Sicklepods!

 

Found in a Farmer's Field out in Red Springs NC, Foetid Senna is a fairly common agricultural 'weed'.

 

Common Name: Sicklepod

 

Other Common Names:  Sickle Senna, Sickle wild sensitive-plant, Sickle Pod, Tora, Coffee Pod.

 

Botanical Family: Fabaceae (The Pea Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Senna tora

 

Description & Habitat:  This plant in older publications may be listed as Cassia tora.

 

When & What to Harvest: In The south east regions of North America this plant tends to appear in farmer’s fields by early to mid-summer and while at a glance it might look like peanuts, the lack of fuzz on the foliage and its aroma when bruised is a dead giveaway. Despite this the foliage, seeds and flowers are useful from a culinary perspective. The young leaves can be cooked as a leaf green while the roasted and then ground seeds are a good Coffee substitute albeit with no caffeine. It is generally considered to be a annual weed and despite this is it is quite tolerant of poor soil and environmental stresses. The seed of this plant can remain viable in the soil for up to twenty years. This plant and it’s cousin American Sicklepod are somewhat interchangeable in culinary use.

 

Here is some additional information:

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/senna-obtusifolia/

 

Poisonous Lookalikes: None are known currently.

 

Related Edible Species: American Sicklepod (Senna obtusifolia).

 

Recipe:

Traditional Sicklepod tea calls for roasted Senna seeds that are whole. You use about 0.7-1.0 ounces of fully dried sicklepod seeds that are then roasted (325f for about 10 minutes) and then steep in about 20 ounces of boiling water for about ten to fifteen minutes. The resulting tea is typically drunk without sweetener or milk.

 

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 8:00 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 Vegetable Plants

Kale – Kalebration Mix

Swiss Chard – Ruby Red

 

Summer Vegetable Plants (NEW!)

Tomato – Sungold

Tomato – Midnight Snack

Tomato – Sweet 100

Tomato – Chocolate Cherry

Tomato – Lemon Boy

Tomato – Black Krim

Tomato – Paul Robeson

Tomato – Cherokee Purple

Tomato – Brandywine, Suddeth’s Strain

 

Pepper – Cayenne

Pepper – Ancho/Poblano

Pepper – Sweet Banana

Pepper – Ghost

Pepper – Carolina Reaper

 

 

Herbs (New!)

Eucalyptus

Orange Balm

Lemon Balm

Sweet Genovese Basil

Oregano

 

Garden Plants

Daylilies

Walking Iris

 

Coming Soon:

Dahlias

Bee Balm

American Aloe

Yucca

Hairy Balls Milkweed

 

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): Columbines, Out Take #11.

 

Meetings are still going on! We now meet at LeClair’s General Store on the First and Third Thursday of every month. Our next (unofficial) meeting is April 20^th at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Franklin Street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm.

 

When it Geraniums It Pours

 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.

 

 

Carolina Geraniums can appear in any lawn or on the borders of beds.

These forage-worthy plants are well-suited to North Carolina's climate and can be easily found by May.

 

 

Common Name: Carolina Geranium

 

Other Common Names: Carolina Crane’s Bill.

 

Botanical Family: Geraniaceae (The Geranium Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Geranium carolinianum

 

Season to Harvest: Whenever this plant is present which can be both cool and warm season.

 

Habitat: Carolina Geranium can be found in lawns, outdoor potted plants

 

Parts to Harvest: The leaves, roots and the flowers.

 

Poisonous Lookalikes: None known.

 

Related Edible Species: Bloody Crane’s Bill (Geranium sanguineum).

 

Description: Carolina Geranium is a summer or winter annual herb that is diffusely-branched and may be semi-erect in posture. The stems are greenish-pink to red and have fine but dense hairs on them. The leaves of Carolina Geranium are borne on long petioles and the leaves themselves are finely dissected into lobes. It in structure looks like a much scrawnier version of the cultivated Geranium (Pelargonium sp.).

 

How to Harvest:

 

Recipe: Carolina Geraniums are quite bitter which is useful as the whole plant but more specifically the root is astringent, can be made into salves and is styptic. Parts of this plant can be used as a gargle for throat problems. Additionally this plant is packed with tannins which can help in various recipes, brewing and this makes it taste bitter. It also has use in halting diarrhea by way of a medicinal tea. You make this tea by boiling 1-3 table spoons of Carolina Geranium root for about thirteen minutes in a cup of water per teaspoon of root. While the flavor will be a bit rough if imbibed straight you can take several cups of this tea per day to fend off the aforementioned gastrointestinal ailment.

 

 

 

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 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 Produce:

Pepper, Lemon Drop

Pepper, Fayetteville Inferno

 

Garden Stuff: ($3.00)

Cabbage – Early Jersey Wakefield

Cilantro – Vietnamese

Cuban Oregano – Cervesa & Lime

Fennel – Black

Hoan Ngoc

Sage – Pineapple

 

 

Coming Soon:

Collards

Kale

Mustard Greens

Garlic Bulbs (Mid-September)

Soup Kits (October)

 

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): Marjoram

 

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 September 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.

 

 

This Cuds for you

 

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.

 

 

 

This picutre was taken in early spring, some Shiny Cudweed popped up around the dead stem of what was one of last year's pepper plants in a three gallon pot.

If exposed to fertilizer Shiny Cudweeds can get surprisingly large and forget they are supposed to be a neat little basal rosette. I suspect intentionally cultivating them probably makes them even more tender.

 

Common Name: Shiny Cudweed

 

Other Common Names: Gray Everlasting

 

Botanical Family: Asteraceae (The Aster Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Gamochaeta coarctata (Formerly Gnaphalium spicatum)

 

Season to Harvest: Spring through Autumn.

 

Habitat: Shiny cudweed is found in open areas with sandy soils as well as sites with disturbed soil. However if you are a gardener you may find that it has gotten into your outdoor potted plants.

 

Parts to Harvest: The leaves.

 

Poisonous Lookalikes: None

 

Related Edible Species: Purple Cudweed (G. purpureum)

 

Description: Shiny Cudweed is a erect annual or biennial plant with a very obvious rosette of leaves that have a shiny bright green upper surface and a finely hairy underside that is white in color. The leaves are roughly ovate in shape and are quite broad.  All leaves are of roughly the same size overall. Flower stalks have whiteish stems with small bright green leaves on them while the flower heads can be brown or purple in color.

 

How to Harvest: Pick leaves as needed.

 

Recipe: This plant is either a straight forage green, which means you can pick the leaves wash them and eat as needed since it has a mild flavor and crunchy leaves that have easily digestible fiber. Alternately you can add it to a forage salad as a primary foundational leaf green to balance out other more strongly flavored greens.

 

 

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 8:00 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 Produce:

Pepper, Lemon Drop

Pepper, Fayetteville Inferno

Pepper, Sweet Heat

Figs, Assortment (White Ishcia, Magnolia,)

 

Garden Stuff: ($3.00)

Cilantro – Vietnamese

Cuban Oregano – Cervesa & Lime

Fennel – Black

Hoan Ngoc

Sage – Pineapple

Sage – Common

 

Angelonia – Serenita Raspberry

Cuphea – Siracha Rose

Milkweed – Orange blooming

 

 

Coming Soon:

Thai Mint

 

 

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 (4): - Chervil, Mugwort, Artemisia, Wall Germander

 

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 August 18^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.