Let your medicine be your food and your food be your medicine....Hippocrates

Today we go foraging for food!
We are looking for spring weeds that are edible. 

So, first lets look at the wild onion or garlic.  Most of you will be familiar with this weed!  I will tell you I have never seen it as big as it is this year-not in our part of the country. Lots of weeds we have here are smaller than places with different soil or more water- apparently, this is so for the wild onion or garlic.  I am used to them being about 3-6 inches.  This year I am harvesting specimens that are 12-18 inches!!!

In this picture the plant is about 4-5 inches.  In the past I primarily used the flowers in salads or stews and soups.  I knew you could use the bulb but, frankly, I never saw the use in that as it was little and seemed too much trouble.

However, in this picture, the plant on this table is about 18 inches.  As you can see there is a more defined bulb which is not unlike a small green onion bulb.  So, this year I will definitely be adding the bulb to my cooking.  Enjoy now, though, this is a spring weed and disappears under the later hot summer sun.

The next plant may also be familiar to you- it is the prickly pear cactus or napol or napolita.  You may be familiar with using the tuna to make jelly but my favorite portion is the pad itself.  This is an excellent plant medicine as well as food.  It is well known as a blood sugar regulator- I strongly urge you to include this plant helper in your diet regularly if you have diabetes! 

Preparation is a little tricky!  The cactus in the picture is a spineless variety that I shamelessly bootlegged from Belize.  However, don't let the appearance fool you!  There are tiny little hairy prickles just trying to get under your skin.  Some people burn them off, some scrape them off and some put them in a bucket of sand and rub them off.  If you have a way to remove these little prickles please share-I have yet to come away unscathed!

There are a number of ways to prepare them- a favorite is to cut the pads into strips and stir fry them, add a nice goose egg and some homemade chili on the side- yummy, breakfast!  One day I plan on trying to make a salsa with cactus, onion, tomato, jalapeno, etc.  They can also be prepared as a side veggie.  Experiment and enjoy a very healthy edible southwest standard!

This is my final weed of the day- a surprising one, I will bet you!

Do you recognize this weed.  You might be more familiar with it as a large round weed, dried and blowing down the road- yep, TUMBLEWEED!

Yes, you heard me right- an edible weed.  Yes, I'm suggesting you go out and gather some and eat it!

This picture is a patch of young shoots and this is the stage at which I prefer to harvest.  The young shoots about 3-6 inches tall.  At this stage they are soft and there is no sign of stickers or other thistle unpleasantness.  You can also harvest and eat the new growth at the tips of the larger plant but, personally, I find that to be a lot of work for a little return and I am a lazy forager.

Just harvest them like the greens they are and prepare them the same way.  Cook up a "mess," as my grandmother would say, with some bacon grease and a little salt.  Yum, Yum.  They are very mild and almost sweet- without the bitterness of some greens.  Try some Russian Thistle, aka tumbleweed, in your greens pot!

There will be more opportunities to forage and harvest for edible weeds in the weeks ahead as the summer plants appear.  Keep an eye out for wild purslane- it's still a little early around the farm but I am anxiously awaiting the appearance of this very nutritious plant!  Keep your eyes on the ground!

What better way to close today than a picture of little boys in their Easter finest? 

Does that not just shout Spring!!!

Zane Michael, Jax Everett and Sawyer Knox

Nona's boys!