Great timing on this question! Burdock is coming up next month. Burdock is actually in the daisy family, so not too closely related. You can't eat burdock leaves, but the roots are delicious, though often a bit of a pain in the ass to dig up. One time I dug one out of my mother in law’s yard using a kitchen spoon. That was a terrible idea!
I couldn't help but think of our former guinea pig, Peppermint, as I read this post. She would squeal in delight over fresh greens, especially when we let her roam the backyard to munch on dandelions, clover, and creeping charlie (we didn't use chemicals on our lawn - hence the abundance of non-grass greens). I wish I'd known about dock. Thanks for the depth of information.
Gladly Cindy! Oh my gosh, you would have laughed so hard at me the other day. One of my daughter's good friends has a bearded dragon. They spray their yard, so I said he could come over and enjoy our dandelions and other greens. We brought him over and he was terrified, kept puffing up, so then the girls freaked out too. Ultimately, we decided he just needs greens delivered to his house :)
Thank you Margi! I definitely have a queue of plants in mind, burdock next because I can't believe I haven't written about it already :) My main limitation is time and the number of words my brain can produce because I'm writing a book as well.
The plants in the Tucson desert are so different than yours. Complicating things further are the nearby mountains where in an hour driving time I can be in four different ecological zones.
Yes, I imagine so, the closest I've ever been to Tucson is the Phoenix area. I would guess somewhere on those mountains there's abit of some type of dock though.
This is one wild edible that I see everywhere, but haven’t tried yet! I had no idea the young leaves were sour—my kids are going to love that.
Highly recommend! Especially for smoothies. It's not quite as tasty as wood sorrel, but better than most grocery store greens.
Noted! Most wild greens are better than grocery store greens. Maybe not always taste wise though…
I would say the taste of this is better, but it is quite fibrous so kids might object to that
LOVE sour greens. Question: Is (bur)dock in this family? (I could have searched this myself but would prefer your take....)
Great timing on this question! Burdock is coming up next month. Burdock is actually in the daisy family, so not too closely related. You can't eat burdock leaves, but the roots are delicious, though often a bit of a pain in the ass to dig up. One time I dug one out of my mother in law’s yard using a kitchen spoon. That was a terrible idea!
I couldn't help but think of our former guinea pig, Peppermint, as I read this post. She would squeal in delight over fresh greens, especially when we let her roam the backyard to munch on dandelions, clover, and creeping charlie (we didn't use chemicals on our lawn - hence the abundance of non-grass greens). I wish I'd known about dock. Thanks for the depth of information.
Gladly Cindy! Oh my gosh, you would have laughed so hard at me the other day. One of my daughter's good friends has a bearded dragon. They spray their yard, so I said he could come over and enjoy our dandelions and other greens. We brought him over and he was terrified, kept puffing up, so then the girls freaked out too. Ultimately, we decided he just needs greens delivered to his house :)
Uber Eats for dragons! That seems like something your kids could draw.
These plant profile pieces are amazing, Amy. I hope more call to you as the year unfolds. This is such rich and wonderful information.
Thank you Margi! I definitely have a queue of plants in mind, burdock next because I can't believe I haven't written about it already :) My main limitation is time and the number of words my brain can produce because I'm writing a book as well.
The plants in the Tucson desert are so different than yours. Complicating things further are the nearby mountains where in an hour driving time I can be in four different ecological zones.
Yes, I imagine so, the closest I've ever been to Tucson is the Phoenix area. I would guess somewhere on those mountains there's abit of some type of dock though.