To stand in a large patch of blooming milkweed on a hot summer’s day, breathing in the sweet, candy-like scent, closing your eyes and surrendering to the moment, is to be transported to a dreamy, swoony kind of place. I highly recommend it.
If you’re not into dreamy and swoony that’s ok. Milkweed pleases the palate just as much as the sniffer. With at least four different edible parts throughout the growing season, milkweed gives generously to the cooking pot for many months. Right now it’s all about the unopened flower buds.*

Gather one or two flower clusters per plant, leaving enough for other creatures, for the plant to produce yummy pods that you can come back and harvest later, and of course enough to go to seed so milkweed can continue to thrive. (It’s a highly noxious weed or precious species depending on whether you are talking to a farmer or a monarch butterfly loving conservationist. It’s a native plant, common and widespread, from which I harvest somewhat freely but conscientiously, carefully observing my harvest patches for overall health, signs of stress or declining population.) If you don’t want to get your fingers coated in the sticky, white latex, wear gloves. I don’t bother, because then I have to deal with sticky gloves. I’ll wash my hands far sooner than the gloves.
Once home, set the flowerbuds in a bowl of cold water to remove dust, dirt or critters. Now you have options. Steamed or boiled until tender they can be eaten as is, lightly seasoned or added to stir-fries, pasta dishes and the like. I’ve pickled them in the past, using the 3 Foragers’ recipe for Milkweed Flowerbud Capers. Very yum.
For the two plant walks I gave last week I opted for a quick and easy finger food that I knew was sure to please. I made milkweed fritters.
Bring a pot of water to a boil and add your milkweed flowerbuds. When water then returns to a boil start your timer for 5 minutes. When the timer goes off remove the milkweed into a bowl of icy cold water to stop the cooking process. Drain and gently press out excess water. Spread on a clean towel to dry.

The important thing is, now you have crunchy, fluffy, tasty milkweed flowerbud fritters to impress your friends with! Dust with salt and pepper and serve forthwith.
*Not all milkweed species are edible and some are toxic. Stick with the Common Milkweed, Asclepias syriaca.

“I never had any other desire so strong, and so like covetousness, as that… I might be master at last of a small house and a large garden, with very moderate conveniences joined to them, and there dedicate the remainder of my life to the culture of them and the study of nature.”~Abraham Crowley
I’m a city girl with a country heart. I have dreams of living on a smallholding on the edge of a quiet village, where I can step out my back door that leads directly into my kitchen garden and the loudest sounds come from the birds, the wind in the trees and the chirrup of frogs and crickets.
The reality is, when I step out my door I walk down three flights of steps to the asphalt of the parking lot of the building I live in and the sound of traffic is louder than the birds and wind in the trees.
What’s a Laura Ingalls Wilder loving girl to do? Weep into her bonnet? Never! No, instead I’m working on creating a hybrid life, with the best of both worlds. I take advantage of big city amenities and live out the country life my heart longs for, in the midst of hustle and bustle.
The biggest and most exciting addition to my country-in-the-city life is access to a 1/2 acre of land which will be the growing site of the Wild Garden. As part of an amazing opportunity offered through the Just Food Start-Up Farm Program, I can live out my rural dreams in an urban environment.
I’m thrilled to have a piece of land that I can steward for a long time. My goal is to implement a permaculture design for the site that will improve soil fertility, increase biodiversity, establish at-risk native plants, harvest and conserve water, produce exceptional medicinal and wild, edible plants, and of course look beautiful! I have a looooong way to go and a lot of work to do to accomplish those things, but I’ll take it one step at a time, working with nature and observing the land.
This was the site in early spring.  Overgrown with grasses, goldenrod, shrubs and small trees, the land hasn’t been touched in at least 30 years.

Later this season I hope to lay out permanent raised beds on contour, but because I had plant starts that desperately needed to get into the ground, I’ve been planting things in one area rather haphazardly. It’s not ideal, but the plants aren’t complaining. I’m still working out the permaculture design on paper, but have a good idea of what I want the large elements to be and where I want them to go. No doubt this will change over time as I get to know the land more intimately and learn from my mistakes.
From a glance, it doesn’t look like much is going on, but I’m happy to report that the oats, alfalfa and clover are up and so far there are 36 different kinds of plants in the ground. This is just the beginning of a long and exciting journey; a journey that I’m thrilled to be on!