Eat the Weeds

When most people look at a lawn full of dandelions they see weeds. I see powerful medicine and nutritious food! Dandelion has many medicinal qualities; it is a blood and liver cleanser, a diuretic, it increases bile production, reduces serum cholesterol and uric acid levels, improves functioning of the kidneys and pancreas, spleen, and stomach, and has many other benefits! (Look it up in a good medicinal herb book!) Dandelion is high in beta carotene, lutein, Vitamins B1, B2, B3, and C, and the minerals calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, potassium, selenium, and zinc. Many of the plants that grow in your own back yard and in vacant lots are edible and highly nutritious. Yet most people go out to the store and spend their money on iceberg lettuce that is very low in nutrition. Why? Probably it is because they were never taught how or why to eat the native plants. I asked my friend Frank Cook who is a graduate of the Northeast School of Botanical Medicine (1995) to say a few words on weeds. Here is what he said.
"Perhaps you have come to see the weeds as your friends, but it is still a belief by many peoples that weeds are bad and should be eradicated by any means possible. There are many weeds that you can use for food, teas or medicine and for other basic needs as well. Weeds also occupy niches in complex ways that we are only beginning to understand.
"The majority of Americans consume only a couple of dozen plant species in their diet, yet a few hundred years back, the inhabitants of this land consumed over 200 kinds of plants in their diets. This change seems to be at the root of our alienation from the earth.
"I could rattle off the impressive figures of how weeds feed us in macronutrient ways, but it would take up volumes. We are told that we use only 10 percent of our brain capacity. Maybe all those neurons that we don't currently use need the nutrients hidden in the weeds! Weeds have been here with us since we came to be. They shaped and formed us.
"Get to know the weeds beneath your feet. Get your hands on some good weed books, such as Botany in a Day, by Thomas Elpels, which teaches you to recognize plant families. Know a dozen plant families and you will recognize over 75 percent of the plants that you meet!
"I want to encourage you to nibble the plants that you are getting to know! As you move about through each day, reach out and touch, smell, admire, and yes, certainly taste those plants which you have come to know as friends. It can be demonstrated that by nibbling weeds, we obtain numerous micronutrients and catalysts. I personally nibble on plants throughout the day and find that it helps me to ground and center and acclimate to the setting I am in, because I travel a lot.
"The names of the most common plant families are: pea, buckwheat, grass, mustard, mint, parsley, goosefoot and lily. Learn them first; you will see them around your garden. Learn from and share with others. Grow to know them and you will always be fed! They are waiting to meet you. Learn them! Nibble them!"
Brigitte Mars is a well known herbalist and author. You can read more about her in the "Noteworthy People" section of this book. She has contributed the following article on wild foods which includes gathering guidelines and some extraordinary wild edible plants and flowers!
"Thirty-some years ago I lived in a tipi on a commune in Reynolds, Missouri. There I learned from the local hills people that most of the weeds pulled from gardens were useful edible plants. Rather than composting these so called "weeds," we would incorporate them in meals and thus double or triple the yield of our garden.
Wild foods are hardy. They survive without fertilizer or weekly waterings from the garden hose. Some, like dandelions, continue to survive despite many attempts to get rid of them! Their ability to overcome all sorts of adversity can impart to us humans a source of strength and versatility. Wild things can furnish more nutrition than their cultivated progeny. These are plants nourished by rain, sunlight, moonlight, and wind. Learn to enjoy the freshness of a salad that was collected five minutes before being eaten! Or even eat some wild plants in nature just fresh seconds after gratefully plucking a few parts. Love the weeds that heal and feed our needs!"
Gathering Guidelines:
*Make sure you are collecting the proper species, because many plants have poisonous lookalikes. Bring along a good guide or a good guidebook.
*Be sure you are collecting the correct plant part. For example, blue elderberries are wonderful, but the leaves of the plant are toxic.
*Do not harvest any known endangered species.
*Ask permission before gathering on private land.
*If possible, water plants the day before collecting.
*When harvesting from a group of plants, identify the grandfather/mother plant and leave it to ensure the continuation of the strongest of the species.
*Never take more than 10 percent of a wild population of plants. Leave some for the wild animals!
*Vary the places you collect from.
*Avoid collecting plants within 50 feet of a busy road or in areas that are polluted or have been treated with pesticides or herbicides.
*Gather leaves and flowers in the morning, after the dew has risen and before the sun is too hot.
*Gather leaves not when the plant is already flowering but before, when its energy will still be in its leaves.
*It is kinder to take a whole leaf rather than tearing a leaf.
*Replant seeds as often as possible.
*Collect plants in a way as to ensure the continued survival of the species. For example, if all you need are the leaves and flowers, take only the tops. Cutting a plant back can actually help to promote new growth. Leave the roots to continue their growing cycle. Also help thin plants growing too close together to help the other plants have more room.
*Compost herb parts you do not eat, or use them as mulch or in herbal preparations.
*Sing while collecting! Be joyful!