What can take care of itself and thrive regardless of surrounding "weeds"?

Hey all! I'm looking for suggestions for herbs/flowers that are edible/medicinal/tea/etc, (ie: useful to humans) that I can plant from seed, directly in questionable soil this spring after I dig up as much goldenrod, grass, etc as I can (the "weeds"). The picture shows the general area. No berries or actual food, because deer will walk right past it and bear are in the general area (my kitchen garden will be elsewhere, fenced). Basically I want to start an herb garden type of area in a place I cannot tend much (yet; I don't live there yet, lol), so it needs to take care of itself.
- border of zone 5/6, NY
- full sun
- I will not be testing or amending the soil at this point. I just want to desperately grow something useful, lol.
- not mint because my husband fears it spreading, so that will be somewhere else.
Sounds impossible, BUT we have been making headway removing goldenrod & grass in another area and I discovered mullein, which is doing just that: growing with zero care, regardless of what's around it! I watered it once and I think I heard it whisper in an Arnold Schwarzenegger voice, "Don't bother. I don't need you. You need me." and it just GREW!
I am now in love with mullein, and I need more things like that in my life right now!
It doesn't have to reach maturity or be productive this year; I have time & patience. I just reeeeeally want to see something in that area that I LIKE, and once I can be there more often I can get more particular and plant other things around it, beyond it, or whatever.

PS - I am not too concerned about planning it precisely because there are literally acres & acres of goldenrod & grasses. I just mentally and physically need to claim a small part of it and see something else!! thanks!

many useful and medicinal herbs are actually vigorous meadow plants and fully able to compete with things like grass and goldenrod when they are established.  The challenge is getting them established.  Try to start with large pots, or divisions from well established plants....and get out there and plant them as early as you can so they have a chance to settle in while the weather is still cool and moist.  Thinking things like yarrow, tansy, motherwort, mugwort, monardas, elecampane, evening primrose, agastache, lemon balm, self heal, milkweeds, althaea, echinacea, fennel, for instance, and also Jerusalem artichoke which you plant from a tuber (provided that is that you actually like to eat them!)  Many of these plants can become weedy in their own right so they are best in a semi-wild situation like this rather than being expected to stay in their lanes in an orderly and manicured garden.  Enjoy the journey of discovery!

Comfrey

Lovage is good at holding its own and is not very invasive. It spreads slowly so it's easy to control but it keeps what territory it takes until you dig the roots. ( which you can eat as well)
Fennel, sage and thyme can all do well too but they are not quite as good about blocking out the weeds. They should live, but you might need to weed around them a bit eventually.

I know nothing about growing in NY though my suggestion would be rosemary ...

Alder Burns wrote:many useful and medicinal herbs are actually vigorous meadow plants and fully able to compete with things like grass and goldenrod when they are established.  The challenge is getting them established.  Try to start with large pots, or divisions from well established plants....and get out there and plant them as early as you can so they have a chance to settle in while the weather is still cool and moist.  Thinking things like yarrow, tansy, motherwort, mugwort, monardas, elecampane, evening primrose, agastache, lemon balm, self heal, milkweeds, althaea, echinacea, fennel, for instance, and also Jerusalem artichoke which you plant from a tuber (provided that is that you actually like to eat them!)  Many of these plants can become weedy in their own right so they are best in a semi-wild situation like this rather than being expected to stay in their lanes in an orderly and manicured garden.  Enjoy the journey of discovery!

Wow, thank you so much! That really gives me hope, to know that so many plants can compete with grasses & goldenrod (with a little help). I'm about to start looking up your list. Milkweed is already doing well up in a few patches up there, and last fall I harvested a baggie full of seeds to share or in case I want to add more somewhere else. I don't know yet if I like Jerusalem artichoke. I don't know anyone who has it, so...? I'll put that one off a while. And lemon balm! Duh, I should've thought of that! I had it at my last apartment in a pot and it found its way to my stone driveway, lol! It kept coming back even when people tromped it into the sharp blue stones. I have my own seeds from that; I forgot!

Ok, I'm getting excited now. And thanks for the terms I never though of like "meadow plants"; I never thought of our weedy fields as meadows, lol, but that is SUCH a nicer word! And semi-wild; yes, that's what I'm going for. Just enough input to get things started, and maybe guide enough so I can walk amongst things as needed. Let them create the design.

Thank you to the other 3 respondents, I will put yours on my list of things to look up, too, and I will gladly hear more!

Asparagus, rhubarb, bee balm, catnip (any of the mint family, really), horse radish, strawberries, rasp and blackberries.

My coworker a has family land over run with unwanted foliage, and needed useful plants that would fight back.
So I just gave her a bucket of roots that included Jerusalem Artichokes, Comfrey and Day Lily.
I warned her that each of them would grow where she planted them for the foreseeable future.
Compared to the English Ivy and honeysuckle, any of the 3 would be a treat.