In the Weeds: A Beginner's Guide to Foraging

Foraging. It’s a buzzword you'll soon start hearing everywhere, if you haven't already (foraged fiddleheads or ramps are on all the hip spring menus). It's also an ancient way of gathering food.

“Foraging is not associated with Dumpster diving,” laughs Ava Chin, urban forager and author of "Eating Wildly," addressing a common misconception. "Yes, is it a kind of 'freeganism,' but no, I do not eat roadkill. Foraging is a way of learning about the edible plants that are all around us, whether in a city, a suburban yard, or a state park.”

Nowhere near the wilderness? Ava wants you to know that the "concrete jungle" actually hides many wild edibles. “You can find a variety and abundance of wild foods in a city or in the suburbs.”

A number of edible plants and mushrooms can be found throughout the country, in fact. Ava cites the wild plant lambsquarters -- a relative to spinach, quinoa, and beets, and one of most nutritious plants, she says. “It’s prized in Greek, Persian, and Bangladeshi cuisines, but here it’s a weed, hard to find to buy in even a farmers’ market." Yet lambsquarters grows “everywhere from semi-arid L.A. to busy avenues in Brooklyn.” Ava has found it on “college campuses, in friends' backyards, parks -- almost everywhere.”

Read more here.

Foraging for wild food and medicinal plants - Hedge Mustard Plant Profile

Hedge mustard (Sisymbrium officinale) is a plant in the Brassicacaea family: The brassica family contains fantastic plants for foragers. They are a completely edible family, providing a number of medicinally valuable foods for us, all year round. Many different species can be found in the garden or allotment, and just as likely on your way there! If you like the peppery flavour in the different 'rockets' (Eruca and Diplotaxis spp), then you may love this commonly found plant.

Hedge mustard can pack quite a pungent, peppery punch, dependent on where it's found, and the time of year. Apothecary physicians regularly employed this plant as an official medicine during the 17th and 18th centuries, as its name - 'officinale' points to.

Getting to know hedge mustard

This particular brassica is an annual, although as these 'rules' aren't set in stone, it will often be seen acting as a biennial, overwintering as a rosette of leaves, before flowering the following year. Timing of germination will dictate matters to a large extent.

In keeping with many herbaceous plants, hedge mustard's leaves will appear different at the rosette stage, compared to during flowering. Alongside the obvious elongation of the stem as a plant grows higher and produces flowering organs, the leaf shape and form can also drastically alter during the metamorphosis from juvenile to adult.

The basal leaves are deeply pinnately-lobed and typically grow to around 15-20cm long, ending with a large terminal lobe. The whole plant feels somewhat coarse and hairy to the touch. Crushing or nibbling a leaf will instantly release the characteristic brassica flavour! During flowering, the alternately-spaced stem leaves reduce in size, and increasingly become more refined in shape, eventually looking like an arrowhead towards the top of the stem. A mature hedge mustard plant can typically grow to a height of around 60-70cm.

Read more: http://www.permaculture.co.uk/articles/foraging-wild-food-and-medicinal-plants-hedge-mustard-plant-profile

Renewed interest in wild edibles

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Wild edibles, also referred to as “hedgerow harvest”, were a good part of the diet of at least the country people and poor folks in general in year gone by. But the use and knowledge of wild edibles fell by the wayside in our recent decades of plenty.

The Great Recession and the austerity measures taken by the governments to, supposedly, reduce national debt, has led to a resurgence in the use of edible weeds and other wild edibles, especially in towns and cities, and has caused many to forage for them again. So much so, in fact, that the authorities in New York City, for instance, had to place a ban on foraging in Central Park fearing that trees and shrubs be stripped of leaves.

Foraging in the wilds needs to be done with care in order to allow enough for all and especially for regeneration of the plants.

In 2012 I saw the seed heads of Rumex acetosa (Common Sorrel) walk out of “my” park by the handfuls on a daily basis and it is surprising that the plants have actually been able to reproduce as bountiful as they did.

The majority of people who were abducting those seeds were of the Asian community in this country who use the leaves in their cuisine. I assume that they took the seeds in order to, like me, deliberately grow them in their gardens and on their allotments and sorrel is not the only edible weed which they grow in their kitchen gardens.

While removing seed heads in the quantities that they did is not something that I would ever encourage growing wild edibles for one's need in one's own garden or on one's allotment is a better choice than taking too much of it out of the wild. It is for that reason (and a couple of others) that I grow edible weeds deliberately in my kitchen garden also.

Foraging has, definitely, seen a resurgence everywhere due to the rising food costs caused by the Great Recession which is not, not even by a long shot, over as yet and food prices, no doubt, are going to rise for a long time to come still.

However, foraging should be done, like all things, in a sustainable manner and while the true foragers will do just that the new kind of forager is but interested to harvest as much as possible with as little effort as possible and without having to venture too far. This is not sustainable. The true forager lives and harvests by a code which this new kind of forager does not follow, alas.

While the gardener may take the entire harvest as, in most cases, he will start with newly bought seeds the next time Mother Nature does not garden in the same way and thus we need to leave a sustainable number of plants and especially seed in order to ensure new growth.

For that reason, when foraging in the wild we should only take a few leaves, or what-have-you, from an individual plant and then move on to the next one and not strip plants bare, as many of the new foragers do.

Leave enough so that the plants can regenerate and there will be enough for all.

© 2013

Please pass the weeds

Get even with weeds by eating them!

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Dandelion, chickweed, purslane and lamb's quarters are common greens that are used, and enjoyed in some regions of the USA, as well as in other countries. In fact, in some countries Sorrel and Lamb's Quarter, a cousin to the Quinoa, are purposely grown, such as on the Indian Sub-Continent.

When you use weeds, and I very much encourage you to do so, just make sure that, if you forage for them in the wild, they have not been sprayed with pesticides or herbicides.

Toss dandelion flowers into a green salad for a touch of color and flavor! Use the young leaves as you would rocket (arugula) or cook alder leaves into a spinach dish. And that is not even all that you can do with the humble dandelion.

The Greek have a dish called “horta” which often contains edible weeds rather than garden greens, mainly dandelion leaves and those of the stinging nettle, boiled like spinach. In fact, more or less, any edible weed can go into this dish.

The Asian community from the Indian Sub-Continent grow some plants that we would regard as (edible) weeds on purpose, including on their allotments in Britain such as goosefoot, aka lamb's quarter, and also sorrel.

Last year I saw many people taking the seed heads from the sorrel (Rumex acetosa) home from the park. So much so that there were no seed heads left on any of the plants that are growing in the pinetum of the park to be found afterward.

The majority of those that took those seed heads were from the Asian community and I am certain that they took them in order to sow sorrel in their gardens to grow for food. And I know that this is not the only wild plant that those folks will “cultivate” in their gardens for use in their diet. Should this not give us some food for thought?

Sorrel can be and is being used as spinach of the cut-and-come-again type; chickweed as a pot herb and also goes well with chopped egg as a substitute for salad cress in sandwich filling, when combined with a good mayonnaise.

Goosefoot (Lamb's Quarter or Fat Hen) can be used in a number of different ways: The leaves as a spinach substitute, the stems, especially when the plant, which can reach up to three feet in height, has grown well, steamed like asparagus, the flower head, before it goes to seed, as broccoli and the seeds themselves as quinoa.

And this is but a small list of edible weeds that can be used for and are good as food. Why waste a good resource and better still why throw them out of your garden when they are that good.

So, pass the weeds and don't pass up on the weeds.

© 2013

Growing Edible Weeds

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

For some time now already I have been deliberately growing edible weeds in my garden and aside from those that popped up all by themselves, such as dandelion and chickweed, both of which are very good eating indeed, I have also brought in other purposely, as plants, such as sorrel (Rumex acetosa).

Sorrel (left) and Goosefoot (right)

Why grow edible weeds?

1. Edible weeds, like all weeds, need little to no input and basically look very much after themselves. They only need harvesting. Some do not like feeding or such at all and thrive best when left to do their own thing.

2. Many edible weeds are better for us than are cultivar (leaf) vegetables, including the cultivated varieties of those weeds. Dandelion is a great salad vegetable, akin to rocket (arugula) though not a relation, and sorrel, basically, is a cut-and-come-again spinach though, once again, not a relation to the other plant.

3. Weeds will grow in your garden anyway and thus it is better to harvest those that are good to eat, you save yourself a lot of work that way and get great stuff to eat to boot.

But why not simply forage for them in the wild?

1. Some of them you can no longer get once the tree canopy has closed and the light conditions on the forest floor are too low. In your garden, even in the shade, they will, however, more often than not, keep going and growing.

2. Growing those wild edibles yourself in your yard means that you know – more or less – what has come in contact with them, especially as regards to animal waste matter, such as dog or fox urine and such. You also know that they have not been exposed to chemicals or car exhaust fumes, and other nasties.

3. All you have to do when you want some of those vegetables for your meal is to pop out the door and pick some fresh from the plant. No need to go out looking for them in the wild.

Ground elder is another, very invasive weed that many gardeners get plagues with. If you would want to eradicate you will end up spending hours or you will have to resort to chemicals. The positive side, however, it is a very valuable food and it was, in fact, introduced to the British Isles by the Romans as a food crop, and it is great eating. Therefore why bother eradicating it. Just eat it.

If you would wish to grow this plant on purpose my word of caution is to retain it in some sort of planter so that it cannot escape into the wild, or has little chance to do so.

If you have it popping up in your garden for the first time then grab it as it just develop and plant it into a container as a wild veg. Should the patch have gone beyond being able to be relocated then contain it, if possible, by sinking paving slabs into the ground to a good depth all around. Thus you may be able to contain the plants and their enormous root system and make use of it as a veg in perpetuity.

All edible weeds that you grow should, ideally, be grown in containers to prevent them spreading to where you may not want them. In generally weeds, because they grow fast, may interfere with the growth of other vegetables that you may wish to grow, and that in a number of ways.

On the other hand, some weeds make good companion plants and one especially and this is, yet again, and edible one, namely goosefoot, also known as fat hen or lamb's quarter. It acts as a sacrificial plant for the leaf miner. The bug will rather burrow around in the leaves of the goosefoot than those of your veg and therefore goosefoot, and also for the fact that it is good to eat, should not be eradicated.

Goosefoot, in the same family as quinoa, is an annual, that is to say it reproduces from seed only and not from any rootstock unlike dandelion which spreads by seed but also stays as a plant in the ground, or sorrel, or ground elder. I tried to introduce goosefoot into a container in my garden last summer but I did not get the plants to produce the needed seed to perpetuate themselves. In fact something ate them and it was not me.

Just some food for thought here as to why not just forage your yard and encouraging the wild things you like to eat to your home.

© 2013

Foraging in your backyard

Growing edible weeds on purpose

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Much has been written, and talked, about foraging for wild foods in the wilds but no one, so far, seems to have considered – or if so then a very small number – growing those foods purposely in the backyard or the allotment.

When it comes to doing this on your allotment often the management of the allotment society will object to the growing of “weeds”, as some people have found out even when growing Jerusalem Artichokes (Sun Chokes). Some of those little Hitlers classify those vegetables as “invasive weeds” also. Thus growing wild edibles may only work in your backyard therefore.

However, as far as I am concerned, growing wild foods, aka wild edibles or edible weeds is a good idea as firstly many of them are more nutritious than cultivars and secondly they grow almost without any attention and many would grow without being introduced in your garden anyway and many a gardener is fighting a losing battle with the likes of dandelion, fat hen (aka lamb's quarter), ground elder and nettles. So why not let them grow and eat them rather than battling to remove them.

Some while back I decided to deliberately leave dandelion in place and use the leaves for use as salad leaves as they are very much like rocket; best when young. They can also be cooked like spinach, and then the age of the leaves does not matter much. The flowers, if one wanted to, can be used to make dandelion wine and the roots can be roasted and ground to make a coffee substitute. Dandelion is, after all, a relation to the Chicory from which the French do make a coffee.

Stinging nettle, like dandelion, is a plant that needs no introduction as to looks, and nettle is also, in the form of the younger leaves, a great vegetable as it can be made into soup, or cooked like spinach, and also makes a great herbal tea. So, again, why battle to remove it when it is that useful.

Ground elder is a seriously invasive plant and if you deliberately want to grow it – which I will be doing – it should be contained as it spreads via the roots.

It is another one of those wild plants that are very good to eat and thus well worth using, especially when the plant has decided to colonize your garden as eradication of ground elder is nigh impossible once it has established itself, and that happens fast. So, don't battle, eat.

Other great wild edibles to get into your garden are Sorrel (Rumex acetosa) which is, basically, a wild spinach and of the cut-and-come-again variety, and Ransoms, a wild garlic of which, however, predominately the leaves are used, again like spinach.

The previously mentioned lamb's quarter is a relation to the Amaranths and can be used in a variety of ways. They leaves, yet again, cooked like spinach. It is being advised that this vegetable should be eaten in moderation as it contains high levels of oxalic acid. People who use it a lot, however, consider that the acid is being destroyed in the cooking process.

The stems of Chenopodium album, which is the scientific name of this plant, can be steamed and eaten like asparagus and the mature flower heads in the same way processed like broccoli.

The Asian community in the UK likes to use fat hen, aka lamb's quarter (Chenopodium album) in curries where spinach is also used and the same wish sorrel (Rumex acetosa) and tend to grow both because of this purposely in their gardens. Chenopodium album is extensively cultivated and consumed in Northern India as a food crop, and in English texts it may be called by its Hindi name bathua or bathuwa.

This is just a small selection of wild edible and edible weeds that I am considering and I am turning over some of the beds in my vegetable garden to the deliberate growing – have done some already – of wild edibles to enable me to go foraging just outside the backdoor and will also harvest and eat those edible weeds that turn up in other beds among the crop plants.

Don't weed you weeds; eat them instead.

© 2013

A Handbook of Scotland's Wild Harvest – Book Review

Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

A Handbook of Scotland's Wild Harvest
Fi Martynoga (ed)
295 pages Paperback
ISBN: 9781887354967
£12.99

An authoritative new companion for sustainable foraging

From experts at the Scottish Wild Harvests Association, together with the team who brought us Handbook of Scotland's Trees, comes this indispensable guide to sustainable, responsible harvesting and use of our natural bounty, from its most trusted custodians.

This inspirational guide is packed with invaluable know-how on Scotland’s wild harvest, covering what, where, when and how you can use your bounty in sustainable ways – from the most useful and widespread of species to the less well-known, and from leaves and berries to saps, seeds, seaweeds, mosses and wood. Learn how to begin or extend a repertoire of wild foods and materials that can be used as dyes, remedies and around the home. Complete with recipes, from nettle haggis, blaeberry muffins to elderflower cordial, and and a wealth of woodland and hedgerow materials you can use in the garden or home.

The book is a partnership project between Reforesting Scotland and the Scottish Wild Harvests Association (SWHA), with the information drawn together from expert members of both. Many are professionals in the field, and all of them know their plants and materials thoroughly from years or decades of experience. Their entries abound in useful information on habitat, history, uses, lore, and how to distinguish a useful plant from similar species that are not.

As well as providing a good introduction to foraging in Scotland, the book contains enough detailed tips and insights to be of real interest to experienced gatherers as well.

The Handbook is available direct from Reforesting Scotland - contact the Reforesting Scotland office for details - and also from the publishers, Saraband. Retail price is £12.99 and an app for mobiles and iPads is also being released.

With wild foods and foraging very much in vogue we must harvest Nature's bounty, however, as the book points out, responsible and sustainable and not take too much from any one spot to allow for regrowth, as well as for wildlife's needs.

While concentrating, as the title suggests, on Scotland, in the main, with but a few exceptions, the wild edibles, etc., featured in the book are found throughout Britain.

This is a most valuable boot for anyone wishing to make use of Nature's Wild Harvest and now only are most of those plants, etc., listed in the book found all over Britain, and not just in Scotland, but also in many other places in in Europe and even in the United States.

The book is beautifully illustrated throughout with pen and ink drawings which do not, however, therefore, show the colors and such like. I would, thus, suggest using it together with a good field guide or smartphone app. And for those really serious about foraging I would suggest attending a course with a good teacher or learn from someone who has been doing it for some time successfully.

Many of those wild edibles featured in the book can also, if you would be thus inclined, be grown in your garden and that saves having to go and look for them in the wild. I am doing just that already for a while with a number of them, such as dandelion, sorrel, chickweed, nettles, etc.

© 2013

Urban foraging

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Spring is about around the corner in the northern hemisphere and the time for serious foraging is going to be at hand again soon.

Some plants that can be foraged for food have, this winter of 2011/2012, not even stopped growing really. One of them is, for instance, Dandelion. The only problem is that, even those that I specifically grow in the garden, have been taken as lettuce by the pesky pigeons.

There are many other foods that can be foraged in the urban environment, including and especially in parks and open spaces. However, other places too hold culinary staples and delights.

Many an old Horse Chestnut tree may have Oyster Mushrooms growing on them and Oyster Mushrooms are great eating indeed and also add flavors to stews and such, especially when dried.

Other foods of the urban wildspaces in the same way as of the suburbs and the countryside are nettles – nettle tea and nettle soup, as well as nettle greens – and plantain (no, not the thing that looks like a banana).

Furthermore, also still in spring, and then for most of the year there are the plants in the rumex family which are all but a wild spinach.

Some wild foods are easy to spot others are not.

Who could miss the bright yellow flowers of dandelions for example? Sautee the young, tender leaves in olive oil or use the young flowers as a garnish. Use the leaves in salads as you would rocket for it is, basically, wild rocket.

Dandelion and nettles cooked together like spinach are what in Greece cuisine is called Hortes, meaning greens, and which is a common side dish in that country's cooking.

With spring approaching dandelions and nettles could and actually should be on the menu and here is the beginning of foraging in the urban environment for dandelions can be found almost everywhere. As, for that matter, can nettles.

Nettles, aside from being cooked like spinach, can be turned into a great soup and are known to have medicinal benefits. Nettles are also good when brewed in a tea.

So get out there and forage... but make sure that you know what you are picking. In addition make sure everything is well and thoroughly washed before consumption.

© 2012