Our civilized society has taken too many things for granted, like where our food comes from.  Mass produced by big farms, using lots of chemicals, and even genetic modification.  Those chemicals and modifications are supposed to help our traditional crops produce more, and handle extreme weather.

Mother Nature already has plants that can do that, they’re called Native Plants, and you can eat them (not all of them, of course).  How do you know which native plants you can eat?  You can check your local bookstore, or public library, for local books on the subject.  You can check the internet, under native plants and whatever state you live in.

Can We Eat It? City Creek, Pocatello, Idaho.

In Idaho an organization has formed that is pushing for the use of native plants in landscaping (because they can save water and are fire resistant), and native plants you can eat.  The Boise based Idaho Native Plant Society even sponsors plant sales and seed exchanges.

Don’t think of snatching some native plants out of the wild, believe it or not, there is such a thing as plant poaching.

There’s a seed bank that has spent decades searching the world for food plants that do well in Idaho’s climate. They have lots of high altitude crops, Siberian Tomatoes, and Tomatoes developed by the University of Idaho (I think the company used to be in Idaho, but relocated to Arizona. You can still order the seeds).

Want to start a garden but don’t have the money?  Texas based The Dinner Garden gives away seeds.  They admit that they are backlogged trying to meet requests for seeds.  Their website says they have a partner in Kimberly, Idaho.