Chickweed is good!

Over the weekend, I chewed on chickweed, miner's lettuce, and fennel - not in a fancy $10 salad at Le Fancy Restaurant, but instead on weedy patches of wayward land in the my own Neighborhood in North Portland. I was on the Wild Edible Plants Bike Tour let by Shaun Deller (locally more known for his fashion design sense - deller caps & Bonnie & Clyde), who was offering up his free knowledge on a gorgeous 70s F Earth Day. Shaun told stories about some of the urban foodies he's read about, cut up samples of root, and told us how we could always identify a Douglas Fir Tree (Oregon's State Tree) - If you pick up the cone - it looks like little mice (legs and tail hanging out) have crawled up under each little shingle of the cone. Of course Shaun's biggest advice was to learn all the poisonous plants before you start stuffing any kind of weed in your mouth!

The bicycle tour was a perfect way for me to celebrate Earth Day. The tour was very empowering - as I get older I get more and more pratical - and I love the idea of making use (in salads and such) of so-called-weeds growing outside my back door. I hope Shaun continues to lend out his knowledge at a further point. I missed the latter half of the tour since I had to cut out for the Buckman Art Show & Sale. To Keep tabs on Shaun go to his blog.