My Cup Runneth Clover

 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 specimen is stretching to get to more light but is about 15" tall.

As you can see the fluffy tufts are how the plant got it's rabbt/hare names.

Common Name: Stone Clover

 

Other Common Names: Rabbitfoot Clover, Hare’s-Foot Clover, Oldfield Clover

 

Botanical Family: Fabaceae (The Legume Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Trifolium arvense

 

Season to Harvest: Mid to late spring.

 

Habitat: Typically you will find Stone Clover in vacant lots but it may also appear in maintained lawns that are note mowed frequently. The specimens photographed were by the roadside in a median that gets occasional at best moving and maintenance. Additionally you  may find this plant at the edges of fields, in waste land, on sand dunes and in vineyards and orchards that are not irrigated. Stone clover does tend to prefer dry sandy soils but does not seem to care about the pH of the soils.

 

Parts to Harvest: The flowers are noted to be useful as a medicine to treat medical conditions related to the digestive system, genitourinary system and the skin.

 

Poisonous Lookalikes: None.

 

Related Edible Species: Red Clover (Trifolium pratense), is similar in appearance but has bright reddish-pink flowers, all parts of Red clover are edible.

 

Description: Stone Clover is an erect branched winter annual or in some climates a biennial that can get to about fifteen inches tall in ideal growing conditions. It has fairly hairy leaves and stems and can be identified by its pink-ish globe flowers which resemble the tips of a rabbit’s foot especially once the flowers are spent and the seed heads have formed. The leaf margins are smooth with tiny teeth-like projections at the leaf tips. This plant does provide some nectar and pollen for bees and does fix nitrogen in the soil. This plant is useful as ‘green manure’ and is a viable option for grazing goats and sheep.

 

How to Harvest: Pick individual flower globes as needed and either use fresh or dry and store in an airtight container for later use.

 

Recipe: For Stone clover I cannot find any information indicating any way to eat the foliage. However the traditional standard of 2-4 ounces of blossoms per cup of water is the best way to make a tea out of the flowers.

 

 

 

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.

 

Garden Stuff: ($3.00)

Basil – Emerald Tower

Chervil – French Parsley

Chives

Fennel - Black

Parsley – Italian

Parsley – Curled

Sage – Common

Tarragon – Mexican

Thyme – Common

 

Celosia – First Flame Purple

Castor Bean – Zanzibar

Cotton – Erlene’s Green Lint

Hibiscus – Luna Pink Swirl

Milkweed – Orange blooming

Milkweed – Milkmaid White

Tobacco – Flowering “Starmaker Apple Blossom”

           

Coming Soon:

Purple Heart

Vietnamese Cilantro

Pineapple Sage

 

 

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): Lily of the Nile, Mischief Strikes Again 3, Zinnias.

 

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 July 7^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.

It Aint Over 'Til It's Clover

Greetings and Salutations to all you intrepid gardeners out there, welcome back to another installment of the Forage Foods series on Lost In The Farmer’s Market. As you might already know the current Geo-Political situation coupled with inflation and supply shortages has prompted a series on foods you can forage for just in case things go sideways. Even if they don’t, forage foods may have added nutritional benefits and may also have medicinal benefits that can help you out.

 

This specimen is reaching for the sky and honestly even up against a old building it still looks nice.

Some White Clover is in this shot but the tiny yellow blossoms of Small Hop Clover are pretty.

From most lawn care websites you would think Small Hop Clover was this terrible villain, and yet it's actually a dainty nitrogen fixing member of the Pea family just out there living it's best life.

Common Name: Small Hop Clover

Other Common Names: Lesser Trefoil, Sucking Clover, Little Hop Clover and Lesser Hop Trefoil.

Botanical Family: Fabaceae (The Pea Family)

Botanical Latin Name: Trifolium dubium

Season to Harvest: The early to middle of spring is ideal.

Habitat: Small Hop Clover is found in lawns, fields, sites with disturbed soil, pastures, open woodlands, and along roadsides. In urban settings this plant may appear in shady areas beside buildings where rain runoff may otherwise pool.

Parts to Harvest: The flowers leaves and seeds.

Poisonous Lookalikes: None specifically.

Related Edible Species: Large Hop Clover (Trifolium campestre), Black Medick (Medicago lupulina).

Description: Small Hop Clover is a true member of the Clover family and is a prostrate freely-branching winter annual with hairy reddish colored stems. This plant bears leaves with three leaflets and is accepted as the primary plant representing the Traditional Irish Shamrock. This plant’s leaflets do have noticeable veins. The flowers of Small Hop Clover are in clusters of three to fifteen small flowers that are bright yellow. Patches of Small Hop Clover can be up to a foot wide and up to five inches tall.

How to Harvest: Leaves and flowers can be picked normally.

Recipe: Unfortunately I was unable to locate any kind of real recipe for Small hop clover however many sources suggest that the flowers and leaves can be used as part of a forage salad, or as a cooked green if mixed in with other forage greens. Additionally it is clearly stated that you can make a tea out of the flowers and foliage and I would guess that this means something like a ounce or two of Small Hop Clover per cup of hot water. It is also indicated that the seeds can be harvested in autumn and eaten as is or roasted. Grinding the seeds into flour is a noted option, but given the size of the flowers it must take a lot of seed to make anything meaningful.

 

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.

Garden Stuff: ($3.00)

Okra – Red Burgundy
Okra – Jing Orange

Basil – Emerald Tower
Chervil – French Parsley
Chives
Fennel - Black
Parsley – Italian
Parsley – Curled
Sage – Common
Sage – White (VERY limited Item, $9.00)
Tarragon – Mexican
Thyme – Common

Amaranth – Early Splendor
Cock’s Comb – Scarlet Prestige
Celosia – First Flame Purple
Castor Bean – Zanzibar
Cotton – Erlene’s Green Lint
Marigolds – Strawberry Blonde
Tobacco – Flowering “Starmaker Apple Blossom”

Coming Soon:
More TBA!

 

 

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.

 

Go to our Nextdoor Page!

 

Also please take a gander at the Youtube version of this blog:

 

The Videos: Look Here

>Newest videos (1): - Snow Peas

 

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 July 7^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.

It's A Plaintain Act of Kindness!

 Greetings and Salutations to all you intrepid gardeners out there, welcome back to another installment of the Forage Foods series on Lost In The Farmer’s Market. As you might already know the current Geo-Political situation coupled with inflation and supply shortages has prompted a series on foods you can forage for just in case things go sideways. Even if they don’t, forage foods may have added nutritional benefits and may also have medicinal benefits that can help you out.

 

This specimen is exactly what I would expect a Broadleaf Plantain to look like.

This Plantain was growing with other colonizing 'weeds' in very shallow poor soil and it's clearly very healthy.

True to form I found this plantain growing in front of a local Mechanic's shop in a dusty dry location where the soil was obviously poor and it probably get stepped on a bit. Plantains are tougher than anyone gives them credit for.

Common Name: Plantain

Other Common Names: Broadleaf Plantain, White Man’s Footprint, Waybread, Greater Plantain.

Botanical Family: Plantaginaceae (The Plantain Family)

Botanical Latin Name: Plantago major

Season to Harvest: Preferably in spring for younger leaves, and summer for seeds and older leaves.

Habitat: Plantain is most frequently found in laws, gardens, open fields and any other area that has been disturbed by humans. It does very well in compacted or disturbed soils and it is thought to be one of the first plants to reach north America after European colonization which has led to one of its common names. Plantains are also notorious for growing in cracks between cement and it can thus survive frequent trampling and will colonize horribly compacted soils. It is effective at soil rehabilitation and its roots can break up hardpan surfaces while anchoring lose soil to prevent erosion.

Parts to Harvest: The leaves and the seeds.

Poisonous Lookalikes: None are known

Related Edible Species: Buckhorn Plantain, (Plantago lanceolata), see prior entry covering this plant.

Description: Plantain is an herbaceous perennial plant that forms a rosette of leaves that is about six to twelve inches in diameter on average. Each of its leaves are roughly oval shaped and can be two to eight inches long and one to three and a half inches in width. There are anywhere from three to five thick veins running though the length of the leave and the petioles are fairly thick. Individual plants in cultivation and excluding their flower stalks tend to get about four to six inches tall, the flower stalks can up to six more inches to the overall plant height. Plantains are wind-pollenated and each plant can produce up to twenty-thousand seeds in a given growing year.

How to Harvest: Pick younger leaves before flower spikes develop this can go on into summer. You can strip right seeds from the flower stalks from late spring through fall. Solder leaves can be used for food but must be cooked. Plantain foliage in general is surprisingly nutritious as the leaves contain calcium and other minerals and about 100 grams of plantain contain the exact same amount of beta-carotene as a large carrot root.

Recipe: Believe it or not the culinary uses of Broadleaf Plantain are exactly identical to that of Buckhorn Plantain. Check out my listing for that to see some detailed basic recipes. With that said here is a recipe for Plantago major specifically.

You can roast plantain leaves by first blanching the leaves and then laying them on a baking or cookie sheet and brushing them with a light coating of oil. Bake them for 5-9 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the leaves are done you can season them with sea salt, black pepper, garlic, powdered onion or cumin to make ‘Plantain Chips’ or you can crumble them up and use them to season other recipes. Likewise you can dry them in the oven without the oil and with no seasoning to dehydrate them for use as the basis for tea later.

 

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.

 

Vegetables: ($3.00)

Peppers – Cayenne

Peppers – Anaheim

Peppers – Bell

Okra – Red Burgundy

Okra – Jing Orange

Tomato – Sungold

Tomato – Chocolate Cherry

Tomato – Glacier

Tomato – Mountain Pride

Tomato – Purple Cherokee

Wonderberry

 

Herbs: ($3.00)

Basil – Emerald Tower

Chervil – French Parsley

Chives – Garlic

Fennel - Black

Parsley – Italian

Parsley – Curled

Sage – Common

Sage – White (VERY limited Item, $9.00)

Tarragon – Mexican

Thyme – Common

 

Flowers: ($3.00)

Amaranth – Early Splendor

Cock’s Comb – Scarlet Prestige

Celosia – First Flame Purple

Castor Bean – Zanzibar

Cotton – Erlene’s Green Lint

Marigolds – Strawberry Blonde

Tobacco – Flowering “Starmaker Apple Blossom”

 

 

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.

 

Go to our Nextdoor Page!

 

Also please take a gander at the Youtube version of this blog:

 

 

The Videos: Look Here

>Newest videos (1): Madagascar Periwinkle

 

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 July 7^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.