Guest guest Posted July 15, 2004 Report Share Posted July 15, 2004 I just happened to be at an alternative food conference this past weekend where this very thing came up! I met two young women who live in an experimental community that eats primarily roadkill and wild edibles. They were extremely healthy looking and vibrant! They said they eat meat almost everyday and use all parts of the animal, then harvest the rest of thier food from the woods. BTW...they cooked some of our meals (vegetarian as not all attendees were meat eaters) and made some wonderful dishes. Here's their recommendations: - any of the and/or Audubon plant id books. - " Identifying and Harvesting Edicle and Medicinal Plants in the Wild " by Steve Brill and Dean - get number of different books so you can cross check your plants and cooking info on each to avoid stomach problems. Lynn > > > > > > >XXXXXXXXx Lots of weeds fit into that category Heidi.Mexican > > sandburs > > > >will laythere just existing for weeks and all of a sudden a little > > > >rain and boom they are covering all the ground and full of seeds. > > > >Fireweed will sit there as I sort of stroll by it a few weeks or > > > >maybe months and boom it's 4 foot in diameter and 6 feet tall. > > Those > > > >are tumbleweeds in KS. Supposedly they (many weeds)thrive on hi > > > >nitrogen soils(bacterial dominated) which are needing one or > > several > > > >minerals.OK see my disclaimer and hey, you heard it here. Dennis > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 15, 2004 Report Share Posted July 15, 2004 At 03:23 AM 7/15/2004, you wrote: >Hi, > >Speaking of weeds (but thought I would start a new thread) I heard somewhere >that there was a book saying which weeds were edible and how to prepare >them. Can anyone recommend one, as I'd like to buy one? I can't remember >where I read it but it was probably here. There are a lot of books, but I'd recommend one for your area. I got a " Plants of the Pacific Northwest " book to identify what grows here, then do a net search. >I do remember that it apparently said that chickweed and ground elder are >both edible! That might encourage me to weed the garden a bit more....... >I don't know if you get ground elder in the US but it's got a stranglehold >on my garden. Evil weed.....but not if it's nutritious(define)! Chickweed certainly is ... makes good sandwiches and it's good in salads. Also the chickens love it (hence the name ...). I've never seen ground elder around here, I don't think, but: http://www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/ground-elder.htm Introduced from the Continent as a pot-herb and a medicine against rheumatism and gout (hence the common name). Can be eaten in salads or boiled like spinach, as it still is in Scandinavia - too much has a laxative effect. The dried root can be ground into a flour for baking. Dandelions were brought here for food purposes too ... you are supposed to cover them with a pot for a few days to get rid of some of the bitterness. -- Heidi Jean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 16, 2004 Report Share Posted July 16, 2004 @@@@@@@@@@@@ > I just happened to be at an alternative food conference this past > weekend where this very thing came up! > I met two young women who live in an experimental community that eats > primarily roadkill and wild edibles. They were extremely healthy > looking and vibrant! They said they eat meat almost everyday and use > all parts of the animal, then harvest the rest of thier food from the > woods. @@@@@@@@@@@@@ uh, wow, that is way beyond cool... where is this place anyway? You're down south in the boonies somewhere, right? Georgia? @@@@@@@ > Here's their recommendations: > - any of the and/or Audubon plant id books. > - " Identifying and Harvesting Edicle and Medicinal Plants in the Wild " > by Steve Brill and Dean > - get number of different books so you can cross check your plants and > cooking info on each to avoid stomach problems. > > Lynn @@@@@ I don't have time to write much now, but I'm glad I scanned the NN posts just now, because this is one of my fav topics! Briefly, don't waste your money on the id book--it has some misleading info and it lacks depth. I've never seen the Audubon books. I also don't recommend the " Encyclopedia of Edible Plants of North America " --it has no id info, no pictures, and the info is very shallow and worthless compared to a quick google... The Brill book is awesome awesome awesome, and really the only book you'd want to bother buying, besides perhaps some kind of general guide specific to your region, because 90% of the id process is best done via google, regular and image search. I can attest to this from many many hours of studying wild edible plants in the past year or so... It's all about Google. The pictures in books are fairly irrelevant when you can get 20 better color ones in a few minutes from Google... In most cases I haven't been able to make a confident id from books alone--keep in mind I jumped into this topic with zero previous knowledge about plants... The Brill book has pretty extensive info on usage and id issues, nice sketches, and even a good bit of successful humor! Crucially, it's a **90s** book, not a 70s or 80s or earlier book, so it tends to be more up-to-date and reliable in terms of usage info. I'm not aware of any better books in this regard. I ordered my copy directly from his website--I think he gets more money that way... He's an advocate of vegetarianism and has a wild edible vegetarian cookbook I haven't bothered to check out, but don't worry--his id book is still awesome! Brill + Google is all you need. Note in particular this website for quantitative data on plant constituents, like potential toxins, antinutrients, nutrients, etc: http://www.ars-grin.gov/duke/ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@ > --- In , " Helen East " <helen@p...> > > Speaking of weeds (but thought I would start a new thread) I heard > somewhere > > that there was a book saying which weeds were edible and how to prepare > > them. Can anyone recommend one, as I'd like to buy one? I can't > remember > > where I read it but it was probably here. > > > > I do remember that it apparently said that chickweed and ground > elder are > > both edible! That might encourage me to weed the garden a bit > more....... > > I don't know if you get ground elder in the US but it's got a > stranglehold > > on my garden. Evil weed.....but not if it's nutritious(define)! @@@@@@@@@@@@@@ I don't know anything about ground elder, but if perchance it's the same thing as ground ivy, it's only marginally edible as a medicinal tea, not a leaf you eat. But chickweed, yeah, that's a staple veggie like spinach or something--probably in the top 5 of most any wild veggie aficionado... Except I wouldn't pig out on it because it's high in saponins and there's some theoretical issue about whether that's good or bad--going by historical praxis, smallish daily amounts are probably not an issue. Of course, I don't think anyone except 20th century dietary avant-gardists eat large quantities of any leaf... Nettle is definitely the ultimate wild veggie, and dandelion leaves are a close second, both good as a daily staple in large quantities like kale or turnip greens... Smaller dandelions are less bitter and the bitterness is a good bitterness... (Of course, for the short time they're around, dandelion flowers are an amazing treat... I also highly recommend the dying flower stalks after the flowers are dead) Nettle has zero bitterness and the heartiest flavor of any known veggie, just a mind-blowingly great food... There's a group called " forageahead " for wild edibles with a useful archives, but I haven't kept up with the posts there in the past few months... Mike SE Pennsylvania The best way to predict the future is to invent it. --Alan Kay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 16, 2004 Report Share Posted July 16, 2004 > uh, wow, that is way beyond cool... where is this place anyway? > You're down south in the boonies somewhere, right? Georgia? -----> LOL...it was way cool! Everyone thinks I'm radical but two really put my diet in prespective. The boonies, LOL, I wish! I'm in Atlanta, smack in the city. Check out the pictures of boonies where these two live. It's astounding. http://www.wildroots.org/index.php They are going to do a tour this Fall that might come to your area. Ask them: http://www.wildroots.org/tour.phplant id books. They're very open to communications. They did a slideshow on wild edibles including roadkill that was great. The next day they presented on Politics and Food - what happens when food becomes the commodity it now is. It was excellent and would be a fine presentation to give anywhere (even a straight- laced churches). It ended with us breaking down of origin of our previous dinner and analyzing what the total cost when you consider sustainabilty. Very effective and eye opening about what we do in 3rd world countries in our desires for cheap food. When they come to Atlanta I'm going to get them to do some presentations here. Lynn > > - " Identifying and Harvesting Edicle and Medicinal Plants in the > Wild " > > by Steve Brill and Dean > > - get number of different books so you can cross check your plants > and > > cooking info on each to avoid stomach problems. > > > > Lynn > @@@@@ > > I don't have time to write much now, but I'm glad I scanned the NN > posts just now, because this is one of my fav topics! Briefly, don't > waste your money on the id book--it has some misleading info > and it lacks depth. I've never seen the Audubon books. I also don't > recommend the " Encyclopedia of Edible Plants of North America " --it > has no id info, no pictures, and the info is very shallow and > worthless compared to a quick google... > > The Brill book is awesome awesome awesome, and really the only book > you'd want to bother buying, besides perhaps some kind of general > guide specific to your region, because 90% of the id process is best > done via google, regular and image search. I can attest to this from > many many hours of studying wild edible plants in the past year or > so... It's all about Google. The pictures in books are fairly > irrelevant when you can get 20 better color ones in a few minutes > from Google... In most cases I haven't been able to make a confident > id from books alone--keep in mind I jumped into this topic with zero > previous knowledge about plants... The Brill book has pretty > extensive info on usage and id issues, nice sketches, and even a good > bit of successful humor! Crucially, it's a **90s** book, not a 70s > or 80s or earlier book, so it tends to be more up-to-date and > reliable in terms of usage info. I'm not aware of any better books > in this regard. I ordered my copy directly from his website--I think > he gets more money that way... He's an advocate of vegetarianism and > has a wild edible vegetarian cookbook I haven't bothered to check > out, but don't worry--his id book is still awesome! > > Brill + Google is all you need. > > Note in particular this website for quantitative data on plant > constituents, like potential toxins, antinutrients, nutrients, etc: > http://www.ars-grin.gov/duke/ > > > @@@@@@@@@@@@@@ > > --- In , " Helen East " <helen@p...> > > > Speaking of weeds (but thought I would start a new thread) I heard > > somewhere > > > that there was a book saying which weeds were edible and how to > prepare > > > them. Can anyone recommend one, as I'd like to buy one? I can't > > remember > > > where I read it but it was probably here. > > > > > > I do remember that it apparently said that chickweed and ground > > elder are > > > both edible! That might encourage me to weed the garden a bit > > more....... > > > I don't know if you get ground elder in the US but it's got a > > stranglehold > > > on my garden. Evil weed.....but not if it's nutritious (define)! > @@@@@@@@@@@@@@ > > I don't know anything about ground elder, but if perchance it's the > same thing as ground ivy, it's only marginally edible as a medicinal > tea, not a leaf you eat. But chickweed, yeah, that's a staple veggie > like spinach or something--probably in the top 5 of most any wild > veggie aficionado... Except I wouldn't pig out on it because it's > high in saponins and there's some theoretical issue about whether > that's good or bad--going by historical praxis, smallish daily > amounts are probably not an issue. Of course, I don't think anyone > except 20th century dietary avant-gardists eat large quantities of > any leaf... > > Nettle is definitely the ultimate wild veggie, and dandelion leaves > are a close second, both good as a daily staple in large quantities > like kale or turnip greens... Smaller dandelions are less bitter and > the bitterness is a good bitterness... (Of course, for the short time > they're around, dandelion flowers are an amazing treat... I also > highly recommend the dying flower stalks after the flowers are dead) > Nettle has zero bitterness and the heartiest flavor of any known > veggie, just a mind-blowingly great food... > > There's a group called " forageahead " for wild edibles with a > useful archives, but I haven't kept up with the posts there in the > past few months... > > Mike > SE Pennsylvania > > The best way to predict the future is to invent it. --Alan Kay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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