Foraging fun - shotweed!

I saw a lot of plants growing in my apartment complex that looked suspiciously edible. I thought they might be chickweed. So I brought a sample into the house and compared them with images of chickweed. Well, nope. Not chickweed. But I still didn't give up. I googled "edible plants" and came up with the answer - shotweed! So I picked a bunch, pulled the leaves off the stems, and washed them. They are apparently related to mustard and have a pleasant, bitter, spicy taste. Even my veggiphobic brother tried a leaf (he said he would eat it if he was starving, but only then). All parts of the dandelion plant, young plantain leaves and many other plants are edible. So next time you weed your yard - think twice before throwing ALL the weeds in the compost!
This post is a part of Fight Back Friday, hosted by Food Renegade.

A trip to Farmer's Market

This morning my mother and I went to farmer's market. Or I should say one farmer's market, because it can't be the only one! There was nice fiddle music playing and we found local honey, eggs, beef, and lard! These things are hard to get. We also got vegetables and basil and cilantro to plant in pots, which I did. It was overall charming, and I commented: "This is how shopping should be!"