This vlog features one of our favorite wild edible herbs at Mountain Jewel: lambs quarter (Chenopodium album).

Also known as fat hen, this fast growing annual has made its way onto our plates for the past 2 months almost daily! We love this plant. It shares a family with spinach, beets, chard, quinoa and others.

The patch featured in today's vlog showed up this spring after we brought one mature plant to the compost pile last year.

We have made numerous cuttings from the patch yet haven't planted, weeded or watered once! Perhaps that's why most folks on this continent consider this a weed; it loves to grow.

Weed can be a bit of a harsh word so we prefer to call it an opportunistic wild edible. There are even varieties of this plant that are cultivated.

This is a great example of making use of the abundance of nature. These plants showed up in great numbers all on their own in many patches of bare soil. The first 2 rounds of spinach we planted have already bolted, whereas this wild cousin is still producing tender young growth. We are simple harvesting what this landscape is producing, not trying hard to "make things happen".

Eating this common wild edible is a great strategy for anyone gardening as it is widespread, fast growing, nutritious, easy to ID and delicious. We are aware of high levels of oxalic acid (make you sure you cook it; steam it), but with a well rounded diet and healthy lifestyle we aren't concerned about eating too much of it.

Hope this gets you out eating your weeds!