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.
This is your typical Southern Crabgrass plant.
Common Name: Southern Crabgrass
Other Common Names: Tropical finger-grass, Tropical Crabgrass, Summer Grass.
Botanical Family: Poaceae (The Grass Family)
Botanical Latin Name: Digitaria ciliaris
Season to Harvest: Harvest the seeds in fall after a frost has hit.
Habitat: While this grass may have originated somewhere in Asia it has spread all over the world and is only confined to the tropical belt of the planet. It is an invasive species that can crowd out native species due to its ability to form a mat-like layer of stoloniferous growth and its production of seed. Crab Grass is an easy plant to find, it will appear in lawns, gardens, potted plants, old fields, by the roadside and waste places.
Parts to Harvest: Young tender leaves and the seeds. Avoid any crab grass with purple or black mold on it.
Poisonous Lookalikes: None.
Related
Edible Species: Digitaria sanguinalis - Large Crabgrass
Description: Crab grass is a summer annual with a tufted or prostrate and spreading manner because its stem internodes can root where they touch soil. The leave blade is often longer than 2 inches when mature and usually a bit hairy on all surfaces.
Recipe: So it seems that Crabgrass was intentionally brought to the USA around 1849, and was intended as forage for Cattle, Sheep, Hogs and horses. When the Department of Agriculture was formed they attempted to make it a main agricultural crop. However Wheat and Corn, both of which are also grasses became popular because they were easier to grow and thus more profitable and Crabgrass became a weed. It is noted in several credible places online that you can make decent quality paper out of the fibers contained in Crabgrass. Additionally you can make flour out of crabgrass seeds which then can be used with regular flour at a 50-50 ratio in normal baking recipes.
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 8:00 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:
Garlic Bulbs
Soup Kit – Parsnip
Soup Kit – Turnip
Garden Stuff: ($1.00) Last Chance Sale!
Cauliflower – Snow Crown
Cauliflower – Flame Star
Celery - Tango
Collards – Green Glaze
Kale – Ragged Jack
Mustard – Japanese Red Giant
Coming Soon:
House Plants (November 25th!)
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 (1): Field/Cowpeas
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 December 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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