May I Have Your Weeds, Please?

I don’t know whether it is my quest for a simpler life or the pain of the economy, but I have become very fascinated with the idea of foraging for food in my own back yard – or other people’s back yards as the case may be. I have discovered that all kinds of yard “weeds” are edible and also have a lot of nutritional benefits. There are even organizations that are just dedicated to promoting this as a practice good for the environment.

For example, naturalist “Wildman” Steve Brill has a whole website dedicated to it. He includes tons of information on identifying plants that are edible and is working on a book for foraging with kids. An organization called Plants for a Future has a searchable database of edible plants with all kinds of information on uses of the plants and any hazards or warnings about their usage. It is an excellent free resource.

Some of the weeds I’ve tried so far…

• Purslane – This is an exceptional weed. I love the taste of it (it is juicy and citrus-like). The leaves are high in Omega-3 Fatty acids and the stem is high in Vitamin C. I spotted some Purslane in a friend’s yard and transplanted it to my herb garden (as pictured). I would be very excited if it took off in my own yard! I’ve eaten this right off the stem and put it into my “Garden Weed Pesto”.


• Dandelions- Everything about the dandelion is edible. The greens are even sold in stores like “Whole Foods” for use in salads or to be cooked like spinach. The flowers can be eaten in a salad or used to make wine. I also used the greens in my “Garden Weed Pesto”.


• Wild Blackberry – We have some of this in the back yard (as well as the local park). The kids gathered some black berries and we tried to eat them with whipped cream. The flavor actually wasn’t that great. Maybe they weren’t ripe enough. I’m going to see if they are better cooked or in a fruit smoothie.

Things I’m going to try soon include clovers and oxalis. We have a ton of this and I’ve read you can cook it up the clover as you would spinach (oxalis should only be eaten in small quantities). Maybe I could make a nice weed quiche.

Some words of caution… There was just a story on the news today about a whole family that got sent to the hospital from poisoning due to insecticide on their mint leaves.

1. Don’t eat any foraged food that is from an area that may be exposed to insecticides, road salt (from snow), or any foreign chemical substances that you don’t know about.


2. Make sure to clean anything that you pluck from your yard thoroughly.


3. Make sure you can absolutely, positively identify something before you eat it. Many plants in your yard are poisonous.

I’m not sure that my neighbors appreciate the encouragement of clovers and dandelions in the yard. Good thing we don’t have a home owner’s association!