Wildcrafting in my Own Backyard

Our family is gearing up to buy another vehicle and I see more wild food field trips in my future. It has been a fabulous 10 months being back on land, and our trusty little truck has taken us far. Living frugally has been easy, as hitchhiking in Hawaii is easy, but the family has expanded and there are wild food adventures to be had. The lack of a vehicle has given me the chance to intimately know the weeds in my own backyard, and I wanted to share a few of them before I move onto larger pastures so to speak. Within roughly 300′ of my home I can eat an incredible diversity of greens. In the photo above you get a glimpse of Bidens pilosa‘s tender young greens, carrot tops, green onion tops, rosemary, sage, molokai sweet potato greens, and malabar spinach. The photo below showcases wild false ava leaves (Piper auritum), wild purslane (Portulaca oleracea), wild amaranth (Amaranthus spinosus), okinawa spinach, curry leaves, tropical oregano, moringa, chocolate mint, gotu kola, kale, garlic chives, thyme, parsley, and the red fruits are ohia’ai (Syzygium malaccense) and soursop.

And, although there are many more that deserve to be recognized, this basket highlights edible hibiscus, katuk, moringa, sow thistle (Sonchus oleraceus), gotu kola (Centella asiatica), violets, okinawan spinach, peppermint, chocolate mint, oriental hawksbeard (Youngia japonica). I am a lover of the green things, and eating a diversity of plants provides me great joy.