Wild Garlic filling a shallow ditch in Largo Florida. In a few month there will be thousand of garlic cloves. Photo by Green Deane.
Wild Garlic wearing its spring break look. Photo by Green Deane
Every April or so we go looking for Wild Garlic (or Wild Onion if you prefer.) That’s when our local Allium is putting cloves on top. It’s a neat plant, onion on bottom, cloves on top, edible green in between. I look forward to them every spring. It really didn’t cross my mind that they were growing for several months before the spring and one should be able to find them in the late fall. We did this past Sunday during a foraging class in Largo. This wild Allium is not extroverted until it puts on its cloves in late season. But, if you know where to look it’s easy to find and we did. It was happily growing and just as pungent as ever. We all took some home to eat and plant. It’s a friendly family. If it looks like a garlic or and onion and smells like a garlic or an onion it’s edible. But you have to have both, looks and aroma at the same time. To learn more about our Wild Garlic go here.
Big Caltrop is not that big. Photo by Green Deane
While the Wild Allium is coming into its season the Big Caltrop, Kallstroemia maxima, is ending. It’s a wild edible you see now and then usually in disturbed soil. In Ocala I see it in athletic fields under construction, in Largo around the round metal plates coving water mains. At first you think you’ve found Purslane, at least from a distance. But the leaves and blossoms are different as is the growing pattern. Prostrate, the new yellow flowers form a small cup. The edible is either a famine food or an acquired taste. It’s closely related to Puncture Vine, Tribulus terrestris, which is also marginally edible but comes with a lot of hormonal baggage. Usually you won’t find Big Clatrop in pastures because it sickens domestic livestock and is very toxic to sheep. Ranchers get rid of it. Oddly, Largo, where our class was, used to be a working farm. When the cows are away the Caltrop will play. You can read more about it here.
Classes are held rain or shine or cold. (Hurricanes are an exception.) Photo by Kelly Fagan.
Foraging Classes: One foraging class this weekend in Sarasota. They have done some burning there but I think we can still find some plants. Private class plans for this Saturday fell through so that date is open if anyone is interested.
Sunday, November 29th, Red Bug Slough Preserve, 5200 Beneva Road, Sarasota, FL, 34233. 9 a.m. to noon. There are about 12 parking places and a residential street across the street that can be used.
Saturday, December 5th, Blanchard Park, 10501 Jay Blanchard Trail, Orlando, FL 32817. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the pavilion next to the tennis courts next to the YMCA building.
Sunday, December 6th, John Chestnut County Park, 2200 East Lake Road, Palm Harbor, FL 34685. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the trail head of the Peggy Park Nature Walk, pavilion 1 parking lot.
Sunday, December 13th, Turtle Mound: Canaveral National Seashore Park, New Smyrna Beach Fl. A foraging class at this location requires some flexibility. There is a fee to get into the park. We start at Turtle Mound but there is limited parking. However, there is a ranger station visitor center just south of the mound with parking there, too. After the mound we will drive to the next beachside parking area to look around beach side. Then we move a second time to visit what is left of Eldora once a busy town on the inland waterway.
And don’t forget my free Urban Crawl class December 18th, staring at Panera’s in Winter Park, at 10 a.m.
For more information, to pre-pay, or sign up for a class go here.
Ghost Pipes were Emily Dickerson’s favorite plant. Photo by Green Deane
This year, after my book manuscript is delivered, I plan to rewrite every article on my website. It’s long overdue. Typos, awkward phrases, different names, outdated terms and late-night wine writing all need to be revised. If my site is to outlive me it needs to be in better shape. But one article I have always liked is my one on Ghost Pipes. It aways seemed to me to be a standard I’d like to follow with every plant though that is perhaps not possible. One of the goals of a writer is to write articles that the reader can read and afterwards have no questions. There are no “holes” in the story. I’ve been reminded of that write-up often this past fortnight as Ghost Pipes have been populating my mushroom pages. Ghost Pipes are not mushrooms. They are chlorophyll-less plants that live like mushrooms. Are they edible? The white ones are, the red-streaked ones might be medicinal. But perhaps they are best left alone and are not that common locally. We saw some this week in Melbourne during a foraging class. Mark the date and location for next year. You can read about them here.
Balm of Gilead leaves.
For some reasons unknown to me Thanksgiving reminds me of two things. The first is the tree Balm of Gilead. Properly that is Populus balsamifera (remember in Dead Latin “ifera” or some form of that means producing. So that is balm-producing popular.) I am not sure that was the huge Popular near the barn where I grew up but that’s what my mother called. However she said those three words, Balm of Gilead, as one with a thick Maine accent: bah-mah-GILL-ee-id. It took me a couple of decades to realize the name had three words. You can read about it here. Though my mother was a Mayflower descendant Thanksgiving eluded her culinary skills which were non-existent. Thanksgivings were always memorable but for all the wrong reasons. When I am asked how I got started eating wild plants I say “because my mother was a horrible cook.”
Green Deane videos are now available on a USB.
A 150-video USB or 135 video DVD set would be a good winter present and either is now $99. My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been selling for seven years and are still available. They are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have a separate copy. A second option is a16-gig USB that has those 135 videos plus 15 more. While the videos can be run from the DVDs the videos on the USB have to be copied to your computer to play. They are MP4 files. The150-video USB is $99 and the 135-video DVD set is now $99. The DVDs will be sold until they run out then will be exclusively replaced by the USB. This is a change I’ve been trying to make for several years. So if you have been wanting the 135-video DVD set order it now as the price is reduced and the supply limited. Or you can order the USB. My headache is getting my WordPress Order page changed to reflect these changes. We’ve been working on it for several weeks. However, if you want to order now either the USB or the DVD set make a $99 “donation” using the link at the bottom of this page or here. That order form provides me with your address, the amount — $99 — tells me it is not a donation and in the note say if you want the DVD set or the USB.
Green Deane Forum
Want to identify a plant? Perhaps you’re looking for a foraging reference? You might have a UFO, an Unidentified Flowering Object, you want identified. On the Green Deane Forum we — including Green Deane and others from around the world — chat about foraging all year. And it’s not just about warm-weather plants or just North American flora. Many nations share common weeds so there’s a lot to talk. There’s also more than weeds. The reference section has information for foraging around the world. There are also articles on food preservation, and forgotten skills from making bows to fermenting food.
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In one of his writings, Al – Jahiz – an Arab philosopher ( 776-868bc. ) described ordinary onion juice as a remedy to bad vision, but too much should be avoidable. One of his popular sayings which l’ll keep for ever, ” A common mistake is better than a lost fact. “This is reminiscent of the ” Standard ” articles you’ve defined as – after read – wo’nt demand any question.