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Urban foragers feast on sidewalk salads (While us rural folks feast on fresh garden veggies)
Reuters ^ | Jul 28, 2009 | Lisa Shumaker

Posted on 07/31/2009 3:09:46 PM PDT by appleseed

CHICAGO (Reuters Life!) - Armed with pruning shears and a paper bag, Nance Klehm walks along a Chicago sidewalk, pointing out plants and weeds that can make a tasty salad or stir-fry.

She snips stalks from a weed with downy leaves and white powder commonly called goosefoot or lamb's quarters.

"I collect a lot of this," said Klehm, 43. "It's indistinguishable from spinach when you cook it. I never, never grow spinach or other greens except kale. Everything else I forage."

Klehm is among a small group of urban foragers across the United States who collect weeds and plants from city streets and gardens to use in meals and medicines. Some are survivalists while others are environmentalists or even gourmands seeking new flavors for cooking.

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: gardening; preppers; survivalists
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I have a bunch of friends who live in the city. Most of them grew up in a rural area and know the value of being self sufficient. None of them search city sidewalks for greens for their salad. One guy that I know has about a dozen of those upside down hanging tomato planters all over his condo, he also has a bunch of planters all over his place with different kinds of veggies and herbs growing out of them. He comes from a rural area where his family has several acres in rural Indiana. He comes down several times a month and fishes and takes the fish home and stashes them in the freezer. He's got an arsenal of hunting equipment that makes me envenious. He's got a freezer loaded with jerkey and meat from hunting season that he harvested on his parents property.

Not all city folks troll sidewalks for greens for a salad. Those that have been in the sticks know how to take of things - Even if they are forced to live in the city.

1 posted on 07/31/2009 3:09:47 PM PDT by appleseed
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To: appleseed

I’d consider urban greenery a less than ideal source for a salad. Even if I could identify everything perfectly. At least I can keep the doggies from dooing on my garden.


2 posted on 07/31/2009 3:11:53 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (The Democrat Party: a criminal organization masquerading as a political party)
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To: Momaw Nadon; Mrs. Ranger; Squantos; wafflehouse; pbmaltzman; WKUHilltopper; dusttoyou; PLMerite; ...

Self Reliant/Survivalist Ping List


3 posted on 07/31/2009 3:13:26 PM PDT by appleseed
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To: appleseed

Eww. I understand that urban foraging is wildly popular in North Korea too.


4 posted on 07/31/2009 3:14:19 PM PDT by Owl558 ("Those who remember George Satayana are doomed to repeat him")
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To: appleseed

Make sure you harvest from the sidewalk where the tubercular bums don’t spit on.


5 posted on 07/31/2009 3:15:30 PM PDT by SnuffaBolshevik
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To: appleseed

Having been a city denizen, I’d pass on those greens in the sidewalks.

Too many dogs.


6 posted on 07/31/2009 3:15:36 PM PDT by OpusatFR (Those embryos are little humans in progress. Using them for profit is slavery.)
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To: appleseed

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090402/METRO08/904020395

Here is one in Detroit.


7 posted on 07/31/2009 3:16:25 PM PDT by Cheetahcat (Zero the Wright kind of Racist! We are in a state of War with Democrats)
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To: appleseed

I have uromysitisis and I ALWAYS aim at weeds and plants when I relieve myself.


8 posted on 07/31/2009 3:18:08 PM PDT by Slump Tester (What if I'm pregnant Teddy? Errr-ahh -Calm down Mary Jo, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it)
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To: appleseed

Yuck! I’ll pass on the sidewalk salad. I’ve got friends who are merchants in the poorer side of town, guess what they tell me about where the homeless potty?


9 posted on 07/31/2009 3:19:14 PM PDT by NaughtiusMaximus (This tagline reopening soon.)
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To: HiTech RedNeck
At least I can keep the doggies from dooing on my garden.

LOL! Not to mention the incredible load of heavy metals from urban pollution these goofballs are ingesting. After all they don't call 'em brownfields for nothing.

10 posted on 07/31/2009 3:20:20 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: appleseed

Good grief, isn’t lamb’s quarter really high in oxalic acid?
I don’t think it’s a good idea to eat it regularly. hmm, or is the downy one known as lamb’s ears. Oh, great, now I’m trying to remember the difference between lamb’s ear, lamb’s lettuce, and lamb’s quarter..never mind.

I think I’d pass on the urban foraging covered in Gosh knows what, though. Isn’t stuff grown by motorways covered in benzene or something from the exhaust, plus the ick from dogs & homeless people?


11 posted on 07/31/2009 3:26:13 PM PDT by sockmonkey
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To: Cheetahcat

Redneck in the city, eats raccoons and squirrels shot on a vacant lot. There’s a hint he goes after hawks and eagles too.


12 posted on 07/31/2009 3:35:18 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (The Democrat Party: a criminal organization masquerading as a political party)
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To: sockmonkey

Like rhubarb, it needs to be cooked to get rid of the oxalic acid.


13 posted on 07/31/2009 3:36:20 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (The Democrat Party: a criminal organization masquerading as a political party)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

“There’s a hint he goes after hawks and eagles too.”

Eagle is very good if prepared well. The key is to soak with a good soy sauce based marinade.

Just bread with whole wheat pastry flour and corn meal.

It goes great with sweet corn.


14 posted on 07/31/2009 3:41:17 PM PDT by HereInTheHeartland (I agree with Rick..)
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To: appleseed

Lol! I hope there are no pets near their “Crop”.


15 posted on 07/31/2009 3:43:25 PM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
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To: HereInTheHeartland

But is there a Kentucky fried version?


16 posted on 07/31/2009 3:47:58 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (The Democrat Party: a criminal organization masquerading as a political party)
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To: OpusatFR

Those Lambs Ears belong to my dog. He marked them as his property! :-~


17 posted on 07/31/2009 3:49:03 PM PDT by glorgau
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To: appleseed

I would never eat weeds in the city. I do eat the weeds out here in the country much to the amusement of my 80yr old father-in-law. I’m sure he thinks ‘crazy city folk’.


18 posted on 07/31/2009 3:59:01 PM PDT by cyborg (The Cyborg Show brought you by the Apple iPhone)
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To: Cheetahcat
ObamaFood


19 posted on 07/31/2009 4:01:21 PM PDT by varyouga (2 natural disasters, zerO action. Obama doesn't care about white people!)
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To: appleseed

They can top it with sewer sludge for all I care.


20 posted on 07/31/2009 4:03:55 PM PDT by bill1952 (Choice is an illusion created between those with power - and those without)
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