AN UNCONVENTIONAL Healesville gardener sees free food everywhere, writes SARAH HUDSON

When Doris Pozzi heads out to her abundant Healesville garden for a spot of weeding, she's not pulling them out, but planting them.

Doris is well aware this unconventional gardening method will cause murmurs of consternation among green thumbs and farmers, but this weed warrior is determined to change our perceptions of what are considered invasive species.

Not only has she released a book on the subject, Edible Weeds and Garden Plants of Melbourne, and is set to release a weed cookbook, but she also runs regular edible weed walks and weed cooking classes from her Hello Little Weed business on her 3ha property.

From nettle to dandelion, mallow to wild radish, Doris believes we're surrounded by an abundant world of easy, nutritious and free food - and one that has a strong tradition in European cultures, particularly Italian.

"We have a mindset about certain plants, but we need to open our eyes to the food around us," Doris says.

After all, she says, our ancestors have done it since they crawled out of a cave.

As a girl she foraged with her Italian parents for mushrooms, chestnuts and berries.

"My parents grew up in Italy in a peasant economy. They learnt to forage and be self-sufficient ... in both world wars people learnt the importance of this. The British Government told people to forage in the hedgerows," says the mother of one.

"Still today my brother and I and our families go out with Mum and Dad to forage. There's nothing better than roasting chestnuts and hearing old stories of Italy.

"The kids know food doesn't just come from a supermarket. They learn how to find their own."

Doris became wild for weeds after doing a permaculture course four years ago, when she realised there were "thousands of edible plants out there".

"I remember pulling out purslane from my garden to plant lettuce and I realised I was pulling something out that was free and nutritious - high in omega 3 - for something that was less nutritious and I'd paid for."

Research led to a book, which she self-published in 2009 which features 35 common weeds.

Now her business Hello Little Weeds is a full-time job for Doris and husband Steve O'Loughlin.

Together they run walks and cooking classes around Melbourne and the Yarra Valley, including their own garden, which has 50 weed species.

Doris says the best place to start foraging for weeds is in your own backyard, or that of your neighbour, or in neglected parks and gardens.

"The manicured parks are the ones where they use sprays, or just ask your council about their spraying regimen."

She says eating the wrong weed will generally only give you a stomach ache, except for poisonous varieties such as hemlock, oleander and wild carrot.

Doris says the possibilities with edible plants are endless. Soapwort, for instance, is a useful shampoo and wormwood keeps mozzies at bay.

She is aware weeds have a poor reputation, particularly with farmers. "I'm not making a political statement that we should stop destroying weeds altogether.

"I'm just saying if people own a property they should be aware there most likely are edible plants growing there."