Prairie Birthday Farm, LLC

Perennials

Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus)⁴, also known as sunchoke, is a native perennial potato substitute.   It tastes somewhat like a water chestnut and is used in salads. Tubers can also be cooked like potatoes.  They are sweeter after they freeze in the ground, so you don’t even have to store them.  They are sun loving, six feet tall and their blossoms smell a good deal like chocolate.  Plant tubers where they can spread.  They provide fall nectar for honey bees and regrow from any tubers left in the ground.

Hazelnut (Corylus Americana)² also called American filbert is a native shrub or can be grown as a tree to 12 feet tall in sun or shade. It will bear in 3-4 years and provide protein. Hazelnuts’ sweet, nutty flavor adds a crunchy texture to baked goods -- breads, muffins, cookies, and brownies. They taste best when freshly shelled. Stored in a cool, dry place, unshelled hazelnuts will keep for six months. Toasting develops a full, rich aroma and flavor, loosening their papery brown skins, which can be bitter when cooked. Defend the nuts from squirrels.
 
Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis)² is a beautiful native shrub in flower, fruit and fall color. Large flower heads may be dipped in batter and fried as a fritter.  Flowerets can be snipped off for a fluffy addition to pancake and muffin batters.  Dried flowers can be steeped for a tea. The tiny berries ripen to a deep purple in August and September.  Fresh berries can be used for syrup and jelly.  Dried or frozen berries can be used in breads and pancakes.

Northern Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum)⁶ is a species of blueberry native to eastern North America. It is a deciduous 4-6 foot shrub and grows best in open areas with moist acidic soils.  It has pretty white flowers in the spring and brilliant red leaves in the fall.  Varieties are available that will produce berries all summer.  Freeze extra berries for pancakes and muffins.  Bird netting is a must.  Protect young bushes from rabbits.

Daylily (Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus)³ is an amazing all around plant.  All parts are edible and varieties flower from May to August.  It works in sun or light shade.  Tender, inner leaf sprouts in early spring can be eaten in salads.  Unopened flower buds can be boiled for a mild green bean tasting vegetable.  The open flower petals are beautiful tossed in a salad or the flower can be battered and fried as a fritter.  The day old drooping flower can be torn into soup.
 

Annuals
Scarlet runner bean (Phaseolus vulgaris)^1,4 is a climbing snap bean.  Its red blossoms are a tasty edible flower for you and humming birds.  If you don’t eat the flowers you can harvest the small green beans until frost.  They are best when about three inches.  It is susceptible to the usual snap bean bugs, which are controllable through physical removal by hand or water from the hose.
 
Sweet potatoes Bunch Porto Rico (Ipomea batatas)^4,5 also called "Bush" and "Vineless," is favored for limited space. They grow well in full sun and fertile, loose soil.  You can buy starts from nurseries or raise your own from an untreated organic potato by keeping the root end down in a jar of water starting in March.  In a sunny window the roots emerge first, followed by green sprouts on top.  In late May, break the green starts off the top and plant.  Water well the first week until roots develop. The dense vines shade out weeds.  Harvest before the first hard frost.  Don’t wash the tuber.  Cure in a warm shady spot for a week.  Store in covered boxes in a pantry, warm garage or even under a bed.  Do not refrigerate.

Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus)^1,3,5 is an herb with decorative foliage and loads of brightly colored blossoms. They come both compact and trailing and produce more blooms when grown in full sun.  Direct sow seed in the garden after danger of frost.  Blossoms and leaves are a peppery addition to salads. Blossoms can be stuffed with cream cheese or egg salad.  They are an easy cut flower.

Dill (Anethum graveolens)^1,3,5 Both the dried fruits (usually referred to as “dill seeds”) and the fresh or dried dill weed (leaves) are used.  Plant from seed as early in spring as you can scratch the surface of the soil.  Unharvested seed will produce a fall crop of dill weed.  Harvest before a hard frost. Use in bread, on vegetables and cucumber pickles, and fish. It is expecially good for herb flavoured vinegars. The small flowers (yummy in a salad) with exposed nectar and pollen attract beneficial insects.  The black swallowtail butterfly larvae depend on dill as a food source. If they find your dill, you can concentrate the caterpillars on a few plants, and reap a triple bounty -- dill, beneficial insects, and gorgeous butterflies!

Garlic Chives (Allium tuberosum)^1,3,5, have a straight thin, white-flowering stalk that is much taller than the leaves. It grows in slowly expanding perennial clumps, but also readily sprouts from seed. They do reseed with abandon, so cut off seed heads before the black seeds start popping out. Harvest the tender leaves by clipping a couple of inches from the ground. The finely chopped leaves are great added to cheeses, dips, salad dressings, potato salads, pasta salads, chicken and tuna salads, stuffed eggs and quiches, or on baked potatoes.  Flowers work fresh or dried in arrangements too!
 

1. Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, Mansfield, MO., (417) 924-8917, www.RareSeeds.com
2. Missouri Wildflowers Nursery, Jefferson City MO., (573) 496-3492, www.mowildflowers.net at the K.C. River Market,
   April 19 & 26, 7a.m.-1p.m.
3. The Planters Seed & Spice Co., in the K.C. River Market, (816) 842-3651
4. Ronniger’s Potato Farm, (877) 204-8704, www.ronnigers.com
5. Underwood Gardens, (815) 338-6279, http://underwoodgardens.com
6. Waters Blueberry Farm, Smithville, MO., (816) 718-5948, www.watersblueberryfarm.com
7. Wild Edibles of Missouri, (1979) Jan Phillips