20 Forgotten Plants Our Grandparents Grew To Survive The Great Depression

🌱 Seeds & Plants Mentioned in This Video:
– as an amazon associate, i earn from qualifying purchases*
GOOD KING HENRY SEEDS: https://amzn.to/4rJp66Z

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE TUBERS: https://amzn.to/3MH4hKj

LAMB’S QUARTERS SEEDS: https://amzn.to/4b2lJAN

The families who survived the Great Depression didn’t rely on grocery stores or modern food systems. They survived because they knew the land. 🌱
They knew which wild plants, edible weeds, and forgotten garden crops could feed a family when money was gone and store shelves were empty.
In this video, we’re uncovering 20 survival plants that kept Depression-era families alive — plants that grow in fields, along fence lines, and even in your backyard today. Many of these were once common knowledge across rural America, but within just two generations, most of that knowledge disappeared.
Some of these plants were grown intentionally in homestead gardens, while others were wild foods and edible weeds gathered from roadsides, forests, and abandoned fields. Together they formed a quiet food system that helped millions of families survive the hardest economic collapse in American history.
And the surprising part?
Many of these forgotten food plants are still growing all around us today.
In this video you’ll discover:
• The forgotten root vegetable erased by industrial farming
• A wild bean that hides its food underground
• The “weed” that produces thousands of calorie-rich tubers per square foot
• The plant that fed families every year without anyone planting a single seed
• The poor man’s spinach that’s actually more nutritious than modern vegetables
If you’re interested in homesteading, survival gardening, edible wild plants, self-reliance, or forgotten food systems, this is knowledge worth rediscovering.
Many of these plants were staples for people living through the 1930s Great Depression, but they’re just as valuable today for anyone interested in food security, sustainable gardening, or building a resilient homestead.
I’ve also linked sources for seeds, tubers, and starter plants for many of these species below so you can try growing them yourself.
🌿 Plants featured in this video include:
Rampion (Bellflower Root)
Hog Peanut
Jerusalem Oak
Field Pennycress
Skirret
Good King Henry
Sea Kale
Chufa (Tiger Nut)
Winter Purslane / Miner’s Lettuce
Cow Parsnip
Hedge Mustard
Common Mallow
Orach (Mountain Spinach)
Yellow Dock / Curly Dock
Groundnut (Apios americana)
Chicory
Salsify
Jerusalem Artichoke (Sunchoke)
Lamb’s Quarters
Burdock
These plants represent lost homesteading knowledge that once helped ordinary families survive when the economy collapsed. Learning them today reconnects us with a deeper understanding of self-sufficiency and the natural food systems around us.
If you enjoy learning about:
• Forgotten survival skills
• Edible wild plants and foraging
• Homesteading and self-reliance
• Historical food systems
• Resilient gardening
make sure to subscribe to Homestead Roots. We release new videos every week about lost plant knowledge, forgotten food crops, and practical homestead wisdom.
👍 If this video helped you discover something new, hit LIKE and share it with someone who gardens or wants to become more self-reliant.
And tell me in the comments:
Which of these plants surprised you the most?
#GreatDepression
#Homesteading
#SurvivalPlants
#EdibleWeeds
#Foraging
#SelfReliance
#SurvivalGarden
#ForgottenPlants
#HomesteadRoots
#FoodSecurity