Experiments at wood's edge
This will cover the not so successful trials of Ginseng. Somewhat successfully trials of Black Cohosh, Goldenseal, Bloodroot. & Ramps. Also will cover other things grown for fun & history.
Going to update for 2022. Bad year, Deer & rabbit explosion. Not one Cohash was left uneaten. Moved Paw Paw here since it's used
Site History
Move in was at the end of November. So there were a lot of unknowns plants wise with the property. That changed in the spring. I went through the edge of the woods and removed trees that were damaged, diseased, or invasive. As spring came on the understory was completely covered in large lush rounded plants with tall white flower spikes. I was amazed, it was cool, we had never seen an area like that in full bloom with just one type of plant. Then we discovered it was invasive garlic mustard, yes I know you can eat it but it will smoother natives That was the start of a decades long war. It did seem like a war. First lesson, know your enemy. What it likes, where it lives, and how it spreads. If not you could waste a lot of time for several years until you realize what you are trying isn't working......... More to come
Ramps
Ramps started out as a plant to add to landscaping and then the last 3 or 4 years bulbs have been ordered from WV. They have been grown every way possible and still experimenting. Not having success with flowering yet or seeds. Could be the age of the bulbs or maybe it gets hotter here to soon. Plan to read up on nutrient needs. Hope to being able to start using them soon. Strong Taste! One of the first woodland plants to come up
Seems to help deter moles and voles from areas. Some is planted outside a ginseng cage to help protect under ground
Some Ramp Info will add growing, recipes info + more
About everything you need to know about ramps
Great short Video, shows festival, cooking, harvesting and history
About everything you need to know about ramps
For the past week, anyone who walks in the door here at Earthy Delights is immediately greeted by the heady aroma of fresh, just-picked ramps. Ramps (or wild leeks, as they are also known) are a true harbinger of spring – often the first edible plant in the wild forager’s harvest.
Interesting short European History
Great short Video, shows festival, cooking, harvesting and history
About everything you need to know about ramps
For such a delicate plant--available for only a few weeks in spring, beloved by top-tier chefs, detested by cranky bloggers--the ramp has a very ugly name. It's a lump of a word that brings to mind highways and municipal safety laws. If you've never heard them mentioned before, a "ramp" barely sounds like food at all.
Great short Video, shows festival, cooking, harvesting and history
Great short Video, shows festival, cooking, harvesting and history
Great short Video, shows festival, cooking, harvesting and history
A visit to an authentic Ramp Festival in Robbinsville NC. Also visit to ramp patch
Paw-Paw
It is Paw Paw season in the middle of everything else. If you want an overview see below. It has been several years since we collected any. This year there is a bumper crop and we are collecting and freezing the pulp and remembering why it has been a couple of years.. That has been the problem before, by the time you get all the pulp for some recipes you do not feel like fooling with it anymore. So we will pulp it, freeze it, and make something when we have time. Want to try ice cream this year, paw paw butter, and maybe make bread again. Will update with what was made, add more about the Paw Paw tree and how it fits in here. My Dad remembers having them around the farm. He has memories of his Dad back in the forties and after eating them but they didn't make things from them. My cousin and his wife now collect from that same patch from time to time. Our patch is within 200 yards of a known Saura Native American village site so maybe we are tending the same patch they did.
Froze 8 Packages some 1 cup some 2
Good sites found searching for info, no relationship
From History, To great links and Festivals. Great complete overview
From History, To great links and Festivals. Great complete overview
From History, To great links and Festivals. Great complete overview
In fact the pawpaw has quite a history. It was grown and eaten by Native Americans, helped feed Lewis and Clark on their expeditions, and is thought to have been a food source along parts of the Underground Railroad.
Zebra Swallowtail
From History, To great links and Festivals. Great complete overview
From History, To great links and Festivals. Great complete overview
The Zebra Swallowtail butterfly and the Common Pawpaw tree have been through a lot together. If you see one of these distinctive long-tailed butterflies glide past, it's likely there's a pawpaw patch nearby. The Zebra Swallowtail, Eurytides marcellus, is the only species of the genus Eurytides (the kite swallowtails) that makes its home in the temperate zones of North America.
Pawpaws: America's Best Secret Fruit
From History, To great links and Festivals. Great complete overview
Pawpaws: America's Best Secret Fruit
If you're lucky, America's best secret fruit might be growing on a tree close to your backyard. Or perhaps a county or two away. Finding it takes effort, but it's rejuvenating effort. Tromping around in the woods seeking pawpaws makes me feel more a little more human, and the pawpaw's enticing taste is only one of its rewards. What begins under a leafy canopy ends in your kitchen, with untold culinary possibilities.
Paw Paw Ice Cream Recipe
Made the Paw Paw bread recipe. Lots of growing information and recipes
Pawpaws: America's Best Secret Fruit
The pawpaw today is once again in vogue, being touted as the next big thing in local fruit production. A few passionate folks have even taken upon themselves the task of planting entire orchards of pawpaws. This is a rather selfless act as these trees take nearly 20 years to mature and bear enough fruit to make them a viable commercial venture .
Made the Paw Paw bread recipe. Lots of growing information and recipes
Made the Paw Paw bread recipe. Lots of growing information and recipes
Made the Paw Paw bread recipe. Lots of growing information and recipes
The pawpaw (Asimina triloba) fruit has both fresh market and processing appeal, with a tropical like flavor that resembles a combination of banana, mango, and pineapple. Kentucky State University has the only full-time pawpaw research program in the world as part of the KSU Land Grant Program.
Great source for Paw Paw care & trees for sale.
Made the Paw Paw bread recipe. Lots of growing information and recipes
Made the Paw Paw bread recipe. Lots of growing information and recipes
Neal Peterson has several nicknames Johnny Pawpawseed, Papa Pawpaw and the Mahatma of Pawpaws because of his life long work with America’s largest edible native fruit.
Bloodroot
Bloodroot was the first plant that gave us an idea to try and grow it to do something with. I also have way to many pictures of it because a lot of them seem so different. It is great seeing them and just realizing spring is on the way. As the bloodroot multiplied it was decided to add it to a hill outside the garden. The hope it would naturalize the hill and it bloom all at once. With help by division and friends giving some the whole hill is covered. The bloom if anything is like a wave. It starts at the top then by the time the bottom blooms the top is done. It could be a lot better but after a couple years of not finding an outlet, division and propagation stopped. Also I have failed in my attempts to keep deer from eating it in late summer, will try again this year. At least it usually gets to seed before it is eaten. Thinning, more soil, and mulch are needed this year. At this point rhizomes are exposed. The last 3 or 4 years have been some of the wettest with real heavy down pours and that organic layer has disappeared in areas
Field Guide Overview with a little history
Bookground plus growing and harvesting info
Bookground plus growing and harvesting info
After spending nearly three decades at the NYBG, and working much of that time in South American rainforests with her husband, Scott A. Mori, Carol Gracie has returned to one of her first botanical interests in retirement–local wildflowers.
Bookground plus growing and harvesting info
Bookground plus growing and harvesting info
Bookground plus growing and harvesting info
Bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis L., is a member of the Papaveraceae family. It is a native spring wildflower that grows in rich woodlands of North America. They are often found in semi-shaded, light-wooded areas with moist, acidic soil.
How to make salve
Bookground plus growing and harvesting info
How to make salve
Bloodroot has long been used to create a variety of natural medicines, including bloodroot salve. Traditionally, bloodroot salve is used to treat various skin conditions, including warts, blemishes, skin tags and moles. Mixed with other ingredients, such as ash, it’s sometimes called “black salve.”
Ginseng
More to come but ginseng has started to come up. Tested seeds in 4" pots last fall. Hardware cloth because of chipmunks and squirrels. Above, have grown that ginseng in a pot for 3 or 4 years but it is older. Not a lot of success with seeds planted directly in the woodlands
Resources
Catawba Sustainability Center
Located in the beautiful Catawba Valley of Virginia, the center's 377-acre farm property is a place of interdisciplinary research and hands-on learning. Through research, teaching, and demonstration of sustainable practices in agriculture, forestry, and land management, our work exemplifies the notion that learning is interdisciplinary and occurs in both the classroom and with hands in the soil