chickweed, mint, arugula, olive oil, garlic salt, pepper, a smattering of feta cheese.
All of the greens came up this year on their own, and I can probably get a salad a day from them for at least a month, maybe two or three before I need to come up with other sources of greens. I don't want to over-romanticize this, but I also don't want to leave it so marginalized that it isn't even acknowledged -- my grounds provide me a salad a day if I am willing to go get it.
The arugula has self-seeded from a planting I made years ago. (It was at least three, but maybe four or five). I find it interesting to watch each year's self-seeding move a few feet away from the year before, walking across the lawn in time. The mint originally came from my father-in-law. He had some that escaped containment and sprawled out into a portion of his lawn. That sounded like my kind of plant -- and still does. I find the mint to be mild enough to be the base of a salad, but that is a fairly recent revelation. Lastly, chickweed, as the name says, is a weed that comes in on its own. For some reason, dandelions don't come in well on our grounds, but I count myself fortunate that chickweed does. (I might go for a walk today to see if I can find dandelions in a park or greenbelt, but for now I have a cat curled up on me -- one that rarely does, at that).
And just like that, I can be re-connected after almost a year away. I had my reasons, such as finally letting grief run its course. I needed to take away the responsibilities of a garden, and that got me out of the habit of checking the grounds. In that time, I found great joy in creating, and I hope I can live a life that allows for creation, connection to nature, as well as any thing I need for happiness. But it is nice to start in a place, ie the salad, where the real bounty comes independent of my efforts.
As long as it isn't sprayed down with herbicide, the grounds can provide. I once read in a book by a botanist that those of us with weedy lawns are a silent majority. I hope that is the case. But if it isn't, the larger of a group we are, the better. One sign I keep looking out for that the ideologies and systems that work to rob us of our humanity have run their course is when I stop seeing poisons sprayed on lawns, attempting to create totalitarian mono-cultures. The critique goes deeper than rednecks and suburban conservatives. I agree with Mark Boyle when he questions the formulation that
destruction - carbon = sustainability.I see this idea implicit in imaginings, rhetoric, and most importantly, life-style choices of many people who think their hearts absolutely bleed while they beat on the left.
But even if we come of crises unscathed, perhaps using something like vertical farming and smart logistics, I will like feeling a sense of connection as well as a sense of place when I experience what the earth can produce.
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You may also like this article from Tree Hugger on lawn weeds you can eat.
