Foraging For Edible Greens.

Many common plants, most of which society considers weeds, are edible, and others were used for medicinal purposes. The purpose of this thread is to identify some of these common plants, which can be found in many parts of the world, growing wild, and to discuss the use and identification of these plants.

In another thread, lambsquarters was mentioned, and this is one of those “weeds” that grows almost everywhere and comes back every year. It seems to especially thrive in gardens , where you are busily trying to grow lettuce or spinach. It is a member of the amaranth family, so even the seeds are edible and nutritious.
The funny part is that, the lambsquarters that gets pulled up and thrown in the compost pile probably has more nutrition than the spinach that you are sheltering from it.

Another plant that grows almost everywhere is leafy plantain. Plantain comes in two varieties, the broadleaf variety, and the spike-leaf variety. They are easily recognizable , grow almost everywhere, and when they go to seed, they have tall spikes with the seeds on top.
The seeds on plantain are what psyllium husks (think Metamucil) are made from, and the seeds can also be eaten or cooked in bread recipes.
This picture shows what both varieties look like.

 

The great thing about learning to forage weeds is that you can move from that to gardening weeds. I tell people all the time that the problem with a traditional garden with beans and corn and squash and tomatoes and such is that when people get hungry they are going to raid your garden and there just isn't much you can do about it. If you kill a few of them their friends and or familly are going to kill you.

If you plant things that nobody will recognize as food you can have a garden anywhere. If you stay with weeds like lambsquarters, nettles, amaranth, quinoa and such then also plant root plants you can have a hidden garden right out in the open. Very few people would recognise potatoes, yams or peanuts while everyone recognises corn and beans.

All around the perimeter of my 3 acres I have edible weeds that I have encouraged. The thing about weeds is that they usually grow best in poor soil. You know that stuff they sell for your lawns that they call weed and feed. It is nothing but a balanced fertilizer. If you feed grass it will choke out the weeds.

 

Poke greens

definition of poke: "The word poke meaning 'bag' is not confined to just the American South—in many parts of Scotland, poke bag is still used of a little paper bag for carrying purchases like candy. Poke first appears in English in the 1200s and probably comes from Old North French, the northern dialect of Old French. The Old North French word in turn is probably of Germanic origin and is related to words like Icelandic poki, 'bag.' Poke has several relatives within English. The word pocket comes from Middle English poket, meaning 'pouch, small bag,' which in turn comes from Anglo-Norman pokete, a diminutive of Old North French poke. Pouche, a variant form of Old North French poke, is the source of the English word pouch." -- The Free Dictionary

When I was a boy, poke greens were one of the staples of our diet. Grandma would boil them twice, then mix them with kale or curly mustard. Fatback or streaked-meat was always added to the pot on last boil. Greens and buttered corn bread -- ten thousand times a supper. And green beans you'd grown yourself, and strung, and snapped ( ten million pops sitting on the front porch), drop'm in a big stainless pot, and boil them ... with streaked-meat.

Sometimes you'll hear them called "poke salat".

http://wildwestvirginiaramps.com/poke-salad-poke-greens-poke-salat-poke-weed/

Fry up some pork chops and throw in a bunch of ramps. If one person eats ramps, the rest of the family has to eat ramps, else a lone ramp eater will be tossed out the house for he will reek of ramps.

https://www.wildedible.com/blog/foraging-ramps

When hunting squirrel up at altitude, you will also hunt ramps. Take what you need and no more. Must never take out an entire patch = gready and they won't come back.

We've already missed the Ramp Festival.

http://www.erwinrecord.net/local-news/ramp-festival-set-for-saturday-may-9/

http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/image/2016/05/03/x700_q30/97cc75bd-de97-4286-a7ec-de3e13f51ad9.jpg

http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/image/2018/05/03/x700_q30/Ramp-Festival-1-1.jpg

http://www.flagpond.com/festival/ramp/images/ramps-2009.jpg

http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/image/2018/05/03/x700_q30/Ramp-Festival-2-1.jpg

Oh by the way, ramps are poisonous as all get-out. Gotta boil them and boil them. Pick'em while they are way young -- just above sprouts. When the red rises up the stem, that's it, too late, they'll work against you. Too much and you will get gut pains you'll not be able to handle. Eat the roots an' you'll die.

--

 

I have had ramps before, and the ones we had were a part of the onion/garlic family, and not poisonous at all. Are you sure that you are not meaning the poke plants are poisonous ?
They have the red stems like you are describing, and I have also heard that you have to pick them when they are newly sprouted.
We had neighbors who ate them, and she described to me that the poke plant was poisonous and had to be oiled in several changes of water, and they you have to know what you are doing when you cook them.
Since I didn’t know about them, and I didn’t want to poison myself, I have never eaten any poke leaves or sprouts.

 

It was late and I'm lysdexic. Poke greens are poisonous when the red color moves up the stem. Ramps are something between an onion and garlic, just very, very pungent.

I constantly have brain farts. This one is part of an ongoing series.

 

Yeppers those brain farts are hell ain't they. Between brain Farts and CRS (Can't Remember $hit) it's a wonder I'm allowed to run around loose sometimes!!!