Are you getting ready for root digging season? At weedom, we’ve noticed that many of our favorite plants aren’t so easy to locate when the time of root harvest is optimal, especially when the land is extremely dry. The easy method for us is to mark the areas of interest wherever the useful weeds tend to disappear from sight. Some plants have big stems or trunks and persistent leaves, so we don’t have worry about physically marking those. Now’s the time to make sure we know which chicory, dandelions and valerian are going to be excavated. Marking the
It's a giant lily which is surprisingly edible. Flower spikes can be used as a vegetable, harvested before they're taller than 2 ft and about as thick as your forearm (they reach up to 24+ ft in flower). Roots are similar to burdock, they can be roasted and eaten (but quite fibrous). The 6 to 10ft sword-like leaves are excellent fibre for ropes, mats, baskets and other rugged woven items. Not sure of the medicinal properties of the roots as I haven't fully researched it yet.
Thanks for the true scoop. I did a cursory search, and NO foraging came up, relative to the gymea lily, even when I asked for it. I got 1 hit mentioning it as toxic to some animals. It's interesting how as the years wear on, using normal search functions to find info on the usefulness of plants for food or medicine is becoming more difficult.
Try searching for the latin name. Even disinformation central wikipedia mentions its edibility ("Uses"). Its other common name is the flame lily (the flower spikes look like a burning torch, without the glow or heat!). They're common ornamentals here, there's about 100 of them growing in my apartment block's front garden :)
I saw a lotta pictures. They look amazing. LOL @ disinformation wikipedia. I sorta hate using it, since I'm sort of a Larry Sanger fan. He ws a cofounder of it, and has disavowed it, due to the censorship and bad editing.
By the way, I’m drinking chicory tea on your recommendation. Had to buy it, though, as there’s nowhere here I can safely forage, and not a single one grows in our garden. Thanks for all the great info!
I was thinking how lucky you'd be if it were warm enough to have the ashwagandha year round like in India. But annual forces you to harvest, and that's good too.
Glad that chicory is agreeing with you. (When more people find out that "less is more" it's gonna be earth shaking for the pharma industry.) People will get healthier, by doing what you're doing.
The real deal is more bioavailable and better for your biome, overall.
Probably the reason that food allergies became more common is that components were injected, or they were introduced before the gut biome was ready and the immune functions had matured sufficiently.
Amazing. I'm very new to gardening and am beginning slowly due to time and physical limitations. A group that I belong to is very interested in interacting with and healing from the plant world. We haven't quite started on it yet, but your articles will be very useful. One thing I've noticed this late summer season is the beautiful flowers that I think qualify as weeds, but I really enjoy them. Thanks for the expansive knowledge base you communicate here on substack. 💕
Thanks for your kind feedback, Soulbee ! So glad that you're getting inspiration and info from this stack!. We're muddling through the drought, and are all excited over a bit of rain that fell last night and this morning. So this year the veggie gardens are smaller than usual. But new plantings are sprouting for the fall.
Starting small and building gradually is smart. With a little cover, in containers, or on the warm side of a dwelling, you can get some leafy greens growing. Most of them are cool weather crops. Or you can do the microgreens in trays, outdoors or even indoors under lights.
My favourites are dandelion, salsify, sarsparilla and a Sydney native you probably never saw before, gymea lily (Doryanthes excelsa).
Sarsaparilla is pretty classic here. But you're right, I know nothing of the gymea lily. How do you use it?
It's a giant lily which is surprisingly edible. Flower spikes can be used as a vegetable, harvested before they're taller than 2 ft and about as thick as your forearm (they reach up to 24+ ft in flower). Roots are similar to burdock, they can be roasted and eaten (but quite fibrous). The 6 to 10ft sword-like leaves are excellent fibre for ropes, mats, baskets and other rugged woven items. Not sure of the medicinal properties of the roots as I haven't fully researched it yet.
Thanks for the true scoop. I did a cursory search, and NO foraging came up, relative to the gymea lily, even when I asked for it. I got 1 hit mentioning it as toxic to some animals. It's interesting how as the years wear on, using normal search functions to find info on the usefulness of plants for food or medicine is becoming more difficult.
Try searching for the latin name. Even disinformation central wikipedia mentions its edibility ("Uses"). Its other common name is the flame lily (the flower spikes look like a burning torch, without the glow or heat!). They're common ornamentals here, there's about 100 of them growing in my apartment block's front garden :)
I saw a lotta pictures. They look amazing. LOL @ disinformation wikipedia. I sorta hate using it, since I'm sort of a Larry Sanger fan. He ws a cofounder of it, and has disavowed it, due to the censorship and bad editing.
Actually there's very few photos of the roots online... I'll have to do some digging on the weekend :)
Wow! Thank you.
👍Hope you continue to derive usefulness from weedom-info!
I’ve harvested valerian, echinacea, and ashwagandha roots so far. Goldenrod (whole plant) is next.
Cooool. Is ashwagandha an annual for you or can you get that one through the winter?
It’s an annual-- grew it in a pot and harvested the whole plant.
By the way, I’m drinking chicory tea on your recommendation. Had to buy it, though, as there’s nowhere here I can safely forage, and not a single one grows in our garden. Thanks for all the great info!
I was thinking how lucky you'd be if it were warm enough to have the ashwagandha year round like in India. But annual forces you to harvest, and that's good too.
Glad that chicory is agreeing with you. (When more people find out that "less is more" it's gonna be earth shaking for the pharma industry.) People will get healthier, by doing what you're doing.
My MD keeps suggesting supplements. I keep trying to see if I can replace the supplements with the real deal. ;)
The real deal is more bioavailable and better for your biome, overall.
Probably the reason that food allergies became more common is that components were injected, or they were introduced before the gut biome was ready and the immune functions had matured sufficiently.
Amazing. I'm very new to gardening and am beginning slowly due to time and physical limitations. A group that I belong to is very interested in interacting with and healing from the plant world. We haven't quite started on it yet, but your articles will be very useful. One thing I've noticed this late summer season is the beautiful flowers that I think qualify as weeds, but I really enjoy them. Thanks for the expansive knowledge base you communicate here on substack. 💕
Thanks for your kind feedback, Soulbee ! So glad that you're getting inspiration and info from this stack!. We're muddling through the drought, and are all excited over a bit of rain that fell last night and this morning. So this year the veggie gardens are smaller than usual. But new plantings are sprouting for the fall.
Starting small and building gradually is smart. With a little cover, in containers, or on the warm side of a dwelling, you can get some leafy greens growing. Most of them are cool weather crops. Or you can do the microgreens in trays, outdoors or even indoors under lights.