I’ve recently been given a book on edible wild plants, and I’ve been sampling in my yard.The book is entitled Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants by Bradford Angier, copyright 1974, published by Stackpole Books. Since I am concerned about food security, I am curious aboout we can grow locally, and what goes naturally, especially in this Douglas fir forest I call my yard.

In the front on one side of the driveway we have a rather tall, thin weed with sparse leaves and yellow flowers. They grow en masse every year in the spring, then die off by the summer drought. Thanks to the book, I’ve identified them as either Prickly Lettuce or Wild Lettuce (Lactuca). both of which are edible. I tried a few leaves today, and they were good. I had one leaf in my mouth, was savoring it, and my tongue touched something that was moist. But these leaves weren’t moist. I took it out of my mouth and discovered it was a caterpillar, which i quickly returned to the ground. I’ll examine the leaves more carefully from now on, but if I am wrong, it is added protein.

Tomorrow’s smoothy is Wild Lettuce, and Dandelion shoots from the yard, with some berries and banana. Yum!