#plaintain

„die Königin des Weges“ -  „the Queen of the Wayside“

Hut, Top, Rock - Wegerich Blätter, Stiele, Blütenstände in Seide * Hat, top, skirt - Plantain leaves, stems, inflorescences in silk

Backyard Foraging Finds Recap

It never ceases to amaze me just how many varieties of edible and or practical “weeds” spring up in our small backyard year after year. For this reason, we rarely mow our lawn in a single year. The wild plants offers our chickens tasty treats and the pollinators a reliable source of sugar. We eat some of the greens as salad and even dry and storage others for later usage. Here’s my running list of the edible and practical weeds that I have “identified” from the zone 7a yard...so far, because I know there are so many more I’ve missed. What’s in your yard? 

Dead Nettles

Chickweed

Dandelion

Lambsquarter

Purslane

Dayflower

Poor Man’s Pepper

Plaintain

Wood Sorrel

Clover

Field Garlic

Completely unrelated to the cooking bananas. THAT 'plantain' comes from the Spanish word 'plántano', which probably comes from the Carib word 'palatana', meaning banana. THIS Plaintain comes from late Middle English, via Old French, from Latin plantago, from planta ‘sole of the foot’ because of its broad prostrate leaves.

AKA broadleaf plantain, white man's footprint, and waybread. Type genus for the Plantaginaceae family.

A wind-pollinated perrenial native to Eurasia, but now found pretty much everywhere else, growing in lawn, fields, along roadsides, and compacted or disturbed soils. Some accounts say it was brought to the Americas by Puritan colonizers, and was known among some Native American peoples as "white man's footprint", because it thrived in the damaged ecosystems surrounding European settlements.

The young, tender leaves are edible raw, and the older, stringier leaves can be boiled in stews. The older plants stringness also provides pliable fibres that can be used to make small cords, fishing line, and sutures.

Some cultivars are planted as ornamentals. It's possible that was the case here - the Mill House had a very cottagecore garden.

Jerk Chicken with Plantain Chips.