Welcome back to the Lost In the Farmer’s Market Blog. At the current time we have a long-running series that covers useful, edible and medicinal ‘weeds’ that you can commonly find in the southeastern states of the United States. While our survey area is just within Cumberland County North Carolina it’ is possible you can find some of these forage plants in other places. This series was begun to give folks a detailed look into the resources they might not have known were right there in their lawn. Given that the world situation is not that great and there are already shortages of critical grains and fertilizers forage foods may be the most useful answer on a local level. LITFM will keep this series going as long as we keep finding wild resources to photograph and write about. If you have any questions or comments about our articles please leave a comment either here or on our YouTube Channel (The link is at the end of the article). Thank you for reading, and remember just one thing, you can’t eat lawn grass.
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| This is what Dog Fennel looks like early on. |
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| Oh Myy! A Dog Fennel Frond gets a little frisky. Note the white fuzz on the stems. |
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| In the field this is what Dog Fennel looks like. It is not hard to see how it might be mistaken for actual Fennel. |
Common Name: Dog Fennel
Other Common Names: Summer Cedar
Botanical Family: Asteraceae (The Aster Family)
Botanical Latin Name: Eupatorium capillifolium
Season to Harvest: Sparingly harvest young foliage only whenever you need to use it.
Habitat: Dog Fennel is a tall growing perennial that will is commonly found on roadsides, areas that have recently had a fire or where the soil has seen significant disturbance. This is a native plant that can easily be found across the eastern coast states and into the Midwestern states.
Parts to Harvest: Sparingly harvest the foliage.
Poisonous Lookalikes: None.
Related Edible Species: None.
Description: Dog Fennel is a tall perennial that is best identified by it’s densely hairy stems that come from a woody crown. Its leaves are very finely lobed and resemble Dill, Fennel and a few other members of the Carrot Family. Individual stalks of Dog Fennel can reach heights of up to seven feet high.
How to Harvest: Picking a small amount of the delicate leaves can be done by hand.
Recipe: There is no recipe for this weed because it is known to harbor a compound called pyrrolizidine which is an alkaloid that with long term or heavy use causes veno-occulusive disease. Basically the compound clogs up the small veins in the liver causing fluid retention and eventually liver failure. Very small amounts can be used as a seasoning in a vinaigrette for a salad, and as a spice in mashed potatoes to add flavor but this should only be done in small amounts.
With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but by booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog. In addition to being able to process card payments we now take CashApp payments so your payment options for my product have tripled. With that said; if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic fruit, herbs, flowers and perennials, come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the Hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.
For those of you wondering what plants are going to be at the market this weekend here is the list.
Fresh Produce:
Pepper, Lemon Drop
Figs, Assortment (Magnolia,)
Garden Stuff: ($3.00)
Cilantro – Vietnamese
Cuban Oregano – Cervesa & Lime
Fennel – Black
Hoan Ngoc
Sage – Pineapple
Sage – Common
Coming Soon:
Thai Mint (Next Week)
How to stay in Contact with Us!
Our group’s online presence has migrated to Nextdoor.com. All you need to keep up with all our activities is to have a Nextdoor account and to look for the ‘Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’ group and ask to join! You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join us! Feel free to ask all your garden questions of our knowledgeable membership and post your cool garden pictures.
Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville
Also please take a gander at the Youtube version of this blog:
The Videos: Look Here
>Newest videos (2): Sticky Germander, Wax Begonias.
Our meetings are still going on! We now meet at LeClair’s General Store on the First and Third Thursday of every month. Our next meeting is on September 1st between 5:30pm and 7:00pm. We are in the back room so come on in and join us for a fun garden chat.
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