Odd Woman Out

The first time I had heard of eating dandelions, it was from my ex sister in law whose mother was Korean. My ex SIL told of a painful childhood memory in which her mother would come out and eat dandelions in front of the neighborhood kids who would then make fun of the woman. I probably had eaten dandelions at home, but the store bought kind because when I first consciously tried them they seemed familiar to me.

For about a year or so now, I have been dreaming of my farm and what I want to plant there. I didn’t realize that how I was planning things was perhaps different from how other people see things. At a blog I frequent, Simple Frugal Green Co-op, the article of the day was about sunflowers (good information, go read it) and the question was, paraphrase-”what non edible plants are you growing?”

From my perspective, at the garden plot and on the farm, most things  in my control are or will be edible in some way-for me, the bees or the soil when turned under. I do concentrate on food for me first though and that is the focus of this article.

Many of the plants that are at the farm, yet out of my control are also edible.  Even peony (roots used in medicine) which I found growing wild and day lily, also wild and a small patch of  common poppy (where do you think poppy seeds come from?) have edible parts. My neighbor is collecting seeds for me to plant more poppys in the fall. This is where you get the edible seeds from. Sure there are things there that are not edible but I didn’t put them there myself.

At the plot, I have one non edible, Victorian Straw Flower.This was given to me  and I took it because I was curious about it  and as far as I know, it isn’t edible at all but I haven’t checked. I also have one carnation in a pot on the porch. I have heard contradictory points of view on whether its edible or not, but it is a good one for sachets. My rose scented geranium is edible as well. Both are quite lovely.

The head botanist of the Chicago park district gave me chrysanthemum left overs. Some species are edible as mine are, both leaves and flowers, not sure about the roots as of yet.  I have them in my plot and a couple up at the farm too. I plan on roses, also edible (both petals and rosehips) and on marigold which I saw a character eating in the movie Monsoon Wedding but don’t know how to use as of yet and also, calendula is of the same family but I don’t drink it, just use it for skin care products, yet some do add it to infusions intended for beverages.  Lavender too. In a pot on the porch and one up at the farm.

I was also given a Mexican sunflower by the head botanist but I am not sure if its edible or not. It doesn’t matter as I am growing five edible sunflowers at my plot. Edible and heirloom no less.The Mexican ones can feed the bees.

I plan on actually landscaping the farm. I know that there are gorgeous flowers that could work well, for example tansy. Viola. Johnny Jump Ups (sort of a viola). I plan on doing a lot of edibles and I think I am drawn to them in general but I also believe that I must have been so intent on finding out what constitutes food that I can’t bring myself to be frivolous with non edibles. You can find so much beauty in nature, some of it is just ornamental and that isn’t a bad thing at all in itself,  but the next time you see an ornamental, find out if you can eat it and if you can, consider if you actually will. Make sure  you have the correct species first though.

Personally, I don’t differntiate between medicinal and “edible” as being two seperate areas as I ascribe to the following:

“Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food” Hippocrates

I may not actually chose to eat any of these things, but I really like having the option. Am I alone in this?