Many of us are looking for new ways to budget, and one area people can look at is food.  Right outside are plentiful sources of nutritious and tasty foods just waiting to be gathered or sown.

For an up-to-date guide to wild plants, The forager's harvest: a guide to identifying, harvesting, and preparing edible wild plants by Samuel Thayer, 2006, is a must.  This chatty guide will give you more information than you can use, covering the important harvest and cooking aspects of the plant as well as range, habitat, description, and seasonal aspects.  I found, to my surprise, that many plants are available and edible all year, making foraging an even more attractive option.

Another resource for those heading out into the wild for their food, the book Edible and medicinal plants of the Great Lakes region by Thomas A. Naegele, 1996, is indispensable. This authoritative book gives drawings and complete information on 150 edible plants in the area.

The edible flower garden: from garden to kitchen: choosing, growing and cooking edible flowers by Kathleen Brown is a beautiful book full of creative ideas and recipes. From floral butters to ices to oils, the book is packed with complete step-by-step instructions offering many alternative ingredients.  I took this one home with me.