Spring Salad Mix- The Wild Way

My garden is not even plowed yet, but last night we enjoyed our first harvest of spring salad mix. It didn't come from my garden. It came from the edge of my driveway.

While taking a short walk, I gathered this bowl of spring freshness. There are dandelion, chicory, wild lettuce and carrot greens. There is also a bit of curly dock, winter cress flower buds, and some young wild garlic greens. I also gathered some larger garlic greens for chives on our baked potatoes.

I didn't have to plant or tend any of this. I only gathered it. These types of edible weeds thrive in what "Wildman" Steve Brill calls, disturbed areas, in his book Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants. Disturbed areas are simply places where the dirt has been moved and things have been changed, such a a driveway.

You see many of these plants as you drive down the highway. Many of them are right in your yard, or grow in the cracks of your driveway. You probably recognize chicory in bloom with it's distinctive blue flowers. Wild carrot you may know by another name: Queen Anne's Lace.

What I gathered would have been enough for a large dinner salad for one. I added it to a head of Romaine, with a few other ingredients. The spring mix added a lot of fresh flavor to the salad. Dinner was the salad and baked potatoes.

I enjoy this unique little hobby of ours. It is practical, healthy and tasteful. While I was gathering my free spring mix, I was also getting a little exercise, sunshine, and alone time. Anything that gives a mom of small children a little alone time has to be good!