Well, I’ll Be Lamb Quartered
WARNING: NEVER eat any wild plant until you have 1000% positively identified it as safe for human consumption.
One of my coworkers and I have discussed several times that I was really born in the wrong century. One of my odd habits is collecting and (after carefully and correctly identifying), eating wild foods. One of my hobbies of late has been reading up and researching various wild and edible plants.
Some of my favorites are chickweed, dandelions, mulberries, and as the title of the post indicates, Lamb’s Quarters or “goose foot”. Earlier in the spring, I had tons of chickweed growing around the edges of my fence row. I was out randomly looking for some more when I ran across a very small specimen of Lamb’s Quarters. Thrilled to death, I immediately transplanted the poor thing over by my green bean patch to see if I could get it to thrive. Alas, the first few days, I was worried. It got all withered up and was drooping to the ground. However, today (see picture below), it has come back to life and has brand new leaf sprouts on it. Can you say salad? I’ve seen lamb’s quarters all over Tulsa. In fact, there was one growing out of a crack in the parking lot where I work. There are also two mulberry trees very close to where I work. And on the way home I noticed an elderberry bush growing next to a creek.
Anyway.. here’s my poor little goose foot:
I suspect it will really take off in a couple of days. It’ll probably get to around 2 to 3 foot tall and will provide great leaves for a delicious salad. (Tastes like spinach).
One of my favorite resources online for wild foods is a fellow who calls himself Green Dean. He also has a youtube page with a large collection of videos showing you many of the wild foods nature has to offer. He offers identification tips, cooking methods, etc. Here’s his video footage on goose foot.
