Lawn Salad

I once lived in a house with a handful of beautifully unbalanced people and a bucket of ugly tensions. During this time, on the 4th of July, i tried mushrooms for the first time. While waiting for some effect to manifest, one of my friends made this lawn salad, and i was well impressed. It was beautiful.

You won't want to (or be able to) do this if you have a chemically processed lawn; we had a large field behind our house, running down to a stream.

• Wood sorrel (three heart-shaped leaves, tangy)
• Young plantain (tough if older, smells slightly mushroomy to me: broad green leaves)
• Very young nettles
• Dandelion greens
• Lamb's quarters: these are common and rich-tasting. As always, eat them young.
• Chives
• Red clover flowers, the small blossoms pulled from the green part: these supplied nectar.
• Wild rose petals (with the warning: should not eat if you have what he called a "heart condition": in love or brokenhearted)
• Tiger lily petals: i love these in salads. They're peppery.
• Johnny Jump-ups, for purple white and yellowness.
• Red raspberries

Washed well, tossed together in his wooden bowl with a little vinegar, this was the most beautiful thing i saw or ate that summer. After i moved out of the house, i lived on campus alone with no transportation for the rest of the summer, and mostly ate what i could forage on my way to work. This salad was a useful lesson.