Cultivating Wild Foods

In growing survival foods, one source of seed is wild plants. Many wild plants were brought over from Europe for food, such as the dandelion, carrot and Russian thistle. Many of these plants lend themselves quite well to cultivation. If the ground is good and well prepared, most wild food plants will grow as well as cultivated varieties. Regular watering will increase the yield just as in a domestic garden.

Carrots are especially good at this. Also known as Queen Anne's Lace, wild carrots can be domesticated in a few years. The normal color of a carrot root is white or purple. Yellow and orange are fairly late developments agriculturally. If seed is selected for large roots, wild carrots can be very edible and palatable the very first year. Grow them as you would domestic carrots and you will have plants that are practically immune to pests. Try some wild seeds, you might be pleasantly surprised.