Before I launch into today's new post about a weed that might be useful I'd like to thank all of you out there who were patient with me while I took a long eight month hiatus from this blog. The uptick in quality/content on the youtube channel was worth it though, better sound, longer videos more content. All of this was a net benefit for you but here now in 2024, it's only going to get better. I've lined up at least twenty weeks of weeds to talk about here and I'm not sure if we're going to run a bi-weekly or weekly format but all you readers out there will be kept in the loop either through the weekly Next Door.com posts or here, or on the YouTube channel. Either way, thanks again for your patience and understanding, now...we return to the 'weeds'.
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Welcome to the 2024 edition of the LITFM blog. This blog is the text-based complement to my weekly posts on Nextdoor.com and the gardening channel on YouTube. In 2023, this blog took on a more formal instructional tone with jokes dispersed within to serve as a hub for conveying information that might not work in a video or weekly update format. The subject matter here is always the wide variety of plant-based foods that you can find growing around you in nature or as some call it ‘Forage Foods’. This ties in with local bartering, and indirectly now we will be including mycology. The primary reason for the change in the blog’s tone and topic came about due to the events of the pandemic, the resulting 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. There is no reason not to be educated in what is and is not safe and how to prepare it into a nutritious meal. With that said I also realized that in my own way by keeping this blog running I might be butting heads with a billion-dollar pesticide/herbicide/fertilizer industry at times. 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 2024, 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.
Thank you for sticking with LITFM and stay tuned for a year of forage foods.
The Paspalum is the one with bigger leaves in the center, the grass in the upper right isn't grass that is a sedge.
Common Name: Gazon Paspalum
Other Common Names: Panama Crown Grass, Winged Paspalum, Bahiagrasses, Dallis Grass
Botanical Family: Poaceae (The Grass Family) (Aka Gramineae)
Botanical Latin Name: Paspalum fimbriatum
Description & Habitat: Gazon Paspalum is an annual grass that can grow up to 30 inches tall under ideal conditions. Individual leaf blades are linear and can be up to 11 inches long and .06 inches wide. This plantoriginates in South America and has naturalized in Taiwan, but is found in the warmer parts of the United States including North Carolina.
When
& What to Harvest: Edibility is currently unknown for humans, however
it is known that this play may be a host-food plant for caterpillars of the
Pasture Day Moth and the Dark Palm Dart. Birds that eat grain will often eat
the seeds of grasses in this family group so the plant has uses for other
creatures. So eradication of this grass may not be in the best interest of biodiversity.
Poisonous Lookalikes: Unknown.
Related Edible Species: Unknown.
Recipe: There is no recipe this time, but I do have an interesting fact. The turf used in the Huston Astros home ball park uses is Platinum TE Paspalum proving that this plant has at least one good use.
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. 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 Franklin 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 Food:
Garlic Bulbs
Soup Kits – Parsnip
Soup Kits – Turnip
House Plants (Available in Resin and Plain Pots)
Arrowhead Plant ‘Regina Red’
Ficus ‘Yellow Gem’
Haworthia ‘Chocolate’
Haworthia ‘Saiko’
Miniature Cyclamen
Miniature Ox-Tongue
Spineless Prickly Pear
Swiss Cheese Vine
Begonia – ‘Sindbad’
Cuban Oregano – Large Leaf
Hoan Ngoc
Coming Soon:
Expect new things soon!
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): Short Videos: Tropical Milkweed, LITFM Out Takes #12
We have two meetings a month. We meet at LeClair’s General Store on the First and Third Thursday of every month. It’s an open-door meeting with no membership requirements just come on in and talk garden with us! Our next meeting is on January 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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