Edible weeds
My great grandmother was an amazing woman - she lived on a farm here in South Africa during the time of the Boer War and everything in the house was made by her - soap, candles, bread, preserves and much more.
Vegetables were grown and many wild plants were also used either for eating or medicinal uses.
Sadly, many of these talents have been lost over the years, however, most gardeners today have some knowledge which is happily shared with friends.
Today I am going to share with you two very common weeds that can be eaten and be of some use for you.
The Dandelion
This plant is a very valuable one to have - the fresh new leaves can be put into your salads and is rich in potassium.
The roots can be dried and then ground up as a substitute for coffee, the flowers are often used to make cough mixture and the milky sap is said to cure warts if applied daily.
Chickweed
This plant is almost always weeded out and thrown onto the compost heap.
However, chickweed can be cooked and eaten like spinach.
If you are lucky enough to have a few chickens, it can be fed to them and they love it.
Many years ago, I had a small aviary with some Zebra Finches and every day I would give them some chickweed which they gobbled up very quickly.
The name chickweed says it all.
I knew about the dandelion, and only vaguely about the chickweed. Could one put it in a salad, too? I must taste some - it's coming up all over now we've had some rain.
I have not tasted it yet.
@lizziesworld funnily enough, I have, now. It has quite an earthy flavour. It was used on one of the dishes at the long table meal we went to on Friday. Will post a pic for you.
Thanks for putting weeds in the spotlight. I think it’s important that people realize that weeds are just plants/herbs that grow there where and when we don’t want them to.
Because of that, we forget that it is a plant just like the ones we put in our garden on purpose.
Loads of the so called weeds are edible, or they can be useful in other ways. For example: I was frustrated by the huge amount of horsetail that was growing in my garden. Until I found out it’s an indicator that there is something wrong with your soil, it can be used to prevent pests in your garden and it is a miracle plant for your body and mind.
It’s absolutely not just an annoying weed. I just didn’t know, lol.
I dug up one of my favorite garden quotes:
Source
#steemitbloggers
I like the quote!
It is so true. Every single weed in my garden has its use: a lot are edible and/or good for your health (interesting article here: http://www.naturallivingideas.com/18-edible-backyard-weeds-you-should-stop-killing-start-eating/)
And here’s another one: https://www.offthegridnews.com/food/useful-weeds-in-the-garden/
I know an extraction of horsetail can prevent and cure fungus on your plants, stinging nettle and other weeds are he perfect fertilizer for your plants.
Weeds are also indicatorplants. If you’ve got a lot of them, or one kind in specific, you can tell a lot about the quakity of your soil.
THEY also attract useful bugs, provide them shelter, protect your plants from pests,... I could go on for a while :0)
We just refer to these very useful plants as weeds because they don’t grow where and when we want them to grow.
It’s a real shame not everyone knows this and puts them to waste.
Just for the fun of it, Google ‘edible weeds’. You’ll be surprised, I can assure you that ;0D
Lol... wow thank you @simplymike to sharing so much information with me.
The green thumb of the house is actually @joelai, and I learn a lot from her as well when she explained to me why she's keeping all the weeds cos Chinese like to make medicine with it. I am definitely gonna share with her on the links.
Many thanks again!
Glad I could help :0)
:D
I so agree with you and have a great respect for weeds and always try to identify them so that I can learn more.
I have a pile of junk in one part of my garden. It’s basically just pieces of stone from breaking down a wall.
It’s almost entirely covered with weeds, mostly horsetail.
I called it my personal health cabinet, lol. This way, I always have stinging nettle and horsetail when I need it.
You can’t imagine the benefits horsetail has. Not only for use in your garden, but it’s like the magic herb that can cure a lot of physical and psychological problems.
I wrote an article about it on another site (simply click away the popup that asks you to sign up - you don’t need to sign up to read it)
https://yoo.rs/moestuinmomenten/blog/horsetail-is-a-more-powerful-herb-than-you-can-ever-imagine-1499084071.html
I know a lot of weeds are actually herbs for health which can be easily found in own yard, but I sure didn't know about this 2. Does the grounded roots of Dandelion taste like coffee?
I don’t know, but the flowers are edible and very healthy for you.
Thanks for telling me that! :D
I have not tried it, but know that it has been used by people for many years.
Thank you for sharing!