Chickweed

By Christine Tailer
HCP columnist

We would all likely agree that it is nice to be able to get something for nothing. I must confess, however, that I often feel a lingering doubt as to whether a particular something really is free for the taking, no strings attached. 

Life in the creek valley has taught me an invaluable lesson. I’ve learned that some things truly can be cost-free. The sun provides us with free solar electricity. The hillside’s standing dead trees provide us with no-cost winter warmth, and Greg and I need only step outside the cabin, no matter the season, to find a wonderful world filled with wild edibles. Consider the lowly chickweed.

Chickweed is an annual flowering weed that is now be found in much of the temperate world, having spread from its original roots in Eurasia. It is an easily identifiable plant. A fine line of hairs runs along its sprawling stem, often more than a foot long. Its opposite oval leaves are hairless, and it has dainty white petaled flowers, sometimes as many as three growing from each stem.

It is a hardy weed, and every spring it reseeds itself, which is no problem for for this plant at all. Its seeds can lie dormant in the soil for up to 30 years, and each plant can produce as many as 30,000 seeds. It is clearly understandable why this plant has spread all throughout the world.

This is the time of year when Greg and I can see chickweed blanketing those farmlands that have not yet been tilled. In pastures and hayfields, we can see chickweed forming thick mats that actually prevent the more desirable hay species from growing. Even city folks can find chickweed heartedly spreading across vacant lots, and in the suburbs, chickweed grows along the edges of lawns and encroaches on gardens. 

Thankfully, however, for those gardeners who consider chickweed a nuisance, the weed is easy to pull. Its matted clumps uproot easily with the just slightest tug. I have learned, however, to be careful when disposing of those clumps. If left on bare soil, chickweed clusters will quickly send out roots in search of new footing, and will once again quickly thrive. 

I do just happen to have the perfect chickweed disposal system. My chickens love to eat it, stems, leaves, flowers and all, and yes, this likely the reason for chickweed’s name. It has long been known as a wonderful feed for not only chickens, but also other birds, but what about people food?

The other day I was surprised to find a friend’s post of her beautiful dinner salad topped with chickweed. Yes indeed, chickweed is edible. Its tender leaves can be added to a salad, as my friend did, or boiled or steamed such as spinach, or even added as flavoring, such as basil or thyme. I did learn, however, that chickweed should not be eaten in large quantities due to its high nitrate content. It is known to contain vitamin C, and several studies have found that it could aid weight loss due to the digestive inhibiting enzymes present in chickweed juice. Folk medicine practitioners have considered chickweed an expectorant, and used it to reduce inflammation, but no matter what, take great care, and do your own research before consuming any wild edible.

Just last week, I pulled up all the chickweed clusters I could find and fed them to my chickens for a treat. The girls chortled with delight as they dined on a whole wheelbarrow full of the weed, but this was before I saw my friend’s post. So, it now seems that I am in search of a cluster I might have missed. I certainly hope to follow my friend’s lead and add it to a dinner salad, and what about something for nothing? Well, Greg and I may have missed out on this most recent crop of chickweed, but with just a wee bit of easy weeding, my feathered girls certainly enjoyed a whole lot of something that they thought was marvelously delicious, and it cost me absolutely nothing.

Christine Tailer is an attorney and former city dweller who moved several years ago, with her husband, Greg, to an off-grid farm in Ohio south-central Ohio. Visit them on the web at straightcreekvalleyfarm.com.

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