Wildcrafted?

[rlibkind]

I just recently came across the term "wildcrafted" on shelf signs for fiddleheads and dandelions at a local non-profit food vendor. I poked fun at the term in my blog and got back a response from the stand's manager who wrote:

Though Wildcrafted at first sounded a little 'precious,' to me, it is in fact a program regulated by The Organic Food Production Act of 1991. Indulge me: Wikipedia says, "Wildcrafting is the practice of harvesting plants from their natural, or "wild" habitat, for food, medicinal, or other purposes. It applies to uncultivated plants wherever they may be found, and is not necessarily limited to wilderness areas. Ethical considerations are often involved, such as protecting endangered species.

When wildcrafting is done sustainably with proper respect, generally only the branches or flowers from plants are taken and the living plant is left, or if it is necessary to take the whole plant, seeds of the plant are placed in the empty hole from which the plant was taken. Care is taken to only remove a few plants, flowers, or branches, so plenty remains to continue the supply.

Wildcrafted plants are regulated by The Organic Food Production Act of 1991. Harvesters must designate the area they are harvesting and provide a three-year history of the area that shows no prohibited substances have been applied there. A plan for harvesting must show that the harvest will sustain the wild crop. No prohibited substances can be added by processors."

I still think the term is a linguistic deceit.

The intention behind "wildcrafted" may be laudable; the language remains deplorable. It really doesn't matter who or what organization "crafted" this nomenclature, it remains an abuse of language and meaning.

What's wrong with "sustainably-gathered" or "sustainably-harvested"? Such a construction takes advantage of the established usage of "sustainable" in the food-agriculture context. Using "craft" clearly means it was made by human hands, but neither fiddleheads nor dandelions nor ramps are made by human hands.

"Wildcrafted" remains an oxymoron only a bureaucrat or marketer could love.

[MarketStEl]

Preach, brother, preach!

[Mallet]

On the contrary, I think that that "craft" is the appropriate term and that "wild" may be the misleading one! From the description posted, it seems like wildcrafting involves active management techniques designed to favour one species in a particular area. Sounds a bit like domestication, no?

I think wildcrafting practices should be distinguished from simple foraging because of this, and that the term makes sense (shaping a "natural" environment to create sustained harvests of a particular product in a particular area, a goal which after all is very unnatural). Contrast this with say, morel foraging, in which harvests are spread throughout the continent along forest fire lines (more or less) and to the best of my knowledge there is no way to ensure a good harvest in a particular spot.

Maybe I'm just feeling a little bureaucratic

[Busboy]

Strikes me as just another overly cute marketing term -- trying to impress the masses or inflate their own importance.

"Wildcrafting is the practice of harvesting plants from their natural, or "wild" habitat, for food, medicinal, or other purposes." Sounds like "picking" to me. Or "gathering."

Which brings me to another peeve, the use of the word "harvest." Doesn't "harvest" imply a cultivated crop? You harvest corn, but you gather ramps.

[Lilija]

But it would make kind of a cute screenname...

[rlibkind]

Which brings me to another peeve, the use of the word "harvest."  Doesn't "harvest" imply a cultivated crop?  You harvest corn, but you gather ramps.

←

That's a useful nuance, but "harvest" and "gather" aren't contradictory. Harvesting, after all, is a form of gathering.

[hummingbirdkiss]

Back in the early 80's I took a wildcrafting class ..it was how to pick medicinal herbs in the wild not sure if it has anything to do with what you are talking about but I still call it "wildcrafting" when I go to medicinal herbs ...

the word itself never struck me as odd until now

[mrbigjas]

the first place i saw the term was on that balinese long pepper that was all the rage a couple years ago. a link to the stuff.