Food For Free

[amandajane]

I've just started a series of blog posts about food you can get for free. I've started with the humble dandelion which apparently has more 'beta-carotene than carrots. The iron and calcium content is phenomenal, greater than spinach. You also get vitamins B-1, B-2, B-5, B-6, B-12, C, E, P, and D, biotin, inositol, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, and zinc by using a tasty, free vegetable that grows on virtually every lawn.' Common Dandelion



Also we are lucky here in NZ to have papaya trees growing wild, I have one in my garden that I found yesterday and there's lots just around the corner in the nearby bush. I'll be writing about those tomorrow.

I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts about plants that come under the free category where you live? I'm on the look out for ideas :0)

Thanks!

[Joanne]

What a great idea! I'll be reading your series with interest.

[Milehimama]

We have a variety of edible weeds that grow just about everywhere in the US - purslane, clover, dock.

Also lots of fruit trees - my last house had a pear tree in the backyard, orange trees, apple trees, peach trees (depending on what part of the country you are in)

I have some foraging books that I love to look through!

[lucille]

Morel mushrooms and asparagus grow wild out here in SD. But you have to know where and when to look for both.
When I lived in California many places had fruit trees as part of their landscaping. Employees were welcome to pick a few lemons or peaches and take them home.
We had a peach tree in our back yard at one of our homes in California. We ate plenty of them, made pies, gave away quite a few.
We used to get venison for free from the GFP warden. If they had to shoot a deer or answer a deer collision call they would field dress it and give it away to someone on their list. Of course they usually called me about 11pm on a weeknight asking if I wanted it and I had to haul a deer in my station wagon to the meat locker the next morning. One year we got one that had been living in a cattle feed lot. It had been living on the ground corn feed put out for the cattle. That was some amazing meat.

[kav122]

Wow!! Wild asparagus!!!! Awesome!!! The only thing I get for free are the raspberry bushes that came with the house. They are so sweet and yummy!

Oh yeah, I am rather embarassed to say this (about the squirrels and such--haha!) but my grandfather (and me--when I was at their house) ate all kinds of crazy things that he got off his farm--deer, squirrels, rabbits, froglegs, fish, crawfish, sassafras (sp?) tea, doves, mushrooms, ginger, ramps, prickly pears, strawberries, blackberries, poke greens, crabapples, and hickory nuts. And then he planted a huge garden and everything, but these were just the things that he didn't raise.

[lucille]

Originally Posted by kav122

Wow!! Wild asparagus!!!! Awesome!!! The only thing I get for free are the raspberry bushes that came with the house. They are so sweet and yummy!

Oh yeah, I am rather embarassed to say this (about the squirrels and such--haha!) but my grandfather (and me--when I was at their house) ate all kinds of crazy things that he got off his farm--deer, squirrels, rabbits, froglegs, fish, crawfish, sassafras (sp?) tea, doves, mushrooms, ginger, ramps, prickly pears, strawberries, blackberries, poke greens, crabapples, and hickory nuts. And then he planted a huge garden and everything, but these were just the things that he didn't raise.

Our old place had wild blackberries growing in the small ditch between the houses. It put out berries almost all summer and tons of them. Once we get our back yard fenced I was going to put blackberry bushes on the outside of the fence. Free berries and the neighborhood delinquents won't try to scale the fence.

[kav122]

Originally Posted by lucille

Our old place had wild blackberries growing in the small ditch between the houses. It put out berries almost all summer and tons of them. Once we get our back yard fenced I was going to put blackberry bushes on the outside of the fence. Free berries and the neighborhood delinquents won't try to scale the fence.

My raspberry bushes have gone into the neighbor's yard, but they love them. They have also gone out the back of the yard's fence and this summer, while my husband and I were enjoying a Miller Lite on the deck, one of our neighbors (I guess he was because he walked down the alley) came to the back of our fence, dug up some bushes and walked back to his house--without so much as a hi, how ya doing or anything. He also left huge holes where he dug them up. This isn't a walking part of our yard, but it is a good 15 feet into our yard. !!!! Can you believe it! I want to ask him how his raspberry bushes are doing this year if I see him, just so he knows that I was watching him dig up our yard, but my husband thinks that that would be rude.

[amandajane]

Originally Posted by Joanne

What a great idea! I'll be reading your series with interest.

Thanks Joanne

We have a variety of edible weeds that grow just about everywhere in the US - purslane, clover, dock.

Those are on the list now Milehimama - thank you for the ideas!

Wild asparagus, wow lucille - asparagus is my favorite vegetable, if only they grew wild here. That meat sounds lovely too

I am on the lookout for blackberries here this year, I used to have so much fun picking them with my Mum and Dad when I was little, I want to pass this on to my son, I'm sure he will enjoy it.

Oh yeah, I am rather embarassed to say this (about the squirrels and such--haha!) but my grandfather (and me--when I was at their house) ate all kinds of crazy things that he got off his farm--deer, squirrels, rabbits, froglegs, fish, crawfish, sassafras (sp?) tea, doves, mushrooms, ginger, ramps, prickly pears, strawberries, blackberries, poke greens, crabapples, and hickory nuts. And then he planted a huge garden and everything, but these were just the things that he didn't raise.

What a cool upbringing, it sounds awesome and nothing you've mentioned sounds too bad, apart from the frogs legs maybe, lol. What are poke greens?

kav122 - Raspberries, yumm, but good grief, that cheek of some people I think you're being too polite, lol. I think I'd be dumbfounded if anyone did that to me though!

[AleciaMarie]

When I was growing up we had bushes and bushes of blackberries- SO good. We used to have so much blackberry pie/jam/other treats....mmmm.

[amandajane]

Originally Posted by AleciaMarie

When I was growing up we had bushes and bushes of blackberries- SO good. We used to have so much blackberry pie/jam/other treats....mmmm.

It brings back lovely memories doesn't it