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Get back to (grass) roots Starting from scratch
Date published: 5/27/2009
BY EMILY BATTLE
I recently spent an afternoon with Laura Sheperd, horticultural director of Downtown Greens, Fredericksburg's central-city garden haven. In less than an hour, we had identified a half-dozen edible plants growing outside the confines of the nonprofit's vegetable gardens, and whipped up a salad I'm certain could be called "Rappahannock Wild Green Medley" and sold for eight bucks at some high-end restaurant. So if you're not one of those people who loads down the lawn with chemicals in an effort to make it a homogeneous sea of half-inch-high grass, you've probably got plenty of edible things growing in your yard. As Sheperd and I strolled the grounds, the first ingredient we happened upon was plantain. I'm not talking about the tropical fruit that looks like a really big banana. I immediately recognized the plantain plant as the tuft of leaves that shoots up a green stem with a spiky bud at the top that kids like to wrap around their fingers and shoot at each other at Fourth of July picnics. This is a ubiquitous weed, but its leaves are edible, and it can even be used as a salve for bee stings, Shepherd said. Just chew it up into a paste and spread it on the sting to remove the venom. Next we stopped at a plant that's more likely to be found in an actual garden than in cracks in a sidewalk. It turns out daylilies are edible. This time of year, when the green leaves are up, Shepherd suggests choosing the newest growth closest to the root. Rinse off the dirt and chop it up like you would a scallion. It will add a juicy bit of texture to your mixed greens. Later on, the flowers will be completely edible as well, and can be battered and fried just like squash blossoms. The long, unopened lily buds are eaten like green beans in some countries, Shepherd said. The round, bulb-like day-lily roots are also edible, and taste a little like water chestnuts. We also added lamb's quarters--a plant that's sometimes called wild spinach--to our salad. The leaves of this plant can be eaten raw, sauteed or steamed. Also in abundance was chickweed.
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