Consider the Mugwort

 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.

 

 

 

Some specimens of Mugwort have heavily lobed leaves like what you see here.

As you can see Mugwort can have a number of variations on it's standard leaf even in one population. It is best to rely on it's trademark aroma to identify it.

Some Mugwort plants aren't even reliably dark green.

I mean, look at this one, it's pretty bright green and then the little offshoots are a similar color.

 

Common Name: Mugwort

 

Other Common Names: Common Mugwort

 

Botanical Family: Asteraceae (The Aster Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Artemisia vulgaris

 

Season to Harvest:  Summer, Fall and, Winter.

 

Habitat: Mugwort is a survivor,  can appear anywhere in the continental USA, it tends to grow in lawns, waste places, shores, roadsides and will appear between the cracks of asphalt and concrete in urban landscapes.

 

Parts to Harvest: Young shoots, and the leaves.

 

Poisonous Lookalikes: Due to the aroma of the foliage it is hard to mistake anything for Mugwort.

 

Related Species: Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), Tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus), Sacred Sage Brush (Artemisia tridentata), California Sage Brush (Artemisia californica).

 

Description: Mugwort is a creeping perennial plant that can form long rhizomes allowing it to colonize entire areas easily. Its stems are hairy and round in cross section while the leaves are alternately borne and lobed and almost resemble that of a Chrysanthemum. The upper leaf surfaces are dark green while the undersides are white or grayish and can be densely wooly. All parts of this plant are aromatic when crushed or rubbed.

 

Recipe:  I could not find any true recipes for this plant other than suggestions that it could be distilled, or turned into a herbal tea.

 

 

 

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

 

 

Holiday Houseplants:

3” Square pot – Spear Sansevieria (Dracaena angolensis)

3” Round pot – ‘Drunkard’s Dream’ Cactus (Hatiora salicornoides)

3” Round Bowl – Dragon Haworthia (Haworthia coarctata)

3” Tree Trunk Pot – Dragon Haworthia (Haworthia coarctata)

3.5” Hexagon pot – Money Plant (Pilea peperomioides)

3.5” Lattice pot – Mini Aloe (Aloe descoingsii)

5” Large Hex pot – Sausage Plant (Euphorbia guentheri)

 

 

Coming Soon:

MOAR HOUSEPLANTS!

 

 

 

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): Chipola River Tickseed, Mealy Cup Sage, ‘Sindbad’ Begonia.

 

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 15^th between 5:30pm and 7:00pm. We are in the back room so come on in and join us for a fun garden chat.

 

 

 

And so Autumn came...maybe?

Welcome back to Lost In the Farmer’s Market. This is a replacement episode, to cover the lack of a post last week. As some of you have heard I am enrolled at NC A&T and at times the requirement to write large papers eats up time or drains my ability to write much else due to deadlines. That said I had to write a few papers with due dates all falling in the same week so the post just never made it up here. Without further delay today’s topic is all about the basils that were included in the test gardens this year.

Now honestly I can’t say a single basil specimen failed this year as all of them did well and some from last year even returned from seed which is a double bonus. However a few species did outshine the rest and they deserve special note. So let’s start with the list of basil species and their relative performance.

Blue African Basil

‘BAB’ is probably one of my long-standing favorites as I grew it every year when the test garden was in New Jersey. As far as flavor, BAB has more of a anise-camphor flavor making it good for a finishing flavor-garnish. But more so BAB pesto is quite the flavor experience with reduced amounts of garlic and extra parmesan or romano grated cheese. But best thing about BAB is the blue-purple leaf variations and the sheer amount of nectar producing blooms which can help feed a large number of pollinators and humming birds. Lastly the plant is drought tough once established and should be deemed a tender perennial in some circumstances. In short blue African basil was the largest basil in the garden at the end of the growing season.

Genovese Sweet Basil

GSB is one of those sweet basil hybrids with such good all-around characteristics that it flatly replaces normal basil and typical large leaf sweet basil for pesto and seasoning use. The two specimens in the garden grew to about two feet tall not counting flower spikes in large quart nursery pots and produced ample amounts of leaves for culinary use. I would easily declare this selection the best sweet basil I’ve grown to date due to its tolerant habits and more so by the end of the season it had sown its seed itself in other pots so its seedlings were brought in last month and repotted for next year. You can get this species from Botanical Interests as GMO-free seed for about two dollars.

Pesto Purpetuo Basil

PPB was the test species this year. I picked it because it’s a species that does not flower and is apparently a cross between Ocimum basilicum and O. citriodorum. The plants are upright, and roughly column shaped and bear smaller leaves that have white variegation. They suffered no disease issues and grew to an overall height of about three feet when planted in the ground without regular irrigation. In terms of flavor it was more like a plain basil with just a touch of anise making it pleasant for general use. I would plant mor of this in a heartbeat next year but certainly not more than the actual flowering types.

Red Rubin Basil

Red Rubin is an heirloom classic, as one of the earliest ‘red-purple’ basil types it does not hold color in supper heat or full sun but does have all the sweet basil flavor with additional foliage color. The most interesting trait of this basil is it’s habit for randomly reverting to a normal green color in unpredictable ways. One branch might go straight green while another might have purple freckles on green or   some odd half & half mix. Sometimes the leaves are intense purple and other times they are this violet-red color but all in all it is still a nice basil and worth growing just for what it might do and for making some downright unruly pesto!

Thai Basil

Sometimes called Siam Thai Queen Basil under cultivation Thai basil has a strong anise-flavor that is non-bitter. The leaves are tinted where they meet stems with a deep red and the stems themselves also retain the color. Overall the plants are self-heading as they reach a height, flower and stop getting any taller. Fortunately Thai basil is drought immune once established and provides nectar to pollinators making it very worthwhile to grow. I first encountered this species in Canada back in the 90’s when it had just been introduced to garden centers and have grown it at every opportunity since. It’s a yearly regular much like blue African and will continue to be so. I might add Siam seedlings volunteered in the garden this year so, double bonus for the plant being self-sown.

But enough about basil, this week end as with every Saturday until I run out of plants or Sustainable neighbors stops maintaining a table at the market I will be at the Fayetteville City/Farmers market on Saturday. The Fayetteville farmer’s market is located at 325 Franklin Street on the property of the Fayetteville transportation museum. The market runs between the hours 9:00 am and 1:00 pm and you can find my both over by the art studio side of the market. As always the plant list for this week is below:

Perennials:

7x Spineless Prickly Pear

Salad & Fixings:

3x Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce

2x Cilantro

Cole Crops:

3x Georgia Collards

6x Morris Heading Cabbage-Collards

3x Stonehead Cabbage

3x Charleston Wakefeild Cabbage

3x Jersey Early Wakefeild Cabbage

2x Savoy Cabbage

3x Mustard-Spinach ‘Senposai’

3x Napa Cabbage

Available Soon:

00x Swiss Chard

This of course concludes this belated post that was due last week. The plant list above is current and the post intended for this week will be posted on Sunday. Remember folks, if the weather holds you can still get plants in the ground as late as the end of November with no ill effects. That aside we have a good three weeks of safe planting time roughly to fill those beds with winter crops so don’t delay get those plants in today!

Rain report

Last Week: Average Precipitation of 0.7 inches.

This Week: Average precipitation of 0.2 inches.

As always folks, Keep ‘em growing!

And a wise sage said unto me, Hey I go great on mutton!

Welcome to another fine episode of Lost in the Farmers Market, your weekly web log foray into permaculture, organic methods and sticking it to the man all in earth friendly format! Today’s topic is all about Sage, and while we plan to drop some wisdom on all you readers out there we certainly don’t mean an wise old guy when we say sage. Sage it self is one of the less regarded herbs in our daily life as it’s relegated to a background seasoning in most seasoning mixes and we really never stop to appreciate what precisely sage does. I have to admit the sage family is quite diverse, much like the Basil family, but its examples range into territories that the basils can’t even hope to reach. For the purposes of this article sage is considered in four groupings, Culinary, Herbal, Aromatic and Ornamental.  So now that the groupings have been decided lets start with the culinary group.

Culinary sage is best described as any sage that lends a distinct flavor to a beverage or prepared meal by means of the process of cooking or being cut up allowing the essential oils to mix in with the chosen food medium. That gives us five sage varieties to consider in this category. The five safe culinary sages are Common sage (Salvia officinalis), Berggarten Sage (Salvia officinalis ‘Berggarten’), White Dalmatian Sage (S. officinalis ‘White Dalmatian’), Pineapple Sage (S. elegans) and, Greek Sage (S. fruiticosa). The first three sages in this group may seem like a cop out, but all three are there because of the range of preference found for sage’s flavor qualities. The original seasoning Common sage goes well with lamb, but at times can be a bit bitter. Bergartten sage is about the same but has larger leaves making for an easier harvest. Dalmatian sage is the cultivated variety found in higher quality spices, and is far less likely to have any bitterness and thus works in more dishes. Pineapple sage is probably the work horse of the group as it’s crushed foliage adds a pineapple-melon flavor to any dish or beverage. Pineapple sage’s bright red flowers are favored by humming birds but it’s also a tender or herbaceous perennial in general. Greek sage is reportedly used like common sage but possesses a bitter-free flavor that has been said to fall between common and pineapple sage depending on who you ask.  Personally I like sage, it’s got a stately look in the garden with its seemingly fuzzy (P. sage) or ultra crinkled (B. Sage) leaves born on long strap like leaves. In most cases it’s evergreen, and although slow growing the flavor is very evident if used fresh. A dish served at the ranch using Berggarten Sage is a simple Omelet, with fresh paprika peppers, baby portabella mushrooms and a bit of freshly picked sage chopped as fine as possible. Season the eggs to taste but make sure to lightly sauté everything but the eggs separate then add to the omelet mix before pouring it into the frying pan. Respectively adding freshly picked Pineapple sage leaves to a batch of tea to be drunk hot or chilled to become iced tea later is very refreshing! Finely sliced Pineapple sage works in marinades, and as part of a salad if cut finely especially if a sweet salad dressing is used. On the internet you will find no shortage of rescipies for using sage in fresh and dried formats but those are my two, feel free to send in some or ask for that omelet one.

The second grouping of the sage family is the herbal group. Now one could ague that all sages are herbal and I would completely agree. The difference is seen with which ones are actually used to treat health issues most effectively and those are the sages referred to in the herbal group. That aside it is well documented that members of the sage family have value for their anti-sweating agents are antibiotic, stringent, antifungal, antispasmodic, estrogenic, hypoglycemic and have encouraging effects in fighting memory disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. I defy anyone to say that’s not an impressive list, however the best member of the family for this is the one that produces the most essential oils for which the easy guess are the culinary and aromatic sages. However the variety ‘Extrakta’ which is a cultivated form of common sage(S. officinalis)  produces the most essential oils and thus may be the best medicinally for getting all those nice effects from sage. Barring that Red sage (S. miltiorrhiza ) and Clary Sage (S. sclarea) are also noted to have had much medical use over the ages. On an unrelated note sage has been used as a preservative in meat for ages, and you may find it at your supermarket in ‘sage rubbed’ or ‘air-dried’ sausages in the meat aisle. The labels might not say sage prominently but the ingredient list should have it in there. The idea was that as a preservative, sage kept food from spoiling by means of what later people would learn was bacterial activity.

The third grouping of sage is the Aromatic types. Sage as an incense is a curveball most don’t expect because it only refers to two separate sage varieties, white sage (Salvia apiana) and Black Sage (S. mellifera) the latter of which can be grown in North Carolina! Both are known as sacred sage along with a third non-sage plant Sagebrush (Artemesia tridentata). It is fair to warn you, all of these have a very…pungent aroma when dried and then lit as one would do with an incense stick. However in Native American tradition this aroma is used to expel malicious spirits and to cleanse ones own spirit. I do not know if white or black sage are edible, but at least the black sage is rather stately and while it seems to not grow very long in north Carolina for the time it does it’s the most unique sage in the yard! I personally would love to try some white sage, but have no where to get plants so if any of you out there know of a reputable nursery please comment.

The final grouping to consider with sage are the ornamental types, which is where we take a turn for new territory when compared to basil. Ornamental sage is a xeriscaping hall mark and often is tougher then nails. As with any perennial ornamental sage is only as good as it’s grower and so you readers out there should be vary of what you are buying. Generally it is agreed that the following perennials are ornamental sages for numerous reasons; Golden Sage (S. officinalis ‘Aurea’), Purple Sage (S. officinalis ‘Purpurescens’), Tricolor Sage (S. officinalis ‘Tricolor’), Meadow Sage (S. praetensis), Scarlet Sage (S. splendens), Black and Blue Sage (S. guarantica), Texas Sage (S. coccinea), Woodland Sage (S. nemerosa )and Lyre Leaf Sage (S. lyrata). Unlike the other categories there are far too many ornamentals ages to cover each one in any detail. What I will talk about briefly are the most commonly available ones and that brings us to Black and Blue Salvia, which is a fine perennial named for its black stems, bluish foliage and deep blue flowers which hummingbirds and pollinators love. Then there is Texas sage to consider which is a fine herbaceous perennial that is best known by it’s most common cultivar ‘Coral Nymph’ and ‘Hot Lips’ both of which are stunning shades of pink.  The Purple, Golden and Tricolor sages are in the ornamental group because of their reduced flavor value compared to common sage. Despite the lack of flavor in this color trio they can make for some stunning borders when combined with lighter or darker companions who have contracting foliage texture. Perhaps the most common ornamental sage on the market is Woodland sage. Woodland sage is often seen in the racks at lowes as a ‘water wise’ plant and often has it’s qualities over-emphasized to the casual home owners who don’t know any better.

To cap off this discussion on sage I have to briefly discuss how to grow and care for sage. The basic rule of sage is to try and allow the roots to dry out between waterings as sage hates wet feet. Further more sage does not like prolonged periods of moisture and thus you must try not to keep its foliage wet. The soil it resides in should be reasonably enriched but also well draining and of course sage absolutely prefers a full sun location with good spacing between its neighbors for maximum airflow. Sage is largely pest free and only suffers from bacterial rot or leaf spots if kept too wet. One should harvest sage by snipping off individual leaves with as much stem attached to the leaf as is possible using a sharp scissor or knife and only take what you need. Since sage is slow growing you want to leave enough for the plant to recover. I can’t say that fertilizers seem to do much good with sage outside of the herbaceous types as a really good soil mix seems to outshine any fertilizer in the long term. This concludes LITFM’s look into the sage grouping and now, we move on to this week’s plant list.

Well considering that the weather has leveled out a bit you can expect it’ll be a good time over at the farmer’s market.  After all there is nothing better then blue skies and farm fresh produce in the summer time! This week I’ll have plenty of good info on the info table, copies of Southward skies and all kinds of cool plants. The market runs from 9:00 am through 1:00pm and is located at 325 Franklin Street. Feel free to come on down and peruse the market or even ask any garden questions you might have. The below is this week’s plant list.

Vegetables:

5x Burgundy Okra

4x Japanese Long Eggplant

4x Carolina Wonder Pepper (Sweet Red Bell)

4x Habenero Pepper (Hot!)

2x Tumbling Tom Tomato (Yellow Cherry)

6x Beefsteak Tomato (medium-large slicing)

Herbs:

8x Italian Parsley

2x Common Sage

1x Berggarten Sage

2x Hidcote Lavender

4x Cinnamon Basil

4x Sweet Basil

10x Egyptian Onion

Fruit & ground cover:

1x Galore Rose Strawberry

House Plants:

3x Pepromia verticilliata - Rotary Peperomia (house plant)

2x Sanseveria cylindrical – Spear Sanseveria (Houseplant)

-plus whatever else fits in the truck!-

With the herb of the week covered and the plant list posted this puts a cork in the bottle of another weekly episode of LITFM. Thank you all for reading and I hope to see all of you at the farmer's market on Saturday. If you have any questions about Sage or other Herbs (legal ones only please) feel free to stop on by and ask away. Next week we will be talking about common garden herbs in the Apiaceae family, oh believe me it's a trip you want to take! 

Remember folks keep 'em growing.