Wild Edibles and Medicinals Introduction

We’ve decided that we will go one week each in July, August, and September and eat only foods that we either grow or wild harvest, with the exception of meat and dairy foods. Tune back in to see how we’re doing and find any recipes I’ve come up with. Anyone with preservation methods for any wild foods and medicines is welcome to send that information to me and I’ll post it here with your permission.

I’d love to see the medicinal and food usage of “wild” or non-cultivated herbs, vegetables, nuts and fruits come back into popularity. Wild edibles are simply incredible in both flavor and nutrient concentration… and the low cost is an added benefit. Many people would be so happy to have you come to their property to dig dandelion and burdock roots they’d invite you back each year. (Just be sure that they don’t use chemicals on their property, which can concentrate in the root crops)

Yesterday, we ate some of the not yet opened flowers of our intentionally planted milkweed. Boiled for 8 minutes until tender and bright green and served with a little salt and butter… yum yum!

Today, on the way home from work for lunch, we stopped to pick some of the not yet opened flowers of the cat tails from the swamp. Boiled for 10 minutes and served with garlic butter, they have a mild taste and are just superb. I’m surprised that these foods are not found in the gourmet and health food stores.

One of my absolute favorites is daylily flowers. I adore them in place of lettuce in salads, but they do have a mild laxative effect. You have to eat a lot to have any issues, but last year, I kind of over did it. I also enjoy them stir fried with a little garlic butter. Try to keep it to a couple of cups a day. Sometimes we’ll just pass some on the road and whoever is driving will pull alongside and the passenger just picks and we eat as we drive slowly along. Talk about nutritional powerhouses, they have huge amounts of antioxidants. Here’s an article about the antioxidant properties, and apparently they are best eaten when first opened. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T6R-4TVTJWR-6&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=75c09b1fae156f89c009f459bd606153

One of our goals this year is guerrilla gardening, but with local natives. We have a pond near us and this will be the second year we will be attempting to plant cat tails there. We’ll be planting ground nuts, milk weed, elderberries, daylily, Jerusalem artichokes, pig weed (wild amaranth), stinging nettles and burdock in a field nearby. And watercress in the brook next to the field. All of these are plants that grow near us and therefore won’t be doing anything to any micro ecosystems. We’re just moving them closer in one location so that we can have one stop shopping, so to speak.

For those of you who don’t know or haven’t tried these delicious foods, please look them up and make a point of trying some soon. Please email me at waggingtailsfarms@yahoo.com if you want more information.