Sometimes it seems as if my life is a never ending circle consisting of random mistakes and simultaneous, accidental strokes of genius. This winter I have been researching herbs and wild edibles. I think that this alternative food and medicinal choice is an area on our farm that I would like to know more about. Seems like that is one thing we always have is plenty of healthy weeds. I wanted to know how many were medicinal or edible. One that I fight in our gardens and flower gardens is Purslane. We have been pulling it up by the 5 gallon bucket fulls and feeding it to the rabbits and chickens. They love it.
Come to find out Purslane contains more omega 3 fatty acids than any other plant source in the solar system, and an extraordinary amount for a plant, some 8.5 mg for every gram of weight. It has vitamin A, B, C and E — six times more E than spinach — beta carotene — seven times more of that than carrots — magnesium, calcium, potassium, folate, lithium — keep you sane — iron and is 2.5% protein. Two pigments, one in the leaves and one in the yellow blossoms, have been proven anti-mutagenic in lab studies, meaning they help keep human cells from mutating, which is how cancer gets started. And you get all that for about 15 calories per 100 gram (three ounce) serving. Seems that it is eaten in every country but the U.S.
And here I have been feeding it to the chickens and buying Omega 3 supplements. These are those random life mistakes mentioned earlier.
But on the flip side we eat both the chicken meat and eggs. I know from experience that Omega 3 rich eggs in the supermarket are twice as expensive as regular eggs. So if my chickens are fed a regular diet of Purslane hence the eggs should be high in Omega 3. See these are those accidental strokes of genius I'm talking about. I think maybe the chickens will be sharing their Omega 3 laden greens in the future.
Blessings from The Holler
The Canned Quilter
Purslane grows well here, too. Daddy also ate it and we use it a lot in salads.
ReplyDeleteWOW, that's interesting. Thank you, now instead of throwing ours in the compost, we will definitely feed it to our chickens. If and when ever needed, they will share with us also :)
ReplyDeleteThat is so cool, how do you go about eating it? Raw in or as a salad? t
ReplyDeleteI just love reading your posts and learning about the farm life. Beautiful photos too.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I was going to say. Why buy Omega 3 when you feed it to your chickens. Even if you didn't, I'm sure your eggs have plenty of good things in them.
ReplyDeleteStill, I didn't know that was purslane. I'm interested to hear how you make use of your weeds. :)
Really? I am constantly picking this out of the flower beds! Maybe a new snack?
ReplyDeletePurslane goes good in salad or you can fry it up with some onions.
ReplyDelete