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Post by philagardener on Oct 23, 2014 21:14:34 GMT -5
For medicines: lime prickly ash for tooth aches, kidneywood and agarita stems for anti-bacterial and anti-viral, juniper berries for a diuretic, willow bark for headaches, horehound for sore throats, broomweed for aches & pains, camphor weed for sprains, senna for constipation, prickly pear juice for sunburn and cuts, spiderwebs and yarrow for styptics, pennyroyal and horsemint for bug repellent, cleavers for bladder issues, walnut shell for parasites, mullein for earache, prickly poppy for pain, evening primrose for well being, goldenrod for urinary tract infection, passionvine and St johnswort for anxiety, verbena for digestive stress. That's just what's on my property, there's even more in my area. That's quite a list of symptoms. Hope you aren't taking them all at once!  |
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Post by flowerweaver on Oct 23, 2014 21:43:48 GMT -5
LOL philagardener no, but I have used them all at one time or another! It's pretty handy to have such a selection around when medical treatment is so far away. Most people do and just don't know it. There's a lot that can heal just in the kitchen spice rack, too. Other than regular check ups, something has to really be wrong (like when I fractured my thumb this summer) for me to even go to the doctor. And even then it's generally for a diagnosis that I end up treating myself. |
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Post by steev on Oct 23, 2014 22:23:43 GMT -5
That orange-yellow mushroom is probably good, if it has tubes, rather than gills; nevertheless, you'd need to scrape off the tubes (they'll go all slimey when cooked; eww) and peel the cap; lotta work for not much mushroom; keep it in mind, in case you're starving.
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Post by blueadzuki on Oct 23, 2014 22:53:41 GMT -5
I wouldn't risk it. That looks like a Boletus to me. Some Boletus species are edible (and highly prized) but others are extremely poisonous and you need to be an expert to tell one from the other.
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Post by reed on Oct 24, 2014 3:11:32 GMT -5
I wish I knew more about the wild things. We have quite a lot I think but I stick mostly with more common things I know are safe. Raspberries, blackberries and dewberries, mulberries, wild plums and wild cherries, walnuts, hickory nuts and pecans. Pawpaws and persimmons. Some of our wild grapes are pretty good, maybe they are a cross of something left over from the Swiss settlers than came here in 1802 with dreams to make vineyards in the US.
We have burdock, dandelions and wild mustard but I don't really know how to use them. Plenty of lambs quarters but it is such an awful weed here I don't encourage it and have only sampled it. If I remember right my Granny ate plantain.
We have many, many kinds of mushrooms but I only eat morels. I remember my dad liked puff balls but I don't remember what they tasted like, maybe next time I see a nice white one I'll bring it home and try it. I like black locust flowers as well as morels and they are much easier to find.
I'm way way behind on knowledge of plants useful for medicine or other things, that's on my list of things to learn.
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Post by alanm on Oct 24, 2014 9:30:05 GMT -5
I teach wild foods and mushrooms are my specialty. I'm based in Asheville but I am occasionally hosted by groups elsewhere. See notastelikehome.org/I enjoy these stories. I'll have to try sow thistle younger. I always find it too bitter, though I tolerate that for dandelion! |
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Post by flowerweaver on Oct 24, 2014 9:49:55 GMT -5
alanm that's a beautiful area in which you live. I've spent much time exploring the area and developing plant-artist-musician friends there. I am a botanist, but I don't know much about fungi or bryophytes. Welcome to the forum, I hope you'll be posting more! steev there is an orange mushroom that grows in this area that is toxic--the Jack O'Lantern, Omphalotus olearius, which looks like a chanterelle. The interesting thing about them is they are bio-luminescent. I fondly remember a group of us botanists crowded into the cleaning closet at the botanical center where I once worked, waiting for our eyes to adjust to the darkness with me holding one in my cupped hands. Just as the thing started to glow the cleaning lady opened the door and with eyes wide open exclaimed 'I don't even want to know!!' and slammed it shut. Of course, she could not have seen it glow and just saw a bunch of us looking like we were worshiping something in secret!
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Post by kyredneck on Oct 24, 2014 10:02:28 GMT -5
...heh, seems to be a lot of interest in mushrooms; over the years I've collected enough knowledge that in my travels I keep an eye out for a dozen or so 'choice' ones, I guess my all time favorite would be oyster mushroom, quite common around here, year round, like eating steak, for real.
Anyone here ever eaten Mexican Truffle ?
[add]
....I meant to add, it's on my list to try.... |
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Post by blueadzuki on Oct 24, 2014 10:15:58 GMT -5
Eaten it no, but it did show up on some of my corn once.
One year the garden also had real truffles (well some species of Tuber at least. Couldn't figure out which one so I didn't try to eat them) plus they smelled awful to me, though not to my dad. I think I'm one of those people whose genetics make them dislike the smell of truffles (they exist) to me, the things didn't really smell much when I dug them up, but after a few hours they developed a scent reminiscent of diesel fuel and so strong I could smell them from the other side of the room, though a sealed glass vial.
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Post by reed on Oct 24, 2014 10:17:21 GMT -5
kyredneck, could you share some titles, resources with information about the wild foods and medicines? I need some more reading material for the winter.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Oct 24, 2014 10:56:01 GMT -5
I found some mature sow thistle in my garden and tasted it yesterday. It was tough as could be, but tasted less bitter than even the most tender and delicate domestic lettuce (as grown by me).
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Post by steev on Oct 24, 2014 11:05:35 GMT -5
Mexican truffle, huitlacoche, is very good; I rarely get enough to bother cooking, so I just eat it fresh.
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Post by flowerweaver on Oct 24, 2014 11:16:46 GMT -5
I am plagued with huitlacoche! Don't know if it's because I live close to Mexico or often top water my corn when I'm too pressed by time to lay irrigation line. I had enough to eat this year, and wasn't overly fond of it. Looks like dead fingers, tastes a bit like corn but the chewing tobacco-like texture inside is off-putting! Here's a 'pretty' one at the eating stage; they only get more gnarly as time goes by.  Clearly, some foods are acquired tastes, perhaps handed down culturally from early necessity. I was recently gifted some Tohono O'odham pinole and tried it last night. It was like drinking liquid cornbread or pulverized popcorn, and it left my mouth feeling like I had just done a face plant on a beach. Whereas I like horchata, which goes down more smoothly. Should I grind the pinole finer? |
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Post by blueadzuki on Oct 24, 2014 11:25:21 GMT -5
Technically that's what it could have been. There are of course many variations of recipe for Pinole but some of them DO start with pulverized popcorn as the base.
Speaking out of experience with similar "texture" drinks, you're probably better off filtering it than trying to grind the corn any finer. No matter HOW fine you grind it, it's still probably going to have gritty sediment if you drink it unfiltered.
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Post by kyredneck on Oct 24, 2014 13:29:22 GMT -5
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