Gather: The Foraging App
You may have seen me talk about my Interactive Forager’s Calendar over the past couple of years on this website, my YouTube channel, or social media.
The bad news is, it’s no longer available.
The good news is, it’s been replaced by something ten times better, my new foraging app, Gather!
Why did I make the app?
As I got more and more into foraging, discovered new species, and started gathering year-round I was consistently frustrated with one big thing…
I had so many species that I was keeping track of that I constantly felt overwhelmed by every new season and kept on missing harvest windows! So, I began to record when various wild foods would be at their peak. This started with a few plants, then I spent a lot of time looking at fruit trees, and finally, nut trees.
I created a calendar and foraging checklists for the things that I did not want to miss in each season. I quickly came to rely on this tool that I had made!
I knew that I eventually wanted to offer this valuable tool to all of you as well, but I felt like just dropping a static photo wouldn’t do it justice.
Phase 1 was the Interactive Forager’s Calendar, which was a static website that had species mainly only found in my area. It wouldn’t work well for people further North of me, and it definitely didn’t work for people out West.
Phase 2 is Gather, which is able to dynamically generate a foraging field guide with species and timings tailored to your specific area!
Who is this for?
Is this you?
- 🍎 Missing out on wild foraging seasons
- ☑️ Overwhelmed by all of the different species available
- 🏃♂️Having difficulty keeping up with what is in season?
Then this is exactly what you’ve been searching for!
The app covers the entire contiguous United States and Canada!
So, if you are a forager anywhere from a beginner to an advanced skill level, I think you’ll find a lot of value from it! (I use it myself every day)
Why is it valuable?
First, our lookalikes comparison guide is second to none!
We create a specific guide for every lookalike pair in the app, from wild carrot and poison hemlock to elderberry and water hemlock to chanterelles and jack-o-lantern mushrooms!
In addition, one of the most difficult aspects of foraging is timing.
Knowing when different species are in their prime state is half the battle.
There is nothing more frustrating than learning about a cool new edible species only to find out that you just missed the season for it and have to wait an entire year for the next window!
With the app, this will be a thing of the past! Not only will you get timing information on the windows for gathering things like wild fruits and vegetables, but you will also know when you can find notable characteristics like flowers in bloom, which will allow you to scout for new locations with ease.
There's more!
Don’t worry about keeping track of all the different species you want to find, let Gather do it for you!
You can set custom notifications for as many species as you’d like so you’ll be notified of when their season is starting.
We have hundreds of detailed, high-quality images for you to learn the species your area.
This is the #1 tool for beginner and veteran foragers alike.
After all it was built by foragers, for foragers.
I hope you’ll consider furthering your foraging journey with Gather!