Beat the High Cost of Food: Eat Free from the Wild

In Joan Ransom Shortney's book, "How to Live on Nothing," out of print) the beginning story is told of a man who visits his daughter and her family. Their TV has been repossessed, the bills are all due and they have no food in the house. "Jerry," the hero of the story, takes over and tells his daughter to give him some paper bags. "Jerry's children took his powers for granted because, mysteriously, like Father Divine, he had found a way to live wihout money."

He then puts the grandkids to work picking dandelions, and proceeds to go and pick a bag of wild mushrooms and paints a mailbox for two dozen eggs, a stewing chicken, milk, potatoes, rye and wheat. He then weeds the woman's garden and keeps the weeds.

Food for free? You bet. Is this some made up story? Well, I don't know, but I do know that it's possible that it really happened.

In our society, it's easy to take a batch of food stamps and buy food, although somewhat embarrassing to many. Is it any more embarrassing to take advantage of free foods? It shouldn't be. Wild food is better nutritionally than many, if not all, of its cultured counterpart. It tastes better, too.

If you know the difference between "wild" catfish and farmed catfish, you can understand the difference between spinach and "wild spinach" (lambsquarter). It's the difference between generic ice cream and Ben and Jerry's, to put it in terms more commonly understood.

Finding wild food to harvest can be a problem if you live in the city or suburbs. Your own (pesticide and herbicide free) lawn and backyard offers the best opportunity for wild harvesting. If you can, set aside a part of the back yard and allow "weeds" to grow there for a year or two.

Vacant lots usually already have weeds growing, and many of them are edible. Ask permission if it's privately owned.

If you're out of town, watch for back roads (NOT main thoroughfares; plants absorb exhaust chemicals from vehicles) and edges of abandoned fields (fields in use will likely be swimming in pesticides and herbicides).

What weeds are edible? It varies from area to area, but your local library should have books with pictures and descriptions. Never eat anything that you're not sure of.

Some of the most common are:

Lambsquarter (leaves, seed)
Purslane (leaves, stems, seed)
Sunflower (seed, buds)
Dandelion (leaves, buds, flowers, roots)
Shepherd's purse (leaves, seed pods)
Dock, curly and slick (leaves, seeds milled to flour)
Daylily (flowers, leaves, buds, tubers)
Cattail (rhizomes, flowers)

Many of the same books that describe these plants will have recipes or suggested uses, so take some time to research. Some things you may not want to do; not everyone enjoys digging for cattail roots in a muddy ditch. Some of you may not want to take the trouble to gather a quart of dandelion blossoms, and others may find daylilies too pretty to eat.

Start with something that seems good to you, then, when you're familiar with it, you can go on to another plant. Always use caution when identifying plants and eating them, and don't overeat when you find something good. Many wild plants can cause problems because we're not used to eating them. For instance, daylily tubers may cause cramping and gas because of the high fiber content.

Many wild food plants have more than one edible part that can be harvested at different times of the year. Purslane, for instance, is a very good succulent vegetable which can be fried like okra, canned like spinach, pickled like cucumbers or, if you wait until it quits flowering, use the seeds in breads, ground or whole.

Wild sunflowers produce the familiar sunflower seeds, although in a smaller version than the ones you are probably familiar with. You can toast them just like the bigger variety, or make nut butter from them. Pick the unopened buds, soak them briefly in salt water, then rinse and simmer until tender. They taste like artichokes, to which family they belong.

Wild foods can be canned, frozen or dehydrated for winter use. If you can't find explicit directions for a particular food, use the instructions closest to the domesticated version. For "greens" - wild spinach, dock, wild mustard, etc., use instructions for canning, freezing or dehydrating domestic spinach. For roots, use dry and cool storage, similar to potatoes or onions. Seeds can be stored dry just like other seed/grain product (popcorn, beans, etc.).

The more wild foods you use, the more your food budget will benefit. Your body will thank you, too, because wild foods are generally nutritionally superior even to organically grown foods.

The library and the internet provide enough information to keep you going for a long time, so poke around, try it out and benefit from shopping at nature's own grocery store. There's more, lots more to learn, experience and enjoy when you eat from the wild.