Spring Foraging*
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I don’t think it’s possible here in the great state of Tennessee to starve to death from lack of available food. True, we’ve had a ridiculously cold and long winter this year (last year, our pictures show a lot of grass growth by March 10th; this year, none). However, there’s still a lot of hardy winter greens in abundance, not far from our doorstep.
Take chickweed, for instance. This stuff grows pretty much everywhere. I’m gonna have to hack a whole bunch of it up so I can plant carrots here in a few days. Here’s a link with more information on chickweed.
One of my favorite greens is watercress. It’s so nutritious. Growing up, we had a creek with watercress growing in it right in our backyard. It was great. Most of the winter ,we had fresh, organic salad with no more effort than walking out and cutting it.
These days, I try to make time to hop on my motorcycle and ride a couple of miles down to a nearby creek where watercress grows (oh, the hardship ).
One of the most commonly known wild spring greens is dandelion. I don’t particularly care for this one personally, but there’s definitely no shortage of it, and, given our weariness with this cold, icky winter, even I was really happy to see some dandelion plants coming up through the dead grass. It’s said to be quite the powerhouse of nutrition as well. Double whammy!
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If we’re talking about wild plants with amazing health and medicinal benefits, we certainly can’t leave plantain out in the cold. I’ve never actually used plantain in salads, but it makes a phenomenal healing salve. A friend of mine is quite famous for chewing plantain for immediate use on bee stings.
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Last but not least is Lambs quarters. Some people like this stuff so much that they grow it in their garden. Personally, I’m content to let it grow wild.
Lambs quarter leaves are a little thicker than typical salad greens, and just a tad fuzzy.
These five “weeds” are just a small part of the reason I love Tennessee so much. Now granted, I’ve barely scratched the surface of wildcrafting. I’m a newb. I’ve never gone for tubers, except for a few wild carrots (which also abound in this area), and I know there are many interesting and probably very tasty ones out there. Just looking through The Forager’s Harvest
Foraging your own salad bowl is definitely a great, tasty, and healthy way to save a little money, but also to steward the resources available to you.
*An updated re-post
