AlgaeLab, grow your own Spirulina Free Food in Your Yard: Edible Weeds! Popular in Food & Drink Next time you're about to yank an offending plant from your immaculate garden of perennials, think twice: you just might be looking at dinner. Free dinner. Oh, I know what you're thinking: damn hippies! Always eating anything and everything that grows under the sun. What's next? Well, my friend, I may be a bit of a hippie, but that doesn't mean that you too can't partake in the pleasures of foraged food. I love the idea of going out in the wild to find food. Japanese Knotweed This stuff grows like a forest in the lot next to my house, and occasionally pops up in my yard. Knotweed is a crazy plant. The neighbor who told me the name of the weed also told us that it was edible, but that only the shoots were really worth eating. It turns out that this isn't true — I mean, I'm sure it's invasiveness is awful, but you can eat it when it gets big. I did manage to get a few shoots that were young, growing around my rhododendron. And it's good for you! Purlsane Dandelions
Foraging Fun: Making Your Own Wild Root Brew : Peaceful Dumpling Human beings have been gathering their food for nearly two million years. Up until around ten thousand years ago, foraging was very likely people’s only means of survival. It’s hard to imagine no quick run to the corner market to pick up a little flour, but a Homo erectus who wanted to eat bread had to wait until summer, go find the grain, harvest it with a handmade scythe, pound it, and bake it into an unleavened loaf. I am very glad for my corner market. One plant that has always intrigued me is the chicory. Another wonderful quality of this roadside herb is that the roasted root of the chicory makes a delicious coffee-like (but caffeine free) drink. Using a trowel, I dug down into the ground as close as possible to the taproot. Once I got the root all dug out I was ready to head home with my treasure. Even Dingo knows that chicory is good to eat! I cut off the roots and cleaned them well. Voila! Hope this gives you some foraging ideas for your next hiking trip–enjoy! Photo: Susana Romatz
Cultivating, Harvesting and Curing Tobacco -- Victory Seed Company Cultivation, Harvest, and Curing We originally started growing and offering tobacco seeds as ornamental annuals. They are a quite magnificent plant with beautiful flowers making them a great selection for the back of flower beds. All of the seed varieties available here have interesting histories, were grown in different geographical locations, and cultivated for varied and different final uses. Pictorial of a Growing Cycle For more information about organic tobacco cultivation, click here. After the tobacco has cured for a period from several months to several years, it is then fermented and processed in many different ways. Click Here to Purchase Tobacco Seeds Many of the variety descriptions above are from the book entitled, "Tobacco Leaf", 1897, by J.
Delicious Stinging Nettles Of Spring | Terra Brockman Walking near the stream that separates the two 10-acre bottom-land fields of my brother Henry’s vegetable farm, I noticed a bed of dark green nettles about a foot tall — the perfect size for picking. And although the soft green leaves of the overwintered spinach beckoned just a few steps away, I turned away from the spinach and toward the stream bank and the stinging nettles (Urtica dioica), heeding the irresistible call of the wild. The first wild greens of spring have been highly valued by people around the world who knew they were good food and good medicine too. Most European countries consider nettles a “spring tonic” that purifies the blood. With all these beneficial aspects of nettles, you’d think there’d be masses of people out harvesting them each spring. In fact, after a get-out-the-vote rally in Chicago last year, President Barack Obama stopped by Rick Bayless’ acclaimed Topolobampo restaurant. Take the sting out Foraged nettles, plain and simple Find a nettle patch. Ingredients
Forage For Life I discovered the most heavenly herb shop in Houston today. All of the herbs are in alphabetical order by Spanish though so I gotta figure out the Spanish names for what I need. Welcome! (All Things Plants) Wild Edibles: Sumac Shoots Disclaimer: Eating certain wild plants can be deadly!! Be certain to consult a professional (or a really good field guide) in order to positively identify this plant before trying this for yourself. The owners of this site will not be held responsible for any lapses in judgment or stupidity when handling or consuming wild plants. In one of my earlier articles on wild edibles I wrote about how to make sumac lemonade from the Staghorn (or Smooth) Sumac. How to Identify Staghorn or Smooth Sumac The first step before eating any wild edible is to positively identify it. Compound Toothed Leaves: Both species have pinnately compound leaves with serrated edges. Just to see the contrast, here’s a picture of poison sumac fruit cluster and leaves (notice they are smooth and not serrated). How to Eat Sumac Shoots Most wild-edible foragers are familiar with using sumac for the lemonade-like beverage you can make from it, however few know about the other important edible it provides: the peeled shoots.
"What's Blooming Now" Amaranth: Grain, Vegetable, Icon A book could be written about amaranth, and probably has, if not several. Amaranth is a seed used like a grain. A grain, a green, a cultural icon, a religious symbol… amaranth is colorful plant with a colorful history. It’s also nutritious. Aztecs farmed with floating mat islands. Amaranth today is enjoyed many ways. Note notches in the leaves, often present It’s a bushy plant growing 3 to 10 feet, depending if it’s wild or cultivated, a vegetable variety or a grain variety. Amaranth seed is high in protein, some 16%, contains lysine and methionine, two essential amino acids that are not often found in grain, and is high in fiber, three times that of wheat. Spiny amaranth has edible leaves and might be a medicine and sex aid. There are some 60 amaranth species, maybe 70 (it depends on who’s counting.) Amaranthus australis (southern amaranth) can easily grow 18 feet or more. The fourth amaranth was a bit of a mystery for a while. Here’s an interesting recipe from Salt Spring Seeds. Tabouli
Milkweed: A Truly Remarkable Wild Vegetable Milkweed isn’t your average weed; in fact, I feel guilty calling it a weed at all. The common milkweed, Asclepias syriacqa, is one of the best known wild plants in North America. Children love to play with the downy fluff in autumn, while farmers despise it as a tenacious weed of hayfields and pastures. 7 Natural Uses For Baking Soda In The Garden Share Baking soda is a vital part of green cleaning and has so many uses in the house, but what about the garden. Here are 7 ways to use it in the garden. 1. Mix 4 teaspoons of baking soda and 1 gallon of water. 2. Powdery mildew is causing major problems with impatiens this year, but also can be a problem for other plants, like lilacs, cucumbers, squash and zinnias. Spray Recipe: 1 tablespoon of baking soda, 1 gallon of water, 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil, 1 tablespoon of dishwashing liquid Mix all the ingredients together and spray plants weekly. 3. Mix in 1 gallon of water, 4 teaspoons baking soda, 1 teaspoon biodegradable soap. 4. Pour or sweep baking soda in a thick layer into cracks on a sidewalk or patios. 5. Mix equals parts flour and baking soda and dust plants (cabbage, broccoli, kale) being eaten by cabbage worms. 6. Simply wet the crabgrass, pour a heavy dusting of baking soda on the weed. 7. Source: Plant Care Today