doyou know that purslane and goose foot should be harvested and/ or preserved as food. Purslane (cholesterol buster) is good in soups and stews, and salads. easy to pick, too. Goosefoot tastes better than spinach before it blooms. Theese two are the most common WEEDS in my PA garden.

-- Elizabeth Quintana (rockshelter@webtv.com), May 05, 2002

Answers

Cactus pads, called Nopales in Spanish, have long been a food for Mexican, Central and South American peoples. They have known for centuries that eating Nopales helps control diabetes.

-- Rose (open_rose@hotmail.com), May 05, 2002.

Sorry - it's my first post; goosefoot's more accepted name is lamb's quarters (Chemopodium album) and purslane (Portulaca oleacea)

-- Elizabeth Quintana (rockshelter@webtv.com), May 05, 2002.

http://www.main.org/uwp/

-- paul (primrose@centex.net), May 06, 2002.

Elizabeth,excellent point and I might add that according to an old Morrison's Feed and Feeding, Lambs Quarter is great livestock feed better than most hay and right up their with Alfalfa.The weeds in hay that alot of farmers spend big $$$ on poisons to get rid of alot of times are better feed than the grasses that are left.

-- Gary (burnett_gary@msn.com), May 06, 2002.

I use dried lamb's quarters, dandelion, nettles and plantain added to other herbs to make my herb seasoning. Makes for a very tasty, nutritious seasoning that can be used on anything from meat to popcorn

-- Toni (Tuwamare@aol.com), May 06, 2002.

Chickweed is one I use often- easy to ID, tastes good in soups (chowder type) and as a salad. Quite common in PA, where I am from. And yes, it FLOURISHES in my garden.

-- Kevin in NC (Vantravlrs@aol.com), May 07, 2002.

Elizabeth, I too harvest wild greens. It should be noted that some wild greens have high Oxalic acid contents as they mature. Most start producing the acid around the time that they begin flowering. It is best to let them flower, at this point, and wait to gather the seeds to eat, if they are edible. The oxalic acid does odd things in your stomach that inhibit your absorbtion of calcium, which effects your assimilation of other minerals, and vitamines. Oxalics are also common in Spinach, and Rhuharb. It is for this reason that most nutritionists do not recommend eating either of them more than once a week or so. Stinging nettles are my favourite spring food, but I don't harvest them after they are up to eight inches. Happy Harvests.

-- roberto pokachinni (pokachinni@yahoo.com), May 12, 2002.