Nicole Telkes

There are no words that truly capture the fulfillment and joy of living as a wild gardener. To pick one’s way carefully into a sea of mouth-watering prickly pears, their spiny arms offering big, juicy red fruits to you as far as the eye can see, is an incredible experience. I collected over 30 pounds of prickly pear tunas last fall in Elgin and I kept thinking over and over how lucky I was to have access to such a plentiful crop, and how ridiculous it was not to take advantage of this native weed.

I love weeds. I plant them in my garden and help spread them- Dandelion, Chickweed, and more. Some of my favorite foods and medicines are very misunderstood, underused, and looked at with disdain when they pop up in a lawn or garden.

Wild foods are an essential part of my diet. I seek them out and try to add a leaf or flower to my meals whenever possible. Just as eating organic, whole, and living/raw foods taste and feel better, so does wild food. Wild foods help us to reconnect with our environment and offer resilience and balance. If I feel spacey, or frustrated with the world, I oftentimes walk out to the fields surrounding my living space and find a leaf or berry to chew on. It helps to bring me back to my center. Wild foods can be less glamorous, or sexy than store-bought veggies but make up for it many times over in nutrition and the vital energy they possess. Stinging Nettle leaves &/or Bull Nettle are packed full of protein, iron, calcium and many other nutrients. Teas or dishes made with these dried plants (fresh would hurt) are exquisite additions to meals, and the nutrients are easier for our bodies to recognize and assimilate than most vitamin pills. These foods offer something that carefully planted and nurtured garden or farm grown vegetables and fruits can’t. It is free from human control, and is forced to adapt to stresses which can make their nutrition and medicine more powerful. When a plant is spoiled with water, fertilizer, and pesticides, it doesn’t have to work very hard and therefore alkaloids and other chemicals and nutrients can be less concentrated. This is similar for our bodies. When we pump them full of pharmaceuticals instead of letting them adapt and work out stresses themselves, we weaken our own immune systems.

Eating wild foods is a wonderful addition for anyone pursuing the raw foods lifestyle. As soon as plants are picked, they begin losing their constituents. The closer your connection from earth to mouth, the more you get out of your food.

Harvesting wild foods takes work and adds a more understood appreciation for what you take into your body. It is a lot harder to waste something you spent several hours collecting. Collecting can be made into an all day adventure, or be as simple as walking around your yard or a nearby park that doesn’t get sprayed with pesticides. Either way it is always a pleasure. Harvesting your own food also adds presence of mind to the entire eating experience. A simple way to begin is to learn to properly identify the wild plants growing around your garden or lawn (don’t use pesticides or pick things where your dog likes to sniff) and try snacking on a properly identified leaf or flower.

Whether it’s Yucca root, Dewberries, Morel Mushrooms, Pecans, or Chickweed, I encourage you to investigate one or many of the countless wild foods surrounding Central Texas.

Nutritional Benefits of some common Weeds

Alfalfa: Contains organic minerals such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium as well as very high in chlorophyll Biotin, choline, inositol, iron, magnesium, PABA, phosphorus, potassium, protein, sodium, sulfur, tryptophan (amino acid), and vitamins A, B complex, C, D, E, K, P, U

Chickweed: Contains significant amounts of Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorous, Potassium, Zinc, Managanese, Beta Carotene, and Niacin

Dandelion: Contains significant amounts of Protein, Fiber, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Beta Carotene, Vit C and Vit E.

Lambsquarters: Protein, Fiber, Calcium, Iron, Phosphorus, Beta-Carotene and B Vitamins

Nettles: Protein, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Zinc, Manganese, B Vitamins, Vit C

Prickly Lettuce and Blue Lettuce: More vitamin A than spinach, and a good quantity of Vit C.

Red Clover: calcium, chromium, magnesium, niacin, phosphorus, potassium, thiamine, and vitamin C. Red clover is also considered to be one of the richest sources of isoflavones (water-soluble chemicals that act like estrogens and are found in many plants).