Garden Foraging: 12 Tasty Weeds that are More Nutritious than Vegetables

Funny story: I had a small herd of sheep , so decided to turn them out in the farm yard to trim down the new spring grass that was getting ahead of me. I noticed after a couple of days that my sheep were peeing this orange red urine. So being concerned I took them out of the yard and called my vet . We puzzled over this for a bit and decided to observe for a few days, then put them back in the yard if all was well , and observe again . Same thing orange red pee . No one seemed to be sick , so I followed them around observing what they were eating . The sorce of my worry ? Dandelions , than I knew why you never find a dandelion out on the prairies. They are candy to critters. They would fight over them. Another story to add to this is about my daughter, when she was about 7, she thought it would be good to just "hang out" with her horse, . So she followed him around the pasture . She noticed he would eat a bite of differant grasses and plants as he grazed along , and which ones he returned to most often. Then she decided to sample his menu. She came back and excitedly explaind to me that horses eat really delicious salads, every grass and plant has a differant taste, salty , sweet, spicy, green , sour and bitter . She didn't get sick so , her conclusion was , horse food was actually pretty good.😊

Amaranth is called Calaloo in Caribbean cooking. Calaloo soup is a standard in our home. I spent 5 years in India, 3 of which was a drought. People were so hungry that they ate grass. Those who ate grass to stay alive didn't think they were that delicious. When my kids were young, they didn't like eating green vegetables. I would collect wild greens and make them "green quiche" to camouflage the greens. In fact, they still love green quiche. I'm going to make it for supper tonight. In France, only the vegetables in season in that area is available to eat, even in the restaurants. In fact, in France, the government rewards farmers who increase the carbon in their soil each year. The government does 20 samples of soil from your farm and compares the results to last year. If it contains more carbon, the government pays you a premium.

I dehydrate plantain, powder it, add organic aloe Vera juice to get it to a poultice stage and use it on a small spot of eczema. I started this about 3-4 weeks ago and my eczema has just about disappeared, I was using every other day and now it is about once a week, what a great healing/drawing plant! I keep dehydrated plantain on hand at all times… organic gardening is the best therapy, good for the soul.

In Greece we eat all these weeds you mention, and many many others and they are very popular. They are being sold in the markets, some of them are very aromatic and very tasty being used in delicious dishes. In the winter you will often see mostly women on the hills picking wild vegetables. In the summer the green amaranth which is cultivated is a very popular vegetable eaten boiled as a salad with lemon and olive oil.

Just a little reminder that prickly lettuce has another name called: opium lettuce, so if you see that you’re getting super tired after you eat a salad made of prickly lettuce perhaps it would be best dried and used as a tea before bedtime✨ if you have issues with sleeping you’ll be able to fall asleep much easier with Opium Lettuce then Sleepytime tea guaranteed✨Enjoy!

I have your book! It's a great resource!! I know all the weeds in my garden are edible, but the hubby won't eat them. I have snuck some in but I have to be careful 😉 I think with the way things are going, more people will be wishing they knew all of this info!💚

What a lovely soul you are. You wife is blessed to have you to share life with. May you have a lovely family to feed one day. Thank you

Amaranth is widely used in India. We make lentils, stir fry, cook and add to yogurt. They say that it is very high in iron and is a good alternative iron source for vegetarians. Purslane too is eaten in India. Interesting fact about stronger roots in weeds compared to domesticated. No wonder they say when kids that grow big, strong and healthy that they have grown as weeds.😁

I grew up eating amaranth, we call it wild spinach. We make it soup sautéed with tomatoes,a bit of ground pork and shrimp . Some people also call it pig weeds.

Purslane is growing all over our 1 and a half acres! Marshmallow, dandelions, even mullberry trees came up in our orchard for years before we knew what they were!! And a fig tree!

I love the etymology of Dandelion. It comes from the French “Dent De Lion” which translates to “Lion’s tooth” - due to the leaf shape!

My mother had us pick large shopping bags of just the flowers. She washed it and brewed the best wine I have ever tasted ! The honey jelly was a winter favorite the flowers are very good on biscuits . 🙏🏽😎

No judgement here. I'm jealous of your weed bumper crop!💚

You never disappoint. Thank you for showing us the beautiful gifts of health this planet offers. 🌏♥️👍

Even the Bible repeatedly mentions using "Bitter Herbs" to treat all kinds of ailments.

We had a friend who had to carry a pen around because he was allergic to bee stings. We told him about plantain and like you mentioned above how to apply. He had forgotten his pen and got stung and thankfully remembered what we said! He thanked us and mentioned that it literally saved him!

Awesome video!! You just gave us 12 healthy weed options to jazz up our diets with. Thanks for the clear descriptions and close ups of each plant.

Congratulations on your marriage, and thank you for sharing this!

Couple bonus tips about the grass entry: Grass seeds are edible, too! Once the whole plant has grown old enough that the stalk's gone dry and brown and dead-looking and the seeds are fully mature, treat the seeds as you would a grain: Pluck the seed head, then do threshing and winnowing to get the actual seeds out, and you can make a kind of flour from the seeds! Grass seed is gluten-free, so it won't be good for bread or pasta, but for anything else, grass flour works fine! Additionally, if you're grabbing the grass while it's still green, try peeling a couple layers off of the bottom inch or two, until you find an inner core that's whitish in color, and tender. This can be eaten as-is, no need for juicing or pulverizing!

I really enjoyed this very informative video. Years ago someone mentioned “lambs quarter” being edible. I usually eat it right in the garden. I let it grow wherever it will. It tastes like a very mild spinach. I just pinch off the tops so it grows bushy. The young leaves are the most flavorful. I frequently forage for snacks throughout my the days in the garden. Thanks for reminding me of some I had forgotten and now I know I have a huge crop of wild amaranth.👍🏻