THE PLANT LADY

A few years later, we were able to move onto our own land up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, eleven and a half acres of scrub poplar and jack pine that had been clear-cut. The land had never been worked and was very acidic, so it took a year or two of soil improvement before we had a productive garden. A couple of my neighbors had huge, beautiful gardens and I offered to weed their gardens in exchange for vegetables, to which they readily agreed. I was delighted to find that the majority of the weeds were ubiquitous lamb's quarter. That summer, I canned forty quarts of the "weed," and we had two bountiful winters of delicious frittatas and quiches and a great accompaniment for other main courses, as well as the other canned vegetables, pickles, and wild berry jams.