Stellaria media, aka common Chickweed...is edible...:D

[gogoalie]

Now I know exactly why they call it chickweed, as my chickens just LOVE eatin' it over anything else, even corn..

& we've got it growin' up here in the TONS! I didn't know though, that it is an edible plant, I smelt it, & it does smell pleasant, & I may take to washin' some & havin' a go at it with some onion, carrots, toms & cukes, & if it's less agreeable than say, dandelion or spinich, I may drown in it some ranch...

This is an amazing discovery...

 

[hallerlake]

I thought for sure my girls would love henbit, but no, they won't touch it.

 

[gogoalie]

Do you get Fireweed in WA? They love Fireweed as well...that's an edible up here as well...

 

[jomercer]

You mean as human food? I suppose chickweed won't make you sick, but I can't imagine it would be all that tasty. My parakeet loved it.

The weed that I (and the chicks) really like, though, is wood sorrel. It has tripart leaves like a clover, but isn't a legume. It grows upright from a single stem (not sprawling and rooting at nodes like white clover) in sunny places and has little yellow 5 petaled flowers that become oblong capsule with the seeds in them.

It has a tangy sour flavor that would probably be really good in a salad. We called it "sour grass"--poor kids' "SweeTarts" candy!

It grows in patches where the lawn is thin (most of my "lawn", actually) that I pull and give to the girls in the evening as their treat.

 

[hallerlake]

Quote:
We have Fireweed here, but not in my garden. It grows on disturbed lands.

 

[hallerlake]

Quote:
I have that. I'm using the red leaved sorrel as a ground cover in my garden. I may live to regret that.

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

My yard is full of chickweed and my partner was telling me that is good for the chickens and it makes them lay...he raised parakeets at one time and the instruction book told him to put chickweed in there and it would start laying. He sometimes pulls it up now and puts it in with my chickens...I saw on here where someone was going to try and eat it for themselves also in a I guess tossed salad....has anyone did that before either....Very curious on both of these..tell me what you all know about it.
Thanks...snowing in Va. today so I'll be on here allllll day...

 

[hallerlake]

Shotweed, Cardamine somthingorother, is also edible for humans. I'm assuming it's okay for chickens, too. Lord knows I have lots of shotweed.

 

[flowerchild59]

Chickwed is delicious as an addition to salads or adding to a mixed cooked greens in a skillet with lots of onions and garlic. Henbit is too.

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

what is the taste like of the chick weed? I have lots of it growing and I love fresh salads........