Everyone who drinks fresh fruit and vegetable juices knows about carrots, celery, beets and parsley but few, if any, stop to consider wild plants. Some of the best foods on earth go unnoticed and unused, all because no one has bothered to look into their virtues and try them.

Now I do not suggest that you go about indiscriminately plucking berries, fruits, leaves and branches from plants here, there and everywhere but there are many wild plants that offer much. There is no reason why plants like nettles, dandelions, chickweed, pigweed and lamb's quarters would not be as nutritious as some of the cultivated vegetables. These plant juices would help to provide variety and balance .... and all for free! Of course, one must make sure that they have not been sprayed.

I have long maintained that humanity is making a tremendous mistake in limiting, the varieties of food plants that are used throughout the world. Human beings are too much creatures of habit. Your father and your grandfather and your great-grandfather used celery and cabbage and, therefore, you use them. I suggest that you be a wee bit more enterprising and try the wild plants that I suggest and others that I have not mentioned.

Then, too, there is the fact that plants found growing wild would in most instances be free of harmful, dangerous, agricultural fertilizers and chemical sprays, dusts, insecticides, pesticides, fungicides and who knows what else. I suggest that these plants might even contain a better balance of nutrients as the soil would be in harmonious balance because man has not interfered.

In my travels throughout every part of America .... east, west, north, south or central; in the mountains and coastal regions: on the hills and in the valleys .... I have never known two areas where identical varieties or forms of plants could be found. Wherever you live there are some plants that are not indigenous to other areas, so you can keep on trying different plants almost endlessly. Yes, there are probably hundreds of different plants growing right in the vicinity in which you live. In case you think I exaggerate, I assure you that when I say hundreds of different plants I am not in error.

Of course, if you live in the concrete jungle, you will have to make for the tall timbers to obtain the plants. However, this should prove to be no hardship because anyone can find his way to locations where these interesting, unusual and nourishing plants can be found .... all one has to do is look. Remember the biblical admonition that tells us, "Seek and ye shall find."

I maintain that a goodly number of the weeds that grow around you are edible plants — yes, many more than you think. The number of poisonous plants growing throughout the world is insignificant. You can count all the doubtful, harmful or poisonous plants in your vicinity on your fingers and toes. If you think I know not whereof I speak, try to name the poisonous plants that can be found in your area. You'll be hard-pressed to find a dozen. This is just a reminder that nature made plants to feed man, not to destroy him.

Here is a list of some of the most readily available wild plants growing in America. You will find this list interesting and, I trust, worthwhile. When eating edible plants in a survival situation, a small amount the size of a teaspoon and waiting 45 minutes. If there is no nausea, vomiting or cramping one should be fine to eat. Use some of these plants, even if it does mean a little extra effort to locate them:

Edible Plants

PLANT: Sweet Flag

HABITAT: Canadian Maritime provinces to Great Lakes, south to Florida and Texas

PLANT: Ahzee Ahlook

HABITAT: North Pacific areas

PLANT: Kamchatika, Lyre-Leaved Rock Cress

HABITAT: Arctic regions southward

PLANT: Sea-Purslane

HABITAT: Eastern America to Virginia

PLANT: Milkweed, Silkweed

HABITAT: Mid America

PLANT: Winter Cress

HABITAT: North Pacific areas

PLANT: Water-Shield

HABITAT: Ponds and streams in low altitudes; Mid America

PLANT: Sea Rocket

HABITAT: Southern Labrador to strands on the Great Lakes

PLANT: Siberian Spring Beauty

HABITAT: North Pacific areas

PLANT: Corn-lily

HABITAT: Newfoundland to Lake Winnipeg, south across the northern states and along the mountains to North Carolina

PLANT: Scurvy-Grass

HABITAT: Labrador, Newfoundland and islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence

PLANT: Seacoast Angelica

HABITAT: Seaside thickets: gravelly, sandy ledges near the sea from Labrador to Long Island Sound

PLANT: Pepper-Root

HABITAT: Rich wooded areas of eastern America

PLANT: Spreading Wood Fern

HABITAT: North Pacific coastal regions

PLANT: Fireweed

HABITAT: Widely from Canada to Florida; springs up after forest fires

PLANT: Wild or Tall Lettuce

HABITAT: Widely throughout America

PLANT: Pepper-Grass

HABITAT: Temperate regions, escaped from cultivation

PLANT: Indian Cucumber

HABITAT: New Brunswick to Great Lakes, south to Florida

PLANT: Watercress

HABITAT: Naturalized throughout America in streams and waterways

PLANT: Sour-Grass

HABITAT: Eastern Canada to Southern States

PLANT: Mountain Sorrel

HABITAT: Mountain areas, Labrador, Newfoundland to Alaska, Rockies to California

PLANT: Canary, Bird-Seed-Grass

HABITAT: Native to Java but escaped to parts of America

PLANT: Husk-Tomato

HABITAT: Mid-America

PLANT: Common Plantain

HABITAT: Widely throughout America

PLANT: Western Bracken

HABITAT: North Pacific coastal regions

PLANT: Deergrass

HABITAT: Maine to Florida, west to Iowa, Missouri, Louisiana

PLANT: Chicken Claws

HABITAT: Eastern America

PLANT: Live-Forever

HABITAT: Quebec to Maryland and Wisconsin

PLANT: Roseroot

HABITAT: Cliffs, ledges and rocky banks near the sea, from the polar regions southward in Eastern America

PLANT: Lettuce-Saxifrage

HABITAT: On banks of streams and wet rocks through the mountains of Pennsylvania and the Southern States

PLANT: Hedge-Mustard

HABITAT: Eastern United States

PLANT: Twisted Stalk

HABITAT: North Pacific regions

PLANT: Dandelion

HABITAT: From coast to coast Mid America

PLANT: Penny-Cress

HABITAT: Labrador to Alaska to Southern States

PLANT: Spiderwort

HABITAT: Southern and Central States

PLANT: Clover

HABITAT: Naturalized throughout America

PLANT: Cat-Tail

HABITAT: United States and many parts of Canada; available in Spring

PLANT: Corn Salad

HABITAT: Naturalized throughout the Southern States

PLANT: Wisteria

HABITAT: South Eastern States

PLANT: Adam's Needle

HABITAT: Widely throughout America; cultivated and wild

I have given you a list of wild plants that have been accepted and proven to be edible plants. However, make sure that they have not been sprayed with any dangerous chemicals. Usually, it is quite safe to gather these plants from the bush or the woods. I usually procure them from various sections of my own farm.

I suggest that you be enterprising and try various wild plants, both in your salads and in your juices. I can't visualize that you can do yourself the slightest harm by this venture and, remember, all of these plants are yours absolutely free .... at least, I know of no law to restrict you from gathering them.

Adam Brookover

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