We all feel the same way about weeds: We don't want them in our garden. But Joseph Leyda, a certified ecologist and permaculture designer in Vancouver, wants you to look beyond the nuisance. The best way to deal with a garden full of weeds is to pluck them from the ground -- and put them on your plate.
Leyda will hold an Edible Weed Workshop on Sunday at the 78th St. Heritage Farm at Washington State University's Clark County Extension Offices, where he will show participants how to identify weeds in your own backyard and how to harvest and add them to your diet.
Leyda molded one-quarter of an acre of the farm into a forest ecosystem last December, layering trees, shrubs and herbs on top of one another into what's called a guild.
"Weeds can occasionally perform positive functions," Leyda said. "When guilds mature and the intended plants become established, a few weeds can actually help the system."
The workshop will close with a tour of the grounds, allowing attendees to identify, harvest and eat the weeds they find. To register, go to the extension website and click events.
"We want people to come away with the idea of looking at weeds as resources instead of the enemy," said Jenifer Naas, program coordinator and lead watershed steward at the 78th St. Heritage Farm.
Here are a few weeds Leyda recommends picking up and adding to your diet this spring:
Sources: Edible weeds (From: Couplan, Francois. The Encyclopedia of Edible Plants of North America. Keats Publishing, New Caanan, Connecticut: 1998.)
-- Rebecca Barnhart, Special to The Oregonian
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Vancouver ecologist teaches residents to safely harvest food from their yard
