The First (really good) Salad

How a steak-and-potatoes person fell in love with leafy greens.

Being more of a steak and potatoes person, I never thought I’d be so excited for leafy greens.

When I first moved to the mountain, it was bare subalpine land, sitting just where normal growing ends. There were so many hungry hares and gophers - anything I put into the ground was devoured, and a garden seemed impossible. The second year, we built a greenhouse on the roof, which succeeded until a hailstorm took it out. Years three, four and five, I had goats, and even rhubarb wasn’t safe from their sampling.

Now, not only has my little lettuce bed experiment been a HUGE success, but the wild edibles are also showing up en masse. Flavours in food I’ve never experienced before are becoming usual staples in my daily diet.

All green, but so so tasty.

The Car Rally That Changed Everything

Here’s a weird story.

While building the rooftop greenhouse, we began hearing the roar of engines in the distance, breaking the usual silence and reverberating through the mountains. It sounded like someone had gotten stuck in a familiar muddy area, and after 10 minutes of listening to the noise, we decided to investigate. To our surprise, cars participating in an off-road rally had made a wrong turn, realized their mistake and decided to do donuts in the soft muddy stretch.

Seeing the pristine space ripped up was a bit jarring, until we realized - we can use that deep, dark soil for the rooftop greenhouse! Once carried up and put into beds, the edible green Lambsquarters (even better than spinach in my opinion) began to sprout right away, competing with our garden variety plants. What’s really odd about that is, I’ve never seen it on the mountain before, even where we got the soil.

After only having red lettuce survive on the roof (away from the gophers and goats), having tender green lettuce feels like a big success.

Lettuce Success

My raised bed/cold frame experiment has pleasantly surprised me. Warm manure at the bottom of the bed, topped with rabbit manure and dark wild soil, has turbocharged growth. Green lettuces are thriving, arugula is going bonkers, and other little greens are starting to germinate. Though wild greens are delightful, some good ‘ol lettuce is a welcome addition to my salads. There will definitely be more cold frame experiments in my gardening future.

Sweetroot, dandelions, and daisies - oh my!

Dandelions, Lambsquarters and Other Edible Wild Greens

The undisturbed soil simply didn’t seem to have dandelions - until we started stirring things up. Now they’re everywhere, and now the yard feels properly homey. I’ve tried making fritters out of their flowers and learned that almost anything tastes great made into a fritter. Their leaves add a nice bitter bite to salad. Oxeye Daisies, on the other hand, add a unique cucumber-like flavour. They’re pretty strong, so a little goes a long way.

I’ve been surprised to learn how many leafy wild greens are actually edible. That said, don’t eat anything without being confident you know what it is. Sheep sorrel has a distinct leaf shape and a sour green apple type flavour, making it an interesting addition in small amounts. Sweetroot, on the other hand, adds a licorice-anise type flavour which is very tasty.

My Lambsquarters is beaten up by hail, but it’s still great.

A Wild World of Flavour

It’s been a Goldilocks spring on the mountain. An incredible variety of plants is thriving, bringing flavours I never expected to find here. From mint and green apple to licorice, alongside home-grown arugula and garlic, it’s hard not to get excited about a big bowl of salad grown entirely on the mountain.

Ultimately, the mountain decides what will thrive - and sometimes what will appear as if by magic.