This is such an awesome post...seriously, I learned so much! Even though I grew up on a farm and kind of know plants, the whole idea of foraging is something I've never really taught myself. So thank you for that! Your comment about the stinging nettles brought up a few childhood memories though :) And I always knew about sailors and scurvy, but never heard of 'land' scurvy before; love the history lesson behind the name, 'miner's lettuce'! Finally, your comment about people's derision about eating 'wild' food as opposed to grocery store-bought produce is a puzzle to me as well. From what I can see here, they don't know what they're missing :)
Thank you again for this! Cheers:)
Thanks for a great comment. I think the miners had tough winters of eating dried meat and cooking dried beans and grains while working in the hills, so when this green vegetable appeared in late winter/early spring, they found it could cure any scurvy issues.
Oh you're welcome! And of course it makes perfect sense now, it's just something I'd never thought about :) I have often thought about how long those winters would have felt like back then! We think we've got it rough haha