Edible Perennial Garden

I am so excited about planning a perennial vegetable garden.  I have mismatched, uneven beds in the garden right now that will become the perennial garden, so I can build big, new, uniform beds for the rest of the annual vegetable garden.  The perennials will be mostly greens and herbs adding to the asparagus and strawberries we have there already.  The concept is basically to stick wild edibles into a cultivated garden space for easy and reliable access.  Just think, fresh spring greens that come up early in the garden without any work.  Voila!  I won't have to prepare and plant in the cold or go foraging around in the wet woods.  I have seeds arriving in the mail soon (again, no foraging, I have enough to do already) - nettle, lovage, sorrel, lamb's quarters, purslane...the list goes on.  I highly recommend trying the same in your own garden or just a small plot in the yard.  Also, wild edibles are easier to find than you think.  I made nettle soup and wild garlic and potato soup this spring.  A book from the library would help with identification and uses.  Of course, the classic is Stalking the Wild Asparagus by Euell Gibbons.  If you already have experience with edible perennials please let me know.  I like the comfort of having an easy and permenant source of nutrition right outside.  I'll reserve my foraging for morrels, mmm.

MO Dept of Ag

I just found a flyer titled "Missouri Agriculture" put out by MO Department of Agriculture.  It has a little "did you know..." section with trivia tidbits.  Did you know that a dairy cow annually consumes more than 2.2 tons of corn?  Funny, I thought cows ate grass.  And more Missouri farmland is devoted to soybean production than any other crop.  "In fact, if you took all the acres of corn, wheat, rice , potatoes, tomatoes, and other major crops combined, you would still be nearly one million acres short of the number of acres devoted to soybean production, which is 4.75 million acres."  Well, I'm glad we use up that much land on a virtually inedible crop.  Wait!  The first sentence states that "diversified" is the word commonly used to describe farming in Missouri.  Hmm, that doesn't add up, literally.  The best part is at the end of the flyer where MO-Ag reassures us that we're in good hands with Monsanto right around the corner.  Whew, I feel better!