How to Start Urban Foraging If you live in an urban area, you might feel kind of left out of the whole self-reliance movement. How much can you possibly do to increase your self-sufficiency in a city? Actually, there are quite a few things to try! I’ve grown little plots…
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Burdock and Black Beans with Pasta – Foraged Recipe
This recipe for Burdock with Black Beans and Pasta is a dish I created to use more wild foods foraged from our homestead. It's a cheap and delicious meal!
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Carduni Made with Burdock Leaves
Carduni made with burdock leaves is another great dish you can cook up from foraged greens. This is a great way to save money and eat healthy!
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How to Harvest and Use Stinging Nettle
How To Harvest & Use Stinging Nettle I remember my Gram telling (little) me that stinging nettle was good to eat. I found it preposterous at the time that this irritating weed could be edible, much less a delicious wild green. After all, in my experience, this plant was the…
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How to Harvest and Use Curly Dock
How to Harvest and Use Curly Dock Curly dock (also known as yellow dock, sour dock, and butter dock, as well as other names) is one of the first wild greens ready to harvest in spring. This relative of rhubarb is a hardy herbaceous perennial weed native to Europe that…
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Foraging for Free Food
Ethical Foraging – Food for Free I’ve been interested in foraging for wild foods since I was a kid. Dandelions, plantain, cattails, wild berries and apples all made their way into a bag or basket as I hiked through the woods and fields, or scavenged through the weeds in our…
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Eat Your Weedies
Eating Weeds I like to supplement my garden goodies with weeds foraged from the countryside. This year I decided not to forage for milkweed, since the Monarch butterflies are in danger. I do believe that you can harvest milkweed if it is in abundance in your area, but please check…
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Saving Milkweed for the Monarchs
Leaving Milkweed for Monarch Butterflies I decided to start saving milkweed for the Monarchs. I like foraging for wild edibles, but I also like Monarch butterflies. And these beautiful creatures are in trouble. Habitat destruction and herbicide use are destroying the milkweed plants that Monarchs must lay their eggs on…
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Sauteed Garlic Mustard Greens
Foraged Garlic Mustard Greens The first greens of spring are ready for the taking! Dandelions, garlic mustard, curly dock, horseradish leaves, and wild onions are green and growing. I’m trying to get a jump on the invasive garlic mustard in our yard, although I’m sure I’ll never eradicate it completely.…
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How to Freeze Lambs Quarters
How to Freeze Lambs Quarters and Foraged Greens We have a lot of lambs quarters growing in our garden. I weeded much of it out to make way for my regular garden vegetables, but I keep a small patch here and there to harvest for salads, cooked greens, and freezing…
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How to Forage for Common Milkweed
How to Forage for Milkweed When I first read that common milkweed was edible, I was quite skeptical. I remember reading that Monarch butterflies ate the milkweed leaves not only for food but also for the poison that would render them inedible to predators. But the field guides are telling me…
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How to Forage for and Use Wild Apples
Can You Forage for and Use Wild Apples? Have you ever seen an abandoned apple tree with fruit and wondered if they are edible? The short answer is yes, they should be safe to eat. I’ve been using wild apples as a food source since I was a kid and…
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Musk Thistle: Friend or Foe?
Carduus nutans – Musk Thistle Generally considered a noxious weed in the US, the Musk Thistle also has the reported health benefit of cleansing the liver. This native to Africa is actually a very beautiful flower, but has a hearty defense system against grazing animals and unprotected gardeners. If you…
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Growing Lamb’s Quarters in My Garden
Why Do I Let Lambs Quarters Grow in My Garden? I’m sure that you are quite shocked that there are weeds, such as lambs quarters, in my garden! Okay, maybe not shocked, but at least a little surprised? No? Oh well. I guess you’ve been looking at my photos of…
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Foraging for Burdock and Making Carduni
Foraging for Burdock & Making Carduni Burdock (Arctium lappa) grows wild all over much of North America and it’s a fairly easy plant to identify. (Make sure you take a reliable guide with you when foraging for wild plants.) In addition to being quite common, the stems are very tasty…