Growing vegetables and raising animals takes so much time. Wouldn’t be easier to just harvest what you find? When I was working on Backyard Roots I met several city foragers including  Melanie Vorass Herrera in Seattle who keeps an urban farm and forages too. She ended up writing an entertaining and informative book about city foraging that I just checked out. Front Yard Forager is definitely an eye-opener. I recognised so many weeds growing right in my vegetable garden that it really changes the whole idea of weeding–maybe it’s time to start eating the problem. I liked that she includes recipes in the book and that there is  back section on poisonous weeds common to urban areas. Check out her book and blog to see the weeds you could be eating out of your front yard.

Narrow leaf plantain is a “lawn weed that can survive the driest of summers” You can eat the greens, seeds and roots too. The leaves can be used the way you’d use spinach.

Melanie suggests removing the midrib of dandelion leaves as shown to also remove the bitterness. Dandelion greens can be eaten raw or cooked. The flowers and roots are edible too.

Cat’s Ear is a dandelion like weed that can be eaten raw or cooked.

Melanie not only forages, she keeps goats and chickens too and between them nothing goes to waste.