Wild Lettuce Soup

Wild lettuce is something I've been foraging this year that's new to me.  I noticed a whole bunch of it popping up last year, but only recognized what it was when it was about three feet tall, flowering, and too bitter to imagine eating.  This spring when the snow finally melted, I noticed several of these little rosettes, and it occurred to me that the leaves looked almost like skinny lettuce.  I threw a few photos up on one of the amazingly helpful Plant Identification groups on Facebook, and did a bit of googling, and realized that their resemblance to lettuce was because they were!  The following hints about how to identify wild lettuce are not comprehensive enough to guarantee what you've found.  Before eating any wild plant please do your research and make sure you know what you are eating.  There's no good reason to risk eating something that you are not 100% sure of.

This wild member of the lactuca family is the ancestor of the lettuce you see in the grocery store. You want to make sure you harvest it young, because otherwise it becomes too bitter.  Look for lush leaves coming up in a rosette, with somewhat wavy and possibly even slightly prickly edges. The midrib of each leaf should have some prickles forming on the back.  One of the most telltale signs is a milky sap when you break off a leaf.

Milky sap is usually an indicator that the plant is something you shouldn't be eating, but notable exceptions include wild lettuce, and also the dandelion.  These bitter spring greens are the perfect thing to eat after a winter of rich and heavy food.  I think that is one of the beautiful things about seasonal eating.  

Wild lettuce is, in fact, very bitter.  It goes even beyond most kales I've eaten, and some people will have a very hard time eating it.  While you could include it in your spring salad mix, I find it more palatable cooked.  The soup below was a really nice way to eat these greens, and the bitterness balanced out the richness of the other ingredients beautifully.  If you still find them too bitter try leaving it to eat until the next day.  When I ate the leftovers I found the flavour had completely mellowed and was even more delicious.

Wild Lettuce and Bacon Soup

If you still like the look of this recipe but can't find any wild lettuce, swap it out for kale or another strong and bitter green that you have on hand.

• One large onion
• Two cloves garlic
• 5 - 6 slices bacon
• 4 - 5 Yukon gold potatoes
• 2 - 3 cups wild lettuce
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 cups milk
• Rosemary
• Basil
• Paprika
• Red Pepper Flakes
• Salt
• 1 tbsp lemon Juice

1. Melt the butter in the bottom of your pot, and as it heats mince the onion.  Sauté until translucent.  Mince the garlic and add.
2. Add the bacon and cook until crispy.  
3. While the bacon is cooking, chop the potatoes into small, bite sized pieces.  Add them into the pot and sauté briefly.
4. Cover everything with water and simmer until the potatoes are cooked.
5. Pour in milk, and add spices in the amounts that you like.  Bring back to temperature, and chop the wild lettuce.  Throw it in and put the lid on for a few minutes.  Once the greens are steamed slightly stir them in.  
6. When the lettuce is just wilted add the lemon juice and taste to see if you need to adjust your spices.  When you are happy with everything it is ready to enjoy!

March and April Harvest Totals

Shoes available here.

March and April Harvest Totals

Asterisk denotes foraged item.

• Bunching Onion: 24 g
• Carrots (Danvers): 802 g
• *Dandelion (Greens): 74 g
• *Dandelion (Roots): 14 g
• Kale (Russian Red): 1 g
• Kale (Winterbor): 22g
• Pea Shoots: 93 g
• Sunchokes: 2354 g

Total: 3.384 kg

I think it is amazing that I am able to do a substantial harvest total update a full month earlier than last season.  I remember it being particularly cold, and although we had a somewhat delayed beginning to spring this year as well the temperatures seem to be right back on track for everything.  A lot of the substantial stuff on this list was overwintered in the garden from last season.  If you can do that, it can be pretty handy in early spring when you're wishing for fresh veggies!

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This post contains affiliate links.  If you purchase something via these link I receive a commission.  These are all products I have personally used and would recommend without reservation. 

Guest Post: Spring Foraging, by Melissa Keyser

I first connected with Melissa on Instagram, as a fellow gardener, homesteader, and lover of the outdoors. I’ve invited her here today to share some stories of her spring foraging aventures! Make sure to stop by her site, Quarter Moon Living, and say hello!  Melissa Keyser is a writer, naturalist, garden designer, blogger and educator. Growing up without electricity in the central coast mountains of California, she is a lifelong lover of nature and is passionate about self-sufficiency, sustainability, local food, and organic gardening. She encourages people to reconnect to the natural world through slow, simple, and seasonal living. On her blog, she shares recipes featuring truly seasonal produce, gardening tips, traditional food skills, and tips for general wellness. She holds a degree in Environmental Studies from University of California, Santa Cruz, and has completed additional studies in Horticulture and Landscape Design. Currently, she lives in Sacramento, California. 

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In my part of the world, in central California, our spring actually starts in the early winter. After a dry, hot and dormant period of our Mediterranean climate summers, the first rains of the season wake up our parched soils, bringing the earth back to life. And while the branches of the trees are still bare, almost overnight the hills and fields suddenly shift back to green. For me, this is when the spring foraging season for tender wild greens begin.

Elsewhere in the world, the seasons follow a more logical pattern. Spring starts when it’s supposed to, or at least, theoretically. This year, for so many, it seems that winter is stretching on forever. If this sounds like you, just know the Earth has not forgotten you, she is simply sleeping in. But in her slumber, she is gathering strength, and when she emerges, it will be with full force, her lands awashed with bounty.

It will soon be the time for spring foraging.

The first to appear are the stinging nettles.

Urtica dioica might be the best all-purpose wild green out there. They are highly medicinally, good to drink in tea or take a powdered form. The stems contain fibers that can be spun into thread or braided into cordage. They are also highly nutritious (in vitamin A, calcium, magnesium and iron) and, the big draw, they are also delicious!

But, remember, they have their name of stinging nettles for a reason! When harvesting, make sure to wear leather or rubber gloves. Once home, either blanch, steam or dry the greens, which will kill the sting.

Stinging nettles are native to Europe, but have now naturalized throughout most of the North America. Look for them in wet areas, alongside creeks, edges of damp woods, and areas with rich soil. The easiest way to identify them is to brush against them. You’ll know from their sharp sting! Otherwise, you can look for the hairs on the stems and the leaves. They have square stems and opposite leaves, with prominent veins and are shaped like an oblong heart, with the edges sharply toothed.

Nettles will continue to grow throughout the year, and you’ll find them standing tall by autumn, but they are best to eat when they are fresh and young. For the tenderest greens, start harvesting right after the emerge from the ground, snipping off the top few sets leaves. Once they start to flower, it’s best to pass them by.

I love to eat nettles in soup or folded in with cream and butter served over spaetzle. They also make a delicious ravioli filling! I add them to my tea during my monthly cycle to help replenish iron, and my husband drinks them in tea to help with his allergies.

As the days get longer, and the rains have come and the frost has subsided, the wild asparagus starts to appear.

Asparagus is herbaceous, meaning the plant dies back to the ground in the winter, and it’s near impossible to find asparagus spears growing green grass if you don’t know where to look. In my area, I start the process of foraging for asparagus in the fall.

The tender tips have long since grown tall, and are now a bush of fine foliage and the red berries containing the seeds stand out against the dark green of the leaves. Sometimes 6′ tall, these fronds leave no confusion that there is a healthy crown of asparagus growing there. By fall, the fronds start to die back, turning brown and dropping the berries (which are poisonous, so don’t eat!). This is when I make mental note, remembering where to look when spring arrives.

In North America, there is no actual wild asparagus. It’s native to Europe. Any that you find foraging is the same as the stuff you buy in the store or grow in your home garden, it’s simply escaped and is now growing in the wild. Feral, or perhaps rouge, asparagus.

You will find wild asparagus growing in the sun and close to (but not in) water. Look in drainage ditches, edges of marshes, or along river or stream edges. To harvest the asparagus, use a knife or clippers and cut the steam off right at or slightly below ground level. If you don’t have any equipment with you, you can dig into the soil with your fingers and snapped the spears off.

Choose spears that have tight tops and are firm. Asparagus grows fast, about an inch a day, and as the individual stalk starts to age and stretch up, the little triangular leafs tips start to branch out and become ‘looser’. You’ll want to avoid those!

Just like in the garden, asparagus crowns (that’s what the roots are called) will continue to produce spears for several weeks, so return often. Leave several spears to grow up. Otherwise, you may weaken or even kill the plant. If the spear emerges the width of a pencil or smaller, the plant is exhausting itself and you should let it be.

The Spring Foraging season is rounded off with the wild greens like dandelion, dock, chickweed, and my personal favorite, miner’s lettuce.

Miner’s lettuce, known in Latin as Claytonia perfoliata, gets its name from the miners of the California gold rush. They ate the wild green in order to prevent scurvy, which they learned from the native peoples. These are a great source of iron and vitamins A and C.

This was first wild green that I learned about as a child, because they are incredibly easy to identify. Just look for the round leaf. When they first emerge in the spring, they are somewhat spade-shaped, then later form the circle as they mature. Each plant grows in a clump of about 5 thin, smooth stems, each with the single round leaf on the top. The flower stalk emerges from the center of the circular leaf and is a delicate, nodding cluster of small, white blooms.

Once you find one, you’ll find many. They grow by reseeding and you’ll find entire hills and meadows filled with them. I spot it most frequently in woodland, forest or riparian ecosystems.

Miner’s lettuce has a delicate flavor and crisp texture. The leaves hold lots of water, and make it almost succulent, slightly like purslane. It lacks the acid that many other wild greens have, making it buttery, tender, and sweet. The stem, leaf, and flower are all edible, and you can enjoy at any stage in its growth cycle. However, they are best when harvested in the spring during cool and wet weather. I like to eat them while hiking as a trail snack, or bring the home and add to salads or use on a sandwich!

Friday Favourites

Grow

• Really great video with ideas for planning your garden from Lavender and Leeks
• How to install a drip irrigation system from Garden Betty
• Getting your tools ready for spring from the Impatient Gardener

“For a seed to achieve its greatest expression, it must come completely undone. The shell cracks, its insides come out and everything changes. To someone who doesn’t understand growth, it would look like complete destruction.”

— Cynthia Occelli

Find

• Lots of information about Birch trees from Eat the Weeds.
• Melissa Keyser's take on foraging for stinging nettles.
• If nothing is growing in your area yet you can still make this Pine Tea from How to Cook a Weed

Eat

• Make some Chimichurri from Food in Jars if you have some herbs already starting to grow in your garden.
• This recipe for a braised lamb pie from Dinner with Julie sounds like the perfect way for me to use some of the lamb I've still got in my freezer!
• Use the last of your fall produce in these Caramelized Turnips and Apples with Thyme recipe from Northwest Edible Life

Make

• Modern Pegboard DIY from Remodelista
• These labels from Raggedy Bits will help you organize your life and make it pretty too!
• DIY milk glass cake stands from Vintage Porch

Misc

• These amazing sandals with rubber soles made from upcycled worn out tires.  They also help provide work to people in the Dominican Republic.
• Keep your life zero waste with this amazing, Canadian company that makes cloth diapers and so much more!

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Some of these links are affiliate links for which I will receive a small commission from any sale made.  Any product linked here is something I have tried and would absolutely recommend from my own experience with the company.

Helpful Products for an Eco-Friendly Home

Taking care of the earth has always been something I care about, and now several years on in my foraging and gardening life it has only grown in importance.  If you have been following along with me for a while you might have read some of my cloth diapering posts.  This time around I wanted to share some products that might be something you are interested in even if you don't have kids in diapers.

Photo from Bravesoles.life

Personal Care and Accessories

Brave Soles Sandals

These are a product I have discovered recently and I absolutely love what this company does.  The soles of the shoes are upcycled worn out tires, and one of the main reasons Brave Soles exists is to provide jobs and improve the situation of people in the Dominican Republic.

Brush with Bamboo Plant-based Bamboo Toothbrush - Adult Size (Pack of 4)

One small thing you can do to reduce the amount of single use plastic you consume is to switch to compostable toothbrushes.  I have tried a few different brands, and this one is very good.  I did find it took a little while to get used to the feeling and shape of the brush in your mouth as it is quite different from a conventional plastic 

Pela Case Eco Friendly Phone Case

This phone case is one of my favourite products I discovered by following someone on Instagram.  The case is made in Canada from the leftover byproducts that come with flax farming.  I love that the chaff can become something useful instead of being burnt in the field after the harvest which is what usually happens.  The "flaxtic" is a really great material for a phone case since it has some natural give that cushions in the event of a fall.  If it ever becomes too damaged to use again (as is the case of an earlier model case I have where one edge ripped) just throw it in the compost bin!

Folk Potions All Purpose Salve

This product is an example of something much closer to a zero waste beauty product, with the benefit of knowing exactly what goes into it and who is making it.  While there are more local options for me to purchase in this style (and I do make use of those), I wanted to highlight Folk Potions because I really love the quality of the product.  Austin is a long way away so shipping something that far isn't exactly ideal in an eco friendly world, but Raina has a few products I haven't seen anyone else make.  I especially loved her all purpose salve for my cracked and chapped hands this winter.  I've tried quite a few different salves and this one is by far my favourite, so I wanted to give her a shout out here.  

Household Items and Cleaning Products

Smartklean Laundry Ball - Ditch Toxic Laundry Detergents Forever! by SmartKlean

This is one of my absolute favourite things we decided to buy for our house.  We have two of these we are rotating our use with at the moment, and have only owned three in all 7+ years Mr. Forager and I have been married.  Since using one of these we have bought zero laundry detergent.  Since there is no detergent there is no residue, and no added fragrance to irritate sensitive skin.  We use ours to clean our cloth diapers and have been happy with how clean everything gets.

Now Designs Swedish Dishcloth, Set of Two, Hometown, 2 Piece

These dishcloths are made of cellulose and cotton, are completely biodegradable, and reusable.  We've been using them for the past few months and I don't plan to switch back to the conventional cotton type dishcloth again.  When they are gross we just wash them with our regular laundry, and when they are really worn out (see photo above) they go in the compost bin!

Bürstenhaus Redecker 13.6-inch Soft Horsehair Bottle Brush

I love this brush.  It is amazing at doing the cleaning we need it to do, and at the end of its usefulness it goes into the compost bin!  Can't beat that!  The one issue that might arise is that this is not suitable for someone who is vegan since the bristles are made from horse hair.

Nuggles Designs Hanging Wet Bag

We originally purchased this bag to use with our cloth diapers, but somehow along the way wound up with two wet bags, and started using this one to collect kitchen and cleaning laundry.  It work perfectly for this purpose since you just toss whatever is dirty in the bag, and then when it is time to wash grab the bag, dump the contents in the washer, toss the bag in as well, and wash it all as normal.  Hang the bag back up and it will dry as it collects the laundry to be washed for next time.

Abeego, The Original Beeswax Food Storage Wrap - Set of Three, 7" 10" and 13" Natural Square Sheets

This stuff is amazing.  We bought one huge roll of plastic wrap when we first got married 7 years ago, and because of items like this we don't plan to buy any more when it is gone (it is also because of solutions like this beeswax food wrap that the roll is still not finished!).  The fabric is infused with beeswax and other oils, and becomes moldable with the warmth of your hands.  Wash in warm (not hot) water wish dish soap and air dry.  This one is not suitable for vegans because of the beeswax.

Time to go to the compost bin!

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This page contains some affiliate links.  While I may earn a commission should you choose to purchase something through clicking the link, these are all companies and products I have experience with and highly recommend from my own experience using them.