• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to after header navigation
  • Skip to site footer
The Healthy Home Economist

The Healthy Home Economist

embrace your right to a lifetime of health

Get Plus
  • Home
  • About
  • My Books
  • Shopping List
  • Archives
  • Log in
  • Get Plus
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Get Plus
  • Log in
  • Home
  • About
  • Subscribe
  • Archives
  • My Books
  • Shopping List
  • Recipes
  • Healthy Living
  • Natural Remedies
  • Green Living
  • Videos
  • Natural Remedies
  • Health
  • Green Living
  • Recipes
  • Videos
  • Subscribe
Healthy Home Economist / Archives / Green Living / Do You Have an Herb Garden and Not Even Know It?

Do You Have an Herb Garden and Not Even Know It?

by Sarah Pope / Affiliate Links ✔

Nettle in My Front Yard

My child’s school class went on a field trip last week to a local, community organic farm.   This excursion afforded the children the unique opportunity to plant seeds, weed the rows of vegetables, harvest the crop and even feed the free range chickens!     After the children had picked a basketful of lettuce from the rows of carefully tended vegetables, our knowledgeable guides rinsed and prepared a salad with the harvest for everyone to enjoy with lunch.

It was a fantastic learning experience for the children as well as the parents.

As someone who has been “into organic” for almost 20 years, most of what we went over during the field trip was already common knowledge to me.    We all have something to learn from just about every experience, however, and this field trip was no exception.   During the tour through the farm’s greenhouse, I was shocked to see at least 4 herbs growing that I have seen for years growing wild in my yard!

Imagine that?   A veritable garden in my yard without me even knowing it!

So, what are these lovely plants growing right under my nose that I’ve been ignorantly weed wacking and mowing for the past 18 years?  The fab four are:  fennel, thyme, oxalis, and nettle!    I’ve even blogged about nettle before – it’s one of my all time favorite herbs.   There are probably many other plants in my yard that I could use for cooking as well, considering that I have never used pesticides on my yard in the 18 years I’ve lived in this house and the entire 2 acres is full of wild, native Florida flora.

If it’s green and it grows, it’s ok by me.   I’m not a “perfect lawn” kind of gal.

Oxalis, Oxalis Everywhere!

My next task is to dry the nettle I picked in my yard and start using it for tea instead of the expensive organic nettle tea I’ve been buying at the store.   Don’t worry, I won’t poison myself.   I made sure to ask my next door neighbor who happens to be a Doctor of  Biology at the University of South Florida, to come and verify these plants that I was about to pick and eat!

Besides making tea with the wild nettle, I’m going to try lightly steaming and eating the oxalis.   Oxalis is a plant similar to spinach.   Both contain the antinutrient oxalic acid which is very irritating to the mouth and digestive tract and is very much linked to kidney stones if consumed frequently.  It is best to slightly steam these types of veggies to eliminate the oxalic acid instead of eating them raw, so I won’t be putting them in  a salad as suggested by the folks at the community farm.

My kids were especially excited by the discovery that we already have a garden growing with absolutely no effort on our part to water, fertilize or tend it.   Just years of careful avoidance of all things poisonous and application of fish fertilizer on our citrus trees and other desirable plants that has obviously brought in a lot of worms is all that it took.

What edible plants do you have growing in your yard?   Do you make use of any of them in your cooking?

Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist.com

FacebookPinEmailPrint
Category: Green Living
Sarah Pope

Sarah Pope MGA has been a Health and Nutrition Educator since 2002. She is a summa cum laude graduate in Economics from Furman University and holds a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

She is the author of three books: the bestseller Get Your Fats Straight, Traditional Remedies for Modern Families, and Living Green in an Artificial World.

Her four eBooks Good Diet…Bad Diet, Real Food Fermentation, Ketonomics, and Ancestrally Inspired Dairy-Free Recipes are available for complimentary download via Healthy Home Plus.

Her mission is dedicated to helping families effectively incorporate the principles of ancestral diets within the modern household. She is a sought after lecturer around the world for conferences, summits, and podcasts.

Sarah was awarded Activist of the Year in 2010 at the International Wise Traditions Conference, subsequently serving on the Board of Directors of the nutrition nonprofit the Weston A. Price Foundation for seven years.

Her work has been covered by numerous independent and major media including USA Today, ABC, and NBC among many others.

You May Also Like

Quick and Easy Homemade Fly Trap (REALLY works!) 2

Quick and Easy Homemade Fly Trap (REALLY works!)

package of toxic fluorescent track lights

PCBs in Fluorescent Lights. Brain Damaged Teachers Win Massive Lawsuit Against Monsanto-Bayer

metal hangers

The Life of the Lowly Dry Cleaning Hanger

healthy home with a wooden door

Critical Health Checklist for Home Buyers

Does Borax Make the Cut for a Green Home? 1

Does Borax Make the Cut for a Green Home?

Safe Flea Control for Pets: No Pesticides and No Drugs (+ Video)

Is Your Home Making You Sick?

Get a free chapter of my book Living Green in an Artificial World + my newsletter and learn how to start creating a living environment that supports and enhances health!

We send no more than one email per week. You will never be spammed or your email sold, ever.
Loading

Reader Interactions

Comments (19)

  1. Beata

    Feb 22, 2023 at 9:10 am

    The picture at the beginning of the article is showing a thistle, not a nettle. This should be corrected.

    Reply
  2. Christine

    Sep 26, 2011 at 9:50 am

    I usually enjoy your articles but I am uncomfortable about the labelling of the above plant as nettle. It is important to remember that wild plants’ local names may be interchangeable but their uses are not necessarily so. This is why the latin names are so useful. While many wild plants are as safe as any vegetable , and very nutritious, many are not, and incorrect identification can lead to illness. Sadly, any accidental injury caused by using a plant incorrectly is not only bad for the individual, but deals a blow to the reacceptance of these valuable plants as food and medicine. I’m afraid that although your article is well meaning, instead of introducing folks to the proper use of wild plants it perpetuates errors in judgement by people who want to eat well from the wild, but don’t have the right information to do so safely. If you are unsure of the identification of the plant in the photo, may I suggest putting “nettle” in quotation marks, and perhaps a follow-up article on Urtica? It is a powerhouse of nutrition, high in protein (unusual for a plant) and very easily used calcium, worth a post on its own, readily available all over the world.

    Reply
  3. Diann

    Mar 3, 2011 at 7:04 pm

    Growing wild in my New England yard (and no, I have not used pesticides here since moving in in 1991): dandelions, arugula, onion grass, raspberries, burdock, plantain, garlic mustard (this last an invasive plant, so eat it up fast before it propagates!) . Sassafras (which isn’t really that safe.) Undoubtably things I don’t recognize.

    Reply
  4. .ambre. @ livingasoftheday

    Mar 3, 2011 at 12:44 pm

    My daughter loves running through the yard eating dandelion flowers. Food, food, everywhere!

    Reply
  5. Harold

    Mar 2, 2011 at 5:41 pm

    I agree with the other posts about it not being true nettle, however, it is great composter, as the main stalk is hollow and decomposes quickly. Be sure to get it before the flower heads fully develope.

    Reply
  6. Beth

    Mar 2, 2011 at 2:44 pm

    Here’s a fun link! Anything look familiar? I marvel at all the things we may have right in our midst.

    http://www.google.com/images?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=s&hl=en&q=edible+weeds&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&sa=X&ei=vI5uTcm9EMqEtgfux7T-Dg&ved=0CDUQsAQ&biw=1546&bih=805

    Reply
« Older Comments

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Sidebar

Mother Nature’s Medicine Cabinet

5 Secrets to a Strong Immune System

Loading

The Healthy Home Economist

Since 2002, Sarah has been a Health and Nutrition Educator dedicated to helping families effectively incorporate the principles of ancestral diets within the modern household. Read More

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Check Out My Books

Mother Nature’s Medicine Cabinet

5 Secrets to a Strong Immune System

Loading

Contact the Healthy Home Economist. The information on this website has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any disease. By accessing or using this website, you agree to abide by the Terms of Service, Full Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Affiliate Disclosure, and Comment Policy.

Copyright © 2009–2023 · The Healthy Home Economist · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc.

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!