Wild Edible Field Pennycress, Thlaspi arvense (Peppery Seeds)

This past summer I was so excited because I stumbled upon some wild edible pennycress right out back on our lil’ homestead.  Excited because we are slowly trying to learn how to forage and eat edible wild plants if we needed to and nice to know that even in suburbia there are edible greens or any other edible food items to be found.   I also thought it was amazing that this particular “weed” is not native to American soil.

How did pennycress get over here?

It was introduced in the US from Eurasia around 1818 to find out more about this click here!

I don’t often post about foraging or wild crafting but it is a part of our life on our lil’ homestead. Recently my husband noticed they were tearing a house down not too far from here and he noticed they had grape vines and he went over and grabbed some! We are foragers that’s what we do!

Finding free grape vines or other plants that you can transplant in your very own yard for free adds up to major savings!  You all know I like free!

So what can you do with wild edible field pennycress or peppery seeds?

• You can eat the leaves as well as the seeds of the pennycress
• You can use the pennycress seeds like pepper to season your dishes even
• You can toss the leaves in a salad
• If you could collect enough seeds you could make possibly make a homemade mustard with them

The important thing to gain by collecting knowledge about your wild edibles in your neighborhood and learning more about wildcrafting is that when a crisis or emergency comes you have food sources at your fingertips and you know what is safe to eat and what is not.  You will also know how to cook and prepare with those foods as well.  Know your food in your grocery store, know what you are growing in your back yard and know your wild edibles in your area.

Amazingly in suburbia on our lil’ 1/3 of an acre this past year we found a lot of volunteer or wild edibles right at our home in Coastal North Carolina. We found this wild edible pennycress, we found a wild choke cherry tree, and we found purslane! We found a ton of purslane and I have a blog post coming on this soon!

I plan to write a lot more about wildcrafting and foraging on our homestead this next year and also what I am able to forage and find in our surrounding area so if this is an area of interest to you well then you are in the right place!  I am learning too so we can learn right along together.  If you are an expert in this field please weigh in and feel free to share your knowledge and experience I would love to hear from all of you whether you are a newbie like me or an experienced pro!  

Wildcrafting is a traditional survival skill and one you will be glad you decided to learn!  Don’t forget to stop in for our From The Farm Blog Hop to link up tomorrow and come by and link up to our Simple Saturdays Blog Hop this Saturday!  Lot’s of great stuff going on and I am going to be interviewing Kris from Attainable Sustainable this coming Tuesday night at 9pm on the Prepper Broadcasting Network this is sure to be an exciting show we will be discussing her new cookbook “Off The Shelf -Homemade Alternatives to the Condiments, Toppings, and Snacks You Love” and much more as her blog is a wealth of information.  Come back this Sunday to read my book review of her new cookbook and you will also get the opportunity to enter the giveaway for this fabulous e-book!  

 I wish you all a beautiful week!

Fondly,