On Wed, 30 Apr 2003 04:23:02 GMT, "kathleen"
wrote:

"Frogleg" wrote

Go get a book on wild edibles. There're heaps of things you *can* eat,
and some that are really tasty. A few to avoid. You probably have more
scope than in an urban setting, but a lot of weeds are edible --
dandelion, of course; plaintain; lamb's quarters; peppergrass. The
trouble with a lot of wild greens is that many tend toward the bitter
side, and are good for accents, not a whole salad. I believe many of
those can be cooked with a little 'side meat' (bacon of some sort) and
a sprinkling of sugar. So nice to be able to eat something that was
no trouble to cultivate. :-)

My mother has given me a bunch of weed and wildflower books, and I have 4
wild edibles books. So I feel pretty well prepared to identify good stuff
and avoid the bad.

And talk about no trouble to cultivate grin... No watering, rarely any
insect damage at all, etc. So much fun to get something for nothing.

I gather enough for a small salad every day, of mostly nonbitter greens,
some wild and some cultivated. We have thousands of sweet white violets;
their young leaves are nice and neutral, though I understand they can cause
tummy upset if you eat a lot of them (whatever that quantity is). I toss in
parsley from my garden, and maybe a (cultivated) daylily blossom or 2, or
hibiscus, rose petals & some corn-salad. Yum.

I tried young curly dock the other day, boiled, and it was *great stuff.*
Quite mild, a bit of lemony tang.

I was thinking of daylily, roo, but you mentioned greens, not edible
flowers. I took a 1-day class on wild edibles that was enchanting.
Unfortunately, the hotplate being used to boil milkweed pods kept
tripping the circuit-breaker at the Nature & Science center, so we
weren't able to taste. Cattail shoots are *delicious*. Am waiting to
find someone willing to guide me to a site for glasswort (also
wonderfully tasty). One of the fun parts of the class was an outdoor
tour of wild plants in the vicinity. One couple, after having heard in
the classroom 15 minutes before that one stage of a plant was edible;
another toxic, proceeded to get this entirely turned around. I hope
they didn't make themselves sick. :-)