Search: violets

Stinging Nettles Urtica chamaedryoides, (Surrounded here by cucumber weed) are making their seasonal debut. Photo by Green Deane

Our mighty stinging nettles are up. They’re one of the most popular wild edibles.The most powerful stinging nettle is in New Zealand (Urtica ferox) which kills animals and has claimed at least one human life. Our nettle, Urtica chamaedryoides, has a sting like a giant wasp and can burn for days or more. While its common name is a deceptive, “Heartleaf Nettle” its botanical gets to the point, “Stinging Dwarf.” Quite edible but you must handle it with care (there are no stingers on the roots.) If this particular species stings me it is not only extremely painful but a welt develops and the site is sensitive to temperature changes and any liquid for more than a week. The irritant compounds are histamines and acetocholines.  Apparently I am quite sensitive to them though I can eat the plant raw or cooked (crushing the needles disarms them.) Also don’t confuse this plant with another stinging plant called the Spurge Nettle, Cnidoscolus stimulosus (video here ).  That has an edible root but the leaves are usually not eaten. To learn more about the Heartleaf Nettle go here. For a video, here.

Common Sow Thistle. Photo by Green Deane

Another not unexpected seasonal green this week was the sighting of Sow Thistles in central and west Florida. Like its relative the Dandelion it, too, prefers the cooler months locally. Not a true thistle it’s one of the more milder seasonal greens. Although Sow Thistles are commonly called “thistles” they are not in the genus and do not draw blood like true thistles. True thistles are well-armed with needle-sharp spines. While the Sow Thistle can look intimidating it’s mostly just show in that the spines are soft. There are two species locally, the Common Sow Thistle and the Spiny Sow Thistle. The latter is a bit rougher than the former but no where near as abusive as true thistles. Both are slightly bitter raw. A few minutes of boiling or steaming takes away the bitterness completely (unlike wild lettuce which always stays slightly bitter.)  I have a video on the sow thistles and to read more about them go here.

Foraging classes:Only one class this weekend, a long drive to south Florida, rain might be an accompaniment. 

Saturday, February 3rd, Dreher Park, 1200 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach, 33405. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet just north of the science center.

To read more about the classes, to pre-pay or sign up, go here. 

Silverthorn berries ripen in February.

Another seasonal species to be looking for is Silverthorn one of the few fruits that sets in our winter and is usually ripe about Valentine’s Day. That’s handy because the jelly-bean sized fruit is red with a gold netting or spray on it. But, if you remember the red fruit is ready around Valentine’s Day you’ll be looking for it. The boxy blossoms help you identify which shrubs — also called Ugly Agnes —  will be producing fruit this year. It’s a common landscape plant and also an escapee. New fruit likes to grow on new growth and with waxy leave the species is fairly easy to identify. Even though the fruit is small it has the distinction of having the highest amount of the antioxidant lycopene per weight of any fruit. You can read about Silverthorn here and watch a video here.

Tender Red Maple Seeds

If you look across local lakes now you will see ruby red splotches on the horizon. Those are maples putting on new leaves. Are maple leaves edible? Yes and seeds, too. Are they prime foraging food? Opinions vary. The delicate samaras (see left) happen to be red but they can also be green. Later the auto-rotating wings will turn brown. Locally the trees are so heavy with seeds they appear red from a distance. As for eating them what you need to do is taste them first. If they are not bitter you can tear off the wings and eat them raw though some folks eat the soft wings, too. If they are bitter they need to be cooked in boiling water, cooled, then tasted. They should be less bitter. You may have to boil them again. Non-bitter seeds can also be roasted or sun-dried. Some Native Americans sprouted the seeds for a treat. I do not know of any toxic maple seeds to humans but red maple (Acer rubrum) leaves and seeds are toxic to horses. That said I do recall we had two red maple intentionally planted in the barnyard. My father liked the looks of them. Our five horses — definitely leaves eaters — left them alone. To read more about maples go here.

Patches of “white snow” on lawn. Photo by Green Deane

Drymaria cordata… Drymary… West Indian Chickweed… White Snow. Hopefully you can see in the accompanying picture why this species is called White Snow. When it is seeding and the sun hits the seed heads just right it can resemble a patch of white snow on your lawn. Unlike true chickweed, which is Stellaria media, Drymary is here most of the year but has similar uses to true chickweed (which you can also find now.) Young leaves and shoots are edible, older leaves have some medicinal uses including use as a diuretic. There is some research that suggests it can reduce coughing and can easy anxiety. You can read more about Drymary here.

You get the USB, not the key.

172-video USB would be a good end of spring present and is now $99. My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been phased out. The USB videos are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have their own copy.  Most of the 172 USB videos have to be copied to your computer to play. If you want to order the USB go to the DVD/USB order button on the top right of this page. That will take you to an order form. 

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.

Finally, a physical copy of the book.

Now in print is EatTheWeeds, the book. It has 275 plants, 367 pages, index, nutrition charts and color photos. It’s available in many locations including Amazon.  Most of the entries include a nutritional profile.  It can also be ordered through AdventureKeen Publishing.

This is weekly newsletter #585. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page.

This is weekly newsletter #586. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page.

To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

White mexican poppy, Argemone albiflora. Photo by Green Deane

Yellow Mexican Poppy, Argemone mexicana, photo by Green Deane

No, it’s not edible. Depending on the weather I receive numerous emails wanting me to identify a white- or yellow-blossomed extremely prickly plant.  It’s almost always a Mexican Poppy. Some years they bloom as early as Christmas or can still be blossoming in May. They are found in dry areas in much of eastern North America avoiding some north mid-west states and northern New England. Highly toxic, the Mexican Poppy tastes bad and is so well-armed that accidental poisonings amongst man or beast are few. The plants also  that do not want to be eaten. However people have tried to use their seeds for cooking oil resulting in severe edema (water retention.) Herbalists, however, use the plants extensively (which brings up the importance of knowing what you’re doing.)  Toxicity reportedly occurs only when large quantities are ingested and the plants might have had primitive uses in treating malaria. In one study the White Mexian Poppy helped three quarters of the patients but did not completely get rid of the parasitic load. The most common places to see the very prickly plants are beside roads and railroad tracks. The yellow seed oil, called katkar oil, can cause epidemic dropsy, particularly with severe leg swelling. It has also has been used in oil lamp for lighting.  

Violet Photo by Green Deane

A common blossom now that’s easy to identify is the wild violet. It’s cultivated brethren is the pansy. There are a huge variety of violets in North America ranging from field pansies to those that like to grow down hill from the septic tank. Whether wild or cultivated violets are attractive, personable blossoms, usually on the sweet, viscous side. There are a couple of precautions, however. The first is to make sure the soil they are in — either a pot or bed — is wholesome and that the water they are getting is good. Where I grew up “Johnny Jump Ups” (viola tricolor) were routinely picked from the septic tank’s drain field. If they come from a garden center they might have pesticides on them. The other precaution is a bit more esoteric: Yellow blossoms tend to have a laxative effect. You can read about violets here. I have a video about them here.

Wood Violet Photo by Green Deane

A common blossom that’s easy to identify is the violet. It’s cultivated brethren is the pansy. There are a huge variety of violets in North America ranging from field pansies to those that like to grow down hill from the septic tank. Whether wild or cultivated violets are attractive, personable blossoms, usually on the sweet, viscous side. There are a couple of precautions, however. The first is to make sure the soil they are in — either a pot or bed — is wholesome and that the water they are getting is good. If they come from a garden center they might have pesticides on them. The other precaution is a bit more esoteric: Yellow blossoms tend to have a laxative effect. Also notice the leave are somewhat heart shaped, NOT a triangle. You can read about violets here. I have a video about them here.

Swinecress is an easy to identify winter mustard. Photo by Green Deane.

During a class seasonal mustards were also on display. Poor Man’s Pepper Grass is everywhere. Hairy Bittercress was found nearby as was Swine Cress (article here, new video here.) Also well-represented this past week was Shepherd’s Purse, Capsella bursa-pastoris, a much milder relative of Poor Man’s Pepper Grass. They have similar blossoms but differently shaped leaves and seed pods. The Shepherd’s pods look more like hearts than “purses.” One interesting aspect about Shepherd’s Purse is that I personally have never seen it growing south of the Ocala area. It’s found in 18 northern counties of Florida, one west central Florida county, Hillsborough, one southern Florida county, Dade, and throughout North America. It’s just kind of sparse in the lower half of the state. Also not see yet this season is Western Tansy Mustard. You find it in dry, sandy places like

Stinging Nettles are making their seasonal debut. Photo by Green Deane

Our mighty stinging nettles are up. They’re one of the most popular wild edibles.The most powerful stinging nettle is in New Zealand (Urtica ferox) which kills animals and has claimed at least one human life. Our nettle, Urtica chamaedryoides, has a sting like a giant wasp and can burn for days or more. While its common name is a deceptive, “Heartleaf Nettle” its botanical gets to the point, “Stinging Dwarf.” Quite edible but you must handle it with care. If this particular species stings me it is not only extremely painful but a welt develops and the site is sensitive to temperature changes and any liquid for more than a week. The irritant compounds are histamines and acetocholines.  Apparently I am quite sensitive to them though I can eat the plant raw or cooked (crushing the needles disarms them.) Also don’t confuse this plant with another stinging plant called the Spurge Nettle, Cnidoscolus stimulosus (video here ).  That has an edible root but the leaves are usually not eaten. To learn more about the Heartleaf Nettle go here. For a video, here.

The purge Nettle is well armed. Photo by Green Deane

Don’t confuse the stringing nettle with the spurge nettle.The sting of the Cnidoscolus stimulosus, or spurge nettle, is more like a sun burn than a sting. The area it touches gets hot for about an hour, not unbearably so, and then it goes away. If there is a saving grace to its sting, in comparison, it is that the sting isn’t too bad and goes away rather quickly. The stinging nettles (Urtica)  are seasonal, the spurge nettle (Cnidoscolus)  is nearly year-round. It is not quite the problem plant that the Urticas are, but that is a matter of debate and opinion.

Spruge Nettle root, photo by Green Deane

A young mother wrote to me asking how to get rid of the spurge nettle. She said she had a couple of acres and the plants were all over the place, bothering her children and her dog.  I wrote back and said “lucky you. The roots are quite delicious, eat them.” She replied saying that I just did not understand her. She wasn’t interested in eating them; She wants to get rid of them. I told her that I had two good students living very near her who would love to visit her property on a regular basis and dig them up. I added that she could mow the area constantly and in a few years the roots will become exhausted and the plants will die off.

The exchange led me to wonder what was missing? Or better still, what is, as they used to say, the operant factor? That factor is for most people food comes from a store.  Said another way food just does not come out of the ground in your suburban back yard. Even gardeners are viewed as a throwback and a tad eccentric. Here is someone who has a replenishing pantry of a staple crop that must be gotten rid of. Those spurge nettle roots easily could represent hundreds of pounds of wholesome, tasty, starch-based food most of the year that does not have to be purchased or stored. Perhaps it is time to consider a different approach: Train the dog and kids to stay away from the plants, kind of have your plants and eat them, too? To read about the spurge nettle go here.

Foraging classes are held rain, shine, hot or cold. Photo by Nermina Krenata

Foraging classes span mid-state this weekend, from the west coast to tidal water on the east coast. 

Saturday January 14th, Eagle Park Lake, 1800 Keene Road, Largo, FL 33771. 9 a.m. Meet at the pavilion near the dog park.

Sunday January 15th the Princess Place Preserve, 2500 Princess Place Rd, Palm Coast, FL 32137, 9 a.m. Meet at the parking lot in the middle.

 Saturday January 21th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte, 9 a.m. meet at the parking lot at Bayshore and Ganyard street. 

Sunday January 22nd, Red Bug Slough, 5200 S. Beneva Road, Sarasota. 9 a.m. Meet at the playground.

For more information, to pre-pay or sign up go here. 

Hairy Bitter Cress hays “tooth pick” seed pods.

Weed Seeds: You can plant many weed seeds to get a crop of edible weeds closer to home, if not in your own yard (now you know why my putting-green neighbors loathe me.) Weeds are designed to take care of themselves and do quite well even when ignored. I have planted wild radish, peppergrass, chickeweed, purslane and crowsfoot grass on my “lawn” and they have done quite well. Many weeds can be planted in your garden. Chinopodiums and amaranth are two that need very little encouraging. Make them a row, barely cover the seeds with soil and you will have a mess o’ greens. Mustards are a bit pickier to grow. Their seeds, such as peppergrass, should be stored in a dry area for about four months between 50 and 68 degrees F for optimum germination.  A cellar stairs is just about perfect for that, or outdoors in a Florida winter. Other seeds need special treatment.

My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been phased out and replaced by 171-videos on a 128-GB USB, see right.  The USB videos are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have their own copy especially if social order falters.  The USB videos have to be copied to your computer to play. If you want to order the USB go to the DVD/USB order button on the top right of this page or click here. That will take you to an order form. Or you can make a $99 donation, which tells me it is for the USB (include a snail-mail address.)  I’d like to thank all of you who ordered the DVD set over the years which required me to burn over 5,000 DVDs individually. I had to stop making them as few programs now will read the ISO files to copy them. Burning a set also took about three hours. 

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 about. 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. Recent topics include: Stale Bread and Cod Liver Oil, Killing Bugs with Tobacco Plugs, Eating weeds: Is it safe? Have they mutated? Not the Eastern Red Bug but the Pink Tabebuia, African Tulip Tree, Asparagus densiflorus, Green Deane’s Book… You can join the forum by clicking on the button on the upper right hand side of this page.

This is my weekly newsletter #539. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page. My website, EatTheWeeds.com, which is data secure, has over 1500 plants on it in some 428 articles. I wrote every one myself, no cut and paste. 

 To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

All Violets in the genus Viola are edible. Photo by Green Deane

A wild edible that’s easy to identify is the wild violet. We ate some this past week in my foraging class.  It’s cultivated brethren is the pansy. There are a huge variety of violets in North America ranging from Field Pansies to those that like to grow down hill from the septic tank, Johnny Jump-ups. Whether wild or cultivated violets are attractive, personable blossoms, usually on the sweet, viscous side. There are a few precautions, however. The first is to make sure the soil they are in — either a pot or bed — is wholesome and that the water they are getting is good. If they come from a garden center they might have pesticides on them. And do not eat the root, it is toxic. Another precaution is a bit more esoteric: Yellow blossoms tend to have a laxative effect. Also make sure your “violet” is in the genus viola. Several plants called “violet” are not true violets and not edible.You can read about violets here. I have a video about them here.

Toxic young Butterweed can make one think of mustards. Photo By Green Deane

It’s time for a warning about Butterweed. We found several examples of this toxic plant during our foraging class last Sunday. I learned it as Senecio glabellus but now some are calling it Packera glabella. This plant can put you in the hospital with serious liver damage within hours. It is not on par with some toxic mushroom but it’s down the same sickening road. There was a case in Southwest Florida just a few years ago. From a forager’s point of view Butterweed can — from a distance — resemble wild mustard or wild radish and like those species favors cooler weather.

Butterweed’s blossom does not resemble a mustard. Photo by Green Deane

On closer inspection it clearly is not a mustard. The blossoms are like yellow daisies, not a four-petaled cross or H like mustards, and the leaves are not sandpappery but smooth nor does it taste peppery or mustardly. Growing in wet spots, Butterweed delivers its load of alkaloid pyrrolizidines without warning. Most alkaloids are bitter. Butterweed leaves are deceptively very mild in flavor and have a pleasing texture. Mustards do not. They are usually scruffy.  Butterweed is in the Aster family which is 1) huge with some 23,000 members, and 2) plants in that family usually are not toxic. It is one of the exceptions and when it is very young it can also resemble edible Hairy Bitter Cress and likes the same environment. However, Butterweed does not have any noticeable flavor, Bittercress does as do the other mustards.  You can read more about pyrrolizidines here. 

Stinkhorn Mushroom. Photo by Green Deane

Populating my mushroom pages now are stinkhorns, the most of them being a gazebo-shaped one called Clathrus columnatus. The other is Phallus ravenelii … you can guess what that looks like. They both smell like a dead body.  When young — the egg stage — they smell quite tasty but when past the juvenile stage smell like carrion (to attract the carrion fly to spread its spores around.) Opinions vary whether Clathrus columnatus is edible in the “egg” stage. I don’t conveniently see them that often in the “egg” stage to give them a try. Phallus ravenelii is definitely edible in the egg stage and has a flavor similar to radish. If you are near mulch and you smell dead flesh it is probably a stinkhorn not a carcass. 

Wild Mustard and Wild Radish look very similar. Photo by Green Deane

Weed Seeds: You can plant many weed seeds to get a crop of edible weeds closer to home, if not in your own yard (now you know why my putting-green neighbors loathe me.) Weeds are designed to take care of themselves and do quite well even when ignored. I have planted wild radish, peppergrass, chickeweed, Bidens alba, purslane and crowsfoot grass on my “lawn” and they have done quite well. Many weeds can be planted in your garden. Chinopodiums and amaranth are two that need very little encouraging. Plant them a row, barely cover the seeds with soil and you will have a mess o’ greens. Mustards are a bit pickier to grow. Their seeds, such as peppergrass, should be stored in a dry area for about four months between 50 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit for optimum germination.  A cellar stairs is just about perfect for that, or outdoors in a Florida winter. Other seeds need special treatment.

Pokeweed seeds before soaking in battery acid

Pokeweed seeds are a good example. Their germination rate is very low, around 6 percent, if not treated. What’s treated? Replicating a bird’s gut. Soaking the seeds in battery acid for five minutes increases the germination rate into the 90s. You can buy the battery acid at auto stores. One container will last you decades. Once treated, plant successive rows of pokeweed seeds and have a lot of pokeweed from your garden. You can harvest the shoots or let them turn into big roots that will send up shoots annually.

No other root has the growth pattern of the Groundnut east of the Rockies. Photo by Green Deane

If you’re more inclined to grow roots consider the groundnut. Just take tuber home, put it in the garden and wait, two years unfortunately but they will produce and produce well. Twenty years ago agriculturists at the University of Louisiana were trying hard to make the groundnut a commercial crop. Unfortunately when the professor in charge of the program retired so did much of that program. You can, however, find cultivars of the species for sale on the internet. Groundnuts can also be grown from seeds, but the process is more involved. Video here. 

Seablite growing near the beach. Photo by Green Deane

My latest planted weed is Seablite, Suaeda linearis, which should be a commercial crop. When I’m asked what wild plant should be cultivated Seablite is always the answer. It has a nice flavor and texture, is bug and disease resistant, has a high germination rate, and is salt tolerant meaning it can be watered with brackish water (a good crop for all those unusable salt marshes.) It is also a seasonal crop and related to Amaranth.

Seablite Seedling. Photo by Green Deane

While it has sprouted in my pots it will be a couple of months before one can easily find it in the wild. A 100-gram sample of a close relative, S. maritima was 83% water, 6.21% fiber (4.78 insoluble, 1.43 soluble) 3.46% protein, 2.18% carbohydrates, and 0.15% fat. The vitamin C amount was small,15.69 mcg but its 3.54 mg of beta-carotene meets half your daily need. Most amazing, however, was Seablite’s calcium content. It was a huge, 2471 mg, almost two and a half times your daily need. 

It’s common to find ten-pound D. alata roots. Photo by Green Deane

Finding edible plants this time of year brought the Winged Yam and the Omicron variation of COVID to mind. In my foraging class last Sunday — in the rain — we dug up five edible Winged Yam roots, Dioscorea alata. Cook them like a potato then eat. They taste like a potato and have a similar nutritional profile but to the pallet they are a little more silky in texture than a potato which can be granular. They are not impossible to find this time of year but they are dying back making them hard to locate. More to the point they die back from the ground up so while one can still find the green vine up the tree where it went into the ground to dig up the root is more elusive. What connection does this have to COVID? They are predicting an Omicon Blizzard in the next three to four weeks with so many people ill goods and services might be interrupted including food. Locally that means Hurricane Mode or where I grew up, Blizzard Mode. It’s unfortunate that this is almost the most difficult time of year to find the Winged Yam (It will be worse in a month, at least now one can find the general location where they are growing from the still-green vines. Finding some now and marking where the roots are could make things easier in the future.)  You cal also plant the alata air potatoes for a future crop. 

Classes are held rain or shine (but not during hurricanes.)

Foraging Classes: It might be chilly for classes this weekend but we will still go foraging. Saturday is in Gainesville, Sunday Melbourne. 

Saturday January 22nd, Boulware Springs Park, 3420 SE 15th St.,  Gainesville, FL 32641. Meet at the picnic tables next to the pump house. 9 a.m. to noon. 

Sunday January 23rd, Wickham Park: 2500 Parkway Drive, Melbourne, FL 32935-2335. Meet at the “dog park.” 9 a.m. to noon. 

Saturday January 29th,  Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte, meet at the parking lot at Bayshore and Ganyard, 9 a.m. to noon.

Sunday January 30th, Red Bug Slough Preserve, 5200 Beneva Road, Sarasota, FL, 34233. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the playground. 

Sunday February 6th,  John Chestnut County Park: 2200 East Lake Road, Palm Harbor, FL 34685. Meet at the trail head of the Peggy Park Nature Walk, pavilion 1 parking lot. 9 a.m. to noon. 

For more information, to pre-pay or sign up go here.

Green Deane videos are now available on a USB.

My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been phased out and replaced by a 171-video USB. The USB videos are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have their own copy.  The USB videos have to be copied to your computer to play. If you want to order the USB go to the DVD/USB order button on the top right of this page or click here. That will take you to an order form. Or you can make a $99 donation, which tells me it is for the USB (include a snail-mail address.)  I’d like to thank all of you who ordered the DVD set over the years which required me to burn over 5,000 DVDs individually. I had to stop making them as few programs now will read the ISO files to copy them. 

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 about, such as the one to the left. 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. Recent topics include: California Wild Mushroom Parties, A Good Reason To Eat Wild Garlic, Black Walnuts and Amaranth, Sea Salt and Plastic, Wild Mustard? Heavy Metals. Oriental Persimmons. What is it? Pine Cough Drops and Needles, Skullcap, Malodorous Plant? Another NJ Tree, Maypop? Roadside Plant, Unknown in Sudan, Please Help Identify, and Preserving Prickly Pear Bounty. You can join the forum by clicking on the button on the upper right hand side of this page.

This is my weekly newsletter #491. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page. My website, which is data secure, has over 1500 plants on it in some 428 articles. I wrote every one myself, no cut and paste. 

 To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

Burnweed/Fireweed in blossom in front of cattails. Photo by Green Deane

Fireweed/Burnweed has a flavor chefs love. With an impossible scientific name and strong aroma Fireweed is often over looked by the foraging community. Conversely the aroma is also a good identifying characteristic. As with several things in life tastes vary and many people enjoy the Fireweed raw or cooked. Closely related to the Dandelion, the Fireweed locally favors the late winter or early spring. Currently you can find Fireweed from a few inches high to a couple of feet. While they do not grow in colonies often several will grow near each other. Soon the older ones will put on green-yellow blossoms that barely open, another identifying characteristic. Of course in greens young and tender is usually preferable and this is particularly true with the Fireweed which grows rank as it ages. To read about fireweed go here.

Fruit of the Latex Strangler Vine. Photo by Green Deane

Another recent find was Latex Strangler Vine. At one time a bane of the citrus industry the lengthy vine grows edible fruit that is high in vitamin C.  It’s called “Strangler” because it can cover a citrus tree shading it out and killing it. The specie was “found” twice in Florida some twenty-five years apart in the last century. The state unsuccessfully spent millions trying to get rid of it  Look for it on fences and around current or old citrus groves. Decades ago when the weather was warmer the vine was common wherever there was citrus. Cooler weather has frozen it and citrus out on the north end of the state. I have seen Latex Strangler Vine in Ocala and near Gainesville but that’s the limit. In both cases the plants were under Live Oaks and in unmowed areas. It is quite common mid-state and south. The blossoms are edible off the vine. The raw leaves can also be eaten but are usually dipped in oil first. My article on the species is here. I also have a video on the species here. 

Classes are held rain or shine or cold. (Hurricanes are an exception.)

Foraging classes: Two favorite class locations are  on tap this weekend end, Mead Garden in Winter Park and Red Bug Slough in Sarasota. 

Saturday, March 6th, Red Bug Slough Preserve, 5200 Beneva Road, Sarasota, FL, 34233. 9 a.m. to noon. 

Sunday, March 7th, Mead Gardens, 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789. 9 a.m. to noon. The entrance is on the west side off Denning  not the east side off Pennsylvania. Some GPS maps are wrong. Meet near the bathrooms.  

Sunday, March 14th, Wickham Park, 2500 Parkway Drive, Melbourne, FL 32935-2335. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the “dog park” inside the park.

Saturday, March 20th, George LeStrange Preserve, 4911 Ralls Road, Fort Pierce, FL, 34981. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet in the parking lot. 

Sunday, March 21st, Boulware Springs Park, 3420 SE 15th St.,  Gainesville, FL 32641. 9 a.m to noon, meet at the pavilion by the pump house. 

For more information on these clases, to prepay or sign up go here. 

Clover prefers low nitrogen soil.

Clover is one of those wild edibles that is both overstated and understated. The overstatement is from writers who offer it as a great human food full of this and that to keep us healthy. The understated part is that it can harbor a fungus that inhibits clotting and somewhere around a half-a-cup of raw leaves can make you throw up. Individual experience, of course, can vary and there are several different species of clover with different characteristics. Pictured here is a nice little White Clover which is blossoming now mostly in lawns and athletic fields. A few leaves can be eaten raw. They are high in protein for a leaf. The blossom fresh or quickly dried can be used for tea. There is also Crimson, Red, Sweet and even Tick Clover.

Bacopa monnieri can have four or five petals.

Before I forget it’s time to write about Bacopa again. Actually there are six Bacopas locally, two common: Water Hyssop and Lemon Bacopa. They are quite different and perhaps it takes a trained botanical eye to appreciate their similarities which strike me as few. Perhaps their greatest difference is texture. Lemon Bacopa is soft, fuzzy, and crushes easily. It smells like limes not lemons. Water Hyssop is tough and shiny, resilient. Lemon Bacopa is aromatic and fruity in flavor, Water Hyssop is just pain bitter. Water Hyssop definitely can help with memory issues, Lemon Bacopa is more iffy on that score. One does not find Lemon Bacopa too often whereas Water Hyssop is nearly everywhere the soil is wet and sunny. (There are actually five Bacopas that look like the bitter one we want but four of them are rare. The one we want, Bacopa monnieri, by far the most common, has a single crease on the back of the leaf.) I have found Lemon Bacopa only three times; two of them in the wet ruts of woods roads. There is also a lake near me that has a little growing near a boat ramp when the water level is just right. As my article speaks more towards Lemon Bacopa I will adress Water Hyssop here. It basically stimulates the brain to make new neuronal connections, specifically in the hippocampus. It is anti-inflammatory and interacts with the dopamine and serotenergic systems. As you might expect growing new memory cells enough to notice takes time. So Bacopa has to be taken daily for at least three months. I have had several people tell me it has made significant difference in their lives. It does not work on all causes of memory problems but if it does work it does so dramatically. You can read about both Bacopas here. 

Violet Photo by Green Deane

There’s a huge variety of violets in North America ranging from Wood Violets to those that like to grow down hill from the septic tank. Its cultivated brethren is the pansy. Whether wild or cultivated violets are attractive, personable blossoms, usually on the sweet, viscous side. There are a couple of precautions, however. The first is to make sure the soil they are in — either a pot or bed — is wholesome and that the water they are getting is good. If they come from a garden center they might have pesticides on them. The other precaution is a bit more esoteric: Yellow blossoms tend to have a laxative effect. We saw these violets during out foraging class in Jacksonville this past weekend. You can read about violets here. I have a video about them here.

Green Deane videos are now available on a USB.

150-video USB or 135 video DVD set would be a good spring present and either is now $99. My nine-DVD set of 135 videos has been selling for seven years and are still available. I have one set left. They are the same videos I have on You Tube. Some people like to have a separate copy.  A second option is a 16-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 months. 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. 

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.

Unprocessed cashews are not edible.

One of the more strange trees is the cashew. The species is closely related to poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac, edible sumac, mangos, and pistachios. The cashew itself is an exceptionally toxic tree. The cashew “seed” is actually an enclosed nut inside an enclosed shell. It is surrounded by a toxic sap. The sap is dangerous. The process of making the seed edible is dangerous. While the end product is a tasty nut it is among the least nutritious of tree seeds. Oddly the cashew “apple” is quite edible.  Before Hurricane Irma we saw them in West Palm Beach. The storm took them out. You can read more about the cashew here.

This is weekly newsletter #447, If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page.

 To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

The cooked center of the Red Mangrove propagule is edible. Photo by Green Deane

Can you eat red mangroves? If you had nothing else to eat, yes. For many people Red Mangroves are just a shoreline obstruction. But they are an emergency food, a source of salt, tea, even cattle fodder. At one time, some 70 years ago, the leaves were dried, powdered, and sold as a supplement.

Red Mangroves propagules cooked.

If you are inclined to eat them boil the seed pods (they really aren’t seed pods but for convenience let’s call these propagules seed pods.) Many folks write that they are bitter. I have not found that to be so. To me they are mealy, slightly dry and tasteless, like sandy grits perhaps, best mixed with something with a lot of flavor. I boil the pods, cool, cut them in half, scrape out the starchy inside, then boil or soak them again. A tea can be made from the leaves but it is recommended it be served with milk to bind with the high amount of tannin. Indeed, the leaves were once considered as the base material for human protein supplementation. However the high tannin content, 11.68%, made that prohibitive (in the 1950s.) And you can get salt off the leaves. You can read more about the red mangrove here.

Classes are held rain or shine or cold. (Hurricanes are an exception.)

Foraging Classes:  One official class this weekend, in West Palm Beach. There are always botanical surprises there and I need to find and take a picture of a Camachile tree. 

Sunday, February 21st, Dreher Park, 1200 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach, 33405, 9 .a.m. to noon. Meet just north of the science center. 

Sunday February 28th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte. 9 a.m. to noon, meet in the parking lot at Ganyard and Bayshore. 

Saturday, March 6th, Red Bug Slough Preserve, 5200 Beneva Road, Sarasota, FL, 34233. 9 a.m. to noon. 

Sunday, March 7th, Mead Gardens, 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789. 9 a.m. to noon. The entrance is on the west side off Denning  not the east side off Pennsylvania. Some GPS maps are wrong. Meet near the bathrooms.  

Sunday, March 13th, Wickham Park, 2500 Parkway Drive, Melbourne, FL 32935-2335. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the “dog park” inside the park.

A bunch of Eastern Red Buds. Photo by Green Deane

We are finding quite a few seasonal forageables. In my classes we are seeing  natal plum, swinecress and Latex Strangler Vine fruit, some of which was mentioned in  recent newsletters. While we nibbled on many things among them were Turks Cap, Oxalis,  Black Nightshade, Violets, False Hawk’s Beard, Plantagos, Fireweed, and Hairy Bittercress which is barely hairy at all. Also noticed during the forage was a tasty False Roselle not yet done in by the cool weather. And although the Eastern Red Bud won’t flower in profusion for couple of months we found a couple of cold-daring blossoms to look at.

Plantago rugulii is a large local plantago. Photo by Green Deane

Plantago Power: It was a dark and rainy … morning… and I was searching through the gloom along the road for a wild mustard/radish for my foraging class. It was cold. It was rainy. It was gray. Something caught my eye so I pulled Van Go over and headed towards a watery ditch.  Then I heard a baby cry. Seriously. The figure I thought was a bag lady with stuffed shopping cart was a bundled-up woman with a baby stroller waiting for a bus. Things look different in the dim drab of winter. And the plant I thought might be a mustard most certainly was not. It was a Plantago, the largest one I have ever seen. That was worth a picture and posting on the Green Deane Forum.  There one of our regular members, Josey, who has an eye for detail and a whole lot of knowledge, offered it as Plantago Rugelii rather than P. major. One difference is the P. rugelii has purple at the base of the petiole, P. major is white. Unlike P.major, which is from Europe, P. rugelii is native to North America. It is odd that we don’t hear more about it. You can read about it here and watch a video here.   

Edible but not too tasty.

There are several “edible” Passiflora locally but only a couple worth eating in my tender-tummy opinion: P. incarnata and P. foetida. They both have a tart-sweet flavor and the entire fruit is edible, seeds, pulp and skin. I have eaten both but not in huge quantities, usually one or two at a time. A couple that are marginal are P. lutea and P. suberosa. I see P. lutea often but not P. suberosa which tends to grow further north. During a foraging class this week in Largo we saw P. lutea. Off the vine the fruit is marginal. Maybe cooked into a jelly or a juice they might improve. I am a bit concerned that I have seen some websites say P. lutea leaves can be used medicinally like P. incarnata. I would question that though I am not an herbalist nor a chemist (they would not let me take chemistry in school.)  But I seem to remember a study that tested numerous Passifloras and reported they all had some cyanide in their leaves except the P. incarnata which has GABA instead (gamma amino-butryc acid.) It was the only one, in the study at least, that did not have cyanide in its leaves and was specifically singled out. I would be careful about using any Passiflora leaves other than P. incarnata without thorough research first. Also avoid unripe fruit. One species, Passiflora adenopoda, from China,  is definitely fatal. You can read about Passifloras  here. 

Black Medic

A fairly common “What is it?” seen now is Black Medic. It’s also an iffy edible. While the seeds and greens have been eaten it is not for everyone. Also, to the every-day forager it looks a lot like Hop Clover.  Native to the area of Iran, it came to the east coast of the United States around 1807 and went west over the next 130 years. It was on the west coast of the United States in time for the Great Depression in the 1930’s. Native Americans were eating it when surveyed during the Depression thus it got listed as a Native American food. Before the species seeds the easiest way to identity Black Medic from Hop Clover is look at the center leaf of the trifolium. Black Medic’s central leaf has a longer stem than the other two leaves. In Hop Clover all three stems are the same length. Also when they seed Black Medic has black seeds, Hop Clover has brown seeds. And locally Black Medic is common whereas Hop Clover is found mostly Florida’s northwestern counties. You can read all about it here.

Green Deane videos are now available on a USB.

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 months. 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.

Alligator tooth pendant.

And two weeks ago in Port Charlotte we noticed after everyone had left an alligator tooth pendant on the picnic table. If it is yours let me know and I’ll get it back to you. 

This is weekly newsletter #445, If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page.

 To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

Wild Violet. Photo by Green Deane

A common blossom that’s easy to identify is the wild violet. It’s cultivated brethren is the pansy. There are a huge variety of violets in North America ranging from field pansies to those that like to grow down hill from the septic tank. Whether wild or cultivated violets are attractive, personable blossoms, usually on the sweet, viscous side. There are a couple of precautions, however. The first is to make sure the soil they are in — either a pot or bed — is wholesome and that the water they are getting is good. If they come from a garden center they might have pesticides on them. The other precaution is a bit more esoteric: Yellow blossoms tend to have a laxative effect. You can read about violets here. I have a video about them here.

False Hawk’s Beard like cooler weather. Photo by Green Deane

Also making itself better know now is a Dandelion relative, the False Hawk’s Beard. While one can find it all year this edible favors the spring. It’s a very common lawn invader and can occasionally get up to a couple of feet tall. Young leaves are eaten raw, older leaves which can be tougher and a bit bitter, can be boiled. I have a Croatian friend who also cooks up the roots, too.  They can be easily distinguished from the Dandelion by the flower stalk which is branched (unlike the Dandelion which has one straight stalk.) Also the False Hawk’s Beard can have blossoms in all  stages of development at the same time, unopened,  open, and going to seed. I have a video on it here . You can read more about the False Hawk’s Beard here.

Classes are held rain or shine or cold. (Hurricanes are an exception.) Photo by Kelly Fagan.

Spanning the state the weekend with foraging classes. The Melbourne class is about full but there’s plenty of room still in the Sunday class in Port Charlotte. 

Sunday January 31st, Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte. 9 a.m. to noon, meet in the parking lot at Ganyard and Bayshore. 

Saturday February 6th, Boulware Springs Park, 3420 SE 15th St.,  Gainesville, FL 32641. 9 a.m. to noon, meet at the pavilion by the pump house. 

Sunday, February 7th, Mead Gardens, 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789. 9 a.m. to noon. The entrance is on the west side off Denning  not the east side off Pennsylvania. Some GPS maps are wrong. Meet near the bathrooms.  

Sunday, February 14th, Eagle Park Lake, 1800 Keene Road, Largo, FL 33771. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the dog park pavilion.

Sunday, February 21st, Dreher Park, 1200 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach, 33405, 9 .a.m. to noon. Meet just north of the science center. 

Sunday February 28th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte. 9 a.m. to noon, meet in the parking lot at Ganyard and Bayshore. 

Saturday, March 6th, Red Bug Slough Preserve, 5200 Beneva Road, Sarasota, FL, 34233. 9 a.m. to noon. 

Sunday, March 7th, Mead Gardens, 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789. 9 a.m. to noon. The entrance is on the west side off Denning  not the east side off Pennsylvania. Some GPS maps are wrong. Meet near the bathrooms. 

For more information, to pre-pay or sign up go here. 

Stinkhorn Mushroom. Photo by Green Deane

Many cheeses have a strong aroma. My mother likened them to dirty socks. She was not a cheese eater, nor did she eat mushrooms. Just as well. We have a very smelly mushroom which when young smells quite tasty but when past the juvenile stage smells like a dead animal. It’s the stink horn. There are many stink horns. This one is Clathrus columnatus. Opinions vary whether it is edible in the “egg” stage. I don’t conveniently see them that often in the “egg” stage to give them a try. Phallus ravenelii is definitely edible in the egg stage and has a flavor similar to radish. 

The Bay Bean has huge seed pods. Photo by Green Deane.

Weed Seeds: You can plant many weed seeds to get a crop of edible weeds closer to home, if not in your own yard (now you know why my putting-green neighbors loathe me.) Weeds are designed to take care of themselves and do quite well even when ignored. I have planted wild radish, peppergrass, chickeweed, purslane and crowsfoot grass on my “lawn” and they have done quite well. Many weeds can be planted in your garden. Chinopodiums and amaranth are two that need very little encouraging. Make them a row, barely cover the seeds with soil and you will have a mess o’ greens. Mustards are a bit pickier to grow. Their seeds, such as peppergrass, should be stored in a dry area for about four months between 50 and 68 degrees F for optimum germination.  A cellar stairs is just about perfect for that, or outdoors in a Florida winter. Other seeds need special treatment.

Pokeweed seeds before soaking in battery acid

Pokeweed seeds are a good example. Their germination rate is very low, around 6 percent, if not treated. What’s treated? Replicating a bird’s gut. Soaking the seeds in battery acid for five minutes increases the germination rate into the 90s. You can buy the battery acid at auto stores. One container will last you decades. Once treated, plant successive rows of pokeweed seeds and have a lot of pokeweed from your garden. You can harvest the shoots or let them turn into big roots that will send up shoots annually.

If you’re more inclined to grow roots consider the groundnut. Just take tuber home, put it in the garden and wait, two years unfortunately but they will produce and produce well. Twenty years ago agriculturists at the University of Louisiana were trying hard to make the groundnut a commercial crop. Unfortunately when the professor in charge of the program retired so did much of that program. Groundnuts can also be grown from seeds, but the process is more involved. Video here. 

Green Deane videos are now available on a USB.

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 months. 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.

This is weekly newsletter #442. If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page.

To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

Violet leaves, stems and blossoms are edible but not the roots. Photo by Green Deane

All Violets in the genus Viola are edible.

 It’s cultivated brethren is the pansy. There’s a huge variety of violets in North America ranging from field pansies to those that like to grow down hill from the septic tank. Whether wild or cultivated violets are attractive, personable blossoms, usually on the sweet, viscous side. There are a couple of precautions, however. The first is to make sure the soil they are in — either a pot or bed — is wholesome and that the water they are getting is good. If they come from a garden center they might have pesticides on them. The other precaution is a bit more esoteric: Yellow blossoms tend to have a laxative effect. We saw these violets during out foraging class in Jacksonville this past weekend. You can read about violets here. I have a video about them here.

Seablite is related to Lamb’s Quarters. Photo by Green Deane

If you could choose one wild plant to become a commercial product, what would it be? Many people have tried to make Poke Weed (Phytolacca americana) a green in your local grocery but toxicity and the required two-boilings has always plagued its commercialization. The Ground Nut (Apios americana) was one of the original exports from colonial America but it has at least a two-year growth cycle. Louisiana State University (1984-96) developed a commercial variety but the program disappeared when the professor-in-charge, Bill Blackmon, changed colleges. In 1962 Professor Julia Morton of the University of Miami recommended Spanish Needles (Bidens pilosa) become a commercial product. Nearly 60 years later that hasn’t happened, perhaps because of flavor or the fact it can grow almost anywhere as a weed.  My candidate would be Suaeda linearis, Sea Blite. It is just starting its seasonal run. We saw a lot of small plants at Ft. Desoto this last weekend. Sea Blite has everything going for it except perhaps for its name. It’s mild but tasty, has excellent texture, can be eaten raw or cooked though cooked is the usual way. The plant is nutritious, stores well, looks good, easily grows in salty ground (read unused land) and even feels good to handle.  About the only downside, for me, is that I have to drive to either coast to get some. I need to introduce it to my garden. Think of Sea Blite as a Chinopodium that likes to grow in salty places, either near the ocean or salt licks. It has a high sodium content but boiling reduces that significantly.  If you live anywhere near the ocean or inland salty areas, now and the next few months is the time to go looking for seablight and seepweeds. To read more about Sea Blite click here. To watch my video go here. 

Loquats actually have a small amount of arsenic in them. Photo by Green Deane

An imported and naturalized tree that is fruiting now is  Loquat. I’ve seen several trees heavy with fruit It’s a very common backyard fruit tree that has liberated itself into the local landscape. Most of the Loquats fruit in the spring but there is a variation that fruits in the fall, not common but one sees it now and then. Commonly called the “Japanese Plum” it is not a plum nor is it from Japan. The fruit is edible from tart yellow to sweet yellow. The green fruit is toxic particularly to children. With seeds removed then dry well and can also be made into a nice, soft wine. You can read about the Loquat here.  I have a video here. 

Foraging classes are held rain, shine, hot or cold. Photo by Nermina Krenata

I’ve had several questions asking whether my classes will go on. The answer is yes with some qualifiers. If a park is closed or if we are under travel bans no. Otherwise yes. On the positive side we are outside — getting vitamin D —  classes are small, usually less than 10, and we don’t have to stand next to each other (I have a portable PA system.) Basically as long as the park is open we will have the class. I will monitor for closings and will keep you informed. I have one class this weekend in Melbourne with some people already signed up. 

Sunday, March 22nd, Wickham Park, 2500 Parkway Drive, Melbourne, FL 32935-2335.  Meet at the “dog park” inside the park. 9 a.m. to noon. 

Saturday, March 28th, Haulover Canal, Merritt Island National Refuge, north of the Kennedy Space Center. Read the instructions below. We meet the the northwest end of the canal area. Nine to noon. As this is federal property we will have to monitor it for closure.

Sunday, March 29th, Spruce Creek Park, 6250 Ridgewood Ave. Port Orange FL, meet at the pavilion. 9 a.m. to noon. 

Saturday, April 4th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, Port Charlotte, FL, 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the parking lot at the intersection of Bayshore Road and Ganyard Street.

Sunday, April 5th, Mead Gardens, 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789.  9 a.m. to noon. Meet to the right (east) of the Bartram sign. (Don’t confuse this location with Ft. Mead which is 80 miles further south.)

For more information. to sign up for a class or to pre-pay go here. 

Redflower Ragleaf. Photo by Carlos Recco.

One of the more interesting aspects of foraging in Florida (or Hawaii) is tropical imports that are edible. One finds or learns about new ones two or three times a year. This is one of those times and my thanks for Carlos Recco for bringing it to my attention: Redflower Ragleaf. It resembles a cross between Burnweed and a red-blossomed Florida Tassel Flower. Botanically Crassocephalum crepidioides, the USDA lists it a being found in only three counties in the US, basically southeast Florida: Broward, Dade, and Monroe. Wonderlin says it’s an “occasional” in central and southern penninsula Florida. The species is native to tropical Africa and is here all year. Cornucopia II says on page 37: Ebolo, Okinawan Spinach, young leaves and shoots are used as a potherb fried or mixed in Khaao yam. The leaves are fleshy, tinged with purple, and have a somewhat mucilaginous quality and nutty flavor. Has become quite popular on the island of Okinawa and in Hawaii. In Thailand, the roots are eaten with chili sauce or cooked in fish curry. “

Maypop blossoms are also edible. Photo by Green Deane

On a 30-mile bike ride today I saw a few edibles worth mentioning. Red Mulberries are putting on young, green fruit. Young leaves are edible cooked. The unripe green fruit is mildly mind-altering but will upset the stomach. Try not to eat them. Also seen along the bike trail are blossoming Blackberries. There are two kinds of Blackberries locally, those that grow canes and those that crawl along the ground. Both produce edible fruit. Also noticed along the trail are Maypops. They are not unusual, in fact very common. But until they get a foot long or so they grow upright and look like a vertical plant. Somewhere between 12 and 15 inches tall the plant keels over and becomes the familiar vine that can grow a hundred feet long. And if one looks closely here and there one can also find ripe Creeping Cucumbers .

Fruit of the Latex Strangler Vine. Photo by Green Deane

Another find this past weekend at Ft. Desoto was Latex Strangler Vine. At one time a bane of the citrus industry the lengthy vine grows edible fruit that is high in vitamin C.  It’s called “Strangler” because it can cover a citrus tree shading it out and killing it. The specie was “found” twice in Florida some twenty-five years apart in the last century. The state unsuccessfully spent millions trying to get rid of it  Look for it on fences and around current or old citrus groves. Decades ago when the weather was warmer the vine was common wherever there was citrus. Cooler weather has frozen it and citrus out on the north end of the state. I have seen Latex Strangler Vine in Ocala and near Gainesville but that’s the limit. In both cases the plants were under Live Oaks and in unmowed areas. It is quite common mid-state and south. The blossoms are edible off the vine. The raw leaves can also be eaten but are usually dipped in oil first. Read the above article. I also have a video on the species here. 

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, forgotten skills from making bows to fermenting food. Several hard-to-find books are there page for page. Recent posts this week include Spring 2020 Plantings, Light Purple Flowers and Fuzzy Leaves, Red Blossoms Hanging Down, Edible Privacy Fence, Tendrilizing, Calculating COVID-19 Mortality Rate, Nettle Spanakopita, Pawpaws Starting Early? What are those White Blossoms, Brazilian Pepper Revisited, Palmer Amaranth, In The Loop, Tomatoes: A Fruit First, a Vegetable Second, and Butterweed: Annual Warning.  You can join the Forum by going to the upper right hand top of this page. 

Donations to upgrade EatTheWeeds.com have gone well. Thank you to all who have contributed to either via the Go Fund Me link, the PayPal donation link or by writing to Green Deane POB 941793 Maitland FL, 32794.  There are many needs left such as expanding the foraging teacher page and the page on monotypic edibles. There’s always something and such things get more complex and expensive every year. 

Foraging DVDs make a good gift to watch during the lifeless months of winter.

Though your foraging may drop off  during Covid-19 travel bans but it’s a great time to study wild edibles with my nine DVD set. Each  DVDs has 15 videos for 135 in all. They make a great gift. Order today. Some of these videos are of better quality than my free ones on the Internet. They are the same videos but many people like to have their own copy. I burn and compile the sets myself so if you have any issues I handle them personally. There are no middle foragers. And I’m working on adding a tenth DVD.  To learn more about the DVDs or to order them click here.

Ivy Gourd fruit ripens to red. Photo by Green Deane

One more thing: While outside in the back yard today to get some extra vitamin D I noticed my Ivy Gourd is fruiting. It’s a vegetable that has champions and haters. If you are a gardener or a permaculturist it’s an excellent species. The plant is an annual, fruits heavily, can be eaten at two different stages (cucumber green and sweet pepper red) and is very resistant to fungus and infestations. If you are a native plant advocate you oppose most if not all “invasive” species. Ivy Gourd is listed as said. I don’t find it too often mid-state and have not seen it elsewhere in the state so I am not too sure how invasive it is. The USDA lists it only in two counties in Florida but I know it is in at least three. To read more about Ivy Gourd go here,  video here.  

This is weekly newsletter 397, If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page.

 To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

Seeing these blossoms around? Leave them alone. This tree can make you sick or kill you. It’s the Laurel Cherry, toxic leaves, toxic fruit, toxic seeds, toxic bark. Just say no.

Ripe mulberries are similar to blackberries in taste. Photo by Green Deane

Green Mulberries are slightly mind-altering and tummy upsetting. Photo by Green Deane

A few newsletters ago it was mentioned the Mulberries were in blossom. This week I ate my first Mulberries of the season. Looking like over-grown blackberries but completely sweet you eat all of them except the short stem… or you can eat that, too. In fact, I just nibble them off the tree. Like many fruit trees they are highly seasonal, producing for perhaps a month though with a bit of travel you can extend the season. You have to work with its schedule not yours. The Mulberry is also considered a trash tree locally because it drops a lot of purple-black berries on oh-so-clean sidewalks and manicured lawns. In fact, they’ve even bred a fruitless kind… have your mulberry but don’t eat it, too… Don’t forget the young leaves are edible cooked. To read more about the Mulberry go here.  To see my video on Mulberries, click here.

Foraging classes are held rain or shine, heat or cold. Photo by Nermina Krenata

My foraging classes this weekend range from just east of Orlando to Ft. Pierce. Things you need to know is it will be a little chilly Saturday in Orlando and in Ft. Pierce the preserve has no “offical” bathrooms. Plan accordingly.  

Saturday, March 7th, Blanchard Park, 10501 Jay Blanchard Trail, Orlando, FL 32817. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the pavilion near the YMCA building and tennis courts.

Sunday, March 8th, George LeStrange Preserve, 4911 Ralls Road, Fort Pierce, FL, 34981. 9 a.m. to noon. (There are no official bathrooms at this location and take the time change into consideration.)

Saturday, March 14th, Florida State College, south campus, 11901 Beach Blvd.,  Jacksonville, 32246.  We meet at Building “A” next to the administration parking lot. 9 a.m. to noon.

Sunday, March 15th, Ft. Desoto Park, 3500 Pinellas Bayway S. St. Petersburg Fl 33715. There is an entrance fee to the park as well. Meet at the bay fishing pier parking lot. It’s a large parking lot, meet near the bathrooms. We will walk a good bit.  9 a.m. to noon.

Saturday, March 21th, Ft. Meade Outdoor Recreation Area, 1639 Frostproof Highway, Fort Meade, FL 33841. (Frostproof Highway is also Route 98.) 9 a.m to noon. Meet at the second set of bathrooms (in the middle of the park) which is due south from the highway. (Don’t confuse this location with Mead Gardens which is in Winter Park near Orlando.)

Sunday, March 22nd, Wickham Park, 2500 Parkway Drive, Melbourne, FL 32935-2335.  Meet at the “dog park” inside the park. 9 a.m. to noon. 

Saturday, March 28th, Haulover Canal, Merritt Island National Refuge, north of the Kennedy Space Center. . Read the instructions below. We meet the the northwest end of the canal area. 

Sunday, March 29th, Spruce Creek Park, 6250 Ridgewood Ave. Port Orange FL, meet at the pavilion. 9 a.m. to noon. 

Pawpaws are an exciting find. Photo by Green Deane

Paw paws are common but elusive in this part of the world. Neither rare nor prolific yet they manage to hide well, even in plain sight! Kind of like persimmons, they are wall-flowers, not showy. More so the fruit starts out green and blends in well. And about the time it ripens to light green and yellow the woodland creatures are harvesting them. Here and gone. So finding the shrub this time of year by the blossoms is the easiest way to locate them. Dry open ground is a good place to look, which is why pastures near the roadway are often fruitful. It is also common to find them at the base of slash pines in scrub areas. We have several different species locally from dwarf versions with red blossoms to spindly tall shrubs with creamy-yellow blossoms. You can read more about them here.

The semi-annual insanity is upon us.

By this time next week a lot of you will be feeling poorly and we know why: Daylight Saving Time. I so dislike the time change that in 2006 I simply stopped doing it. I refuse to change times seasonally. I no longer leap forward in the spring or fall back in the fall. I do not change my clocks or schedule at all. I eat at the same time, feed my cats and local squirrels at the same time, go to bed and get up at the same time. In short I do not change with the rest of the time-flipping world. Personally, I really don’t care if we use standard/solar time or daylight savings time permanently. It’s the flipping I can’t stand. I got two copies of the time gene and they rebel. After all, there are only so many hours of daylight and changing a clock does not create any more or less. So I stay on standard/solar time, and I remind myself that the rest of the world is delusional thinking it’s an hour ahead of me.

I haven’t watched TV since 1977 so that doesn’t influence me. When I worked for a company I simply went to work an hour earlier for half a year. I did not eat lunch on their schedule but rather mine. If I have an appointments I just make note it’s actually an hour earlier: Noon their time, 11 mine.  In my personal life, habits, and space, I don’t change. Starting Sunday my computer, slave to its programming, will tell me it is almost 1900, or 7 p.m. The sun will tell me nonsense, it’s six p.m. and time to feed Cous-Cous and Oliver Whitecat. More so, the atomic clocks that regulate time down to the millionth of a second don’t leap forward or fall back. They stay on solar time. The animals stay on solar time. Mother nature stays on solar time. Only humans play the silly game. Only the government would cut the bottom foot off a blanket, sew it on the top, and then argue the day is longer. In fact Asia and Africa do not change time, nor most of Arizona and Hawaii. Sensible folks, them Arizonans and Hawaiians. Studies also show DST does not save energy and cost more than not changing. You can read more about the history of this nonsense here.

My 24-hour wrist watch.

I also use my watch for a compass. It works best on solar time. If I change it to Daylight Savings Time, south becomes 11 instead of 12….truly bizarre, and I’d be way off my mark. I am not a perfectionist but the sun at 11 just doesn’t work for me. 12 is just right. So I stay on solar time…. in tune with the cosmos and my location on the rotation. And when interacting with the world gone flipping mad, I just tell myself they are wrong. It all works out rather well….. almost. The only problem is my cat constituency. They know when the rest of the world leaps forward, prompting them to demand to be fed an hour earlier. I don’t know how they know but they do…. especially in the morning.

A Dandelion is a gas station for a bee. Photo by Green Deane

There is perhaps no more commonly known wild weed than the Dandelion. Whether a child blowing aways the Dandelion puff or a seasoned pallet flavoring coffee with the roasted root, Dandelions are user friendly. My first batch of wine — after two five-gallon batches of beer — was Dandelion wine, made when I was in the 8th grade. It was very reasonable choice: I could not buy wine, I did not have a driver license, and Dandelions were everywhere. That was more than a half-a-century ago in Maine where summer Dandelions grew large and luscious. Now I live in Florida and Dandelions here are usually anemic winter stragglers. That first experience with a wild wine makes it easy to realize how wine-making evolved. There was no great preparation. I put blossoms, water, sugar and yeast into a 5-gallon crock, the top covered with a towel. When it was done working it went into old glass soda bottles. Perhaps it was beginners luck but it worked wonderfully. It doesn’t always, that’s for sure as subsequent failures over the years have proved. After some 55 years of wine making I am not cavalier about it but not super fastidious either.  What you also learn is that most wine recipes are basically the same with minor variations (the same with lacto-fermentations.) I will admit that of all my videos on You Tube the one on making a quick hard cider is the most watched. I’m probably corrupting some 8th grader out there… who might grow into a great wine maker. To learn more about Dandelions click here.

Dark stamens helps to identify this False Dandelion. Photo by Green Deane

A related foraging conumdrum is False Dandelions, in this case Pyrrhopappus carolinianus, but also common is Hypochaeris radicata. They can sometimes look close to the real thing. I saw a couple this past week around the state, one that leaned heavily towards Dandelion and one that leaned towards False. At a quick glance the False Dandelion usually has skinnier leaves, lighter yellow  petals (rays) and have, when look from directly above, black specks which are missing on real dandelions. The end of the flower rays (petals) also appear more ragged.You can read about several species of False Dandelions in North America  here.

Wintergreen is also called Checkerberry.

Some winter plant facts:  As the days grow shorter and the pre-dawn temperatures drops to around 25F trees begin to produce abscisic acid. It’s a stress hormone that travels through the sap activating some genes which in turn make cryoprotectant solutes in the cells: It’s plant antifreeze that’s good to about 40 degrees below zero. This is why trees explode when the mercury drops below -40. The anti-freeze no longer protects them and the sap turns to ice which expands and shatters the tree. The autumn dropping of leaves is more related to drought than cold temperatures. Winter is a dry spell. Trees lose 90% of their water through their leaves. Drop the leaves you save water. Just like some trees some plants stay evergreen in winter.  Chickweed, a fleeting annual locally, actually germinates under the snow, non-native Japanese knotweed stays greens under the snow as does the native Wintergreen hence the name. It keeps its red berries all winter so they are easy to spot when the snow begins to melt… and the snow melts from the bottom up, not the top down. I can remember finding Wintergreen easily in Maine as a kid when the snow was melting. Their bright red and green made them very conspicuous. We called them Checkerberries and were a common site in hour horse pastures. You can read about Wintergreen here. 

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, forgotten skills from making bows to fermenting food. Several hard-to-find books are there page for page. Recent posts this week include Nettle Spanakopita, Pawpaws Starting Early? What are those White Blossoms, Brazilian Pepper Revisited, COVID 19, Palmer Amaranth, In The Loop, Tomatoes: A Fruit First, a Vegetable Second, and Butterweed: Annual Warning.  You can join the Forum by going to the upper right hand top of this page. 

Foraging DVDs make a good gift to watch during the lifeless months of winter.

Though your foraging may drop off  during the winter it’s a great time to study wild edibles with my nine DVD set. Each  DVDs has 15 videos for 135 in all. They make a great gift. Order today. Some of these videos are of better quality than my free ones on the Internet. They are the same videos but many people like to have their own copy. I burn and compile the sets myself so if you have any issues I handle them personally. There are no middle foragers. And I’m working on adding a tenth DVD.  To learn more about the DVDs or to order them click here.

Donations to upgrade EatTheWeeds.com have gone well. Thank you to all who have contributed to either via the Go Fund Me link, the PayPal donation link or by writing to Green Deane POB 941793 Maitland FL, 32794.  There are many needs left such as expanding the foraging teacher page and the page on monotypic edibles. There’s always something and such things get more complex and expensive every year. 

This is weekly newsletter 395, If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page.

 To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.

Be careful while foraging. Here are edible violets and poison ivy together. Photo by Green Deane

Lambsquarters often has a mealy look. Photo by Green Deane

While driving through the middle of the peninsula this week I noticed Lambsquarters in their most common seasonal place: Citrus groves. Look for them in not only well-tended groves but poorly maintained ones as well. They like the disturbed soil that annual harrowing creates. In Eagle Lake an old grove had been cleared for housing. Lambs Quarters were taking advantage of turned soil.

Seablite is related to Lambsquarters. Photo by Green Deane

Lambsquarters, also known as Pigweed, Fat Hen, and Chenopodium album, was a common weed in rural Maine where I grew up. It was one of the first edible wild plants I learned as a kid and rather unintentionally. We didn’t have a lawn so my father sprinkled several wheel barrows of chaff from the haybarn on the the designated soil. The first crop that spring was wild mustards which I knew were edible. The second crop was Lambsquarters. I didn’t know they were edible until a neighbor one day asked if he could take several five-foot tall plants home for supper. I added them to my “edibles” list. Other comestibles around the house were wild raspberries, apples, grapes, choke cherries, strawberries, blueberries, dandelions, sand roses and violets called “Johnny Jump Us.” They grew near the septic drank drain. My mother enjoyed eating them despite the aromatic surroundings.  You can read about the Lambsquarters here. 

Lambsquarters is also in the Goosefoot family and related to a “grain” you might have eaten — Quinoa — which is a Chenopodium quinoa.  It’s a relative of several weeds most of us have growing in our neighborhood. And the answer to the next question is yes, our local Goosefoots/Chenopodiums have edible seeds (including Chenopodium ambrosioides, also called Epazote.) The only precaution is like Quinoa all Chenopodiums seeds must be soaked before consuming to remove bitter saponins (a natural, bitter soap.) 

Foraging classes are held rain or shine, heat or cold. Photo by Nermina Krenata.

It might be a little rainy this weekend but fairly warm for foraging classes in West Palm Beach and Largo Fl. Weather the showers are Friday night or Saturday morning is still in contention but we will have class rain or not. In real life you’re also hungry when it rains. 

Saturday, February 1st, Dreher Park, 1200 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach, FL, 33405. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet just north of the Science Center. 

Sunday, February 2nd, Eagle Park Lake, 1800 Keene Road, Largo, FL 33771. Meet at the pavilion near the dog park. 9 a.m to noon. (This class will go on as scheduled.) 

Saturday, February 8th, Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL 32789. Meet at the parking lot. 9 a.m. to noon. 

Sunday, February 9th, Red Bug Slough Preserve, 5200 Beneva Road, Sarasota, FL, 34233. 9 a.m. to noon. 

Saturday, February 15th, Boulware Springs Park, 3420 SE 15th St.,  Gainesville, FL 32641. Meet at the picnic tables next to the pump house. 9 a.m. to noon. 

Saturday, March 7th, Blanchard Park, 10501 Jay Blanchard Trail, Orlando, FL 32817. 9 a.m. to noon. Meet at the pavilion near the YMCA building and tennis courts.  

Sunday, March 8th, George LeStrange Preserve, 4911 Ralls Road, Fort Pierce, FL, 34981. 9 a.m. to noon. (There are no official bathrooms at this location. And don’t forget the time change. Leap forward.)

Saturday, March 28th, Haulover Canal, Merritt Island National Refuge, north of the Kennedy Space Center. 9 a.m. to noon. Read the instructions below. We meet the the northwest end of the canal area. 

Sunday, March 29th, Spruce Creek Park, 6250 Ridgewood Ave. Port Orange FL, meet at the pavilion. 9 a.m. to noon. 

For more information, to sign up for a class or to pre-pay go here. 

Some passion fruit are edible, some just tastes bad, and others are not edible if not deadly. Photo by Green Deane.

There are several “edible” Passiflora locally but only a couple worth eating in my tender-tummy opinion: P. incarnata and P. foetida. They both have a tart-sweet flavor and the entire fruit is edible, seeds, pulp and skin. I have eaten both but not in huge quantities, usually one or two at a time. A couple that are marginal are P. lutea and P. suberosa. I see P. lutea often but not P. suberosa which tends to grow further north. During a foraging class this week we saw P. lutea and it was fruiting. I’m a bit concerned in that I have seen some websites say P. lutea leaves can be used medicinally like P. incarnata. I would question that though I am not an herbalist nor a chemist (they would not let me take chemistry in school.)  But, I seem to remember a study that tested numerous Passifloras which reported they all had some cyanide in their leaves except the P. incarnata which has GABA instead (gamma amino-butryc acid.) P. incarnata was the only one, in the study at least, that did not have cyanide in its leaves and was specifically singled out. I would be careful about using any Passiflora leaves other than wild P. incarnata without thorough research first. Also avoid unripe fruit. One species, Passiflora adenopoda, from China,  is definitely fatal. You can read about Passifloras  here. 

Doveweed is a little local edible.

There are many tiny edibles that don’t get much coverage probably because they’re minute or not a great flavor, read a famine food. One of them is the Doveweed, Murdannia nudiflora. Considered one of the world’s worst weed it is often found with its relatives the Asiatic Day Flower and Spiderworts. According to the Invasive Species Compendium “its special ability to root easily at the nodes, propagating clonally through cut stems and dispersal during tillage and land preparation make this weed difficult to control. This trait coupled with its ability to adapt and survive a wide ecological window of soil types, pH, moisture availability and soil drainage makes M. nudiflora a weed to watch for potential spread into new areas in near future, and a species under the ‘alert list’ by the Invasive Species Specialist Group.” It’s a big pest for such a tiny plant, one not usually seen while you’re standing up. When you are on your knees looking for something else is when you will find Doveweed. Locally I locate it in slightly damp locations and in semi- shade. As one might guess it’s similar to Commelinas and was once in that genus. To read more about the Doveweed go here.

Brazilian Pepper fruit grows from axils. Photo by Green Deane

Botany Builder #10: Axil is a word you’ll read often in plant descriptions. It is the upper point where a leaf petiole (see previous Botany Builder #2) meets the stem or where a branch meets the stem. They should have called it a juncture rather than an axil. We wouldn’t be too interested in that rather unremarkable location except plants often sprout branches, blossoms and fruit from that spot. The Brazilian Pepper it puts on fruit where a larger stem and a leaf meet. Where that larger stem and — in this case — the leaf meet is the axil. Another member of this family — Poison Sumac — grows toxic white/light green berries out of the axil. A third member, however, does not. The edible sumac grows berries at the very end of a branch rather than at the axil. When the berries are in a bunch at the end of a branch it is called a terminal cluster. Thus berries growing out of an axil are in a far different location than a terminal cluster. Brazilian Pepper berries have been used as spice if you are not allergic to them as they are closely related to poison ivy. Using them is not recommendation. I have a video on the species here.  

Stomolophus meleagris, one of our edible jellyfish. Photo by Deep Sea Waters.

While foraging along the Peace River this past Saturday I noticed jelly fish in the wrack line. Many jellyfish are edible including some that are found in local waters. How did I come to eat Jelly Fish? I had a friend from Taiwan who never ordered from the menu at Chinese restaurants. It was always off-the-menu and then after much discussion with the waiter and sometimes the chef. One of those chats produced a dish of jellyfish. I was hooked. It was very tasty and jellyfish can be caught while casting for other fish. (I like castnetting and am a castnet junkie.) While a substantial food in many parts of the world I’m not sure jellyfish locally would qualify as a staple because catching them by hand is by chance (which does increase however when in season.) Despite their name Jelly Fish are also mostly water and need to be desiccated immediately, not a small process. It all depends on how hungry you are and how many of them you have. You should get them live out of the water not dead on the beach. To read about jellyfish go here.

The Nine DVD set includes 135 videos.

Though your foraging may drop off  during the winter it’s a great time to study wild edibles with my nine DVD set. Each  DVDs has 15 videos for 135 in all. They make a great gift. Order today. Some of these videos are of better quality than my free ones on the Internet. They are the same videos but many people like to have their own copy. I burn and compile the sets myself so if you have any issues I handle them personally. There are no middle foragers. And I’m working on adding a tenth DVD.  To learn more about the DVDs or to order them click here.

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.

This is weekly newsletter 390, If you want to subscribe to this free newsletter you can find the sign-up form in the menu at the top of the page.

 To donate to the Green Deane Newsletter click here.