This summer my family and I are studying botany and I have been acquiring some useful knowledge from my studies.

I have been learning all about edible wild plants. There is a surprising amount of plants you can eat in your back yard, most of them considered weeds. There are some commonly known ones like dandelions and violets and some more uncommon ones like Marsh Mallow (cool name!) and Prickly Lettuce.

On a recent weekend I decided to pick some wild plants. My local garden club was having a show and I wanted to take a plate of edibles to display. I thought it would be cool to win a blue ribbon, even though I didn't think I would. So, I got out my books and went outside to see what I could find.

Always follow the basic rules of picking before eating anything you find outside. Always positively identify your find in a couple different sources including books, the Internet, etc., before eating. Also, don't pick near roads, the pollution can make you sick.

I had many to choose from but, in the end I decided on seedum, dandelion, Red Clover, Prickly Lettuce, English plantain and Broad-Leaf Plantain, Marsh Mallow buds and milkweed pods.

I took my entry to the show and anxiously waited for the judging to be over. When we came back a couple hours later I could not believe my eyes. I had won a "special award" and a trophy!

See, plants are useful not only for eating, cosmetic and medical purposes -- they can also win trophies.

Young people living in the Greater Pittsburgh area are invited to contribute to GEToutKIDS. Include name, age and town (and phone number, not for publication). Age 13 through college, write about 230 words describing a recent outdoors adventure. Any age through college, draw an outdoors scene. E-mail it to outdoors@post-gazette.com.