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I use wild herbs for natural remedies, for cooking and for a quick snack while outdoors.
Collecting wild herbs is not difficult, but it will require a bit of knowledge.

I am an herbalist, but sort of a lazy one. I don't travel far and wide to harvest my herbs, I use just what grows on my own property.

Anyone who has a lawn or garden area probably has weeds. The only difference between a weed and an herb is semantics. Many of the so-called weeds in your garden are used as natural remedies, or good for cooking and eating, or both.

While I am not a big salad eater, I find that when I can create a salad from leaves picked fresh from my garden it is something I really enjoy. I use young dandelion leaves, chickweed, purslane, and sorrel; to name just a few. One that doesn't grow in my garden but is just delicious is miner's lettuce. Flower petals can be used as well, especially johnny-jump-ups and Calendula.

In order to safely collect wild herbs you will need a good book for identification. Make sure you buy one that is for your part of the country, as the plants may differ from region to region.

Anything that may be considered poisonous, or has poisonous look-alikes (parsley family, for example. Queen Anne's Lace looks a lot like deadly water hemlock!)should be positively identified by an expert before you eat it. If you have an extension service office in your area they can help. If not, find a local herbalist or master gardener.

If picking in the wild, remember a few simple rules. Be sure you have permission, or that it is legal where you are foraging. Pick only a few stems, leaves, etc. from each plant, a few plants from each plot. Do not dig any plants that may be endangered. Leave the area otherwise just as you found it - no litter, no holes in the ground, that sort of thing.

If you are planning on making natural remedies from the plants you pick, then you will need to know something about that. Teas are the easiest remedy to make and require no special knowledge for the method. You will want to know however, what part of the plant to use and what time of year to harvest it.

Some wild herbs have their medicinal action in the leaves, some in the roots, and everywhere in between. For some plants the early spring growth will be the most useful, while others are best harvested in fall. There are many herbals written that will give you this information.

Learn more about this author, Elyse Grau.
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