The Wild Garden

Once it covered the Earth and provided for all our needs. We felt a part of nature then. One way to re-connect is to make the wild a part of us- by eating from the Wild Garden now and then.

Day Lily - They bloom for only a day; they can feed you all year. Introduced from Asia for their Beautiful, fragrant blossoms, they've jumped the garden fence and gone wild. Now you can find them everywhere in the Eastern U.S.

Wild Grapes - Leif Ericsson was so impressed with North America's Abundance of Wild Grapes, he named it Vinland. Even today, there are about 20 species of them growing here. They're easy to find and often available well into the winter.

Maple Syrup - Make Your Own! - Why not? If you have access to a maple tree, a stove, and a few simple tools, you can make syrup as good, or better than the best you can buy... [10k]

Purslane - The perfect midsummer green, purslane appears just when other wild greens are becoming too bitter to eat. It can be one of your tastiest, most nutritious, most prolific crops, if you let it... [5k]

Juneberry - A delicious, versatile fruit found across North America, juneberries ripen in May or June in the South and during July and August in The North. Eat them raw or use in muffins, pancakes, pies and more...[8k]

Wild Strawberries - The ultimate strawberry experience! Smaller is better, especially when it comes to strawberries. Pictures, Native American lore, and instructions for a tea with more vitamin C than oranges. This page is part of the very extensive Native American Indian Resources site.

And when you've eaten your fill of strawberries out of hand, turn on the oven and bake this rich, melt-in-your-mouth shortcake.

Wild Lambsquarters - Chenopodium Album - Most people, finding it in their garden, pull it out and discard it. They might do better to toss the veggies and save the weeds! Lambsquarters is a lot like spinach, except that it tastes better and has more vitamins (huge amounts of vitamin A), and minerals.

Garlic Mustard - Spice your spring salad with this prolific, dual-flavored herb. It's also good cooked, especially with other greens.

Miner's Lettuce - Raw, it has a mild taste like leaf lettuce. Boiled, it's like Swiss Chard- and reputed to be a good source of Vitamin C as well.

Moon of Boiling - Native American lore and info about sugar trees- Maple and Sweet Birch. And an accompanying page of recipes.This page is part of the very extensive Native American Indian Resources site.

Wild Rice -- Mahnoomin - A beautiful and intricate celebration of Wild Rice- History, Harvesting (and the associated politics), Drying, Milling, etc. and an accompanying page of recipes for pancakes, stuffing, meatballs, popped rice, and more. This page is part of the very extensive Native American Indian Resources site.

Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases - Find the food, medicinal, and other uses for thousands of plants, worldwide.

Wild Pink Lemonade - as easy to make as it is refreshing, this tangy beverage is made from Edible Red Sumac, varieties of which are found in many areas across the U.S. and Canada.