Have You Had Your Daily Dose of Weeds???

I kneel in the garden, pulling weeds. My Excellent Mother walks past, hair tied up, ready to tend to her cucumbers.

 “What, does dad want salad?” She asks.

 “Yes, where’s a good patch of dandelions?” I inquire.

Is this not a curious exchange?

Not at Myllerbridge.

In this house we don’t frown upon weeds in the garden, we eat them. Look, feast your eyes upon this delectable display:

This is our salad. We have salad nearly every day, 'cause why not? We have the garden to supply all the cucumber, onion, tomato and squash we need; and if weeds pop up, why not put them to good use?

Now you may be wondering how this turn of events came about. Once upon a time my Excellent Mother came across an informative article that was probably titled something like this: Edible Plants You Didn’t Know Grew In Your Own Yard!

She investigated, and behold! There were all sorts of edible plants we didn’t know grew in our own yard! Plantain grows around the walls of our house, purslane grows in the garden and dandelions grow everywhere.

So we’ve been trying out some new things. Plantain tea and dandelion root coffee are the most memorable. Plantain tea is bland, and dandelion coffee isn’t coffee, but neither was bad. Usually we just turn everything into a salad. And it’s good. I like our weed salads. So here are some edible plants you didn’t know grew in your own yard!

1. Plantain. It's like dandelion, it will grow anywhere, but it blends in better with its surroundings without the bright flowers to give it away. (Did you notice the word blend? I've heard you can put the stuff in smoothies.) It’s a little bitter, but honestly, I can hardly distinguish it from spinach.

2. Purslane. This is my favorite. It is crisp and slightly tart, but the flavor is unobtrusive.

3. Mallow. This is probably my least favorite. It’s bland, no discernible flavor, and the leaves are ever so slightly fuzzy. If fuzziness puts you off you can put the fruits or flowers in the salad instead. Both the fruits and flowers are as bland as the leaves, they just add a little extra to your salad and make it go farther and you can pat yourself on the back for putting an obnoxious weed to use.

4. Dandelion. You know, that insidious little yellow flower that everybody hates. It’s nearly impossible to get rid of, and it’s everywhere. Everywhere I tell you! I really like dandelion. It’s bitter, but it makes an excellent salad, especially when eaten with poppy seed dressing. Yum!

5. Lamb’s Quarter. Another bland one. No real flavor, but it makes your salad go farther. (We've noticed that our rabbits don't like this one. They find grass to be vastly superior to this edible goodie.)

So, there you have it, Five Edible Plants You Didn’t Know Grew In Your Yard!

All five are extremely nutritious. Vitamin C galore. Just ask my Excellent Mother.