Knowing Where Your Food Comes From

When I was walking with my walking buddies the other morning, Katie suddenly stopped to pick some wild mustard.  She has written several books on wild edibles and has been gathering since she was 4 years old.  She invited me to stop in to her place for some steamed wild mustard at the end of our 3 miles.  I excitedly accepted her invitation.  Talk about "knowing where your food comes from".  The mustard was superb.  It reminded me of when I lived in corn country in the midwest and everyone said to be really good, you had to eat an ear of corn within an hour of picking it.  The mustard greens were eaten in that time frame.

My brother, John, has shown  me several times what you can eat but I forget.  I asked Katie if she would walk around the farm here and tell me what I should be eating.  She said she would.

  I know a few things that are good for the sheep but they don't last in the pastures because the sheep seem to have no sense of the importance of selective eating to make sure the species survives.  I know it is hard when there are 8 others competing with each sheep but IT'S IMPORTANT.  Now is a good time to plant because there are bare spots and the weather is cooling off so I shall try to plant some new GOOD stuff.  I know I want to plant dandelion (imagine planting dandelion) and wild garlic should be on the list.  What else?  I want to make sure they like what I plant because we all know that just because something is good for us doesn't mean we are going to eat it.  I would say Gretta and Sarah and maybe Annie are the best eaters (willing to try new things) around here.  Even the chickens are fairly selective.  I found out yesterday they don't like raisin bread, or at least not Ezekiel raisin bread.

I wish the few people who read this would make suggestions as to what I should plant for the animals.

The pastor at my church does children's messages about the abundance of wild food that God has planted for us and how if something catastrophic happens, like getting lost in the woods, there is always plenty to eat.  And think how much money can be saved and you don't even have to weed the crop-- usually what you are eating are the weeds.

Bon appétit  and keep those plant suggestions coming in.