Welcome back to the Lost In the Farmer’s Market blog. As some of you have noticed the blog has taken on a more formal instructional tone to cover the wide variety of forage foods that you can find all around you. This change came about due to the events of the pandemic, economic turmoil and other factors. The reality is that we are surrounded with perfectly edible plants that can fill at least some of the void in our dietary needs but, there is a multi-million dollar herbicide industry that exists. It has always been in the interest of that industry to label certain things ‘weeds’ so they can sell you product that as time goes by we find out is worse for your health than the weeds are. Coupled with an Agricultural-Education system that peddles the myths of the industry and the old myth that if you can afford a nice lawn you must have wealth we have a population that has been fooled for a long time. So, here we are in 2023, and the forage foods series will continue. I hope all of you who read this blog find the information useful or at least thought provoking. The ‘weeds’ I am listing a certainly found in Zone 8A in North Carolina and should certainly be easy to find in the Southeast regions of America. Oh, and one funny thing discovered in last year’s blog, it turns out you can eat Crab Grass, and while it isn’t what most would call a lawn grass, I did state you can’t eat your lawn in last year’s intro. Detailed research is a funny thing since it has a way of proving even the experts wrong.
The flowers of Armenian Blackberry are quite visible and as I took this photo the pollinators were out in droves. 
Armenian Blackberries are well equipped to fight other invasive species, the other flowers are from Privets. 
As you can see here, sometimes Armenian Blackberries have three leaflets this is normal near the flowers.
Here we have the defensive features of members of the Rubus family. For note the canes will turn that red color when they are exposed to more sunlight, it's not any indicator if illness in the plant. 
This cane has rooted where it touched the ground forming a new clump.
Common Name: Armenian Blackberry
Other Common Names: Himalayan Blackberry
Botanical Family: Rosaceae (The Rose Family)
Botanical Latin Name: Rubus armeniacus
Description & Habitat: This member of the Rubus family of fruiting and often thorny bushes can be found in disturbed areas, on the margins of woodlands, near bodies of water or in areas where the water table is high. Additionally you might find it in ravines, fields, thickets and wherever it has escaped cultivation. It can tolerate full shade so do not be surprised if it’s growing deep in a forest somewhere. This species despite one of its common names is originally native to Armenia and Iran, but has been naturalized in many other parts of the world like North Carolina. It is a perennial plant that bears stems (aka canes) that are biennial that rise up from its perennial root system. Typically first year ‘canes’ will grow vigorously and can reach lengths of up to 13 to 32 feet if conditions are optimal, These canes can also arch above the ground up to 13 feet. Interestingly the stems if cut in cross-section may be roughly polygonal or hexagonal in shape. Flowers and fruits are produced on second-year canes and the flowers are considered bisexual (or perfect) in that they contain male and female parts. All branches can root from any node that touches the ground allowing this fruiting bush to effectively clone itself as well as reproduce from the seeds in its fruit. Also it has to be mentioned here that the fruit Armenian Blackberry produces are not actual berries but an aggregate fruit composed of numerous druplets. The leaves are best described as palmately compound in shape with either three or more leaflets with five being the most common number but up to six not being unheard of. The one thing that is common to blackberries in the wild is of course all the thorns. In some publications this plant is listed as Rubus bifrons, Rubus procerus or, Rubus discolor/discolores. This species was introduced to North American in 1885, because it produced larger and sweeter berries than prior blackberry types like Rubus fruticosus. Either way, this blackberry escaped cultivation around 1915, and in some places it has been declared an invasive species because of its aggressive spread.
When & What to Harvest: Look for flowers in late spring and the fruit should follow by Early to mid-summer.
Poisonous Lookalikes: None known.
Related Edible Species: Common Blackberry (Rubus allagheniensis), Black Raspberry (Rubus occidentals), Rubus ursinus, Thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus), Wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius), Red Raspberry (Rubus idaeus variety strigosus).
Recipe: There is simply no shortage of ways to use the berries from the Rubus family. Preparation can be as simple as washing them and lightly sprinkling them with sugar or a little bit of honey. The addition of fresh cream to that mix or, yogurt and you have yourself a delicious treat that is healthy as hell. A good recipe for black or Raspberries is to make Berry Bannock.
Ingredients:
2 Cups of Flour.
3 Tablespoons of Double-Acting Baking powder.
½ Teaspoon of Salt.
6 Tablespoons of Butter.
4 Tablespoons of Half & Half.
1 Cup of ripe washed berries.
1/3 Cup of water.
How to make the good stuff!
1. Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, butter and half and half until the mix has a uniform texture.
2. Add the washed berries.
3. Mix gently to make sure all the fruit is uniformly coated in the mixture.
4. Add the water to make the mixture into workable dough.
5. Shape the mixture into roughly 1” thick cake and then dust with flour.
6. Place the mix into a warmed and greased frying pan.
7. Cover and cook over moderate heat until a light crust forms on the bottom of the pan.
8. Turn and cook as needed until golden brown in color and none of the dough sticks to a fork or knife inserted through the center of the dough.
9. It’s Eating time!
This recipe is adapted from its listing in Edible Wild Plans of North America by Elias & Dykeman.
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 2:00 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
Coming Soon:
Spring Garden Plants are due in March 18th 2023.
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):Cat Grass,
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 March 18th 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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