# Food in my yard today



## Cotton (Oct 12, 2013)

It’s not spring yet but it is just around the corner. Today I found 5 edible and medicinal plants coming up in my yard. The first photo is of…

Dandelion – Taraxacum officinale, yellow bloom
Henbit – Lamium amplexicaule, purple bloom
Chickweed – Stellaria media, tiny white blooms with 10 petals
Wild onion – Allium canadense

The second photo is my favorite medicine, it’s still used today by Native Americans… Monarda fistulosa. I use it almost daily, it’s great for headaches and metal clarity.


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## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

I found food in my front yard too. Unflavored snow cones and slushies. 

In all seriousness good for you. This is not an area of strength for me, heck I am not even at amateur status. I have some books and have done some internet research, but feel like this is an area where I need to find a mentor that can teach me face to face what is edible and medicinal in my region.


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

I hate being clueless about something so important.


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## Tweto (Nov 26, 2011)

Add me to the clueless on foraging.


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## BillM (Dec 29, 2010)

*Dandielions*

The flower is good if you just pull the flower off and dip them in batter and fry em like fish .

:2thumb:


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

Which flower would that be? Dandelion?


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## Balls004 (Feb 28, 2015)

Important foraging tip...

If you cannot positively identify a plant, get your most worthless relative or other person to try it first.


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## camo2460 (Feb 10, 2013)

I have used Monarda Fistulosa (Bee Balm) as a Tea but would like to Tincture some. Should the Mother Tincture be cut, and If so, how many times?


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## Cotton (Oct 12, 2013)

camo2460 said:


> I have used Monarda Fistulosa (Bee Balm) as a Tea but would like to Tincture some. Should the Mother Tincture be cut, and If so, how many times?


My tincture was about a 1 to 3 and I didn't cut it. Two drops are plenty for a dose. 3 can be a bit much. I really like this plant fresh. To me there is no comparison between fresh leaf and tincture.


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## Balls004 (Feb 28, 2015)

Sentry18 said:


> I found food in my front yard too. Unflavored snow cones and slushies.
> 
> In all seriousness good for you. This is not an area of strength for me, heck I am not even at amateur status. I have some books and have done some internet research, but feel like this is an area where I need to find a mentor that can teach me face to face what is edible and medicinal in my region.


You're absolutely right here, this is best taught face to face and in the field. I've got the basics, but that isn't going to take me far enough when it really counts. I've got a couple of books, plus the stuff the Army put out almost 30 years ago, and still don't feel comfortable enough to eat a plant or fungi when I can eat a bug.


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## Cotton (Oct 12, 2013)

Sentry18 said:


> I found food in my front yard too. Unflavored snow cones and slushies.
> 
> In all seriousness good for you. This is not an area of strength for me, heck I am not even at amateur status. I have some books and have done some internet research, but feel like this is an area where I need to find a mentor that can teach me face to face what is edible and medicinal in my region.


That was the key for me as well. I had good books but got no where for years, 4 or 5 plants at most. Once I went on a couple of plant walks with an expert those years of reading books clicked!:cheers: You might say I learned "How to learn about plants" from him.

Over the next 18 months I learned over a 1000 species. Now I can spot most of them at highway speed. I can even tell the difference between winged sumac and smooth sumac at 70mph (interstate, I won a steak diner on a bet) (Rhus copallinum and Rhus glabra)


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## Starcreek (Feb 4, 2015)

I just nibbled a dandelion green today! A lot of those early-spring wild greens are high in iron and were used by old-timers as a spring tonic.

Thanks for the tip on Monarda fistulosa, Cotton. I'm going to start looking for that!


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

On the subject of Monarda, Monarda Punctata(around here is called Horse Mint or Wild Peppermint) makes a good tea and antiseptic rinse.

A tea helps upset stomachs and can be used as an antiseptic wash for cuts, scrapes and abrasions.

I keep a few jars of it around for the antiseptic rinse. In the spring I pack the jars loosely, fill with water and pressure can it, the liquid is sterile and concentrated.

I have been working in the garden the last couple weeks and saw the horse mint starting to peek up through the weeds in the fence line.


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## tsrwivey (Dec 31, 2010)

We can have an east Texas meet up this Spring! Cotton can come teach us! :kiss:


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

There should be enough foliage around your place. Maybe the meet-up could coincide with a house warming party.


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## tsrwivey (Dec 31, 2010)

Hubby's saying the house won't be ready until August


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## BillM (Dec 29, 2010)

*Yep*

:flower:


Country Living said:


> Which flower would that be? Dandelion?


Yep , the yellow dandelion flower


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## oldasrocks (Jun 30, 2012)

Camo, I need to come over and have you help me identify the eatable plants. I'll give you a holler when the weather breaks.


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## IceFire (Feb 24, 2016)

Hey, OAR! Good to see you here, too!

Yep, LOTS of dandelions here on the "homestead". It's to early in the season, but later we'll have mesquite beans, too, as well as prickly pear pads and fruit.


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## camo2460 (Feb 10, 2013)

oldasrocks said:


> Camo, I need to come over and have you help me identify the eatable plants. I'll give you a holler when the weather breaks.


I would be happy to get together with you and forage some wild edibles/Medicine. While my knowledge is no where near that of Cottons, I can hold my own in the wild.


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## hashbrown (Sep 2, 2013)

camo2460 said:


> I would be happy to get together with you and forage some wild edibles/Medicine. While my knowledge is no where near that of Cottons, I can hold my own in the wild.


I know a few.... lets make it a day and see what we can learn. It will be mushroom season soon! It's time for my spring tonic of fried turkey breast a mess of crappie and some morels and maybe a poke shoot or two.


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## Cotton (Oct 12, 2013)

camo2460 said:


> I would be happy to get together with you and forage some wild edibles/Medicine. While my knowledge is no where near that of Cottons, I can hold my own in the wild.


You know a lot more than you've been telling us...  Just teasing... your almost 800 miles from me. Would like to meet you someday, but...


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## camo2460 (Feb 10, 2013)

Cotton said:


> You know a lot more than you've been telling us...  Just teasing... your almost 800 miles from me. Would like to meet you someday, but...


Thank you Cotton, meeting with you some day would indeed be an honor.


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