Category: foraging
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Yellow Dock: Unsung Hero of Constipation
Yellow dock (a.k.a. Curly Dock) is a perennial plant that is native to Europe, Asia, and North America. It is a member of the Polygonaceae family, which also includes rhubarb and knotweed. Yellow dock grows to be about 2-4 feet tall and has large, oval leaves with toothed edges. The flowers are pink or white…
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Foraging Alone…
When I first started foraging back in 2006, there were no smart phones. I didn’t even own a digital camera– I had a 34mm with film in it that I had gotten for my 14th birthday. If I could find photos to show you, I would, but back in those days we didn’t take pictures…
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Spring is Nettle Season!
I’m sure you’ve heard of nettles. There are two kinds I’m talking about here: Stinging Nettles (Urtica dioica) and Purple Dead Nettle (Lamium purpureum.) Both plants come up in your yard and fields in early to mid Spring, and both are edible and medicinal! Dead nettles taste better before they flower…. honestly, most herbs in…
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Real Roots Root Beer!
I’m making a blog post about this because the Facebook post went viral. I’m guessing you guys are interested in making root beer! I had a lot of sassafras saplings coming up into my raspberry patch, so I went in there with my shovel and dug a bunch of them out. Sassafras roots always break…
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Black Walnuts!
If you live anywhere in the Eastern or Central United States, you have probably seen a black walnut tree. Black walnuts (juglans nigra) grow from New England through Wyoming and are wildly prolific. Just try digging up a sapling somewhere… they root in like a badass and if you don’t want that tree to grow…
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Summer Mushroom Foraging
I don’t usually have enough time to create a blog post over the summer and early autumn months, for what should be obvious reasons. The gardens look atrocious right now, as I have neglected clean up in favor of harvesting and preserving before it’s too late. I wanted to share a brief glimpse of some…
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Forest Bathing for Health
Go ahead, call me a Woo Woo dirty hippie; I believe the forest heals you. When your mind is in turmoil, you can’t get good sleep, you find yourself in and out of depression, you can’t focus on life, or you just generally feel like crap, go into the woods. Find the biggest tree you…
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Cleavers is Galium, but not all Galium is Cleavers
That title statement may not mean much to you unless you’re into herbs or foraging, but Cleavers are a common herbal remedy in much of North America and the UK. For the past two years, I have been operating under the exciting assumption that cleavers had graced me with their presence in my back yard…
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Favorite Herb This Week: Black Birch!
Black Birch (betula lenta) is definitely one of my Top Ten favorite herbs of all time. And luckily for me, it’s ALL OVER the place here in Northeastern Connecticut! Black birch and it’s brother, White birch (also known as the Paper Birch) can pretty much be used interchangeably medicinally speaking, so I have been trying…
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Herbal Experimentation
While I have had some herbalist education, listen to educational podcasts, and look through my herbal healing books on a regular basis, I do not consider myself an expert. I am more knowledgeable than most, and I continue to learn something new about herbs and the way they work every day. Part of this learning…