08/23/2026 – Welcome to my backyard city homestead

Chickweed deserves it’s own post – there’s just too much to say to have it hidden among other herbs.

I’ve taught classes where I have brought chickweed growing in a pot to show, and had people convinced they’ve never seen it before. I believe they have, they’re just not used to seeing it that up-close-and-personal, or perhaps that well taken care of. The plant lies low and trails the ground, the perfect ground cover. It is easy to pull up and get rid of, but don’t be so quick to try to eradicate it. It is one of my most valued plants (weed or no weed). Learn what it looks like and treat it with the respect it deserves.

Hated by many gardeners, chickweed can be transformed from a pest to a deliciously tender ‘vegetable’ by anyone with an open mind. Hardy, self seeds, highly recommended. With a delicate flavour, chickweed is a nutritional power house: calcium, essential fatty acid, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, silicon, sulfur, zinc, vitamins B1 B2 B3, C and E.

Chickweed harvested in the house in April. An off-season treat.

The common Chickweed that we so often find in our gardens, is a tender plant, branching out from a central root. The small leaves are bright green and sometimes referred to as ‘mouse ears’. The flowers are tiny, white and star like. Although its an annual, chickweed self seeds and so if you’re lucky, you’ll get it again next year. Common in most gardens, especially in damp partly shady areas.
If you’re absolutely certain you don’t want it next year, simply continue to pull it out whenever you see it, and DON’T let it go to seed. Eventually you’ll wear it down. I on the other hand – want it; I let it go to seed so I can collect the seed.

Chickweed is super easy to eat right on the spot while you’re working in the garden. Be careful not to pull it up by the root as you don’t want to kill it. I know, that is contrary to what you’re naturally inclined to want to do with ‘weeds’, but once you understand and experience the value of chickweed, it will be a valuable and protected plant in your garden. Coarsely chop to add to a salad, throw into a smoothie or steam with other greens. There is no shortage of ways you can incorporate chickweed into your daily summer diet, and you will feel better for it. I promise.

It normally grows in wet meadows, woodlands, and in marshes where the soil is moist and fertile with full sun. It is considered protected in the wild, and as most native plants are endangered, it should never be picked and transplanted.

in this image, I have a bonus batch of chickweed that came into the house in the late summer with some garden soil. It sits dormant all winter long till the light gets better – mid March. Then it comes to life and doesn’t need much encouragement to grow beautifully.

Now I just save my own seed, and plant them in the house in the middle of winter, for an eventual harvest early spring.

The best way to finally get rid of a ‘weed’ that annoyed you long enough – is to finally find a use for it. Works every time. LOL

Bottom line:
Chickweed wants to be your friend. So make friends with it, and help it out if you can.

I hope you give Chickweed a chance to impress you.
And when you do, have fun finding new ways to use it.
I’d love to hear your ideas.

Warmly,

Cindy Suelzle

what’s the point?

In the beginning, pre-internet days, when I wanted to learn a new skill, I did it the old fashioned way. I asked.

Problem was, it was kinda hard sometimes to find people who knew how to do what I wanted to learn. Sometimes I had to figure things out on my own, using an old book with very few pictures and a whole lot of trial and error. It took time—and sometimes it was downright painful. Sure would have been simpler if I could have just ‘seen it done’, and what it was supposed to look like in the end. You know …. Something like a live YouTube video. Wouldn’t that have blown our minds way back in the day? Wow. It’s so much easier to learn how to do things now.

You can bet that whenever I found someone willing to share, I took full advantage. And if there were classes offered in my area, I signed up.

We read a lot and experimented a lot, and made a lotta mistakes, and learned a lot, and we’re still learning. I am including Dan in this, as most of what I did, we did together. We sure don’t regard ourselves as experts at anything we do. Just like you – we’re still trying to do the best we know how. And the learning never stops. In some areas, we just might be a little further along the road is all.

I have a motto that I live by. It is a quote from Maya Angelou stencilled in big black letters in my kitchen. “Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, DO better.”

So simple. So straightforward. And so absolutely profound. Just DO better.

Don’t beat yourself up over what you didn’t know before. Don’t live in a life of regrets. You did the best you knew how, but now you know better, and you can move forward.

I love the principle taught in the quote.

The purpose of this blog is to make your journey a little easier than mine was – by offering some shortcuts, hands-on instruction, and maybe even a few helpful suggestions.

Anyone who wants to, can achieve a greater level of self-sufficiency, and everything I share can be (and should be) adapted to fit your own home and situation. There is no single ‘right’ way, and no completely wrong way. Just ideas that might work for you and are worth trying.

Whether you live in an apartment with a balcony, a townhouse with a patio, a home with a yard, or a farm on the prairie – you can make it better than it is, and become more self-sufficient right where you are.

Here, we will explore a little of this and that – from the kitchen to the laundry room to the garden, to the thoughts and feelings that are intertwined with this kind of lifestyle, . . . . . and probably several places in between. We’ll go where the wind blows I guess. This is a new experience for me too. I’m looking forward to it.

I’d love it if you’d take a moment to comment when you read a post. Let me know what you think. Share your thoughts, your tips and your own way of “doing it better”. We can learn from each other.

– Cindy