Yesterday I went plant hunting with a new friend, looking for roots, berries and other wild edibles. What we found were, first, a good bunch of rose hips - these wild rose bushes can often be troublesome as one easily gets tangled in them when working outside, but I guess something told me I should leave some of them around; glad I did, and besides there were many in areas we don't disturb.

Another plant that I thought was "undesirable", or at least ugly and annoying, is burdock. I just learned it's a biennial, and so the first year's growth doesn't have the burrs or really look quite like the second year's growth, which I am more familiar with. Anyway, it is the first year we were interested in, as much of the nutrients are still in the roots, which is the part we were looking for. We found some nice size ones and made a vinegar out of some of them, and chopped up the rest and put them in a stir fry, which was actually quite good (burdock root has a tasty, but unique flavor, for me anyway).

Also there was dandelion root and greens, and some onion grass we found growing back in the woods just up from a wet area. The dandelion roots we found didn't turn out to be too big, possibly from competition with grasses and other "lawn" species.

The milkweed pods have really opened up now. They were spraying all over the field today; I could see their little white plumes scattered in and about the tall grasses and weed plants, as well as lounging contentedly on the trimmed lawn. They happen to be one of my favorite plants, and I hope to allow more to grow next year; along with more wild rose bushes and burdock