Horrid Thistle II

 Note from the Author: This is an update on a weed I covered on May 12^th 2022.

 

 

This is a multi-stalked specimen, it's crown was probably damaged by a mower and it ended up with several growing points as a result.

This is what a spent flower looks like. Flowers don't last long on Horrid Thistles.

These are flowers that have yet to open.

Look at the array of leaves at the bases of these plants!

This little one is probably a first year plant.

 

 

Common Name: Horrid Thistle

 

Other Common Names: Bristle Thistle, Bull Thistle, Purple Thistle, Spiny Thistle and, Yellow Thistle and, in older publications it may be called Horrible Thistle.

 

Botanical Family: Asterceae (The Aster Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Cirsium horridulum

 

Description & Habitat: Horrid Thistle is an upright spiny native plant that may be an annual, biennial or perennial. It is typically found along roadsides and on the sides of drainage ditches in full or partial sun exposure. Horrid Thistle prefers sandy soil that is moist but not constantly wet. This plant reproduces exclusively by seed and its flowers are typically purple, but some specimens may be a golden-orange color. The leaves on this plant emerge from a central rosette and are borne alternately on its compressed main stem. The leaves are lobed and carry a lot of spines, and are usually a medium to dark green in color and have a fuzzy underside. It is not uncommon for this plant’s flower stalk to reach up to eight feet tall on mature specimens. Older publications may list the botanical latin name of this plant as (Carduus spinosissimus).

 

When & What to Harvest: The stalks, de-spined leaves and roots as well as unopened flower bud bottoms are fully edible. The only real reason this plant isn’t more known for forage circles is that you can’t really harvest from first year plants and you have to remove the spines. Spines on this plant will not cook down, so that is a barrier to eating it. The trick is to get as much leaf as is possible with a focus on the nutritious leaf midrib, just make sure to rub off the fuzz on the underside before cooking or eating raw. Older stems can also be used to make cordage as they become very fibrous, so in a survival scenario being able to make rope might save your life. As a final note for uses of this plant, I have read in a few decently credible sources that the Seminole Native Americans once made blowgun darts from this plant.

 

Edible Related Plants: Most true thistles are straight up edible.

 

Similar Dangerous Species:  None are known.

 

Recipe: Stewed Thistle

 

 Ingredients:

4 De-spined flower stalks of Horrid Thistle with the outer skin removed.

2 Cloves of Garlic

1 cup of Chicken or Mushroom broth

1 Teaspoon of Worcestershire Sauce

 

Instructions:

1. Put Sauce and Bullion in a sauce pan and heat enough to see steam.

2. Chop the Thistle Stems into 1” pieces and place inside your pot.

3. Chip up the garlic, add to pot.

4. At this point I like to add other seasonal vegetables but Dandelion or Chickweed are good options.

5. Cook until all ingredients are soft enough to eat; this may be 10 to 20 minutes depending on your stove.

6. Serve with rice.

 

Additional Information: (If applicable)

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/cirsium-horridulum/

 

 

Where to get seed or Bare Root Plants:

I could not find a credible source for seeds or plants.

 

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 my 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 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.

 

Spring Plants:

Chicory, Italian

Chia

Ground Cherries, Perennial

Okra, Baby Bubba

Pepper, Shishito

Pepper, Ghost

Sorrel, Raspberry Dressing

Swiss Chard, Red

Tomato, Cherokee Purple

Tomato, Chocolate Cherry

Tomato, Midnight Snack

Tomato, Lemon Boy

Tomato, Sungold

 

Ornamental & Flowers:

Castor Bean, Giant

Poppy, California

Marigold, Giant Mission

Marigold, Eskimo

 

 

Soil Amendment Products:

Carolina Gold, Live Mushroom Compost – 18 Gallon Tote*

Carolina Gold, Live Mushroom Compost – 3 Gallon Bag

Carolina Gold, Live Mushroom Compost – 1 Gallon Bag

Carolina Gold, Enhanced Potting Soil – 1 Gallon Bag

 

 

 

*The 18 gallon tote is by special order only and is delivered to any address within the Fayetteville city area.

 

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

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): Chickweed Harvest, Hoan Ngoc Flowers

 

Meetings are still going on! Our next (unofficial) meeting is April 19^th at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Franklin Street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm.

 

Queen Anne's Lace II

 Note from the Author: This is an update on a weed I previously covered on June 9^th 2022.

 

This is the wild carrot found somewhere in Fayetteville NC. These biennials are just starting to emerge right now.

This Carrot is the Domesticated one, it is a Chantenay Red-cored carrot that I planted last year in my garden.

 

Common Name: Queen Anne’s Lace

 

Other Common Names: Bird’s Nest, Bishop’s Lace, Wild Carrot, Bee's Nest Plant, Devil's Plague (wtf on that last one).

 

Botanical Family: Apicaeae (The Carrot Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Daucus carota

 

Description & Habitat: Queen Anne’s Lace is a non-native biennial with a fleshy taproot and is effectively a undomesticated carrot. In the first year this wild plant will develop a rosette of finely divided leaves and in the second year it will develop a flower stalk that produces a cluster of white flowers that will often have a dark red or purple flower in the center. Typically you will find Wild carrots in lawns, pastures, abandoned lots, yards and other wild places with soil that has good drainage and are typically sunny.  Every part of this plant is edible thought he root may be white or yellow and color and far smaller than the carrots you buy at the store.

 

There are a few interesting things I found while re-researching this wild plant for this posting. Firstly, the family name for the Carrot family changed from Umbrelliferae in or around 2011 to Apiaceae which means older publications will still be using the old name in 2025. My copy of Weeds of Southern Turfgrasses and my copy of Rodales: Herbs still uses this family name so keep that in mind when looking into this wild plant. Beyond this how many older publications treat an undomesticated carrot as if it is a dangerous weed when it really isn’t. Even the NC state extension site (see link below) treats it as if it’s dangerous. Then there is the discussion of the root colors; I already noted that wild carrots are probably going to be white or yellow. But did you know the orange colored carrots at the store were naturally hybridized in the 1500’s most likely in Spain? We know this because there is there are paintings from Spain in the 1500’s depicting orange carrots and genetic studies indicate that the orange color naturally appeared as opposed to being intentionally hybridized. Before the orange color came around it is noted that the first definite writings of and depictions of carrots as a root vegetable originate in what is modern day Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan, and those carrots were white, yellow purple and a shade of purple so dark, that it is effectively black. The reason you do not see more purple and black colored carrots in the seed trade is because they have a much lower germination rate than more hybridized types. Baker’s Creek Seeds sells the darkest purple types I’ve ever seen.

 

 

When & What to Harvest:  The leaves, flowers and unripe seed pods are all safely edible. Ideally you want to start harvesting these during January or February before seeds are fully formed.

 

Edible Related Plants: Cumin (Cuminum cyminum), Cilantro (Coriandrum sativum), Parsley (Petroselinum crispum), Parsnips (Pastinaca sativa), Celery (Apium graveolens), Anise (Pimpinella anisum), Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), Dill (Anethum graveolens), Lovage (Levisticum officinale), Angelica (Angelica archangelica), Chervil (Anthriscus cerefolium).

 

Similar Dangerous Species:  Poisonous Hemlock (Conium maculatum) which is in the same family. You can tell Poison hemlock from Wild Carrots with some pretty easy to identify physical features. Poison Hemlock is a biennial that has stems with purple splotches that can be anywhere from two to ten feet tall. Poison hemlock’s leaves are divided and compound and taper to a point, also, the bruised or crushed foliage of hemlock smell bad whereas carrots smell like carrots.

 

Recipe:  

 

Parsnip & Carrot Greens Pie

 

Ingredients:

6-8 Parsnips

3-4 Medium Carrots (For the Greens)

1-4 Tablespoons of butter

Tahini to taste (Make sure it has enough lemon in it)

1-2 frozen plain pie shells (Or if you make your own, 1 deep dish one)

Salted Sunflower seeds or Slivered Almonds.

 

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Wash your carrot greens thoroughly to remove debris and dirt/grit.

3. Cut up your parsnips as finely as is possible

4. Steam your parsnips until they are soft. (10-15 mins)

5. Chop up your carrot greens as finely as is possible. (You can use a food processor to render them into paste also)

6. Mix your carrot greens with the tahini and use to coat the inside of the pie shells. Save about half for the next step.

7. Mash your steamed parsnips and mix in the remaining Tahini-carrot blend.

8. Fill pies with mixture.

9. Decorate top of pies with the Almonds or Sunflower seeds.

10. Bake for about 20 minutes or until you see the pies turning golden brown.

 

This recipe was originally published in the Fedco Seeds and Supplies Catalog for 2025 on page 55. I’ve tried this recipe a few different ways and the above is my preferred modification to it. For note I made my own tahini for it but you can buy that from the international aisle at a lot of grocery stores.

 

Additional Information: (If applicable)

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/daucus-carota/

 

Where to get seed or Bare Root Plants:

(Black Carrot Seeds)

https://www.rareseeds.com/carrot-pusa-asita-black

 

(Wild Carrot Seeds)

https://southernseeds.com/products/wild-carrot-bishops-flower-500-seeds-floral-design-culinary-uses-ammi-majus?srsltid=AfmBOooTx8kw681cSCQuDFNt9fJwvVu67fjl4LsZgxUcm4fotx-2JxTq

 

 

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 my 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 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 Foods:

Soup Kit – Parsnip

Soup Kit – Turnip

Turnips

Parsnips

Onions

Celery

Potatoes

Garlic Bulbs

 

Soil Amendment Products:

Carolina Gold, Live Mushroom Compost – 18 Gallon Tote*

Carolina Gold, Live Mushroom Compost – 3 Gallon Bag

Carolina Gold, Live Mushroom Compost – 1 Gallon Bag

Carolina Gold, Enhanced Potting Soil – 1 Gallon Bag

 

Houseplants:

Abutilon

Aloe, American

Begonia, Sindbad

Cuban Oregano, Large Leaf

Hoan Ngoc

Pothos, Cebu Blue

Rose Campion

Selaginella

Solanum uleanum

Sorrel, Raspberry Dressing

Swiss Cheese Plant

 

 

*The 18 gallon tote is by special order only and is delivered to any address within the Fayetteville city area.

 

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

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): Winter 2025

 

Meetings are still going on! Our next (unofficial) meeting is March 1^st at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Franklin Street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm.

Speaking of Super-Invasive, Bamboo says 'Hold My Beer!'

 

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 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.

 

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?

 

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 4^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.