Like many Americans, our careers have been affected by tariffs, DOGE, AI and the economy in general. After decades of paying the taxes that support SNAP benefits, now that my family needs assistance, we can’t access it. Luckily, we’ve been eating foraged backyard salads for fun in more affluent times. As the weather cools and rain becomes more frequent, fresh weeds are sprouting in my yard. If we don’t get food assistance, at least it’s a good time of year for foraging. If you’re facing food scarcity, but you have a backyard, you might have an unintentional nutritious garden. Disclaimer: please do not forage based on my blog post alone. There are classes and many books on the subject, perhaps at your local library. Please be aware that the names I use are common names for my area of California. You may have totally different common names or these common name may refer to a different plant. Many nutritious plants have toxic lookalikes.
A Few of My Favorite Greens
Pine Needles
Now that 1 in 8 Americans will be without food assistance, we’ve got to ward off the diseases of olde more creatively. We can prevent scurvy with a cuppa pine needles. Simply gather, rinse, steep and strain.
Common Mallow
This plant is related to okra and to the name marshmallow. It can be added to soups and depending on how much you use, will help thicken it. I like to use the young greens in salads. As the year wears on, the leaves can get a little fuzzy, which isn’t detectible in soup. The seed pods called “cheese wheels” can be gathered when green to snack on or to add a little crunch to the salad.
Invasive Mustard
In my area, there are 2 kinds of invasive mustard. Black mustard has fuzzy leaves similar to a radish, and the other, Mediterranean Mustard, has slim, shiny leaves. Both have the telltale yellow flowers. The first type is excellent steamed and stewed with butter. How large and fuzzy the leaves are determine the cooking time. The thinner variety has leaves that taste similar horseradish. They give salads a spicy kick.
Crane Weed and Henbit
These weeds are often seen together, and neither are native. Crane weed is named for its long root, which I see as a crane beak, but the namesake may have a different meaning. Henbit is in the mint family, and its slightly fuzzy, rounded leaves look it. Both leaves can pad out a salad without adding much of anything, aside from nutrition.
Alyssum
These little white flowers appear all over Los Angeles in the cooler months. They’re in the broccoli family, and the taste is no surprise. I find it a little more mild though, and pleasant. Interestingly, when smushed, the buds smell like honey! The flowers make these yard salads beautiful.
Chickweed
Now, you should not forage chickweed unless you’ve been taught by an expert, as it grows with a plant that is nearly identical looking, and toxic! Chickweed does not have a white sap, like the toxic plant does. Inside chickweed’s stem is a single stretchy strand. It is my favorite backyard salad green, so I mention it here, so you can go learn about it from an expert.
Dandelion and Sow Thistle
In my yard, at least, the only dandelion look alike is also edible, and, personally I prefer the taste of sow thistle. However, there are many dandelion lookalikes. The good news is that none is very harmful in small quantities. The Practical Self Reliance Blog has a wonderful post covering many, many dandelion lookalikes.
Sour Grass
I’ve read that you only want to eat sour grass in small amounts, as the oxalic acid that gives it it’s tang can prevent calcium absorption. The occasional tang mixed into a yard salad feels like the right amount for me.
Responsible Foraging
As most of these weeds grow in my otherwise native yard, we’ll be nutritionally set until the summer. The Black Mustards grows in a local wilderness park, and by foraging it, I do my part to help keep invasive species at bay. I recommend foraging weeds and leaving the natives for the wildlife. Also be aware of where you forage. Your neighbors may use pesticides and herbicides in their yards, and so, foraging can’t be done safely everywhere. Perhaps, we should all pause chemical use in case we need to eat or share our weeds.