I recall as I was growing up my mother told us that in the 1930s they were so poor that they ate something she referred to as "sheep shar or shire". Supposedly it is a weed.
By Jim from Kansas City, KS
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Maybe it is lamb's quarters? It is a weed in most places, but is known to be a nutritional "powerhouse" as a green. I've never eaten it; but sure have pulled it!
If what you're talking about has tiny pickle like growth and yellow flowers, it is a variety of Oxalis.
Sheep shires were my favorite weeds to chew throughout my young years in the fields and woods of central Mississippi. They had a salty-sharp taste that was unbeatable! Greatly miss them here in California.
Lambs Quarter is completely different than Sheepshire in appearance and flavor. Both are abundant in Kansas countrysides. Maybe, they are preferred diet of Sheep and Lambs!
I grew up in Nebraska and we ate these clover like small weeds called sheep sour. Single stalk with one set of clover-like leaves Had a gonzo-bean sized bulblet with one or more stalks and succulent sour tasting leaves.
Sheep shires ( or "showers" if you're from Oklahoma) is wild sorrel. Definitely. Few up eating them. And now my grandchildren eat them. Easily found growing at the base of trees in the shade - rather pinkish in color. Very rare!
Not the same thing.
Could it be sheep sorrel also known as sour dock? Scientific name is Rumex acetosela. This has been used as a salad herb.
Shipshire has it similar appearance at clover and as a child growing up in Missouri we would eat it find it in the pastures and in the words sometimes in in the yard. Lambs quarter is nothing similar to sheep cider weird we used for the Spinach substitute mixed with sour dock which is not related to sheep shite or the other weeds.
I think the name is according to where your from and your age but there are many correct names for the same plant. Many are different varieties of the same plant.
I think the name is according to where your from and your age but there are many correct names for the same plant. Many are different varieties of the same plant.
I think the name is according to where your from and your age but there are many correct names for the same plant. Many are different varieties of the same plant.
Not sour dock
Jim, Could this possibly be what you are remembering? (Link below.) I don't know anything about it, but I, too grew up with a lot of references to natural wild fauna references for food and medicinal purposes. Have no idea why, but your question rang a bell for me, but what I was remembering was "Sheep Sorrel". A quick search produced this link. Hope this is helpful.
en.wikipedia.org/
That is not sheepshir. It grows in small clumps and looks like a small clover it has 3 leaf's like clover but the leaves are more folded. It grows all over northeast Oklahoma and has a bitter but good flavor.
In the early 1900 my grand mother talked about eating what she called lambs quarters because it came up before the gardens were ready to eat. It was their way of getting fresh vegetables because it grew faster.
Thanks everyone, it probably is but since I've never seen it, possibly they mispronounced it or that was how THEY determined their own descriptive name for the plant. However the Rumex acetosela has a lot of medicinal values it seems. And it says it can be used in salads so maybe. I was just curious so thanks for your time.
Sheep Shire, I ate them as a child also. And I have some growing in my yard as we speak. Although, I never thought of putting them in salads. Will now though. Bon appetite!
That reminds me of a story my Dad told me, of growing up in north central Kansas during WWI. His mother would send him and his three sisters out to pick lambsquarter along the railroad track. (Can you imagine any mother doing that today?) They would come home, proudly present their big bags full, and she would say, "That's a great start - now here's another bag!" They would gather three or four bags each before she decided they had enough for dinner.
Having picked and prepared wild lambsquarter myself as a young mother, I now understand why she wanted so much.Yyou can only use the tender growing tips for good greens, and the children were probably gathering whole branches. :)
Lambsquarter makes good cooked greens, if you're hungry enough and patient enough, but I can't quite imagine them in a salad; I suspect that your mother's weed was indeed sheep sorrel, based on the name.
Here is a picture of lambsquarter (or lamb's quarter, or lambsquarters, or whatever), of the North American variety, for anyone who wants to compare it to sheep sorrel: en.wikipedia.org/
I can remember my mother cutting greens outside in the spring for a salad. It was close to our outhouse! LOL I imagine it was lamb's quarters because that is what is prevalent in my area. I thought she was crazy when I saw her cutting "the lawn" that way!
Lambs Quarter is a more upright plant. Sheeps Sorrel is very similar to small clover in appearance but different in color with a pinkish red tint when mature.
I am not sure what the scientific name is but as a child we loved to pick it as it grew wild in the yard and pasture. It looked like clover, it had yellow blooms, and made slender seed pods. It had a tart taste that we just loved. I live in East Texas now and don't remember seeing any around here. But I grew up in SE Oklahoma and my siblings,friends, and I all loved it. It is not "lambs quarter" that is a totally different plant.
I grew up in central Oklahoma and still live there today. We called it SheepShire, looked like a clover but very small with yellow flowers. We picked the leaves and ate them, my grandkids still do. I am looking for information about any medicinal uses also. It wasn't lambs quarter or lambs ear, very different than either of those.
I grew up eating sheepshire (in Missouri). It was sort of like clover leaves with a small blossom--sort of tart and was never dense enough to make a salad. We just ate it where we found it. We canned a lot of poke salad. We picked tubs of poke, added some lambs quarter and narrow dock. We liked it better than spinach and it was all free for the picking'
I do not think that Sheep shire, sorrel and lambs quarters are the same. Spending time on farms in OK and AR, my mother would make salads with supposedly had all 3 in it at the same time... along with Dandelion. I have been away from it for so long I came looking for it myself, for clairification on what it was. :)
I know exactly what you are referring to because my dad used to call a plant "sheep shar" as well, but fortunately for me, I was still around and grew up eating it as well. He thought it was one of those cool little tricks you can teach kids and they will love it, and I did! "Sheep shar" from the Midwest, particularly the Missouri region IS NOT sheep sorrel. It is a very specific species of Oxalis (oxalis violacea). It is a deep purple/green with purple flowers that are just as refreshingly sharp tasting. Link included: www.missouriplants.com/
In the early spring when my brother and I were young, we would walk with mother and pick what she called sheepshire. The best I can remember the plant looked similar to clover, however smaller green leaves with small yellow blossoms. Mother would pick off the leaves wash them. She would roll out two canned biscuits place the leaves generously on the dough, add butter then sugar to cover the leaves and deep fry the pies. Yum, yum good. These pies had a tart, wonderful taste that I have never forgotten. I would love to make some for my grand children and carry on the tradition, however I am not sure the plant growing in my yard is sheepshire or something else. Can any one send a close up current photo?
Funny, I just came in the house after eating a bunch of sheepshire right out of my flower bed. I am from Central Texas and sheepshire has ALWAYS been a part of my life. It's a wild herb that I picked and ate whenever I saw it - and still do. Not sure what nutrients it has or what medicinal values, but it's just a tasty little treat. You can look it up on the internet and see images. It is similar to a clover, has little pickle-looking fruits and yellow flowers.
I am 72 hrs young and grew up in Eastland County. My Dad owned 80 acres there along with many other uncles and aunts. My Dad introduced me to sheepshire (as he called it) as a snack and talked about his mother making sheepshire pie.
In Oklahoma our native plant species is - Sheep Shire aka Yellow Wood Sorrel aka Oxalis priceae ... tasty!
We ate this during recess at school in the field next to the school yard... It was in color; dark red and green... It tasted sour, but a good kind of sour.. :0)) This plant looks like a four-leaf clover folded up... It's better than sour gummy worms, any day, for you! Oh, we didn't wash it... we just simply ate it.. I am almost 70 yrs young and still kicking.. LOL However, IF they sprayed the field, do not eat it. Always ask first...
This is what I grew up eating and calling Sheepshire.
That is exactly what my cousins taught me to eat when I was a very young child. They called it sheep shire. I have wondered if anyone else called it sheep shire. We have a large batch in our yard. I have learned that its real name is wood sorrel, but I will always call it sheep shire because of my fond memories of my cousins. I am 78 years old, and they are no longer living.
Me too....just ate some sheershire yesterday. I still from time to time have polk salad, watercress, and lambs quarter...But we don't see as much lambs quarter as we did in the 1990's.
I use to eat it. Its realy good. Its sour grass like plants. I live in ok. We loved it. Havent had any in a really long time
I grew up in northern Texas area and my Mother is 1/4/ Cherokee. She introduced the plant to me a s a young boy. I was around 6 When I first tasted the plant. My mother put salt on it because it was quite tart in taste. YOu can look the plant up. It is know as Wood Sorrel or Sheep Showers/ 3 leaf cover and its sour, sour, and more sour.
In central Louisiana we ate a clover that we called sheep Shaw. Its stem was sweet and pleasantly sour. The leaves (3) were bland, almost tasteless. I can imagine eating it as a salad if I were hungry enough.
In central Louisiana we ate a clover that we called sheep Shaw. Its stem was sweet and pleasantly sour. The leaves (3) were bland, almost tasteless. I can imagine eating it as a salad if I were hungry enough.
It's a smallish shamrock looking plant that blooms yellow tubular flowers. It has a distinctly tart taste. We still use it in salads and I'll munch on it if I'm out wildcrafting. I have found it in Kansas and E. Colorado, Oklahoma, and N. Texas.
My dad showed me when I was very small purple wild flowers that you could eat. He called them sheep shire and i have been searching since.
My grandmother always called it sheep shire and she said as a kid her and her brother would pick it and wash and put in a gallon glass jar with water and sugar bury it and strain it and drink it. Has anyone ever heard of this?
Wood sorrel
I certainly do remember eating what we called sheepshires. And they were not lambs quarters. I remember those, too, but we never ate them. We pulled them for livestock to eat. Sheepshires were small, looked similar to a clover and I remember their tart taste. We ate them on our way to and from school.
Yes I know what it is. I ate is as a child in Oklahoma. It is a small ground cover plant kind of like a clover that produces a small yellow flower and has a pleasant lemon flavor. I believe that it is more commonly known as woodsorrel (Oxalis)
Yes I remember sheep shard they were Sour a small tiny plants similar to clover
When I was a kid, what the old timers here in the Ozarks called Sheep Shire, I later learned was actually named Wood Sorrel. I particularly like Violet Wood Sorrel.
know as Sheep Shaw where is was. Louisiana. Sour but good !!!
Hi Ray, what you call sheep shaw is what we called Sheep Sharp in the southern part of the Ozarks. Used to snack on it whenever we found some.
A friend of mine called the oxalis with yellow flowers Sheep Shire.
When I was a little girl in Visalia Ca, my dad had a drive in cafe. Out in back in a field there was a lot of what my mom called sheep sour. I ate it all the time. That was in the 1940's. We had come from Iowa. They must had it back there.
yellow wood sorrell.known in eastern ky as sour grass
I grew up in Oklahoma and had it there. We never put it in salads, but we kids would eat it anytime we found it. When we moved to Texas, we have it here, too. Very tasty!
Violet Wood Sorrell scientific name oxalis violacea
I live in Oklahoma. As a kid they grew wild in the yard. We called them sheep showers. They were a treat and were a little sour. Linda like nature's green candy. Looked like 4 leaf clover but only 3 leaves.
The Sheepshire is supposedly a petite form of the Shamrock. Growing up in OK, I learned from my grandmother at an early age that chewing the green leaves were sour (but fun), and it had very tiny yellow flowers, perfect for a centerpiece for a childs tea party. What lovely memories this stirs!
When I was a child living in Oklahoma , we called these plants sheep showers.Somebody must have told us what they were , but looking back they could have said sheep shires and we misunderstood. But whatever they are ,we sure ate a lot of them .
It grows all over in Missouri. I ate a lot of it as a kid. We called it sour grass.
Idk how old the post is but Sheepshire is the same as Woodsorrel. We eat it on the regular, it's quite refreshing to the mouth, lemony flavor. Very tasty as a full salad with a sweet dressing, particularly Poppyseed.
It is wood sorrel; often referred to as sheepshire. It is a 3-leaf clover with tiny yellow flowers. It is safe to eat in small quantities, but large amounts can make you sick.
It grew wild in our yard in Missouri. It has a mild tangy flavor.
I have heard of it too. My mother used to eat it. Its wild in the yard and has a sour or lemony taste. Great to put in salads for a zing of flavor. Kinda looks like a clover.
My grandmother mother had it on her farm in the Missouri Ozarks and took plants with an planted them in her garden in KCK. In the summer, I would sit by them in her garden picking and eating them while reading a book.
We ate them all the time at the country school I attended along with wild onions.
It's also called a Wood Sorrel or Sheep Shower. It's an edible clover that is tart and fun to eat since it has a tart taste when bitten into. They can be eaten in small quantities. Too much is bad for you. Also called Sheepshire.
I went looking for info on "sheep shire/sour" today as it always grows in my yard and I jave bunnies who I think would like it just as I did when growing up as a kid. I think this might be the closest thing to what you're talking about. My Mom called it 'sheep shower' but guess it goes by all kinds of names. Here's the link: en.wikipedia.org/
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