Wild Edibles on the Homestead

in #foraging7 years ago

I had a thought the other day as my son was picking greens to hand-feed to the sheep. We should go on a hunt to find as many wild edibles on our land as we could!

About Our Land


We live on one acre which is a part of a larger tract of family land. To be fair, we set the following rules on ourselves for this hunt.

  • Search only our land. Do not venture into the woods or other areas on the property where there are known wild edibles that we have previously found.
  • Only edible plants--no herbs or medicinal plants.
  • No picking items that we have planted since living here.

The Search


We started at our house, stopped by the workshop area, and then worked our way down the driveway to the mailbox near the road. After the mailbox, we went down towards the garden. The below image is from Google Maps which last scanned our land while the house was still under construction.

1: House, 2: Workshop, 3: Mailbox, 4: Garden

Show and Tell


Here are the wild edibles we found. Note: Several of these have medicinal qualities, but I am only writing about their edible qualities in this post.


Broadleaf Dock

Rumex obtusifolius


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumex_obtusifolius

Can use the leaves for a salad, to make into a broth, or cook/steam like any other green.


Wood Sorrel

Oxalis acetosella


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxalis_acetosella See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxalis

Edible leaves and tubers, consumed by humanity for millennia. Natives used it medicinally for a variety of treatments. Sailor used to as a source of Vitamin C.


Broadleaf Plantain

Plantago major


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantago_major

Leaves are edible in salads or in stews when cooked. The small young leaves are better tasting as the larger ones get tough and very fibrous.


Wild Prickly Lettuce

Lactuca serriola


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactuca_serriola

Young leaves are preferred for eating in salads or cooking. Leaves have a bitter taste that will get stronger with the age of the leaf.


Red Clover

Trifolium pratense


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trifolium_pratense

Commonly used for making sweet tasting teas for drinking.


Lambs Quarter

Chenopodium album


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chenopodium_album

Leaves and young shoots are good to eat raw, or cooked. Seeds are high in protein and in close relation to quinoa.


Eastern Black Walnut

Juglans nigra


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juglans_nigra

Husk the nut while still green. Crack open the shell and eat the nut inside. Can be roasted or eaten raw.


Black Raspberry

Rubus occidentalis


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubus_occidentalis

Pick and eat the berries when their color ranges from dark red to black.

Closing Thoughts


Please visit the source links and research for yourself the edible qualities and other factors of these plants before ingesting them. Each has multiple uses and should be evaluated on your own.

This aside, we had great fun walking around and picking out what was growing. It is amazing!

Sorry, we didn't eat the grasshopper... but our chickens may have!

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See you in the comments below, and on the next post!

Until next time, @greenacrehome


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This post received a 3.9% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @greenacrehome! For more information, click here!

Very nice wild edibles trip around your homestead. Thanks for sharing :)

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it. :)

Good post. We have a few wild berries at times. You have all the good stuff. Grasshoppers! 🐓🐓

This particular grasshopper was lucky.. it was in with the sheep and far from the chickens. It better stay put! :)

If it values it's life! Thanks for stopping by! 🐓🐓

I've found out that Lamb's Quarter is what we call Fat Hen here in the UK - the chickens love it !

That's awesome! I like that name better... I'm switching over. ;-)

Great post! Those berries at the end, I always called Wine Berries growing up. I have seen others call them Salmon Berries or Shuck Berries. They are Rubus phoenicolasius. Thanks for sharing your foraging finds!

You're right, Wine Berries here too. :-\

Awesome to see others exploring their places. Sharing to get others on board for this!

Yay! Thanks weetree. :)

nice post and glad to have found your blog! Following

Much appreciated, thank you!

Great post! I am happy to up vote this one! 😍😋

Thank you, much appreciated.

Thats a photo of wine berries! :)

Ahh dang... You're right! :-)

This sure was interesting. The boys are learning so much and they will always remember their fun times growing up. Thank goodness you didn't eat that grasshopper! LOL!

So long as they remember it as fun! LOL :-) I remember working a lot as a kid. Hahaha