Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Young Dock and Chickweed

I get a little antsy this time of year and have to go out and check how the wild greens are coming. Today I found chickweed that was just a few inches high. You could nibble these, but I prefer to just admire them and wait until there's enough to harvest. Besides, I don't like getting my face down in the leaves;)

Here's a picture of some tiny chickweed that I took about an hour ago.


Chickweed, about 2 inches high
(click for larger pictures)



I ran across some little dock sprouts too. I was just walking along and the little burgundy leaves in the brown grass caught my eye. What a nice surprise!


A tiny dock leaf unfurling


In front of the same leaf, you can see
the next tiny sprout still tightly furled


The only thing I have to worry about with dock is the high oxalic acid content. You're probably pretty safe as long as you don't eat buckets of it, and you could nibble a bunch of these little sprouts no problem (I’m not a doctor or anything, do your own due diligence). Other foods high in oxalic acid include carrots and sorrels.

Stay tuned next week when I'll try to find some goose grass (I know, you can hardly wait:).

Wild T

PS. Ever wonder what a Grand Canyon mule ride might be like? Click:
Mule Ride in the Grand Canyon

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