You may have mowed and weed-whacked some tasty edibles.
Your mom probably always told you to eat your greens. Or eat your vegetables. Well, how about eating your weeds?
Sounds strange, I know. But the fact is, your own back yard could provide you with some nutritious greens-- if you know what to harvest!
For example, Plantain is a super power in the “weed” family. In fact, it’s not really a weed, nor is it native to North America. Pilgrims carefully saved the seed and brought this staple plant of their diet to their new country. Americans, unfortunately, have mowed over and doused this highly nutritious green with herbicides for years.
There are two types of plantain (pronounced PLAN-tan). It’s not to be confused with the sweet banana-like dish that’s spelled the same way and served in restaurants. Seaside plantain has a long narrow leaf while regular or broad leaf plantain has a more spatulate leaf. Both taste the same. An additional benefit of this amazing plant is that it has analgesic and anti-itch properties. When we get bug bites, we chew a leaf and put the resulting paste onto the bite. Immediate relief!
How about dandelion? Another common “weed” in our yards. The roots can be dried and ground to use as a coffee substitute. Its leaves can be steamed or sauteed and some of the best fritters I ever ate were dandelion flowers dipped in pancake batter and fried before dousing them with maple syrup.
We never use any pesticides or herbicides here on our homestead because there are too many natural plants, or weeds, that will help feed us if food becomes scarce.
Cleavers is another edible “weed.” I only just learned about this plant because it’s not in the foraging book I own but, luckily for us, it’s everywhere on our homestead. Up until now I’ve hated this sticky plant that catches on your clothing when you walk by it but now I will collect it’s spinach-like leaves to add to our diet.
Google AI search will tell you, “People who are pregnant, nursing, have severe kidney/liver issues, diabetes (monitor closely), or are on blood thinners or diuretic medications” shouldn’t eat cleavers.
My overlooking cleavers all this time, and its important contraindications, reminds me: if you don’t already own a good foraging book, I encourage you to buy one.
Of course, there are many more edible weeds. I’ve only mentioned a few here. But I still hesitate to list some of them in this basic article, such as Pokeweed. That’s because some parts of the plant are poisonous. In my home state of Kentucky, (and many generations of Southerners) I grew up eating “poke salad.” If you research it further you’ll find that lots of Southerners also call it poke sallet.
If you want to be able to eat nutritious foods that your neighbors won’t steal in bad times, foraging for “weeds” is one proven way to go.
Finally, as with any foraging you need to know what you’re doing and what to stay away from. Thus a good foraging book is a necessary and basic part of your prepping library.
My own foraging book is, “A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Eastern and Central North America” by Lee Peterson. But dang, mine’s an old 1977 release. There’s a newer version available. Here’s a link to the Amazon search result page for books on the subject. Go forth and forage!
