Today’s weedgeek post is a bit of a cheat because I didn’t make this product, but if I ever adopt brewing as one of my hobbies, this is definitely something I’d attempt as two of its main ingredients are prized crops in the Vacant Lot of Eden.

While riding home from a downtown meeting late last summer, I noticed a burdock growing at the southern approach of the Highlevel Bridge, a plant with huge, rhubarb-like leaves and prickley, hooked seed-bulbs. Edible Garden Weeds of Canada says, “The most agreeable part of the burdock is the long, fleshy taproot of the first-year plants. It has been prized as a vegetable by the Japanese for centuries, being widely cultivated in Japan under the name of gobo.”

I picked 5 seed bulbs off the Highlevel Bridge plant and planted them in my own yard, one of which germinated and I hope it will serve as the first of a sustainable crop for my future use.