You have elevated my view of our “lawn!” We stopped calling it grass given the amount of non-grass plants within. I may have to tell Joe to go mow the “salad!”
I always sneak out before my Joe mows to make sure I rescue all the good stuff into my mouth. I have to take a few hours to get all the dandelions before the first mow of the year. I was just telling someone that I feel like my life purpose is to help people feel good about the weeds in their yard.
Interesting! I think there’s something to knowledge passed among kids without being filtered through adults. Children are not likely to eat something that will cause them to get their stomachs pumped. And if it tastes bad, you spit it out, obviously.
The “poverty food” concept is a powerful one. I think of greens cooked in iron pots as one example that brings racism into the mix. I’m sure you know of many more. Such a potent topic, with all kinds of ramifications.
I love this post. Learning a lot. I love drinking garden tea from my feral garden greens.
Pineapple weed looks just like chamomile. I dream of having some of those other things. Maybe I should have been a botanist. I would take that forage class if I was there and when I have more time. Foraging is such a great lesson in mindfulness, connection to earth, and plant medicine. LOVE IT.
I am device free as much as possible so havent been on any media lately. Sorry! I've missed some of your posts. In solidarity. I have 36 days before the finish line. One day at a time. Deep breath.
Thank you! After I posted I thought oh I should have asked what the prime backyard foraging west of the Rockies or elsewhere on the globe is. I can't remember if I wrote in the article that pineapple weed is a close relative of chamomile. I'm glad you're having device free time. I'm not doing as well at that as I might like. Not to rope you back in, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on my article on resilience if you ever have the bandwidth to check it out.
You mentioned the chamomile piece! One my local friends lanny kaufer is a guru of west coast foraging. He wrote the book medicinal herbs or california. I will have more time to learn from him if desired after I sleep for the entire month of august i think. Ill check out your resilience post! Oh- i got your letter today! Read it from in garden. I just love penpals.
Great post Amy, I have been learning about edible weeds in my neck of the woods (East coast Australia) for last year or so. As it’s winter here my veggie plot has a fair amount of volunteer chickweed right now which I include in pestos. The weed I eat most is purslane which follows the chickweed in spring. Goes great in salads and as garnish for most dishes.
After I published I was thinking that it would have been cool to learn from others about the backyard foraging in different regions. Chickweed is wonderful and abundant at the farm I'll be teaching at. At my house we only have the fuzzy leaf kind that is good for making medicine, but less tasty in a salad.
Thank you for this extremely helpful post, Amy. Learning about the weeds in my yard is changing the definition of "weeds" for me. BTW, I've been giving Wood Sorrel to my chickens who seem to think it is a wonderful treat -- they've eaten all of it in their part of the yard so I drop some from my part of the yard over the fence for them once in a while.
Thank you for this, Amy! I had no idea that wood sorrel was anything other than a weed. When I was a kid, we called it “pickle grass” because of the tangy flavor. Good to know that it’s actually healthy. Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge with us. I was thrilled to meet you in person.❤️
Thank you Mary, I think wood sorrel is sort of the gateway foraging for many kids until an ignorant adult tells them not to. I can't think of a plant that is poisonous that tastes good. Though, of course, don't eat plants if you don't know what they are. Your comment got me to thinking about how we lost wild edible foods in our diet. Certainly wild foods came to be known as foods of poverty. It is possible, though I am not convinced that wild foods well-tended would not support the same population density. However, when you forage in an area you tend to it to encourage a good harvest, imagine how much better you tend to it when you life depends upon that harvest. I guess I'm wondering if disparaging it as poverty food is part of disconnecting us from the land more broadly, so we don't make a fuss about destruction. Hmm, I'm going to have to ponder this. And a pleasure to meet you as well.
This is so useful! Growing up we used to call wood sorrel "sweet hearts," where I come from. In Kentucky a common plant to eat is pokeweed greens. The berries are extremely toxic but greens are very healthy, but I wouldn't trust anyone but a mamaw to cook them :) You have to cook the greens in three different pots of water to get out all of the toxins from the stems. Thank you for sharing all this plant info! I love it.
Thanks Sarah! I’ve never tried pokeweed greens. I tend to be too lazy for the high maintenance plants like poke greens or milkweed because there are just so many tasty greens that I can just plunk in my mouth :) But I agree we need some more mamaw power in the world in lots of regards, but cooked greens is definitely one of them.
You have elevated my view of our “lawn!” We stopped calling it grass given the amount of non-grass plants within. I may have to tell Joe to go mow the “salad!”
I always sneak out before my Joe mows to make sure I rescue all the good stuff into my mouth. I have to take a few hours to get all the dandelions before the first mow of the year. I was just telling someone that I feel like my life purpose is to help people feel good about the weeds in their yard.
Interesting! I think there’s something to knowledge passed among kids without being filtered through adults. Children are not likely to eat something that will cause them to get their stomachs pumped. And if it tastes bad, you spit it out, obviously.
The “poverty food” concept is a powerful one. I think of greens cooked in iron pots as one example that brings racism into the mix. I’m sure you know of many more. Such a potent topic, with all kinds of ramifications.
I love this post. Learning a lot. I love drinking garden tea from my feral garden greens.
Pineapple weed looks just like chamomile. I dream of having some of those other things. Maybe I should have been a botanist. I would take that forage class if I was there and when I have more time. Foraging is such a great lesson in mindfulness, connection to earth, and plant medicine. LOVE IT.
I am device free as much as possible so havent been on any media lately. Sorry! I've missed some of your posts. In solidarity. I have 36 days before the finish line. One day at a time. Deep breath.
Thank you! After I posted I thought oh I should have asked what the prime backyard foraging west of the Rockies or elsewhere on the globe is. I can't remember if I wrote in the article that pineapple weed is a close relative of chamomile. I'm glad you're having device free time. I'm not doing as well at that as I might like. Not to rope you back in, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on my article on resilience if you ever have the bandwidth to check it out.
You mentioned the chamomile piece! One my local friends lanny kaufer is a guru of west coast foraging. He wrote the book medicinal herbs or california. I will have more time to learn from him if desired after I sleep for the entire month of august i think. Ill check out your resilience post! Oh- i got your letter today! Read it from in garden. I just love penpals.
Awesome. I was so surprised you were having a pelican moment too!
I know! Cool synchronicity.
Happy to be connected by these ancient beings.
Oh I didn t know there were two sorts ! No fuzz on my leaves but prefer in pestos than salads
Yeah, I think there are a few different species.
Great post Amy, I have been learning about edible weeds in my neck of the woods (East coast Australia) for last year or so. As it’s winter here my veggie plot has a fair amount of volunteer chickweed right now which I include in pestos. The weed I eat most is purslane which follows the chickweed in spring. Goes great in salads and as garnish for most dishes.
After I published I was thinking that it would have been cool to learn from others about the backyard foraging in different regions. Chickweed is wonderful and abundant at the farm I'll be teaching at. At my house we only have the fuzzy leaf kind that is good for making medicine, but less tasty in a salad.
Thank you for this extremely helpful post, Amy. Learning about the weeds in my yard is changing the definition of "weeds" for me. BTW, I've been giving Wood Sorrel to my chickens who seem to think it is a wonderful treat -- they've eaten all of it in their part of the yard so I drop some from my part of the yard over the fence for them once in a while.
Thanks Jeanne, have you tried any of the wood sorrel yourself yet? I would consider changing the definition of weeds a great success :)
I have begun to nibble on them myself!
I have begun to nibble on them myself!
Thank you for this, Amy! I had no idea that wood sorrel was anything other than a weed. When I was a kid, we called it “pickle grass” because of the tangy flavor. Good to know that it’s actually healthy. Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge with us. I was thrilled to meet you in person.❤️
Thank you Mary, I think wood sorrel is sort of the gateway foraging for many kids until an ignorant adult tells them not to. I can't think of a plant that is poisonous that tastes good. Though, of course, don't eat plants if you don't know what they are. Your comment got me to thinking about how we lost wild edible foods in our diet. Certainly wild foods came to be known as foods of poverty. It is possible, though I am not convinced that wild foods well-tended would not support the same population density. However, when you forage in an area you tend to it to encourage a good harvest, imagine how much better you tend to it when you life depends upon that harvest. I guess I'm wondering if disparaging it as poverty food is part of disconnecting us from the land more broadly, so we don't make a fuss about destruction. Hmm, I'm going to have to ponder this. And a pleasure to meet you as well.
This is so useful! Growing up we used to call wood sorrel "sweet hearts," where I come from. In Kentucky a common plant to eat is pokeweed greens. The berries are extremely toxic but greens are very healthy, but I wouldn't trust anyone but a mamaw to cook them :) You have to cook the greens in three different pots of water to get out all of the toxins from the stems. Thank you for sharing all this plant info! I love it.
Thanks Sarah! I’ve never tried pokeweed greens. I tend to be too lazy for the high maintenance plants like poke greens or milkweed because there are just so many tasty greens that I can just plunk in my mouth :) But I agree we need some more mamaw power in the world in lots of regards, but cooked greens is definitely one of them.