How to Forage for Food in Your Backyard (video)

Eat the weeds!
For many of us, the lawn is a place to play sports, to let the dogs out to roam or to bask in the sun. For me, the lawn is a place to gather food!
Most of us look at this sea of green and see just a lawn of grass. But in most lawns, there is far more to be found… When you look closer you are likely to see many species of plants shining in many shades of green, an array of shapes to the leaves, and brightly lit flowers, a small wonder on Earth.
Still, most would assume this is all a separate world to them… One to step upon and continue without regard.
It couldn’t be further from the truth. These lands of green are not only beautiful, not only a place to play, or a seemingly infinite land for minuscule creatures… They are a wonderful source of food. Oh, but it would be foolish for me to stop there. It is also a source of medicine. A home for millions of creatures. And for the forager, a source of joy and purpose often bringing calmness to an otherwise stressful day.
I wish to share with you a lesson to be found in the lawn. I want you to put down your mowers and stop chopping away at a future of healthy meals. Let your lawns grow freely for the creatures we share this earth with, and free to grow you your next meal, and when times are tough your next treatment to an ailment.
I am here in the backyard of my host family in Southern France and before arriving here I had never foraged in this land. Some of the plants were known to me, as they have traveled across the Atlantic from the European continent to North America. Others were completely new, or a familiar cousin to something I knew. Today I am eating ten species of plants from this lawn…
You can do this too! Your yard can take care of you when times are tough and even when times are well. It can save you a trip or two to the doctor. It can keep you at home, basking in the glory that is freely made through the combination of sun, soil, seeds and rain, microbes and insects, and a little help from a friend. A friend? That friend is you. If you so choose…
Watch my new video foraging in this yard to see what possibilities await you…