Foraging

[Lazy Gardener]

Lambs quarters. Invasive garden weed. I get my revenge by picking it for salads, and it can also be cooked and used just as you would use spinach.

 

[Britesea]

I tried some lambquarters one year; they were very bitter. Did I wait too long to harvest them?

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Had they gone to seed? Are you sure it was lambsquarters?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chenopodium_album

this site has an excellent photo of the seed heads. They need to be eaten when they are young. I prefer to harvest when they are 6" or less tall.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Agreed, it looked like he was peeling off way more than necessary. I've had them raw, never cooked, but it looks like they would be a fun veggie to put on the table.

 

[Marianne]

Dang, I just did a search for 'edible weeds in Kansas' and found a long list! Try it for your state.
There are more edible things around here than I thought. I won't gather anything that's next to the road because of car exhaust. Unfortunately, some things that I want, I haven't spotted, like elderberry.

 

[flowerbug]

my concern with almost any wetland or river foraging around here is the agricultural poisons. cattails are in many ditches, but those ditches are runoff from heavily sprayed fields. the same with all the rivers.

if i can't grow it or know that the area hasn't been used for agriculture i won't harvest from there. too many poisons being used and some persist for a long time.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Valid point. I'll not eat cat-tails from ditch or near farmland. And, won't harvest near a road.