Growing Wild

Look at some of the gorgeous wild plants growing along the roadsides! Just beautiful, and growing up lush and healthy with no help from humans. Is it any wonder why Michele and I search to find out which of them are edible?

Gardening with Wildflowers - Gaillardia

As gardeners, we spend a lot of time trying to find just the right flower to accent our garden beds and yards.   The primary thing that we have to consider is what will grow in our particular area.  The Texoma area is not as forgiving as some areas of the country when it comes to gardening.  This is true for vegetables or flowers.  I often see beautiful plants at our local nurseries that just won’t tolerate the conditions in our yard.  I have learned though experience and failure that certain things just aren’t going to make it. 

In recent years, I have begun to wonder why I struggle to grow plants not meant for this area, when there are so many plants that are native to the area that hold just as much beauty, color and wonder.  Take wildflowers for instance – this time of year our roadsides and hillsides are covered with lovely flowers of all colors, shapes and sizes.  Why can’t a flower that brightens up a highway brighten up your yard?  There is no reason!  I have seen wildflower seeds for sale in many stores and have some growing here in our yard.  One of my favorites is Gaillardia – more commonly known as Indian Blanket.  This is the flower pictured above.  It is lovely and easy to grow.  It is native to this area, doesn’t need any special care and comes back year after year regardless of conditions.  Wow!  Indian Blanket seeds can be purchased in local stores and they are easy to get started in any flower bed.  You can start them inside and transplant them, or just direct sow the seeds.  This is true for many, many of the wildflowers you see growing along the roadsides. 

There are websites devoted to helping you identify your favorites.  Just look up ‘Texas Wildflowers’ or ‘Texas Wildflower Identification’ and follow the links.  Add a little bit of Texas to your flowerbed.  I think you’ll be pleased with the results!

(Just as a side note - as with many native plants and herbs, Gailladria has some medicinal properties and the roots can be dried and made into teas or paste to treat a variety of illnesses.  There are enough native flowers and herbs growing in our area to enjoy new teas all year round).

Grape Vines - Raw, Boiled or Stuffed, Grape Leaves are Good

I’ve been at it again.  It’s springtime and I can’t help wandering around the yard enjoying the sight of all things green.  In my never ending quest for edible perennials, I got to pondering our grape vines.  They are only a few years old and have yet to yield any grapes, but those leaves are beautiful!  I have heard talk of stuffed grape leaves, so decided it was time to do some research. 

It turns out that grape leaves can be eaten raw, boiled, or stuffed and then steamed or baked.  Of course, the first thing I did was run outside and snip a few leaves to try out!  My son and I decided they were ok raw, but would be better mixed in a salad as opposed to just munching down straight.  My next step is to try stuffing them.  Stuffed cabbage is good, so why not stuffed grape leaves?  There are a lot of recipes online - just search for them.  I found a couple that I want to make.  I’ll share the links here and then report back on my experiences after we’ve tried them out.

http://brooklyngirlscooking.blogspot.com/2011/11/sarma-aka-stuffed-grape-leaves.html

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1626,145176-254207,00.html

So you can eat them, but are there any health benefits?   Of course there are!  It seems that most things that Mother Nature provides us to eat are healthy in some way or other.  

Here is a link to some nutritional data:

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/3038/2

If you don’t want to surf through all the information provided there, let me quote the summary for you.  This food is low in Saturated Fat, and very low in Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Vitamin C, Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Niacin and Iron, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin K, Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Calcium, Magnesium, Copper and Manganese.

The next big question is will they grow here in NE Texas?    Our experience shows that they come back year after year in our harsh soil and thrive with very little attention.  We have a large wild grape vine on or property that has never produced any grapes.  It tends to want to cover the garage so my husband has chopped that thing back many times trying to get rid of it.  No luck, it keeps coming back.  Now I have a use for it!   I still have hope that our not-so-wild (store bought) grape vines will produce grapes for us sometime in the near future, but am not worried now.  I know that even if we never get a grape off of them, they will still provide us with nutritional, tasty food.

Until next time, enjoy this beautiful weather!

The Dandelion – Weed or Wonder Plant?

They’re sprouting up already.  Should you get the lawnmower out and have at it, or should you smile, grab your shovel and get ready for lunch?  What am I talking about?  Dandelions of course!  I have a bouquet in my kitchen from my daughter.  When she heard me talking about dandelions being edible, she wanted to know if we should eat the ones she just picked!  I smiled at her and told her that just looking at them was good enough for me.  Or is it…  I told myself all winter that I wanted to look more into dandelions as a food source, and here it is, almost spring.  What should I do?  Well, if you’ve read any of my previous posts, you know that I love the idea of growing things that I don’t have to work too hard at.  I’m all for those things that provide food for my family year after year – especially if it grows here in our harsh soil and actually won’t stay away even if I ask it nicely.   With that in mind, I think a dandelion salad is in order.  The least I can do is to give it a try.

The early European settlers here in America recognized the value of the dandelion as a food source and even introduced it to the Native American Indians living here.  The great thing about them is that the whole plant can be consumed.  The roots can be roasted and made into tea.  The leaves can be cooked with, or eaten raw in salads and the flowers can be used to make tea or wine.  Not only can the whole plant be eaten, it’s actually very good for you.  Here is a quote from an article on the nutritional benefits of dandelions:

According to the USDA Bulletin #8, "Composition of Foods" (Haytowitz and Matthews 1984), dandelions rank in the top 4 green vegetables in overall nutritional value. Minnich, in "Gardening for Better Nutrition" ranks them, out of all vegetables, including grains, seeds and greens, as tied for 9th best. According to these data, dandelions are nature's richest green vegetable source of beta-carotene, from which Vitamin A is created, and the third richest source of Vitamin A of all foods, after cod-liver oil and beef liver! They also are particularly rich in fiber, potassium, iron, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and the B vitamins, thiamine and riboflavin, and are a good source of protein.

These figures represent only those published by the USDA. Studies in Russia and Eastern Europe by Gerasimova, Racz, Vogel, and Marei (Hobbs 1985) indicate that dandelion is also rich in micronutrients such as copper, cobalt, zinc, boron, and molybdenum, as well as Vitamin D.

Here is a link to the whole article:

http://www.leaflady.org/health_benefits_of_dandelions.htm

Here is another article that shows more details about the specific vitamin content in the plant:

http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/dandelion-herb.html

 

As you may have guess from this article, I think it is worth looking into as a food source.  Will they ever become a staple in our house, or will my family just think I’m nuts?  I don’t know, but I read that in some countries dandelions are planted as a crop.  I haven’t looked in any health food stores around here lately, but don’t remember seeing them last time I was there.  I understand that fresh greens are available for sale in some areas.  So there you have it – should you mow them over or have them for lunch?  I don’t know what is best for you, but I do believe I’ll give them a try!

The Edible Acorn

Did you know that people have been eating acorns for thousands of years?   Koreans and North American Indians in particular still value these nuts as a food source.  As a child, I had been led to believe that people couldn’t eat acorns - they were only good for animals.  Well, my search for perennial food sources has led me to the truth.   They’re very bitter and potentially toxic when eaten raw, but when cooked can be very tasty and nutritious.

The bitter taste comes from tannis.  Yes, this is the same stuff used in some leather making.  The good news is that the tannic acid can be removed without too much difficulty and with it goes the bitterness.  After shelling the nuts, you can smash them up into a meal, wrap it in cheesecloth or some other material and run it under water until the water runs clear.   (A few people have said that placing them in a running stream is a good method for this, but I don’t have one of those, so the faucet would have to do).  At that point, wring it out and allow the meal to dry.  The resulting meal can be used much like corn meal to bake with.  If you prefer to eat the nuts whole, place the shelled nuts in some water and boil them for fifteen minutes.  You’ll notice the water turning brown.  That’s the tannic acid coming out.  Toss the water, add fresh and boil them again for fifteen minutes.  Repeat this process for up to three hours.  You’ll know you’re done when the water boils clear.  When you’ll all done with the boiling process, it’s time to dry them out.  Put them on a baking sheet and bake them at 175 – 200 degrees for about an hour.  That’s it – they’re ready to eat!

Here is an excerpt I found about the sweetest tasting acorns in Texas:

The Texas oaks reported to have the sweetest taste include Emory oak (Q. emoryi), which is so mild it can be used without processing, white oak (Q. alba), plateau live oak (Q. fusiformis), bur oak (Q. macrocarpa), and chinkapin oak (Q. mulenbergii). The acorns of each of these oaks (mostly white oaks) mature in one year, which may account for their lower tannic acid content. Red oak acorns (like Texas Red Oak) take two years to mature.

To give proper credit (and to point you to a very nice article on the subject), here is the link I got that information from:

http://www.sanaturalareas.org/acorns.html

So there you have it.  Experiment a little and enjoy!

Goldenrod

“One gardener’s lifelong enemy is another’s lifesaving herb, and another’s treasured border plant”.    This quote came from Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs and was told in association with Goldenrod.  Goldenrod grows wild on our property and I think it’s great!  It is lovely to look at and attracts bees and wasps to the garden.  This is one of the reasons that it makes a good companion plant.  Another reason is that it repels some pests.  Whether you like it or not, you likely will have to decide what to do about it because it is native to Texas and according to some, does best in poor soil.  No wonder it thrives here!  

It is a beautiful flower and dries well, so it is a nice addition to dried flower arrangements.  It can be used to make varying shades of yellow dye and makes a tasty tea.  As a matter of fact, some people claim that after the Boston Tea Party, tea for drinking became scarce.  Liberty Tea, made from the ever abundant goldenrod was a common replacement and became so popular that is was exported to China. 

To the medicinal herbalist, the goldenrod has a long history or uses in North America, Europe and China.  It has been used as astringents, diuretics and diaphoretics, as well as for sore throats, bladder and kidney infections, headaches, flu and even flatulence.   Whether or not any of these things truly works or not, I don’t know but it does seem that no serious illnesses have been associated with the plant. 

If you want another piece of fun trivia about goldenrod, according to the Wikipedia article on the subject, Henry Ford gave Thomas Edison a Model T whose tires were made of rubber from the goldenrod plant.  How about that!

Enough of the history lesson - whether you think it’s a weed or a welcome addition to your flower bed, goldenrod is here to stay in NE Texas.   It has a long history associated with it, and maybe I’ve given you something to think about the next time you see a field of goldenrod waving in the breeze.   If you don’t have any growing wild around your place and would like to add some, you can either hit up one of your friends with an ample supply or find it at a local nursery.  

Until next time, happy gardening!

Pokeweed

For the last two years, our yard has been home to pokeweed.  Having never encountered it before, it took a while for me to figure out what it was.  I finally asked a couple of my native Texan friends, and they didn't hesitate to identify it.  I am still debating what to do with it.  I hate to pull out a potential food source, but this particular food source can be poisonous if not prepared properly.

Here are some things that I've noticed.  First is that it seems to be drought and heat tolerant.  Everything in the yard has been struggling this summer except for the pokeweed.  It has doubled in size!  Second is that it is very prolific.  Apparently the birds eat the berries and pass the seeds.  I noticed little sprouts in the raised beds early this year and pulled them right out.  That proved a very easy task and they haven't grown back.  Last year, before I knew what I was looking at, I allowed one to grow in one of the beds.  The things was nearly as big as a tree before I pulled it this spring.  It took a shovel and a lot of digging to finally get the roots out.  I have allowed the patch to grow next to the peonies on the north side of the house, but I'm afraid they are taking over.  To top it all off, I just noticed it growing in the rose bush island out back.  It's starting to feel like a plague! 

Those sounds like bad things, but if I can keep it controlled, I have to admit that it's somewhat attractive and is obviously happy with our harsh soil and climate.  And like I said before, it can be eaten.  I've heard some people refer to it as a southern delicacy.  (Does anyone remember the song Poke Salad Annie)?  There are even recipes for it on some of the more popular recipe sites.  I'm not convinced to try it out yet because of all the 'cook it just right' warnings, but I'm not sold on just pulling it up as a nuisance plant either.

If you have pokeweed on your property, or find it just shows up one day as a gift from the birds in the area, these are some things that you'll have to consider before you decide what to do about it.  I'll keep you updated on ours, and will be sure to let you know how it goes if we ever decide to eat it!