I have been out in the back garden eating things again today. My wife gives me a look of alarm as I stuff greenery into my mouth, and even more so when I reply that I don't know exactly what it is I've just eaten, but it sure tastes good.
Some of the bird seed from the winter appears to have taken seed in the cracks between the bricks on the back patio. I'm doing my part to weed the patio by eating the succulent leaves.
I ate some mint and some sage that grows by the fence. I ate some Johnny Jump Up flowers. I ate some dandelion leaves - the young ones. I ate some maple seedling leaves. They're not great.
I thought I'd found some wild onions, but they didn't smell like onion or garlic so I didn't eat them because I was suspicious - some poisonous plants look like edible plants.
I haven't seen any mushrooms yet, but I'll keep my eyes peeled.
There is a section of the back garden that I am going to prepare and turn into a vegetable patch. I will rent a rototiller and prepare the ground, and then plant carrots and onion sets and maybe potatoes again this year. Then I'll be able eat more things growing in the garden - more legitimately.
Hope you're all enjoying the spring weather,
Mungo
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7 Bahs!:
I am calling dibs on his new flint knife if he eats something he's not s'posed to and dies.
Excellent thinking, PJ! Okay, done. You're now in the will: 1 paleo-knife to PJ, in the event of my untimely passing due to ingestion of hemlock or a bad mushroom etc...
:-)
I'm not sure I'd wander around my yard snacking on whatever caught my eye, but I am taking a stab at gardening this year. I figure it's worth a shot.
Hey Mungo,
It's not too difficult to actually learn the things that you're eating--plus the reading material often gives you other uses/preparations for it. I've been looking at several pages on the web from searching for "wild edible plants". One of the best things you can do to increase the wild edibles on your property is to till the ground--lots of the weeds that come up in disturbed soil in our area are edible, such as lambsquarters, dock, dandelion, burdock, purslane. I've planted some Jerusalem artichokes also, and they're thriving like weeds (I guess they are...). I've purchased the older version of the Peterson guide for almost nothing on Ebay. Also, although I didn't like it at first, Steve Brill's book is really becoming more valuable to me as I'm looking to make wild edibles taste better. For example, if you cut the flowers off of dandelions and mix the yellow petal parts with pancake batter, you can make cakes/fritters that are absolutely awesome. Everyone I know that's tried them loves them.
Do be careful--its better for most of us if you keep blogging...
I've taken to drinking Birch sap recently. I bought a wood and now my wife hardly gets to see me. The kids love it!
Tim
jamesnobleknives.com
I've taken to drinking Birch sap recently. I bought a wood and now my wife hardly gets to see me. The kids love it!
Tim
jamesnobleknives.com
Hey Mungo,
It's not too difficult to actually learn the things that you're eating--plus the reading material often gives you other uses/preparations for it. I've been looking at several pages on the web from searching for "wild edible plants". One of the best things you can do to increase the wild edibles on your property is to till the ground--lots of the weeds that come up in disturbed soil in our area are edible, such as lambsquarters, dock, dandelion, burdock, purslane. I've planted some Jerusalem artichokes also, and they're thriving like weeds (I guess they are...). I've purchased the older version of the Peterson guide for almost nothing on Ebay. Also, although I didn't like it at first, Steve Brill's book is really becoming more valuable to me as I'm looking to make wild edibles taste better. For example, if you cut the flowers off of dandelions and mix the yellow petal parts with pancake batter, you can make cakes/fritters that are absolutely awesome. Everyone I know that's tried them loves them.
Do be careful--its better for most of us if you keep blogging...
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