A hunting we will go.....for beneficial "weeds".

I've been thinking lately, uh-oh, about what grows in our yards.  How a plant is named a weed just cause someone decided not to grow it in a garden.  How many beneficial plants grow in your yard that you don't know about? Or along the roadside.

I'm starting to explore wildcrafting.  What is wildcrafting you ask?  Well, "Wildcrafting is the practice of harvesting plants from their natural, or "wild" habitat, for food or medicinal purposes.", Wikipedia.  Wildcrafting does not automatically mean just plants in the wild, it is just uncultivated plants.  You do have to be careful and follow state and federal laws.  Most parks won't let you harvest from them and you should always ask before you go onto someone else's property to make sure it's okay to harvest on their property.  Also, harvesting endangered plants is a big no-no.

Now, right now I'm not to worried about harvesting on state or federal property, heck not even worried about my neighbors yards.  I'm starting out by basically wandering around my yard and seeing what I have growing here.

I know I have plantain weed, dandelion, lamb quarters, chicory, queen annes lace, catnip and I think purslane.  But I have some weeds here too that I'm not sure about, like pigs' ear for example.  Can one do anything with it?  Actually, I'm not sure what the correct name is, it's just the name I know it from since childhood. 

I think today when I go to the library I am going to have to see if they have anything on the subject.  I'm interested in learning how to use them for a variety of reasons.  But a big chunk of my reasoning is because I just want to be able to say "Hey! That's such-an-such and you can use it for ____".  And the looks on peoples faces when you explain these facts to them is priceless.