Why shop for greens?

Did we all just get conned into thinking we have to go to a store and BUY greens and follow RECIPES? My husband and I have gotten to the point where we look at the ground almost anywhere -- in the yard, in the alley, on a hike, whatever -- and think YUM! DINNER!

I agree!!! If you like the coarse humor of Louis C.K. this video is awesome and has something to say about that. www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWZkwuILn_s

Mary, I honestly think that it became a class indicator. Poorer people had to be seen picking weeds and wealthier people didn't. There seems to be a touch of subversion about foraging too. My neighbors are very supportive of my permaculture property but become oddly disturbed when they encounter me foraging in a large open field in our neighborhood. They let me know earnestly that "you are going to poison yourself" and "you have no way of knowing what you're eating," as though all of nature were unknowable black magic and white magic was confined to the grocery store.
And, uh, if I didn't know exactly what I was picking, why would I eat it?

Hi, Heather. Yes indeed, so many people seem to be so disconnected from their environment, like my friend years ago who really didn't realize that there are other options for brownies than what comes in a box, and who was preparing a veg-and-dip tray and throwing away her broccoli stems because she had no idea they could be used for anything. One hopes the general consciousness is changing.

I'm kind of hoping for one of the books on edible weeds being given away this week but not because we don't have a number of such books already, beginning with Euell Gibbons's "Stalking the Wild Asparagus" and, most recently, a volume from the local library about edible weeds and such in western Canada. I was going to put together a list here but suspect I'd better get about my chores. The internet is a lovely tool for all of us.

Cheers