Did you know that you probably have several edible plants in your backyard? I'm not talking about fruits and vegetables that you plant either - I mean wild plants.
Wild onions in my yard
As I've been planning my herb garden, I've been learning more and more about medicinal herbs and edible plants. Did you know that there's an herb called plantain that can be used to treat minor cuts, ezcema and can be used to soothe cold symptoms? It's found in pretty much everyone's yard and viewed as a weed. Or that borage can be used to treat gastrointestinal and respiratory issues. Who knew?
What about those purple flowers that are growing all over your yard this time of year? They're wild violets, which are edible and a great source of Vitamin C. And don't forget about dandelions!
While I might or might not ever eat these, I think it's great that there's so much we can eat in our yard or in a field if necessary.
Happy Earth Day!
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Sorry you are not having the best time right now. I understand that feeling all to well. I think it is too funny that the kids found the baskets on Friday. I already Jack is going to be one of these kids wo is always snooping around.
ReplyDeleteI would love to hear what you are "planning" to plant,... I'm considering it but haven't taken the step yet.
ReplyDeleteWe've got dandelions, wild onion and violets growing like crazy in our yard right now but what I have in my herb garden is mainly kitchen herbs with a few medicinal herbs thrown in. Things like lavender, echinacea, hyssop, chamomile etc. I've been thinking about feverfew and goldenseal too but those get really big and I don't know if the holes in my checkerboard are big enough.
ReplyDeleteUgh yes! I was able to go to a moms' group meeting last night, which was nice, even if I had to chase the littles around :-)
ReplyDeleteThey weren't even snooping! I left them on the counter completely not thinking about the fact that they would notice. Oops!
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you. This time of year was my grandmother's favorite and it's been pretty hard on me the last couple weeks.
It was broken into age groups at the church hunt and at my in-laws, each grandkid had 30 eggs to find. I'm pretty sure the teenagers didn't find them all because Alan decided to hide them in not easily accessible places.
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty cool. We always tell our kids to never eat anything in the yard. It would be nice to know what we can and can't eat. I remember breaking open acorns as a kid and eating the insides.
ReplyDeleteI've known you can eat wild onion, dandelions, carnations and geraniums since I was a kid thanks to my grandmother. However, I didn't know about a lot of them!
ReplyDeleteInteresting! Now, how would you recommend I eat them? Just straight up start chewing, or throw them in a smoothie?
ReplyDeleteYou can throw them into a smoothie or put into salads. Someone I know was recently talking about how they love deep fried dandelion heads. I use wild onion in place of chives.
ReplyDeleteOh how I wish I was capable of keeping any green plant alive. I would love to have a garden of any kind, but the plants just die after a week or two.
ReplyDeleteI have a rule around my house... every plant must have a purpose -so, everything I have planted either feeds someone, or - can be used to cut flowers from for beauty. :-) Even dandelions are edible...(assuming you don't put poison on the yard to kill them!)
ReplyDeleteMy husband always cracks on me because I think everything green should be in a salad. We don't have the good looking stuff you do, but I'm often nibbling little blades of green to see what happens, lol.
ReplyDeleteOur yard is covered in violets! Well, it was. My husband mowed this weekend so most of it is gone now. I guess it's a good thing I grabbed a bunch of onions while I could!
ReplyDeleteI do very well with some things and not so well with others. My grandmother had this crazy ability to make anything grow...I so wish I inherited that from her!
ReplyDeleteGlad the kids have so much fun - hope you take some 'you time' soon!
ReplyDeleteI recommend candying your violets. They make great (and tasty) decorations. Just google candied violets for the simple recipe.
ReplyDeleteI had NO CLUE that wild violets were edible - that is real interesting to know. And...it is so funny that you mentioned the wild onions. My Dad and I were looking at the yard the other day, and saw these odd tufts of greenery. He told me to pull it out the ground and smell...and it smelled just like onions. So cool. [Priceless Writers]
ReplyDeleteI hope that you and your family had a Happy Easter!
ReplyDeleteThat's a great idea! Thanks for the suggestion!
ReplyDeleteI have wild onions and the violets too. I never knew you could eat the violets! I just googled candies violets...so cool!
ReplyDeleteThis is great! My boyfriend likes natural healing, he always makes my children eat certain foods and fruits especially when something is wrong with them (like a tummy ache) because he knows all about the vitamins each fruit has. I'll have to share this information with him, he will love it! Thanks :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the children had a good time and won some prizes! I hope you get some time to yourself! :)
ReplyDeleteHaha! I can remember smelling them as a kid and then finding out you could eat them. I was amazed.
ReplyDeleteI've gotten more and more into homeopathic remedies for things. It's amazing what all there is in nature that you can use...and it's a lot cheaper too!
ReplyDeleteWe had a ton of Easter egg hunts, too....I sat down that night and went through everything so we could get it put away. It was driving me crazy!
ReplyDeleteI took almost all the candy in to work yesterday that we got at church. Thankfully my mil didn't put candy in the eggs. We still had to go through all the goodies when we got home though!
ReplyDeleteI need it! :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's always fun to know what can be useful in your own yard!
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