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.
[Because Blogspot is being dumb you can find the weed's picture over here at Imgur.]
Common Name: Blue Field Madder
Other Common Names: Field Madder
Botanical Family: Rubiaceae (The Coffee Family)
Botanical Latin Name: Sherardia arvensis
Season to Harvest: Most likely in the spring.
Habitat: Blue Field madder is most commonly found in fields in the southeast. You might also find it in pastures, and in lawns.
Parts to Harvest: Edibility is unclear, but the leaves and young stems are likely what you would want to harvest.
Poisonous Lookalikes: None.
Related Edible Species: Edibility is unclear.
Description: Blue Field Madder is a low growing mat forming kind of winter annual with square stems and a leaf arrangement that resembles Bedstraw (Galium aparine). The Lavender to pink flowers and petite leaves distinguish it from Bedstraw. For note, its leaves are whorled with four to six leaves per node and the leaves are elliptic in shape and have pointy tips. The flowers can vary, are small and have four petals.
How to Harvest: Foliage presumably is harvested in the same way you would do for bedstraw.
Recipe: Given that it is noted in several sources that this plant is non-toxic, its edibility is unclear. It would be wise to use and prepare this plant as you would prepare Cleavers/ Bedstraw which is related but has known toxicity and edibility information.
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:
Peppers, Lemon Drop
Peppers, Fayetteville Inferno
Peppers, Sweet Heat & Purple Bell
Garlic Bulbs
Soup Kit – Parsnip
Soup Kit – Turnip
Garden Stuff: ($3.00)
Broccoli - Destiny
Brussel Sprouts - Redarling
Cauliflower – Snow Crown
Cauliflower – Flame Star
Cauliflower – Veronica
Celery - Tango
Cilantro – Vietnamese
Collards – Green Glaze
Cuban Oregano – Cervesa & Lime
Hoan Ngoc
Mizuna Mustard – Miz America
Mustard – Japanese Red Giant
Pak Choi – Rose’
Sage – Pineapple
Coming Soon:
House Plants (November)
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 (3): Swamp Rose Hibiscus, Cotton Rose, Texas Star Hibiscus
Meetings 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 October 20th between 5:30pm and 7:00pm. We are in the back room so come on in and join us for a fun garden chat.
*Song Reference: ‘Love her Madly by The Doors.
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