Spring Foraging begins!

And so it begins... It was about 45 degrees F outside this morning. I decided to make one of my most favorite things. Here you can see a little clump of wild onions:



And some dandelion greens that volunteered enthusiastically in the greenhouse:



Here is my basket with the onions and the greens I gathered. Don't worry, there are plenty more of the wild onions where those came from and I can guarantee that the clump I dug will grow back as there are undoubtedly a few left in that spot.



In 1989, I ran across this wonderful book, Wild Food Plants of Indiana and Adjacent States, in our local library. It was out of print, so I contacted the publisher and they gave me permission to copy the book for my own use free of charge:



See? And it has since been reprinted!



Here are the wild onions all cleaned up. Aren't they cute? :)



And chopped:



Into the cast iron frying pan goes a good dollop of bacon grease:



The chopped wild onions were sauteed for about 30 seconds on low heat:



I carefully picked over the dandelion greens, washed them thoroughly, put them through the salad spinner and chopped them up:



The next thing was to add them to the skillet and, stirring once in a while, I sauteed them for 5 minutes on low:



Here they are all done. I added Realsalt and freshly ground pepper.



Half of them (I had to save some for the DH) in a bowl, ready to eat:



That didn't take long!



If you are inclined to forage for wild foods, be CERTAIN you know what you are gathering, because plants can be toxic if you inadvertently gather the wrong thing.

If your dandelions already have flowers, it is too late. They will be very bitter.

Please don't gather dandelion greens or anything else where toxic chemicals have been sprayed on lawns. We don't do that here. Our "lawn" is, uh... eclectic..... we live on what was a forest floor about 40 years ago. I do not fight the "weeds" in the lawn. I like them. :)

And you can see why :)

This post is linked to Simple Lives Thursdays!