Forage Friday – Page 17 – LLOYD'S LENS PHOTOGRAPHY LLC

Forage Friday #53 Mayapple

Hello friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Mayapple 33020a”. Tonight’s photos were taken just for Forage Friday. All of the photos on my blog are my original work and are available for purchase by the instructions at the bottom of the article.

Tonight’s Forage Friday post is a plant that has been known to cause fatalities. While extracts from Mayapple are used in modern pharmaceutical preparations this one is definitely not for home remedies.

In early Spring one of the first green plants to burst through the leaf litter is the Mayapple. The only edible part is the fully ripe fruit and even then the seeds must be removed. Something that I have never tried because as soon as they ripen the wildlife snatches them up. In fact I’ve only seen the ripe fruit once in my life and it had already been nibbled. So no Mayapple taste tests for me.

“Mayapple 32420”

When the shoots first come up the twin leaves are wrapped around the stem and the marble sized flower bud has already formed. They’ve always reminded me of the stereotype vampire wrapped in a cloak at this point.

In the past I’ve mentioned that some plants may not be good as forage for food but that they are a more of wild cash crop and that’s where Mayapple comes in on my forage plant list. The plant contains a cytostatic substance called Podophyllotoxin that was once part of a drug that was used topically to remove warts. But because it is a substance that inhibits cell growth it’s being researched for possible use in treating cancers. If you can locate a buyer they usually buy it by the pound. The top search result on Google comes from August of 2019 and shows $4.00/lbs. Ginseng normally goes for around $600 to $800/lbs and at first it sounds like a low price for Mayapple but when look at the time and energy invested in harvest Mayapple pays off in the lbs/hr.

An emerging colony of Mayapple

Mayapple grows in large colonies that at times can cover the whole mountainside with lush green foliage. Whereas Ginseng is more commonly found as a single plant here and there. So when you figure the time investment Ginseng might not even pay minimum wage.

A colony of Mayapple almost ready to bloom.

Mayapple grows from a long thin rhizome. What looks like a colony might actually be single plant. The vine-like root system is connected with the rest of the forest by mycorrhizal fungus that transports nutrients to the roots and even may carry chemical messages between the herbaceous layer and the trees towering above. (For more about how plants talk to each other check out this article on LingQ)

If you choose to make Mayapple into cash crop it’s this root that the buyers want. Some will buy it freshly dug but most want it cleaned up and dried. Always wash the roots in cold water and hang them up to dry out of direct sunlight and with plenty of air flow to avoid mold from forming. It’s common for this type of root to lose 7 times it’s harvest mass in the drying process. When the root is brittle enough to snap without bending it’s done. A preservation tip is to store it in paper and not plastic. It needs to breathe to prevent mold. If you think about the bagged salad from the grocery store it usually gets slimy after a few days and that’s what’s going on happen to Mayapple roots if you put them in plastic. ( A great idea that works to keep salad fresh is to place a paper towel or napkin in the bag. )

Timing is also important for harvesting Mayapple roots. Most buyers will want roots that were harvested in September and October because that’s when it’s most potent.

Native Americans used Mayapple for various treatments but it’s just too toxic for me to be comfortable with. But as a way to gain a little extra spending money it can be a great natural resource.

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Forage Friday #52 Star Chickweed

Color Photography, Forage Friday

Hello friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “Star Chickweed 32420” and is available for purchase by the instructions at the bottom of the article.

It’s hard for me to believe that I’ve reached week 52 of Forage Friday having not missed a week due to lack of subject matter. The was a few times when something prevented the post but wasn’t because of not having a plant to talk about. When I started Forage Friday I thought that I would run out of subject matter in the winter months. But what I learned was that if you look hard enough that you’ll find what you need when you need it. And that’s one of awesome things about Chickweed! It’s one of the early Spring forage plants.

I was first introduced to Chickweed by my grandfather during one of walks to check the fence line. Chickweed was huge blessing to people in the great depression. But the time it shows up the winter stores of home canned food would have been running low. Every meal in late winter would have shown how few mason jars were left on the shelf. Then one day the snow melts and reveals a thick mat of fresh greens. Grandpa said it was enough to make you drop to your knees and give thanks right there one the spot.

A thick mat of Chickweed in early Spring.

As the name suggests Chickweed was often fodder for livestock as well as the family. In our modern world with its frozen dinners we tend to forget that our ancestors not only had to feed themselves but also had to make sure that the animals were well fed and healthy.

Chickweed is a veritable nutrition bomb!! If you could turn a leaf over and read a label you’d see vitamins A, C & several of the B vitamins. You’re also getting a trainload of minerals like calcium, magnesium, manganese, zinc, iron, phosphorus and potassium. Of course like all plants this is going to depend on the soil health.

Chickweed can be eaten raw and goes well with other forage plants. I recommend wild purple violets for the color and sweetness of pedals. Chickweed can have a strong flavor but it’s a plant to be consumed for it’s benefits as it replenishes a lot of nutrition that can be lost over the winter.

Medicinal information about any wild plants found on this blog is given in a historical context and not intended to be medical advice on any level. Remember, I’m a photographer and not a doctor.

Herbalists say that preparations of Chickweed help with constipation and other stomach/bowel problems. Lung troubles, obesity and even rabies. Salves made with Chickweed are recommended by herbalism for skin problems like eczema and I have personally used it to relieve itching from bug bites.

Chickweed is often found growing with Speedwell

Chickweed is often found growing with Speedwell and Speedwell is said to have similar uses. ( Speedwell is to be covered in an upcoming post. )

The Chickweed flowers look really similar to the False Rue Anemone that featured in the previous two posts but if you look at anther you see that they don’t quite make a crown shape as with False Rue Anemone and they’re a reddish brown as opposed to bright yellow. The flowers themselves are also a bit smaller. The leaves of Chickweed are not mitten shaped like those of False Rue Anemone.

Chickweed is a blessing in hard times and could be considered a luxury in good times.

As always I’ve only given enough here to get the conversation going so if you have a personal experience with Chickweed I’d love to hear about it. Just let me know in the comments section below. 😊

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Forage Friday #51 Virginia Spring Beauty

Color Photography, Forage Friday

Hello friends! Tonight’s feature image is “Virginia Spring Beauty 32420b” and is available for purchase by the instructions at the bottom of the article.

My mountains are filled with tiny little smiles in the form of spring wildflowers. Their numbers seem to double every day. As the Virginia Spring Beauty is one of my favorite Spring flowers I decided to study up on it a little more.

Please remember that Forage Friday is a conversation starter and the information presented is for entertainment purposes.

Always seek a positive ID on the plant before consuming. Medicinal values of the plants are given in a historical context and I am not a doctor or formally trained herbalist.

One of the common names for Virginia Spring Beauty is “Fairy Spud”. The plant does have a corm that resembles a small potato. The corm was eaten both cooked and raw by native Americans and the colonists. In fact the whole plant is edible. The plant us rich in vitamins A and C.

It’s interesting that a lot of the early Spring forage plants are rich in vitamin C. I’ve always believed that God would place what we need the most in the most abundance at the times we need them. In Spring when illness is prevalent the common go to is vitamin C for many people. And while the experts are constantly changing their minds about how effective that is it’s also a common recommend thing to take your vitamins. When those vitamins and minerals are in the form of natural food it’s said that the body is better able to make use of them.

The Native Americans also made a pultice of Virginia Spring Beauty and placed it on the eyes to treat “Eye problems”. The internet research materials are pretty vague about what kind of eye problems. This could be anything from allergies to nearsightedness and there’s no real record of how well it worked. However, Medicinal science does recognize that Vitamin A is important for ocular health. In fact it plays a big role in how well people can see at night. And, according to Google vitamin A absorbs very well topically so the First Nations people just might have been onto something.

The very fine roots that spread out from the crom were also used by the medicine man. They were dried and ground into a powder to treat convulsions in children. Now, I can’t really overstate how dangerous it would be to substitute a modern medicine with Virginia Spring Beauty for the purpose of treating a serious medical condition. I only present that here for the trivia value and that purpose alone.

An unopened Virginia Spring Beauty in the leaf litter shows just how tiny the flow is.

The plant is edible but really small. For foraging purposes a person could conceivably devastate a local population and only have enough for one meal. But there’s an option for those who want to grow it either for food or just to wake up one Spring mornings to find their landscape covered in little pink striped pedals. The seed pod will be tiny and triangular. The seeds will mature in early Summer according to the Lady Bird Johnson website they should be sewn immediately. I have read on a different source that in order to germinate they need to endure 30-40 days of being frozen.

They will require partial shade and acidic soil. They prefer rich humus.

They’re a perennial flower so they’ll come back year after year and they have potential as a cash crop. Currently, this “common” Appalachian Wildflower’s seeds are listed as $200 per ounce on the top listing of the Google search. To put that in perspective, that’s the starting price for an ounce of medical marijuana. If course harvesting an ounce of Virginia Spring Beauty seeds could be pretty labor intensive unless you can figure out a way of automatically catching the seed when they’re ejected from the pod.

Irregardless of the food and medicine from Virginia Spring Beauty it is another welcoming sight for my morning walk in early Spring.

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Forage Friday #50 wild apples

Color Photography, Forage Friday

Hello friends! Tonight’s feature image is titled “New Leaves On A Volunteer Apple 32020” and was taken just for Forage Friday. All of the photos are my original work and are available for purchase by the instructions at the bottom of the article.

I’ve posted a few images of the Bradford Pears in the parking lot of my day job but they’re not the tree in bloom right now. A couple of years ago I spotted an apple that had washed down the creek and come to rest on the edge of my yard. Some of the neighbors upstream have apple trees so it didn’t really strike me as unusual. I also have chosen to allow the trees to take over the banks of the creek to prevent erosion and stabilize the soil. I didn’t even notice that the apple had sprouted until I saw the single bloom last Spring and this year it’s added a few more. If it’s as I suspect the apples are the same variety as the ones upstream. They will be hard, knobby and tart. Not really great for eating off of tree but wonderful for baking.

My grandmother Dempsey always had a houseful of absolutely delicious food but there was three things that we always looked forward to having. The homemade bread that was always freshly baked and warm from the oven, peanut butter logs that were a kinda like a Reese’s cup but far superior and the homemade apple fritters from the trees in her back yard. There was a bunch of cousins that were mostly boys but most of them were well grown by the time I was old enough be sent to the back yard to gather apples. If the kids in my age group it was usually myself and my brother along with my cousin Billy who would pick up and shake down a poke of apples. Now for some who don’t know how many apples are in a poke there was a time before plastic bags that your groceries came in a paper sack. The most common was a #70 peper sack that the older generation refered to as a poke. The biodegradable paper bags were done away with in order to save the environment starting in the late 70s. But I digress. The poke of apples were all hand peeled and the skins tossed into the compost pile on the edge of the woods. My grandmother would chop some of the apples into a sauce with spices and when it was rendered she would add some wedges and cook it down a little to make her filling. The shell of these little pies was a homemade pie shell about the size of soft shell taco and once filled they were fried in lard. ( I believe it was lard but I am not sure. ) It doesn’t take 3 growing boys long to empty a plate of fritters.

Because apples are a pretty common food in modern times we could write a whole book of different ways to use the fruits. Apples are made into both hard and sweet cider as well as vinegar, breads, applesauce, chips and much more!

Once when I was a kid I thought that it would be funny to quote “an apple per day keeps the doctor away” as my doctor walked into the exam room. He just smiled and replied, “don’t throw apples at me.” But truth is apples do in fact have some medicinal value to herbalists. An old time cure for diarrhea or constipation was applesauce. But there’s a value beyond that. The leaves of the apple tree itself are used in teas for stomach ailments and are said to be mildly bitter. Most of the articles that I read suggest mixing the leaves with other things like blackberry leaves, strawberry leaves, honey and cinnamon. The mix of leaves are going to be astringent. I would also suggest that you gather the young leaves for tea because the older they get then the more astringent they’ll be. That same mix when made from the older leaves can be used externally for acne and skin infections. According to James A Duke of the Peterson’s Field Guide the leaves of apple trees are antimicrobial and a strong tea made from bruised apple leaves can be used to wash minor wounds.

Apple wood is absolutely gorgeous. One of my all time favorite walking sticks was made from a whole crab Apple tree that was reclaimed from a project that required the tree to be removed.

Do you have a favorite apple recipe or have you ever made a tea from the leaves? Let me know in the comments below! 😊

Hey Friends! Just a quick reminder that graduation will be here before you know it. Lloyds Lens Photography is available for portraits!!

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To book me simply reach out using the Contact Page and we’ll set a date. If you’re within a 50 mile radius of Summersville West Virginia all travel fees are waived.

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Forage Friday #49 Adam’s Needle (AKA YUCCA)

Color Photography, Forage Friday, Uncategorized

Adam's Needle 31320 — Hello friends! Tonight’s feature image was taken specifically for this article. All of the photos found on my blog are my original work and are available for purchase by the instructions at the bottom of the article.

I have to admit that I was surprised to be able to keep Forage Friday going as steady as I have for this long. I knew that in the warm months that I could find plenty of plants to feature and that even the ones that I haven’t really paid attention to in the past that I could do a little bit of research and come up with something interesting to write about. I suppose that it just goes to show that God has provided all of our basic needs in abundance. But today was one of those days when I was down to wire for a forage plant when I spotted this one growing wild on the roadside bear my home. And what’s even better is that it came up in conversation organically a couple of days ago. Tonight’s plant is Adam’s Needle or Yucca as it’s known in other parts of North America.

Yucca isn’t really a native of the Appalachian Mountains. It was brought here by a previous generation as an ornamental plant. It’s bushy appearance and cold hardiness made it desirable for those who wanted something exotic in their garden. And it It’s still used in landscapes today. It’s actually a native of the Southwest if I’m not mistaken.

If cattails are the supermarket of the wetlands then Adam’s Needle is the supermarket of abandoned homesteads and sub desert areas.

The name comes from the single tall flower spike that shoots up from the center in the summer. This is the part that I’ve actually eaten myself. The pedals of the flowers can be eaten raw but you need to get them when they’re freshly opened or they turn bitter.

The root is also edible and high in carbohydrates which is one reason that I’ve never tried it myself. (As a type 2 diabetic I really try limit the carbs so that I can avoid meds. ) Sometimes you can even find the roots in the produce section of your local grocery store depending on the region.

One of the survival tricks that I learned was to make soap from the root by cutting it into small chunks and dropping them into a bottle with little water. It’s not really soap but a compound called saponin which acts like soap and is even antimicrobial.

The leave can also be used to make soap but where they really come in handy is making cordage. A single leaf blade can be used to make fairly strong string without much work but it’s much better with son e processing.

Here’s a closeup of the fibers in Adam’s Needle

The process to get to the fibers is pretty simple. Cut a leaf near the base of the plant but watch out for the single thorn on the very tip of the leaf. Depending on your purpose for the cord you might have a use for the thorn because with a little care it can be function as a pre-threaded needle for sewing. An emergency repair for a torn jacket or pants can make a difference in the quality of life for someone who is without any other system of support. The best way to process it to lay the leaf on a flat surface and gently pound it with a heavy branch. You could use a smooth rock if you have one but a rock with sharp edges could cut the long fibers and create more work. The goal here isn’t to make mince meat out of the leaf but to separate the fibers from the pulp. The byproduct of the pulp can still be used for soap when fresh and because it kills microbes it might be good idea to put it on any minor wounds you might have. When you’re done with the pounding simply use the back of a single edge knife or a stick with a flat side and gently scrape the pulp away from the fibers. The fibers should remind you of a lock of hair at this point. They’ll be strong enough for sewing but if you are using them for rope then you’ll need to twist them. The way I do it is to roll the fibers on my thigh until they’re so tight that they twist back on themselves. Then double the rope and help that action by rolling in the opposite direction on your thigh again. There’s plenty of video on YouTube that shows how this is done and as it happens you add length by twisting in more fibers. Once you gave your cordage it can be turned into nets, baskets and even sandals by weaving.

So here’s one plant that you might find wild or you could even get one from the lawn and garden store and plant as both landscape and emergency use in tough times.

Hey Friends! Just a quick reminder that graduation will be here before you know it. Lloyds Lens Photography is available for portraits!!

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To book me simply reach out using the Contact Page and we’ll set a date. If you’re within a 50 mile radius of Summersville West Virginia all travel fees are waived.

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If you’re enjoying my blog and don’t want to miss a post then you can sign up for email alerts on my website.

https://lloydslensphotographyllc.com/

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