Growing Weeds for Food...
By dodoguy
@dodoguy (1292)
Australia
December 16, 2006 12:14am CST
Hi Kiddies,
here's a bit of gardening philosophy for you all...
It seems to me that God gave us everything we need to live in health and abundance. Unfortunately, we idiot humans followed our degenerate tendencies and God had to adjust the terms of our tenancy a little with the Flood (did you know the Unicorns actually survived the Flood? So what DID kill them off? But that's another story...)
Yet even now, we still have the numerous marvels of life that He has permitted us to enjoy - we STILL have a super-abundance of self-propagating food factories everywhere around us! My view is, so MANY of these things are just BRIMMING with benefits and are so ROBUST in their growth habits, why would we ever want to fight it? But strangely, a lot of very useful plants have been classified by Western culture as "weeds" - thereby displaying the perennial arrogance and stupidity of the "sophisticated" Western mindset.
Here's a couple of good examples - Pigweed is looked on with disdain in Australia, and thought of generally as an invasive noxious weed. Can you believe that? This plant is full of vitamins and is one of the very few plants to provide the diet with essential omega fatty acids (you know, the fish oils they like to harp on about)! It's wonderful fresh in salads, goes marvellous in a sandwhich, and is a colourful addition to soups, stir-fries and stews. It can invade MY place anytime it wants to!
Another one - the plain old Stinging Nettle - I can't get enough of it! It's a great companion plant for ANY other plant, and is very nutritious in it's own right. Best cooked in soups or stews, or as a spinach-like vegetable, it's so easy to grow that you can always have a ready supply without lifting a finger in effort!
Another one that is regarded as a weed in Australia - the Dandelion. Again, a marvellous multi-purpose vegetable, with the leaves and flowers being nutritious salad additions, and the roasted powdered root serving as a good healthy coffe substitute. Strangely enough, the Dandelion is, in my experience, very rare in suburban Australian gardens. Very hard to find indeed. The plant which MOST people think is a Dandelion is in fact nothing of the sort - it's actually Cat's Claw, a very common weed which, while not inedible for those who mistake it for Dandelion, is most definitely NOT Dandelion.
And there are numerous others - useful plants which have been labelled generally as "weeds" across Western society.
2 people like this
9 responses
@birthlady (5609)
• United States
2 Jan 07
Plantain, coltsfoot, wild onion, dandelion, there's so many nutritious foods that used to grow wild, its a shame that urban development and expansion destroys our natural foods and medicines.
@dodoguy (1292)
• Australia
3 Jan 07
Hi,
I appreciate the opportunity to learn from other people's experience in their comments and responses. It's refreshing to see useful knowledge hasn't been completely suppressed by the Global Pharmaceutical Cartel yet (although they're still working on it).
Also good to see Palntain mentioned. this is one plant that, along with Comfrey, Ceyenne Pepper, Eyebright and a few other strategic herbs, is an essential medical herb. Sucks the poison right out of any bite or infection. One might almost say "miraculous", which it actually is, considering just who has given all these things to us.
Here's a good one for anyone interested - anyone lost a finger in an accident? You can grow it back COMPLETELY (bones, knuckles, fingernail and all) using Comfrey and a few other herbs mixed in. Several documented cases of exactly that happening are available on the Internet for anyone willing to open their eyes and look.
@drannhh (15219)
• United States
13 May 08
I love edible weeds and always got into trouble with gardening family, friends, and neighbors because I absolutely could not ever understand their attempted explanation as to why they insisted that certain lovely plants were noxious weeds. Poison ivy, I can understand. That is a weed. But purslane? No way? Dandelions? Not. Kudzu? Yes, it can eat abandoned houses, cars, and apparently even strangle forests, but the tender young shoots are edible! People just need to eat faster, I guess, lol.
@dodoguy (1292)
• Australia
15 May 08
Hi drannhh,
I wonder if the current economic conditions might stimulate renewed interest in growing plants for food?
I think anyone who has a well-stocked and properly managed vegetable garden will have an advantage over those who have to pay ever-increasing prices for store-bought greens.
@dodoguy (1292)
• Australia
15 May 08
Hi again,
that Kudzu sounds like a good plant to have around.
I read that practically the whole plant is edible (except for the woody bits).
But I guess one would need to keep it in a pot to stop it taking over the suburb. It grows up to 30 cm a day? Now that's fast! About as fast as some of those bamboo plants, and bamboo's not quite so completely edible...
1 person likes this
@drannhh (15219)
• United States
15 May 08
I think that even beyond the economic issue we are going to see more and more people concerned about how clean and healthy the plant food they eat really is, and I for one, like to have personal control over that, only with the barest minimum of hassle. The root structure of Kudzu would probably eat the pump of an aeroponic set-up, but I sure would love to try it. Maybe continually cutting back the root would work. But it may be one of those plants that despite its nutritious and delicious potential will be banned even in pots. Dunno. I gotta have Purslane, though, and that is one that if one wants to maintain a healthy relationship with gardeners in the neighborhood, one must keep completely contained--something I can do in the AeroGarden, I hope!
@peavey (16936)
• United States
8 Jan 07
I let "weeds" grow in my backyard. Last year I harvested dandelion, purslane (I think that's your pigweed), wild amaranth, wild sunflower seeds (I just found out you can eat sunflower buds and they taste like artichokes!), salsify and mallow.
When I moved here, it was all pristine grass - useless and boring. I keep my front lawn that way, but I let the backyard grow what it will - and I eat it, too.
@3Dlace (339)
• United States
21 Dec 06
Dandelions are concidered a weed here in the USA too! My most favorite all time weed to eat is a violet. A lot of people here in my hometown think it is an over taker of their flower beds. Then there is the mint that grows along streams and mugwort. Great stuff!
@quatelmon (955)
• United States
31 Dec 06
Many people eat dandilion greens and other such "weeds" in the united states.
@babystar1 (4233)
• United States
1 Jan 07
Yes dandelions are a weed in the USA , they are all over .When they start growing in your nice green grass you try to spray them with some kind of poison to get rid of them, they are hard to get rid of, some people try to dig them out,but thats a lot of wirk.
@Marshell (60)
• United States
31 Dec 06
This kid well remembers a mess of Polk greens! I would go with my dad and we would find the newest shoots, because they where the tenderest. And you could eat them steamed, fried in butter and vinegar, or boiled on soup.
We, like you, had an affinity for dandelion greens. My friend and neighbor used to take th tops when they where full out and batter them and fry them; much like one makes mushrooms. And they taste a lot like fried mushrooms.
Thinking about this got me to thinking about picking berries. My favorite was the big thimble black berry. They call them giant black raspberries now. But when I was a kid we went thimble berry picking. And we would also take small new shoot of the black berries and use them for cooking, tea and I'm not sure what else.
We would collect rose hips too. Now a days most peoples doesn't even know what you mean by rose hips; much less what they are used for.
Thank you for the memories. My dad's been gone for 23 years now. I truly enjoyed his company and I am glad I learned so much from him.
@tammyr (5946)
• Etowah, Tennessee
30 Dec 06
I agree. God has given us a great many things that humans do not appreciate. Poeple all over the world try to rid the planet of weeds. We would be wiser if we studied, investgated and search, to discover the benifits to be found from weeds in food and natural cures and benifit from what he gave us.
@tammyr (5946)
• Etowah, Tennessee
30 Dec 06
I agree that God has given us a great many things that humans do not appreciate. Poeple all over the U.S.A. try to rid the planet of weeds. but we would be wiser if we studied, investgated and search, to discover the benifits to be found from weeds and other natural cures and benifit from what he gave us.
