The leaves of Broadleaf Plantain are a wonderful edible. Some people say they taste like bitter salad greens. Usually Carol and I eat the tender younger leaves raw, or add them to rice we are cooking.

If you eat 3 of [...]]]>

Traditionally, Native Americans called Plantain “white man’s footprint” because it appeared wherever white men went.

The leaves of Broadleaf Plantain are a wonderful edible. Some people say they taste like bitter salad greens. Usually Carol and I eat the tender younger leaves raw, or add them to rice we are cooking.

If you eat 3 of the seed stalks of plantain a day, many people report that you will never get bit by mosquito’s, because the seed stalks contain vitamin B-1, which repels mosquito’s and other small insects.

“Plantain is a strong coagulant and can be used as a wound dressing if you are living in the wild. Keep in mind, if you take blood thinners or are prone to blood clots should never eat plantain.”

For healing, we chew the leaves for about 15 seconds and slap them on insect bites and stings.

Now go have fun, and go Eat Weeds and Live!

Mr Twenty Twenty

Click here and Learn 27 Edible Plants for just $5 bucks!

Join us for a special event today!

Chenopodium Album – commonly called Lambs Quarters and Goose Foot grows up to 6 foot tall in Pennsylvania. You can [...]]]>

The Wild Edible Weed of the week is one of my absolute favorites.  It is high in calcium, potassium and is a great source for a whole bunch of B vitamins and vitamin C as well.

Chenopodium Album – commonly called Lambs Quarters and Goose Foot grows up to 6 foot tall in Pennsylvania. You can find it often between 6 inches and 2 feet, and it often grows limbs like a small tree.  It’s leaves are dark green on top, with a lighter green on the bottom – with a light dusting of a white powder on the underside.

The leaves of Chenopodium Album are shaped like “goose foot” which is where it gets one of it’s common nick names.

Goosefoot recipes are simple. You can stir fry it with garlic, you can add it raw to salads, you can add it in with rice while it is cooking, you can simply nibble it off the plant.

Caution note: Just make sure that it does not have an odor like turpentine.   There is a cousin to Chenopodium Album that has a turpintine odor that you do not want to eat.  Trust me on this one.

So go forth, and participate in Natural Health Care.  Care for your health naturally by eating nutritious weeds and wild edibles.  Your world and your body will thank you!

Mr Twenty Twenty

Check out Carol Wingert’s 27 Easy Edible Plants book.  It’s just $5 for the instant download.  Available in paperback on Amazon too!

Staghorn Sumach grows up to 30 feet tall, it has alternate compound leaves that each have 9 to 31 leaflets with saw tooth edges. The stems are densely covered in [...]]]>

Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina) has 6 to 10 inch clusters of RED berries that are used to make a very delicious drink called Indian lemonade.

Staghorn Sumach grows up to 30 feet tall, it has alternate compound leaves that each have 9 to 31 leaflets with saw tooth edges^. The stems are densely covered in rust-colored hairs.

To make Indian Lemonade, all you have to do is gather 2 to 4 berry clusters and soak them in cold water.  Slightly crushing them with your hand will help them to soak into the water faster.

Strain, chill, then drink this delicious natural drink all summer long.  It is much better for you than just about anything you can buy in the store.

Native Americans also used the leaves of Staghorn Sumac along with other plants  in traditional smoking mixtures or tobacco’s.

Safety Notice: Notice how the photographs of Staghorn Sumac (above) are very different than the poison sumac.  Poison Sumac Photos – Click Here

“If you enjoy wild edible plants as much as I do, click on the link download Carol Wingert’s 27 Easy Edible Plants Book – It is just $5, and is designed to help you easily learn 27 of the most common edible plants in the United States.  Get it today!”

Hope to see you soon on one of our Weekend Events!

Mr Twenty Twenty

Warning: Be absolutely positive you are harvesting Day Lilly – if you are [...]]]>

The Daylilly is a wonderful wild edible weed – wild edible flower. You can harvest just about everything from the Daylilly at one point or another, and it is a delicious wild edible that just has to be shared with a friend.

Warning: Be absolutely positive you are harvesting Day Lilly – if you are a beginner – harvest only when it is flowering. If you really want to get good at identifying day lillies – compared to poisonous lillies – visit a green house and ask to be shown both day lilly and other lilly plants. Your eyes will be opened.

Once you get to know the edible day lily well, you’ll find that the leaves are edible in the early early spring, the shoots are edible as long as they are tender, and the flowers and the flower buds are edible once they appear. Even the rhizomes (roots) are edible – just about anytime – raw or cooked – they are an awesome treat.

The Chinese Connection.

In chinese medicine the leaves were used as a painkiller in traditional times. You also can dry the flower petals and use them like the chinese do as well, in soups. Stock up for winter!

How to Identify Day Lillies

The fastest method to positively identify edible day lilies is to check the roots.

Edible Day Lillies – Hemerocallis Species grow from network of underground tubers resembling tiny potatoes, while many poisonous look alike plants grow from bulbs.

The day lily flowers last only a single day, this is where the name comes from.  Other lilly flowers (not daylillies) will face down, last more than one day, and often have thicker petals.

Take your time, and be cautious.  Learn from experts what you can eat, and what will cause you to push up daisies.

And enjoy the amazing supermarket nature has to offer you!

Mr Twenty Twenty

Learn 27 Edible Plants this year for $5 bucks!  Click here to check out Carol Wingert’s 27 Easy Edible Plant’s book!

Wood Sorrel Leaf - By Carol Wingert

Wood Sorrel – Oxalis Species – Oxalis Montanna – Oxalis Acetosella

Wood Sorrel is an amazing wild edible, that has leaves and flowers that are best eaten raw. Commonly called sour grass, and often confused with “yellow clover”, Wood Sorrel is a sour treat that will quench your [...]]]>

Wood Sorrel Leaf - By Carol Wingert

Wood Sorrel – Oxalis Species – Oxalis Montanna – Oxalis Acetosella

Wood Sorrel is an amazing wild edible, that has leaves and flowers that are best eaten raw. Commonly called sour grass, and often confused with “yellow clover”, Wood Sorrel is a sour treat that will quench your thirst, while you enjoy it as a trail side nibble.

To identify Wood Sorrel, note the 5 petaled yellow flowers, and the HEART SHAPED leaves. Wood Sorrel leaves have a heart shape, that have a fold down the middle, and when it’s rainy or overcast, they often fold in half.

Native American uses for Wood Sorrel.

Kiowa Indians would often chew Wood Sorrel leaves and flowers, to quench thirst while traveling, Algonquin Indians used it as an aphrodisiac, Cherokee Indians ate wood sorrel to treat sore throat, and Iroquois Indians used wood sorrel for fever and cramps.

In our Wild Weed Walks and Plants Classes we often add Wood Sorrel to our salads, but we never cook it, because it contains natural Oxalic Acid. (Oxalic acid is also in spinach, and that’s why raw spinach tastes better and is better for you than cooked spinach.)

Please compare the photo’s below – and make sure you are NOT picking “Yellow Clover” which grows often in the same areas as Wood Sorrel. These photo’s were taken just 3 feet apart from each other along the Great Allegheny Passage – Yough River Bike Trail by Carol Wingert.

Have a great day!

Mr Twenty Twenty – AKA – Mr Nature

Click here to join us for our next Special Event!

Click here to get Carol’s 27 Easy Edible Plants book – $5 instant download – Now available in Paperback too!

Note:  If you have Gout – stay away from Spinach and Wood Sorrel.  Because of the Oxalic acid in them, they may tend to contribute to conditions like Gout.

Red Clover - by Carol Wingert - Great Allegheny Passage.

It’s called starvation, and the common [...]]]> If you are going to live close to the earth, you need to learn the plants that supply you with protein, because without protein, no matter how many plants you eat, your body will start to break down and consume itself.

Red Clover - by Carol Wingert - Great Allegheny Passage.

It’s called starvation, and the common edible weed, Red Clover – Trifolium Pratense – is high in protein, it  is a gold mine.

How to Identify Red Clover.

In Pennsylvania, the edible Red Clover begins to flower in the middle of may, and it becomes easy to identify.

Notice the leave come in groups of 3, and have a very distinctive V watermark on them.  The stem is lightly hairy.

Medicinal Uses for Red Clover

Red clover contains compounds that are being used to treat menopausal symptoms, including hot flashes.   Many women are making a simple tea of the flowers for their personal use.

Red clover is also being used as a treatment for whooping cough and bronchitis.

Eating Red Clover

All I can tell you is, that Red Clover is a great wild edible.  You can eat it’s leaves or flowerheads raw in salads, or add them to any pot herb that you are cooking.  We pull the flowers apart, and add them to our Wild Weeds and Rice dishes, and have enjoyed them dipped in Pancake Batter and fried during the Way Of The Scout Weekend.

Go forth, take your time, be positive, and enjoy the Wild Weed of the Week!

Mr Twenty Twenty

Weed Walks – Edible Plants Feast – Making Medicine – Click here!

Did you know, that for just $5 bucks, you can learn 27 Easy Edible Plants quickly this year?  Get Carol’s new Edible Plants Book today!

“Carol’s Edible Plants Book has the best photographs I have ever seen for learning how to identify edible plants!  I printed it out, and I am going to carry it when I hike the Blue Ridge Mountains this summer.” Bob in Kentucky.

It has been said that there is no part of the world where you can’t find chickweed to eat, and I can tell you from my [...]]]> Chickweed is our Edible Weed of the Week. Since I started eating mostly weeds again this year, I have been LOVING the sweet corn kind of taste of fresh chickweed.

It has been said that there is no part of the world where you can’t find chickweed to eat, and I can tell you from my personal travels, chickweed is just about EVERYWHERE that I have been to in North America.

“Chickweed has leafy stems frequently branched, it’s leaves are oval shaped, sometimes pointy, attach directly to the stem and are opposite one another. Chickweed flowers are white in color, have 5 petals (but they sometimes look like 10 petals to the beginners eye).”

Enjoy the fresh taste of chickweed raw when it is tender, and feel free to boil it as a potherb, or add it to your favorite rice dishes.

It is a high mineral, fun to eat trail side nibble, that will quench your thirst, and that will feed you well.

Have a great day! Hope to see you soon in one of our Special Events!

Mr Twenty Twenty

If you enjoy these articles, you’ve gotta get Carol’s 27 Easy Edible Plants book for just $5 bucks today!  Instantly download it to your computer, print it out, and take it with you. She photographed and described 27 of the most common and identifiable plants from our region. We’ve been getting great feedback from all over the United States (except in the desert regions) telling us that her book is just great! Get it today for just $5 bucks! Click here: 27 Easy Edible Plants Book by Carol Wingert!

Caution:  There are plants you don’t want to eat, that are commonly confused with chickweed.  Keep in mind, chickweed has OPPOSITE PAIRED leaves, and DOES NOT HAVE milky sap.

(Make sure you watch the video below….)

“Have you noticed when watching people, that too many of them are burned out, and sleep walking.  Repeating the same old, same old.  Same old thoughts, same old patterns.”

Some of them are BEGGING to be woken up.  Others, just want to be left in their twilight zone.  Which [...]]]> Hey mate,

(Make sure you watch the video below….)

“Have you noticed when watching people, that too many of them are burned out, and sleep walking.  Repeating the same old, same old.  Same old thoughts, same old patterns.”

Some of them are BEGGING to be woken up.  Others, just want to be left in their twilight zone.  Which group do you belong to?

So here’s the deal…  Do YOU have the Spirit of Survival?

I was blessed many  years ago, to get beaten to death, and then begin a 20 plus year journey of waking up.   After being a guard taken hostage in a 3 day prison riot, dying, coming back, getting diagnosed with PTSD…  I had a pretty neat opportunity.

I got to come back to life.

I came back to live not only on October 26, 1989 PHSYCIALLY, I got to explore WHAT IS MY LIFE ALL ABOUT on all levels ever since them.

Here’s a major life key:

“Paying the bills, getting by, not making waves – that isn’t even SURVIVING – that’s suffering your way through life.”

ON THE OTHER HAND:

• Getting your hands dirty.
• Discovering what you are really made of.
• Learning skills and philosophy that awaken something primal and REAL within you…

That’s what life is all about.  REAL LIFE means getting out of “the box” and into “the dirt”.

I can’t tell you how much joy I experience when I teach men and women how to SURVIVE using Native American Skills and Philosphy.  I can’t tell you, because it’s gotta be lived, felt, experienced.

“When was the last time you felt a spark of life come into existence?  I do it every time I make a fire rubbing two sticks together.  Unleashing “stored sunlight” is what my mentors called it.”

I feel it every time someone GETS A SKILL AND IT’S ESSENCE.

We need to discover the dirt again. We need to get back in touch with something real, something deep, something primal, something of the heart.

“When you learn how to survive, how to make fire from nothing, how to move invisibly, how to see the stories left behind in the tracks and sign, YOU come back to life – and you can’t imagine – being like the maddening masses again.”

Get real, get dirty, get alive!

Join us at our next Event – Way of The Scout!

Mr Twenty Twenty

PS:  How can you become much more alive in the next 15 minutes?

Get REAL!  Get REALLY dirty.  Break a sweat DOING SOMETHING.  Learn how to move silently with respect, in the woods, and among humans.   Discover how interconnected we all are, and STOP – running around like a crazy chicken.  Whooo yah!

Survive and Thrive!

Get Carol’s 27 Easy Edible Plants Book today for just $5 bucks!  Click the link!

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Your Sacred Spot.

The elder promised me that if I did as he requested, that me and my world would be transformed. Transformed in an instant. Transformed forever.

Your Sacred Spot

Begin simply. Choose a natural place close to where you live, or close to where you go everyday.  Better yet, [...]]]>

Twenty Twenty

Your Sacred Spot.

The elder promised me that if I did as he requested, that me and my world would be transformed. Transformed in an instant. Transformed forever.

Your Sacred Spot

Begin simply. Choose a natural place close to where you live, or close to where you go everyday.  Better yet, let a spot choose you.

The elder told me that once I knew where “the spot” was, I was to go there everyday.  Every single day for a year.  Rain or shine.  Hot or cold.  Busy or bored.   “Go sit, be still, in your Sacred Spot – everyday.”

Every day I went there. I walked in slowly. I carried only a notepad, a timer, and a pen. No mp3 players. No cell phone. Just me, sitting still, experiencing my world.

I learned a lot about the world I lived in. I discovered when the first robin of spring showed up. I learned what time of day the deer walked past.

In the winter it was dark, and I was cold. I was all alone then, when I was sitting outside in my sacred spot.

In the summer the days were longer, and I was warmed from within, reminded of my childhood. Often I would hear rabbits, and sometimes I would hear children playing nearby.

Spring inspired me, awakening something within. Being a witness and a participant to the miracles of birth, seeing baby birds, touching sprouting plants, hearing the gentle winds moving through the budding trees.

Autumn invited me to turn within, as the leaves returned to nurture mother earth, a gentle peacefulness from within grew. We all prepared for winter.

I experienced more completely than ever before, the cycles of nature, and the workings of my mind and spirit. I made friends with local cats, birds, deer, and squirrels. I made friends with myself in a whole new way.

I learned about commitment, I learned about focus, I learned about what I thought made me happy, sad, grumpy, and blissful. I learned about you, I learned about me.

Today, I still carry memories of my sacred spot and the lessons it taught me, with me today, everywhere I go.

I remember the elder, I honor him here.  He was right.  My sacred spot transformed me, and it has transformed the world that we all live in.

Your turn!  Enjoy the Sacred Spot Video

Your friend,

Mr Twenty Twenty

Join us for next Special Event or Walk!

See with Native Eyes – Get the Medicine Wheel Recordings here.

Pick up Carol’s Newest Book!  – Learn 27 Easy Edible Plants for just $5 bucks today!

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Every year while Carol and I are teaching Edible and Medicinal Plants along the Yough River Trail and elsewhere in Southwestern, Pennsylvania, I find myself asking class participants that question.

Because it’s easy to make a mistake, when it comes to gathering edible plants.  Remember, Weed Mart is not [...]]]> “Are you SURE that THAT is a Dandelion?”

Every year while Carol and I are teaching Edible and Medicinal Plants along the Yough River Trail and elsewhere in Southwestern, Pennsylvania, I find myself asking class participants that question.

Because it’s easy to make a mistake, when it comes to gathering edible plants.  Remember, Weed Mart is not WAL MART.  You’ve got to pay attention when shopping in Weed World.

Look closely in the photographs below.

The flower on the LEFT is Hawkweed.  Notice how it is FLATTER on the top than Dandelion.  Notice how the underside is different.  Notice that the STEM of the Hawkweed is hairy.

Every year, I catch experienced “weed eaters” misidentifying Hawkweed as Dandelion.   Take your time, be positive about ANYTHING you decide to put into your mouth.

And join us for a Native Eyes Walk soon!

Mr Twenty Twenty

AKA Mr Nature

PS:  Carol just released her new Edible Plants Book here:  Edible Plants Book – Go check it out!  It’s just $5 bucks and has some of the best photographs I have seen in it for identifying edible plants!  Click the link!

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