Terms

General information only

Pages on Lamp & Larder describe methods and report what public agencies recommend. They are written for adults as general information and are not medical, legal, financial or other professional advice. They cannot take account of your health, the plants in your area, the equipment in your garage or the rules where you live. Check local law before foraging on land you do not own, lighting a fire outdoors, keeping fuel at home or practicing on locks.

Risks that come with the subjects

Foraging can go badly wrong. A plant identified incorrectly can cause serious illness or death, and even a safe species can trigger an allergy. Eat nothing wild unless you are certain what it is.

Preserving food at home can fail without any sign you can see or smell, and botulism is the most dangerous result. Follow current instructions from the USDA and the National Center for Home Food Preservation over any older method.

Flames, stoves, heaters and generators can fill a room or a car with carbon monoxide or set it alight. Keep working smoke and CO alarms, give any flame fresh air, never run a generator or charcoal grill indoors or in a garage, and follow the maker’s instructions for any appliance.

Anything you choose to do after reading a page is your decision and at your own risk.

Outside links

Some pages link to government agencies, university extension services and other sources. Other people run those sites, decide what goes on them and may change it at any time. What they publish, and how they handle your data, is not covered by anything on this page.

Quoting and reuse

A short quotation with a link back to the page it came from is welcome. Copying whole pages, or long runs of them, needs permission first, which can be requested by email through the contact page.

When something is wrong

Pages are checked with care but may still hold errors or fall out of date. A mistake reported by email is looked into and, if confirmed, corrected where it appears.