Foraging continued

Perhaps one concept we could stand to change is the idea that our lawns need to be a perfect picture of grass.  If we were to allow the weeds to take over, we'd have a plethora of healthy food in our own back (and front) yards!  I have to admit that I'm fairly new to foraging, and what I'm sharing is what I've recently learned.

The photo above is from a small part of my yard, and the reason it looks like a tangled mess of grass and weeds is because it is!  We've had a lot of rain, and the ground was too boggy for DH to mow.  The focus in the above pic is on a patch of wild onions. 

The wild onions blend in well with the grass and are single stalk with a bud on top.  In the forefront, you can see one of the buds opening.  I pulled one up so I could show what it looks like.

​

The whole plant

The flowering part after 4 days with the root in a jar of water

I cut the root and bulb off of the stem.  You can see the solid interior with 2 stems (the green 'tubes').  I had to ask about this - it turns out this would have possibly split into two plants.


​

The aroma of the plant also helps with its identification.  In this case, it smells like an onion.  (Look-alike plants, i.e. Crowpoison - Nothoscordum bivalve will not smell like onion even though the stalk and bud look similar.)  According to Deane on the Eat The Weeds website, http://www.eattheweeds.com/allium-canadense-the-stinking-rose-2/, If it has that garlic/onion smell, it's wild onion.  The whole plant can be used as food. 

I have many patches of these growing all over my yard, but will only harvest one or two at a time, and only when I plan on using it in my food.  By only getting what I need, I make sure to not deplete or lose what's growing. (I have to admit that I dug some up and planted them in my front garden where DH won't mow as a precaution.)  I'm hoping the various onion patches survive being mowed and the hot, dry summers here.  I'll be watching to see how they fare and update here periodically.  

One final note:  The experts on foraging recommend gathering no more than 10% if you're foraging on your own property so you'll still have plenty for later times.