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.
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| The owner of this lot decided to wage war of a large stand of Tortoise Shell Bamboo, as he cleared parts of it I took pictures to show aspects of the plant in question. Note how tall these individual stems are. |
A close up of the stem of this type of Bamboo.
This the above stand of bamboo before the owner finished the job earlier this year.
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| Finally after months of work the owner of this land had thought he'd defeated the hardy foreign invader in a aggressive clearing campaign that involved some pretty heavy equipment. Say what do you think those dark green tufts are emerging int he field there? |
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| That's right folks, he destroyed the top growth, but failed to kill the rhizomes below the soil's surface that had over the course of decades been building up a protective layer of topsoil. When the owner used a bulldozer to remove what he thought was the infestation, he only took away the top soil and not the rhizomes and now they're back for vengeance! |
Common Name: Tortoise Shell Bamboo
Other Common Names: mōsō bamboo (Japanese), mao zhu (Chinese)
Botanical Family: Poaceae (The Grass Family)
Botanical Latin Name: Phyllostachys edulis
Description & Habitat: This is the bamboo that everyone sees growing in dense groups all over Fayetteville and Eastover. It is best known for its grey-green stalks and that its mature stalks can reach up to 60 feet tall. It produces flowers and then seed once per 50 to 67 years or so which means Bamboo spreads by its ever growing rhizome. This is the edible species of bamboo that is also used for construction materials. Typically this plant will grow almost anywhere but it is commonly found in fairly moist soils and close to bodies of water. Bamboo in general is considered another Super-Invasive for its ability to spread and choke out native species of plants and wild life. This is a non-native species of grass that originates in deciduous woodlands In China but careless actions by both nurseries and gardeners has resulted in it escaping cultivation into the wild landscape.
When & What to Harvest: The Shoots are harvested for food, typically befor they are more than a foot tall. The stalks are harvested at varied stages for use in varied forms of construction as needed.
Poisonous Lookalikes: None known.
Related Edible Species: None were noticed during the research of this particular plant
Recipe: So cooking raw bamboo shoots is a pretty basic affair. You cut young tender shoots from the parent plant, wash and then cut those into sticks, cubes or slices and then boil in lightly salted water for about twenty minutes or until tender. Then you can discard the water and cook with your normal recipe or eat as is seasoned to your taste.
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.
Spring Garden Plants:
Sorrel, Raspberry Dressing
Spring Herbs:
Hoan Ngoc
Milkweed, Asclepias incarnata
Milkweed, Asclepias curassivica
Yarrow
Warm-Season Vegetables:
Dahlia
Peppers, Ghost
Peppers, Sweet Banana
Tomato, Super Sweet 100
Tomato, Chocolate Cherry
Tomato, Lemon Drop
Tomato, Sungold
Tomato, San Marzano
Tomato, Black Krim
Tomato, Paul Robeson (Limited Supply)
Tomato, Purple Cherokee
Wonderberry
Coming Soon:
Celery, Pink
Marshmallow
Milkweed, (More to come)
Molokhia
Okra, Jing Orange
Okra, Baby Bubba
Okra, Burgundy
Orach, Red
Pepper, Orange Fatalii
Pepper, Lemon Drop
Coming Soon:
Celery, Pink
Marshmallow
Milkweed, (More to come)
Molokhia
Okra, Jing Orange
Okra, Baby Bubba
Okra, Burgundy
Orach, Red
Pepper, Orange Fatalii
Pepper, Lemon Drop
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): Sweet Bay
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 May 4th 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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