Hiding in Plain Sight: Little Green Visitors Arrive

I had planned to yank them all from the dirt and toss them into the compost pile. They looked like clover. Delicate little greens with a yellow bud readying to bloom. To me, they were weeds.

Luckily, the 90-degree high-humidity weather kept me from doing yard work and the weeds remained rooted.

The following day I took a walk with naturalist John Root in some woods behind his home. Root stopped every few feet to point out wild edibles (stinging nettle, violet, black raspberry, amaranth, lambs quarters, purslane), but it was the plant he picked almost as an aside that caught my attention.

"Here," he said, bending down near a compost pile along a trail. "It looks like a clover, but it's wood sorrel."

I looked in his hand and saw the "weeds." I picked one and the taste was a shot of lemon. When I returned home, I picked a handful and shared it with my family. I was thrilled.

Then I decided to walk through my yard to note what other wild edibles were growing just outside the front door. The first one I found was lambs quarters, just a few sprouting from un-weeded spots in the garden. This green is succulent and crisp and as nutritious as spinach.

I also had a small patch of plantain growing in my lawn, their tiny green leaves continuously re-growing after I mow the lawn. You can use these in a stirfry.

Then, the final gift was a wild black raspberry. I'm not sure where they came from, but there they were, twisting their thorny vines up the chicken wire fence of my garden. I grabbed a few and headed back inside for a taste.

Of course, these green (and black) visitors were always there. The only difference is now I can see them. I wonder what I else is hiding in plain sight.