"We Don't Have to Eat Everything in our Backyard!"

We have many weeds in our front and backyard. 😓Like, many. And we often have a hard time staying on top of it and making sure they don't grow so out of control that the neighbors start to complain. We're not natural gardeners and to be perfectly honest, have many other hobbies we want to spend our time on other than gardening.  But we do our best. 

Awhile back, it came to our attention that the Stinging Nettle, which grows plentiful in our yard, is edible and nutritious. After doing research and confirming that we have correctly identified the weed, we decided to go ahead and eat it. We just painstakingly harvested them with gloves (because they do sting), washed them thoroughly and put them in stews and soups (they don't sting after they are cooked).  It was the only weed in our yard that we felt comfortable eating because we knew it wasn't harmful.

One day we spotted a couple cutting some of our weeds on our side yard. The Huz asked them what they were using it for (and after being reassured that we weren't going to stop them and get angry at them for pulling our weeds), they told us that it was a very nutritious and delicious green. The Huz took a picture and we spent some time looking it up and identifying that, yes, the weed is called a Mallow and is completely edible. It pretty much works like spinach and is great in stir-frys, stews and soups. And I've been harvesting and cooking a lot of these because they are growing quite plentiful. So, thank you anonymous couple for tuning us into these beautiful edible plants. 

When we told our Youngest that we found another edible weed, he responded, "We don't have to eat everything in our backyard!" (He is a delightfully cynical teenager). That one sentence made The Huz and I laugh so hard and we still quote it for our own kicks. It's funny. He's right though.  We don't.  But we'll definitely eat some and most. LOL! 😁😄