I have been learning a lot about many of our common weeds! Like those pesky dandelions everybody is always try get rid of in there yards. Did you know dandelions are one of many hundreds if not thousands of wild edibles? That they are more nutritious than most veggies and fruits bought in the common grocery store today? Also, many of these so called weeds are being studied for there medicinal properties. Some are able to be better for using for medical uses than products developed in factories today.
They are even some saying that there might be a cure for cancer in the woods! Whether it be a well built soil with soil amendments or a wild edible somewhere on this planet. It's clear that we have much more to learn.
Wild edibles grow everywhere. They are the weeds that we can't seem to get rid of.
Those dandelions, chickweeds, plantains, wood sorrel, clover, milkweed, and a whole long list of things that grow prolifically and stubbornly are trying to tell us something.
Not only are most of these wild very persistent weeds very nutritious. Many of them grow next to other weeds. It has been observed that in many cases. That in nature that usually wherever a poisonous or toxic plant grows. Usually, not far away, or even right next to it is the plant or other wild growing thing that is the cure for it.
With a long list of edible things that grow all over the world. Maybe the only reason people are starving is because they don't know. They don't realize that they are stepping on or walking past a weed that cold fill their tummies. Maybe, even be just what they need to cure what is making them sick.
Look at your feet hungry people figure out what all those strange greens are below you. You might be trampling your next meal.
Once we find these edibles we should cultivate them into pots or gardens. Grow them in the best soil we can. The more we can grow the less hungry people we will have! Given nutrition rich foods with medicinal benefits. Who knows what answers to feeding the hungry, or curing the sick lye at right at our feet.
So try eating a dandelion once in while. Eat some lambs quarters, or plantain. Maybe even learn to identify some safe to eat wild mushrooms.
Many mushrooms have been found to have many nutritional and medical properties as well. Don't take my word for it. Go forth and do your own research. Maybe we can cure hunger and disease one wild growing weed at a time!
Hi, thanks for your post. I'm doing a PhD with fieldwork in Brazil regarding the motivations that people have for foraging and the importance of it in people's lives. Here in Brazil many people were inspired by a book called "the geography of hunger" by Josué de Castro, a Brazilian academic and activist. It propounds the idea that hunger is ultimately man-made and strongly linked to socio-economic context, and contests the Malthusian notions of hunger being a natural result of over-population. Perhaps due to the discourses generated by that book, many Brazilian very strongly associate the wild food scene as being part of a social justice movement, to combat inequality and malnutrition (although intrinsically linked to the agroecology scene). I thought you would find that interesting, because you now, it's true, there is a lot of rich nutrition occurring in abundance around us!
Many academics talk about the "nutrition transition", the transition of developing countries from traditional diets high in cereal and fiber to more Western pattern diets high in sugars, fat, and animal-source food. These transitions often impact more heavily socio-economically marginal or underprivileged parts of society, and especially indigenous and traditional communities, who ironically would traditionally be the holders of the most knowledge as regards wild food extractivism and sustainable methods of agriculture. But now many such groups in society are plagued by obesity and diabetes. So there are many edges to the sword. Recognizing the value of such traditional knowledge about wild food plants you can be empowering some of the most marginalised members of a society, stimulating revival of traditional practices and promoting a return to more connected, healthy, and sustainable food habits.
Through processes of modernisation and globalisation there has been a strong rural-urban migration. Young people feel that farming is hard work and have a social negative perception of farming and other rural activities. The intergenerational path of knowledge transmission can be disrupted, with young people losing much of the knowledge about rural activities such as wild food collection. Many people refer to wild food plants as "famine foods" and feel that eating them, they will be seen as "poor". They would prefer to be seen as rich and well off, and can show this by buying the "superiour" food available in supermarkets. But of course there's a lot of sense in celebrating this hardy food plants as they are well-adapted to the local environment. I heard that wild food plants and rustic varieties proved to be very important to many family farmers during the drought in 2015 that deprived much of São Paulo of a consistent water supply.
I personally think it's a bit naive to declare that wild foods can be the end of world hunger. But they certainly can contribute. First of course, and I think Josué de Castro would agree, we need to look at our society, the structures of power, distribution of wealth, and economic drivers and priorities (e.g. economic accumulation versus social welfare) given privilege within the capitalist system.
I personally believe that collecting wild foods can also serve an almost more important function of healing the rift and sense of separation that urbanites feel from nature. In knowing, using, and feeling emotionally connected and grateful for, the plant entities that surround us, I think we can feel a bit more a part of nature, feel more interconnected with the whole, and perhaps our behaviour will reflect a more respectful and amorous relationship with the natural world. Cos let's face it, we're in the midst of a global ecological crisis, and the solution lies with our own behaviour, as a collective and within that as individuals.
Hmmm, I only meant that to be a short reply and now I see it's nearly a short essay!! oops, my train of thought got carried away!
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STOPIt’s nice to see a new forager here on Steemit! Welcome to Steemit! I am tagging the post with the #foraging tag, too, because Steemit has a strong foraging community. You can find out more about the Steemit Foraging and the @foraging-trail here and here. Happy foraging!
It's great to learn what's behind your interest in foraging! This would be a great topic for all our Steemit foragers to make a post about! There are so many great plants that have so many uses, if we just take the time to learn more. I hope we get to read more about your foraging!
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