Something I’ve felt especially aware of lately is how being frugal and innovative truly requires a certain amount of headspace.

Last year I took the kids on a private tour of a eco-farming community that is in the works, and at one point the person I was speaking to pointed out a wild edible, lambs quarter.  I was so glad to learn what this looked like since I had been specifically wanting to identify this particular weed for a while.  It turns out it’s something I frequently see growing, even in my own yard! However, it was the end of the growing season at that point so I had to wait until spring in order to be able to pick some for myself.

Soon after spring began, I noticed lambs quarter springing up.  Do you think I picked any?  No, I didn’t.  I just didn’t have the extra head space to pick it and prepare it – even though you could legitimately ask, how much energy did it actually take?  I wasn’t willing to spend even that tiny bit of energy on something extra.  So it wasn’t until this past week that I finally prepared some for my family for dinner.

Lambs quarter is nice because it can be used raw or cooked – I chopped it up into a salad with some cucumbers and tomatoes, dressed with olive oil, lemon juice, and Real salt.  It was tasty – not one of the kids made any negative comments.  Lambs quarter can be used in place of spinach – one nice thing is that when you cook it, it doesn’t cook down as much because the water content is so much lower than spinach – so you end up with more food to eat. To use raw, I prefer the leaves and not the stems, but if you’re going to cook it, you can go ahead and use the stems as well – steam it until it’s soft.  It has a whitish coating on the underside of the leaf, which is pollen, and I prefer to wash it off – there’s nothing wrong with it, but it lends a grainy texture when eating it.

If I were staying here, I’d allow some to take root in my garden beds, as I have with plantain, in order to have it conveniently located along with my other vegetables that are growing.  Though I’m not doing this, I’ll still continue to keep an eye out for it so I can enjoy it while we’re still living in the US.  And maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised to discover it growing in Israel!

It’s fun to learn to recognize the free food that is all around us!  Sometimes I look at a big area of weeds and wonder how much food is there that I just don’t yet know how to recognize as such!  If you’re interested in learning about wild edibles that you can enjoy for free – and are organic to boot! – you can take a look at youtube to see videos that will make it easier to identify the particular plant you’re wondering about.

Avivah