Plantain

When we live off the land we often think of having our own land, of owning livestock, having a garden etc.  For those of us who live in the city or an apartment being able to do this is not an option.  There have already been ways that we have discussed on doing some of these things on a small scale by container gardening, maybe a chicken or two, or grinding and making our own bread.  But there is an option that is easy on the budget that I havenÂ’t seen mentioned and that is cultivating wild edible plants.  There are many plants that grow in the woods and public fields that are edible for food and free!

Dandelions are often considered a weed, but you can eat almost every part of a dandelion.  The root makes a coffee substitute, the blossoms are that bad, battered and fried (Ok maybe oven baked), the leaves can be used in salads and the stems can also be used in teas.  

Plantain is a very common plant found just about everywhere and is good for bee stings and other skin inflammations, ulcers & intermittent fevers.

Queen AnneÂ’s Lace, a pretty wildflower that grows by roadsides and in fields is also known as the wild carrot (just be careful because there is a plant that is poisonous that looks similar to it).  Other edible roadside plants are daylilies (rhizome and blossoms), golden rod and chicory just to name a few.

There are some excellent books on the subject.  The one that I am familiar with are “Petersons Field Guide to Wild Edible Plants”,“Stalking the Wild Asparagus” and “Stalking the Wild Herb” by Euell Gibbons (who did not die by eating a wild plant, but heart failure).

Do a search on the subject and you may just be surprised that the lowly plants that we have ignored are food!  Bon Appetite!

**NOTE: Carla's Comment reminded me that I had forgotten to warn you to be careful where you cultivate the plants due to pesticides etc.  Also be very careful in plant identification as some plants are very similar but the difference could be life or death!