Foraged Salad

My family is very good at knowing what is edible to eat and what is not. It happened to be a beautiful day outside so we went foraging! This is an excellent way to gain new knowledge and acquire a skill! There is no better way to spend a day then with ones family amidst the creation of our God.

Come with me, let’s go foraging!

First let us find some tools! I suggest bringing a basket, some gloves for protection, and a knife!

The hum of bees is the voice of the garden. ~Elizabeth Lawrence

Make sure you know what you’re looking for, some things we were unsure whether or not they were edible at the state of growth they were in, so we took some and saved them for later when we could do some research. I suggest taking some books with you on edible plants for your state.

Some commons things that we were able to find in Michigan at this time of the year were; dandelions, cat-tails, chives, asparagus, violets, troutlily, raspberry leaves, basswood leaves, elderberry flowers, mustard greens, alfalfa, crab apple blossoms, and plantain leaves.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace, the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. Isaiah 55:12

Once you gather all your desired edibles, bring them back to clean. It is always good to rinse your produce with water and vinegar, even though these were found in the wild they still need to be washed.

We used a salad spinner to spin out the water from rinsing. Then I cut up the Cat Tails, I peeled off each section until I got to the core, the bottom white section of the Cat Tail is edible, it tastes similar to celery.

Once you have washed your greens, and cut up all plants that needed trimming, either eat straight as a salad topped with your favorite dressing, or mix this with some lettuce.