Weeds, wonderful WEEDS!

"Weeds" were almost all that was on the menu for the June 25, Truly Wild session. Salad consisted of organic spinach and lettuce from my garden topped with heals all, wood sorrel, sheep sorrel, thistle celery, cattail, wild pansy, daisy leaves, red clover and chickweed. The dressing was local spray-free strawberry vinaigrette. Bread was made from red clover. The stew-soup consisted of lambs quarters, cattail, thistle, burdock, wild carrot, purslane, and whatever else that was growing and handy! The stock base was from free range chicken. The only seasonings added were supplied by "weeds". 4H Truly Wild menbers also made a lambs quarters and cattail stir fry that was served with fresh lambs quarters pasta.

 My favorite quote from a Truly Wild 4H member, " I look at the world from a whole new way now." Cool.

Dandelions, thistle, Queen Anne's Lace, burdock, milkweed, plantain, sorrels, heals all, stinging nettle, lambs quarters, cattail, red clover, and the list goes on.....  We walk on them every day, see them in every field, along the side of the road and most think of them as only unwanted pests. Many were mainstays in the diets of Native Americans. Some of them came here as treasured kitchen garden items and herbal medicines on the Mayflower. Others came with Asian settlers. Look carefully where you walk. You may be walking on the only plant to be declared "holy" by the early Roman Catholic church.

Dandelions- So many commercials showing a cartoon-cute spray bottle sheriff chasing the dandelion bad guy out of town with its roots between its legs. The Sheriff should be chased out of town! That spray bottle contains glyphosphate a chemical that is described as "not violently toxic to people or animals". What does "violently" mean??? "On the other hand, most people react badly to glyphosphate (and other chemicals mixed with it) when ingested or applied to the skin, so you want to avoid any contact with the chemical. "  I guess allowing your toddlers play time on the lawn is out? Don't touch the grass when you retrieve your golf ball.

 Humans cannot digest grass. Dandelions on the other hand have  as much iron as spinach and four times Vitamin A content. An analysis of dandelion shows it to consist of healthy plant protein, good fats and carbohydrates. It also contains a healthy amount of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, and vitamin C. A serving of spring dandelion greens has as much calcium as half a cup of milk. Dandelions are frost, insect and disease resistant. Spring greens, roasted fall-spring roots, and flowers are all ingredients to delicious dishes. Grass is delicious if you happen to be a horse or cow.

If you would like recipes from the last Truly Wild session, email me at: adkshoer@aol.com. I will be happy to share.  Make sure to check the rest of the blog for recipes!

The next Truly Wild session will be July 9th from 2:00pm to 4:30ish. We will meet at Heaven Hill and then travel down the road to the Cornell Maple forest. Milkweed will be one of the items served after the hike. Yum!!!!