry= barren strawberry. 🐼 ♪♫♪ jakermo 1:23 Sorry, Kate. Coming in late. what is your website? Wild Food for Wildlife Page 13
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