Three Herbs to Forage Now for Year-Round Skincare

Posted on June 23, 2014 by Iris Weaver

Marigolds drying

If you like making your own skincare products then summer is prime time for gathering herbs and making the basics that you will use for your skincare all year long.

Here are 3 herbs that can be wild-crafted or foraged to either dry or infuse in oil, alcohol, or vinegar: plantain, St. John’s wort, and yarrow. All of them are available or ready for harvest around mid-summer (the month of June) or soon thereafter, depending on the weather and local factors.

Drying the herbs or infusing them in oil or vinegar or vodka are ways to both preserve the herbs for longer use than if you only use them fresh, and also to make their properties more readily available to your skin, as well as make them available for a wide range of uses.

Dried herbs can be used in poultices and compresses, as infusions for washing or rinsing the skin, in baths, and facial steams. Herbal oils can be used directly on the skin or hair, or as the basis for salves, lotions, scrubs, massage oils, and more. Herbal vinegars can be diluted and used for skin toners, hair conditioners, and to treat rashes and other unpleasant skin ailments. Tinctures can be a great asset in quickly treating bites, rashes, scratches, pimples, and other skin discomforts.

Here are the 3 herbs to wild-craft now:

Narrow-leaf plantain (Plantago lanceolata) in flower

Plantain (Plantago major, Plantago lanceolata): Parts used—leaves

Both species are perennial herbs with rosettes of leaves and flowering stalks that stand above the leaves. The two species, both introduced from Europe and naturalized in the U.S., are used interchangeably.

P. major, greater plantain or broad-leafed plantain, has wide leaves that mostly stay close to the ground; P. lanceolata has narrow leaves that are more upstanding.

I tend to harvest the leaves throughout the season, as I am able to grab them and deal with them, drying them or infusing in oil. However, I find that the leaves are in the best shape (less insect and fungus damage) earlier in the season, and I don’t have to pick through so many leaves to find the best ones. If you are drying the leaves, spread them out well and dry them quickly, so they are less likely to discolor.

The fresh leaves of either species can be used to help with bug bites, rashes, stinging nettle, and so forth when outdoors. Simple grab a leaf or two, chew it up to release the juices, and put it on the bite or sting (please note: if you are allergic to bee stings, this won’t help). It will have a soothing effect. You may have to replace it in a little while to get complete relief.

Properties: Astringent, emollient, anti-allergy
Plantain can help reduce swelling and itching, and reduce to some extent excretions from the skin. It soothes, tones, and heals the skin, also making it feel better. And it helps heal wounds.

What to do with it: Dry the leaves, or infuse them in a good quality oil. (Directions for infusing oil here.) I usually use the infused oil in healing and all-purpose salves.

St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) in flower

St. Johns’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum): Parts used: The flowering tops
St. John’s wort is a generally short-lived perennial, 2’ to 3’ high, with cheerful yellow blossoms starting around mid-summer’s eve, and continuing sporadically throughout the summer into fall. I infuse this plant in oil for skincare uses and don’t usually bother with drying it.

To harvest it, you pick about the top ¼ of the plant, including flowers, buds, possibly beginning seeds, leaves, and stems. Actually, I usually cut off a bit of the top and then the side stems, leaving the main stem to continue producing. I go back to the plants that are still blooming throughout the summer to gather small quantities that I can then infuse in oil.

Properties: Anti-inflammatory, astringent, vulnerary

St. John’s wort relieves inflammation and pain and helps wounds heal. It helps speed the healing of wounds, bruises, varicose veins, and mild burns. It is especially good for sunburn. I have seen it help with allergic rashes and eczema. It is useful for injuries to areas rich in nerve endings and can help with nerve pain topically. It is considered one of the best skin herbs.

What to do with it: Infuse in a good quality oil, or infuse in apple cider vinegar. The flowering tops can be dried for use in washes and other herbal preparations. I prefer the infused-oil or vinegar products, and use the oil far more than the dried herb.
(Directions for making St. John’s wort oil here.)

To dry the flowering tops: put into small bunches and hang to dry, or lay them out on a basket or screen. When dry strip off the leaves and flowers and compost the stems. Store in a glass jar or paper bag.

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium): Parts used—flowers, leaves
The finely feathered leaves of this perennial are a delight to see, and the flowers are sturdy and dainty at the same time. For medicinal and skincare purposes the white-flowered yarrow is used. It can grow singly or in patches, and is easily found along roadsides and in fields. Often you can find the leaves well before it is in bloom. Don’t confuse them with the leaves of Queen Anne’s lace or tansy.

This is an easy plant to dry. You can harvest the flowers and tie them in bunches to hang until dry, then store in a glass jar or paper bag. The leaves can be treated the same way, or laid out on a plate or screen to dry, then stored with the flowers. It is recommended to harvest the plant while flowering, in which case you can just cut as much of the plant as you can get and hang it to dry. I usually strip the leaves and flowers off of the stems once dry and compost the stems.

Yarrow is very good at helping to stop bleeding. People have taken the fresh plant and chewed the leaves to put on a cut to stop the bleeding, or taken some of the dried leaves, crushed or already in powder form, and applied them to stop bleeding. I use the tincture for this purpose.

Properties: Astringent, styptic, antiseptic, antifungal
Yarrow is known for its ability to help stop bleeding and heal wounds. It also a lovely anti-itch herb because of its astringency. It helps prevent infections because if its antiseptic properties, though if you have other, stronger antiseptics it is advisable to use them as well, just to be on the safe side.

For years I have carried a tincture of half yarrow and half shepherd’s purse to use for any cuts, scrapes, and scratches that occur in my travels. I also have both a spray bottle and a dropper bottle of this tincture in my bathroom. Though I like using shepherd’s purse with the yarrow, you can use the yarrow tincture alone for the same effects.

The tincture is great at slowing bleeding and helping to keep it from recurring, though you may have to reapply the tincture a few times. It helps wounds heal faster as well, and reduces the chance of infection (the alcohol in the tincture helps here as well).

Since yarrow has an astringent affect, it is helpful for rashes, itchiness, and oily skin.

What to do with it: Dry the flowers and leaves, infuse in alcohol for a tincture, or infuse in apple cider vinegar. Tinctures can be used for skin problems, and vinegars can be used in skin toners and similarly to tinctures. The dried plant can be used in rinses and washes, poultices, and more.

I hope you are able to find all of these abundant, superbly useful plants and add them to your skincare routines!

The Plants Call to Me, Even in Winter

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Iris Weaver

My friend Spruce Tree

The plants have been talking to me when I go out for my daily walks.

It’s the middle of winter and you’d think nothing would be awake or paying much attention, but that simply isn’t so.

Driven by a recurrence of depression and needing to add a new approach to my coping skills, I have made a commitment to get outside everyday, even though we are in the midst of an extremely snowy winter.

You might think that I, an herbalist, would welcome any and every chance to get outdoors, but that hasn’t been the case. In the past years I have taken more and more to snuggling (um, well, hiding) in bed and reading a book or watching television as my primary modus operandi for dealing with down and uncomfortable times.

This stopped being an acceptable way of coping when I got hit with deep depression a few weeks ago. It was clear I had to do something different. Walking turns out to have been one of the answers.

First I had to walk to physical therapy half a mile away after hurting my hip. Then I set up a plan with a coach for whipping the depression’s ass harder than it was whipping mine.

And then—the plants spoke to me.

No, not actual words from some anthropomorphized rose bush. But their energy and the quiet messages that can be felt in paying attention to that came through clearly.

Snow-covered mulitflora rose vines

First a multiflora rose snagged my sleeve as I was walking back from the compost heap (I put my compost there all winter long). I unsnagged myself and walked on past the black locust trees and past where the ground ivy and cleavers grow in great profusion in summer. I suddenly felt so much love and affection surrounding me, coming from the plants. The message I received was how much they love me, and need me to be here in this world for them, all of the plants.

Another walk a few days later and the same message. And then a walk down a long patch of turf where the grass never gets that tall and there is much moss and lichen mixed in (this was before the snow began). It is a long, tongue-shaped area, bounded on either side by trees. Near the tip of the “tongue” is a big old spruce tree who contributed needle-filled twigs a couple years ago to make spruce syrup with my apprentice.

Spruce suggested I drink a tea made of its needles, and perhaps partake of that spruce syrup as well. I took some fallen twiglets home for tea.

The trees also suggested that I come visit every day for a week, and I have, those that I can reach wither through the snow, or near the plowed road.

The glory of a walk, even in winter, is the beauty of the plants, whether evergreen trees, bare trees, seed stalks, or finding the mosses and “weeds” and plant friends that stay green throughout the coldest months.

Seeing the stands of seedstalks I remember what grows there in summer. Looking over toward the pond, I think of the skunk cabbage under the layer of icy snow. Approaching the filmy-barked white birch I admire the ethereal creams and peachy-pinks of its trunk.

The plants call to me, even in winter, and I am learning to listen and answer.

A Little Winter Foraging

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Iris Weaver

When we think of foraging these days it’s usually for plants that haven’t been grown with human intervention. But in a broader sense it means to rummage around and find what food there is, e.g,. “I’m going to forage in the kitchen cupboard for a little snack”

Brussels sprouts taken off the stalk, waiting to get ready to be cooked.

Recently I was taking a winter’s walk, noting how much snow had disappeared between yesterday’s walk and today’s. I got drawn to an area near the field behind my house where the woods dwindle and there are various dumping spots for vegetation by the maintenance man and the residents who garden. The main pile of garden detritus caught my attention with a couple of stalks of Brussels sprouts.

Brussels sprouts! Big, long stalks with many little green globes attached. Were they really Brussels sprouts, and were they still in good enough shape to eat?

The answer to both questions was yes. Despite heavy snowfalls and the coldest winter we’ve had in a few years, they were in excellent shape. All I had to was pull them off the stalks. I stuffed my jacket pocket with probably a quart of sprouts. I felt so lucky and so blessed!

I have been trying hard to avoid, as much as possible, eating food grown with chemicals. These sprouts had their start in a commercial nursery, as a tag attested, and my neighbors use Miracle Grow (shudder) but the soil in our little community garden is living and full of earthworms, weeds (can’t be too many chemicals used!), and nutrients.

Nearby, since most of the snow cover is gone, I found the dark, vibrant green leaves of garlic mustard, and plucked a few to add to my soup.

As I was walking away I saw a rosette of sagey-green leaves, looking a little like evening primrose, but both too long-leaved and too long-stalked to be that. Additionally some of the younger leaves were distinctly toothed, which is definitely not a characteristic of evening primrose.

I had to see what it was. I didn’t think it could be anything poisonous (I’ve had enough experience and have enough knowledge of my local plants to make intelligent guesses), so I tasted a leaf. I thought maybe it was in the mustard family, a slight resemblance to chard leaves in the mid-rib, I think. And indeed, it was slightly sweet and yielded that typical mustard family pepperiness. It’s probably a garden escape, perhaps chard, since my neighbors grow that. I’m leaving it and visiting it again, to see how it grows.

In the meantime, I am going to sip my spruce tea, from spruce needles I foraged yesterday, and think about what delights I will encounter on tomorrow’s walk.

Foraging for Local Food Plants

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Iris Weaver

It’s April, and in my little corner of New England, that means it’s time to go out and see what’s coming up that’s good eatin’.

ground ivy swath You can call it wild-crafting or foraging, or just plain nibbling on weeds, but whatever it’s called, it comes down to finding the plants around you that are edible and palatable and then eating them.

So as the season begins, I thought I would share some thoughts on foraging and suggest a few guidelines.

Whether you forage only once or twice a year, or you forage every day, there are a few things that are really important:

Know your plants! Or at least the ones you want to use. And the ones that are poisonous.
Know the area where you are foraging. Is it pristine wilderness? Is it your lawn, or a city park? Is it where dogs congregate? Were chemicals used on the land or dumped there at some point? Do you know what plants grow there at different times of the year?
What do you want to do with the plants you collect, and what parts of them do you want to use?
Take care of the land and the plants where you forage, whether in the middle of the city or the middle of the wilderness.

Let’s take these one at a time.

Know Your Plants

It’s pretty useless to go out foraging if you don’t know what you’re looking for! So you need to know at least one plant you want to find, and where to look for it. No use looking for a desert plant in a swamp and vice versa. No use looking for a plant that only grows in the western part of the country in the east (believe me, I know this—I’ve tried!).

You need to know which plants are edible, or medicinal (or both), or can be used for what you have in mind. You also need to know which ones are inedible or even poisonous. There is a difference between inedible and poisonous. Inedible simply means that it can’t be eaten or that it does not have nutrition for humans (e.g., cows get nutrition from grass, humans do not). A poisonous plant will have physical or psychological effects on you, making you sick in some way or even causing death. The amount needed varies with the plant, some will make you sick but not kill you even in fairly large amounts, others will kill you with tiny amounts (e.g., certain mushrooms).

How do you know which plants are edible/useful and which ones to avoid? If you’re lucky you’ve picked up at least a few in passing. Otherwise, and to get a broader scope, you have to learn. How do you learn? Books, classes, friends, the internet.

Books are some of the best sources I can think of for learning about plants. The best have been around for awhile, and the information has been checked and double-checked. Despite the prevalence of handheld electronic devices I think the pictures in books are easier to see and compare. At the end of this article, I have a list of a few of my favorite books for foraging and identifying plants in general.

Taking a class or going out with an experienced teacher or friend is invaluable. Having someone who knows what they’re looking at and explaining it to you is the best way to take in this knowledge. I have been on plant walks, and what a teacher said, say, eighteen years ago, still echoes in my mind, I carry that with me. It helps me know the plants better and gives a richness to the experience. Also, having a person there that can answer your questions is really helpful.

These days the internet is a valuable tool for getting to know your plants. I love being able to plug a plant name or description into a search engine and have the answer or the beginning of the trail to an answer pop right up. The reason I don’t put the internet at the top of the list of ways to learn is because there is so much information and if you don’t know what you are doing, you don’t know whether it’s right or wrong. At best, it’s right and you get good information; at worst it’s inaccurate or plain wrong and could lead to being sickened or worse. The internet has plenty of information and lots of wonderful pictures, a real plus. But I use it more to confirm and add to knowledge than as a starting point. I also have an idea of what sites and bloggers, etc. are reliable.

Know About the Area Where You Are Foraging

Now that you know what plants you want to find, where do you go to forage? I’m lucky, I can go out in my backyard or my garden and start plucking the weeds (aka wild foods) that grow there. Foragable plants grow everywhere! It’s just a matter of whether you want to eat the plants that grow where you have found them.

What you want to be aware of is the environment in which your plants are growing. If you are foraging in your backyard, or a neighbor’s, make sure that chemical fertilizers and/or pesticides haven’t been used there. Also be sure that the land doesn’t have lead or other contaminants in it from previous uses. This same advice goes for foraging in fields, empty lots, woods, and so on. You can’t always know what was used on the land or how it was used previously, but use your best judgement.

Don’t forage where dogs congregate. Their feces carry parasites and other unpleasant critters that you don’t want getting into your body. Do check the ground around where you are foraging before you begin.

What about foraging in the city or near roads? This is a perennial question for which I have never developed a definitive answer. Cars spew chemicals that contaminate roadsides. Weed-killers are sometimes used as well. But sometimes that’s where you find your plants. Use your own judgement and intuition. My best advice is not to use plants really close to the road if you can help it.

I have such mixed feelings about using plants growing in the city. So many pollutants, so many germs. But what’s a city-dweller to do? See advice above. There are people who forage in Central Park in New York City, and who grow plants in pots on fire escapes or in little pocket lawns in the city. Again, it’s up to you. And a question to ask yourself: is what you are foraging for in a less than pristine environment anymore contaminated or polluted than conventionally grown produce?

And it really, really helps if you know something about the environment in which your desired plants grow. That way you are looking for plants in the right places to find them. I was so happy to get a field guide that shows in what parts of the country various plants are found, so that I finally understood why certain plants in my edibles books just never, ever showed up in my eastern New England plant hunts.

If you go to the same places to forage month after month, year after year, you learn to know the plants that grow in the area. You know what plants to look for, when they appear, and what time of year they are ready for use. You develop a real connection with the plants and the land that cannot be taught in any book or gained on-line. It is subtle and sublime. There is an ineffable joy in meeting your plant friends in the same places each year, greeting them and watching them grow and change.

You also notice when new plants appear and ones you’ve been seeing for years disappear. Sometimes this is part of the natural cycle of change, sometimes this is an indication that something may be wrong that you may possibly be able to address.

Knowing the land where you forage also helps you to know what may be poisonous in the area. You know where to skirt around the poison ivy or poison oak, where the poison hemlock grows that you must avoid. When a new plant appears you don’t have to appraise every plant in the area to determine if it’s poisonous.

What About the Plants You Are Foraging?

Now, you know what plants you want to find, you know pretty much where to look for them. However, you also need to know what parts of the plant you will use. Some plants only have edible roots, some only have edible leaves or flowers; some, like chickweed, can be eaten in their entirety, excepting the roots. And some plants have edible parts only at certain times of the year, seeds being a prime example.

Some plants may be poisonous but have an edible part at one time of the year. Amazing, isn’t it? Pokeweed is an example of this, having edible shoots in early spring, but being poisonous in all other parts and other times of the year. Other plants may need certain types of processing to take out or neutralize their toxins. These are not the sort of plants that I would recommend for beginners. Far easier are plants like dandelions that are not poisonous and don’t require special preparation.

This is where books and classes come in really handy, as well as some internet info. Field guides specifically for edibles or medicinals tell you what part of the plant to use and when to eat or use them. Some even include directions and recipes for using the plants you find.

Take Care of the Plants and the Land

It is very important to be respectful of the land where you forage and the plants you harvest. It is not acceptable to go ripping up plants or ground to get what you want or over-harvesting for your own use. You share this land and the plants with other creatures and plants, and the very land itself.

When you forage and harvest, do your best to leave the area undisturbed. Pat down the dirt where you dug your roots, tidy up the stems and twigs from what you cut or plucked.

Never take all of a population of a plant in the area where you are harvesting, even if it is abundant. Leave some for others, and for the plant itself.

Make sure that you help the plants keep regenerating. If the plant has seeds, scatter some around to start new plants. If you are digging roots or tubers, leave some that are capable of regenerating, or replant some that you have dug up.

If you are foraging for endangered or at-risk plants, think long and hard about what you are doing. Do you really need to get it from the wild? Can you find a source that is grown organically? With some endangered plants, such as goldenseal, they are so rare that it is never alright to harvest them from the wild. With at-risk plants particularly, it is imperative to pay attention to how much you are taking and to make sure that the plants can continue to grow and reproduce. And if it is the only plant of its kind in the area or one you’ve never seen there before, please just leave it where it is.

An excellent resource for finding out what plants are endangered or at-risk is United Plant Savers.

Tools for Foraging

What do you need to have with you when you go out to forage? Foraging is not generally a tool-intensive activity and often the most important thing you’ll need, or wish you had, is bags or containers to carry things home!

When I go out to forage I try and remember a couple of things. The most important, to me, and most versatile, is a good pair of scissors. Scissors with points and that are well sharpened can do a variety of things, They cut stems, leaves, and flowers, of course, but they can also dig into the dirt in a pinch or used to pry things out. Some people may prefer a good knife, which I think could work just as well; I just never think to use a knife.

If you are going after thicker stems or small branches, pruners are very useful. At a certain point scissors just won’t cut it (pun intended) and you will be frustrated. But pruners don’t really substitute for scissors, because they are not good at cutting very thin stems, etc.

A trowel or small shovel is a handy thing to have along if you are going after tubers and roots.

And of course, you need something to put all those wonderful plants in to carry home! Stuffing a couple of plastic bags in your pockets is simple and easy. Having a cloth bag of some sort is handy, and can carry those plastic bags as you separate the different plants you’ve collected. Baskets are also lovely, and you can find baskets woven in a deep bag shape or made of wonderful materials like birch bark to make your collecting even lovelier. And if worst comes to worst, you can slip off your shirt or your jacket and use it to carry your plants. I’ve done that more than once.

Books

Here is a list of some of the books I’ve found helpful. Some field guides focus on the eastern or the western part of the United States, so depending on where you live, you may want to get the appropriate guide.

I always recommend using more than book. No one book has all the information you will need or all the plant you will encounter. And each book has its own slant and way of organizing the plants and information. I also find general plant guides to be very useful, as they have many more plants in them than the specifically edible or medicinal plant guides. They also let you identify the interesting plants that grow around you, many of which don’t necessarily have an assigned use, or one that is currently popular.

If you look, there are often field guides to specific places, such as Baja California or the islands of BostonHarbor in Massachusetts.

My favorite field guide for general use, and an absolute must-have, is Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide.

Enjoy foraging and learning, and while using good sense and caution, don’t be afraid of getting to know the wonderful plants around you!

Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide by Lawrence Newcomb, 1977, Little, Brown and Company

A Field Guide to Wildflowers of Northeastern and North-central North America by Roger Tory Peterson and Margaret McKenny, Houghton Mifflin Company

The Audobon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: Eastern Region, 1979, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: Eastern and central North America (Peterson Field Guides) by Lee Allen Peterson and Roger Tory Peterson, 1999, Houghton Mifflin Company

A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs: Of Eastern and Central North America (Peterson Field Guides) by Steven Foster, James A. Duke and Roger Tory Peterson, 2000, Houghton Mifflin Company

A Field Guide to Western Medicinal Plants and Herbs by Christopher Hobbs, Steven Foster and Roger Tory Peterson, 2002, Houghton Mifflin Company

A Field Guide to Venomous Animals and Poisonous Plants: North America North of Mexico (Peterson Field Guides) by Roger Caras, Steven Foster and Roger Tory Peterson, 1998, Houghton Mifflin Company

Guide to Wild Foods and Useful Plants by Christopher Nyerges, 1999, Chicago Review Press

Edible Wild Plants by Elias and Dykeman, 1990, Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.

Color Field Guide To Common Wild Edibles by Bradford Angier

Field Guide To Edible Wild Plants by Bradford Angier

A Field Guide To Berries And Berrylike Fruits by Madeline Angell

Eating Your Way Into Spring

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Iris Weaver

Spring is coming, and I am, as they say in New England, wicked excited! But not for the reasons people usually have, or even that gardeners have. What I am most excited about is not the warmer weather, or starting seeds, or wearing a t-shirt instead of 3 sweaters.

No, what I am most excited about is the chance to eat the wild greens that start popping up in March and April.

In the “olden days”, before there were Californian and Chilean farms and the planes and trucks to carry their produce worldwide and year-round, before we had hydroponic greenhouses that grow tender lettuces and pungent basil even in deepest winter, those of us who lived in cold northern climes had to make do with dried fruits and vegetables, and stored root vegetables. Not a fresh green in sight for several months.

By the time spring arrived, people were desperate to have fresh green, leafy plants and veggies of any kind. These plant foods provided much-needed Vitamin C and other vitamins and minerals, and people hungered for them with an ancient body awareness of their goodness.

Whatever started peeping above the ground that was at all edible was plucked and eaten, either raw or cooked as a “pot herb”.

Many of the plants we see in spring originated in Europe and Asia, and found their way toNorth Americawith the European settlers. Others were already here, valued by Native Americans.

Here are just a few to whet your appetite.

Some of the earliest plants to appear are in the mustard family, some very tiny—only a couple inches wide and tall. Others are bigger and more evident, such as Winter Cress (Barbarea vulgaris), and later wild mustards. Winter cress has beautiful, mustardy, dark green leaves that cook up well. The flowers are edible as well, but a cluster of flowerpods when gently steamed remind one of broccoli. Just remember if you are enjoying the buds and flowers to leave a few to reseed for next year.

Dandylion, of course, is easily found, sometimes even putting up leaves and the occasional flower in late winter (or all winter as has been the case in 2011-12). The first young leaves are the most tender and tasty, and the roots are also full of nutrition to add to soups or stir-fries.

Chickweed (Stellaria media)

A dainty little lady, Chickweed, actually glories in cool weather, and will sometimes be seen lounging about in mid-winter in a sunny spot, surrounded by snow, but in her own little bare arena.

Spring is the perfect time to enjoy the intense nutrition and green taste of chickweed, as she grows quickly and abundantly. Chickweed is best eaten fresh and raw, in salads and sandwiches, though adding it into cooked dishes toward the end will still save much of her nutrition.

Violet (Viola sp)

Violets start showing their heart-shaped leaves a little later in the spring, and then their dainty flowers. Both the leaves and the flowers are edible and filled with wonderful nutrients.

Any of these wild greens can be collected, singly or collectively, and added to a lettuce or spinach salad, or combined into their own little wild salad. Use a sprinkle of extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic or herbed vinegar for a finishing touch, and to help you better digest all those lovely nutrients.

Happy spring grazing!

Some useful books: A Field Guide To Edible Wild Plants Of Eastern And Central North America by Lee Peterson