Forked tendril grapes a few months from ripening. Photo by Green Deane
Locally there are two group of grapes, single tendril and forked tendril. The singles are blossoming now, the forked ones are growing fruit. Both tend to ripen about September though the single tendril has greater seasonal leeway. The forked tendril grapes are superior in flavor and fruit almost every year. Single tendril grapes fruit very irregularly and are high in acid
Persimmon leaves are very high in Vitamin C.
Persimmons are also green right now. We’ll have to wait until October or so to find some ripe ones. There is a forager folk tale that they ripen only after a frost. As frosts are uncommon in Florida frosts are not necessary for persimmons to ripen, the ripening and any frosts at the same time is just a coincidence. The best persimmons locally are the ones you have to fight the ants for. Native persimmon are astringent until the seeds are old enough to germinate. Then the fruit turns sweet hoping some animal will eat it and spread the seeds around.
Blackbarries are ripening.
Acres of wild blackberries… well, perhaps not acres but certainly a lot of them. Where? On the bike trail between Lake Monroe Park and Gemini Springs Park in south Volusia County. That part of the bike trail wends its way for a little over a mile between two parking lots. Look for the powerlines… this same area will also have bushels of Passiflora incarnata, Maypops… along the way to this location on the southern side are many cattails and to the west of Gemini Springs Park (in the cow pasture) there are a lot of Pawpaws. The things ones see while riding a bike. And… if you like to travel by train there is a Sunrail stop (Debary) directly west of the patch (and a path to said on the east side of U.S. 17-92.) As they are wild blackberries they are well armed. And a reminder that foraging is illegal in Florida so proceed stealthily. Why is foraging illegal? Unanswerable officials have to have something to do. If we had a Commissioner of Ants there would be all kinds of ant rules, do’s and don’t’s and fines et etcetera. The more government the more rules and the more functionaries to interfere with your life. In theory elected official were supposed to make all the rules and be accountable for all of them. If we didn’t like the rules or decisions we vote them out of office. But then politicians made unanswerable committees, commissions and departments to make and enforce rules. These add-on bureaus do not answer to the people or to the elected officials that created them. If a wildlife commission makes a truly stupid decision and citizens don’t like it, tough. Thus the second rule of foraging is “no witnesses.” The third rule is “eat the evidence.” The first rule of foraging is wash your hands BEFORE you go to the bathroom ’cause you never know what you’ve been touching..
Cickasaw plums will soon ripen in full. Photo by Green Deane
Foraging classes: This could be a “Prunus” foraging week. Rummaging around Gainesville this time of year we usually see wild garlic and Chickasaw Plums (not together) The plums are usually still green and sour and should be ripe in a month to six weeks. Black Cherries are also ripening now but are often more difficult to find because the birds also like them. Cherries and plums are in the same genus, Prunus, so it’s not surprising they are ripening at about the same time. Also setting fruit are the Flatwood Plums but they are different story and are included in my related article. I have a video on the Chickasaw plum here, Black Cherry here. To read about the Black Cherry go here, the Chickasaw Plum, here.
May 13, Boulware Springs Park, 3420 SE 15th St., Gainesville, FL 32641. 9 a.m. Meet at the picnic tables next to the pump house.
May 14, Mead Garden: 1500 S. Denning Dr., Winter Park, FL., 9 a.m. meet at the bathrooms.
May 20th, Bayshore Live Oak Park, Bayshore Drive. Port Charlotte., 9 a.m., meet at the parking lot at Bayshore and Ganyard Street.
May 21st, Dreher Park, 1200 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach, 9 a.m., meet just north of the science center.
May 27th , Wickham Park: 2500 Parkway Drive, Melbourne, FL 9 a.m. Meet at the “dog park” inside the park (turn right after entrance.)
Bring cash on the day of class or click here to pay for your class
You get the USB, not the key.
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.
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 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.
Sargassum: Edible but sequesters arsenic.
And my book is on pre-order at Amazon.com. It will be printed in October. How many plants will be in it is up for debate at the moment. The covers says 295 but I’ve had them remove a couple that I think were too iffy, recently sargassum seaweed. While it is edible, recent research shows it modern times it collects high amounts of arsenic.
This is my weekly newsletter #557. 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.
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