Wildharvesting natural materials

[jaykush]

chamomile is a must imo, good for your plants, good for the soil, good for you, good all around. self seeds once you plant it and let it go to seed. grows without care in moderate climates, needs water in hot climates with bare soil and no shade.

yarrow is also a must, go for the white wild yarrow if you can. its the best, but the colored cultivars provide more of a show while giving you ferts. some of the cultivars are more vigorous too, so you get more biomass out of them. i only use the wild yarrow for medicinal purposes.

 

[big_daddy]

more that i couldnt live without if i was cultivating and using for fertiliser?

Manitoid

Look into horsetail........silica is off the charts. I got it growing all over my place. A horsetail tea/infusion is great especially when the temps are up.

b_d

 

[DARC MIND]

drying horse tail?? is my question for you guys
is ther any downside to doing this?like is silica levels higher when fresh?
any one do this for storing purposes?
thnx

 

[jaykush]

i use dried its fine. fresh is only best when you have access to fresh.

just dry in a cool dry place with lots of air flow.

 

[big_daddy]

JK,

Did I read a post from you somewhere that steeping horsetail with hot water is the best way to extract a tea? Also, can different teas be mixed and applied as a blend........and if so, would you need to lower the amounts of each?

b_d

 

[jaykush]

yes boil the horsetail for 10 minutes, then let it cool slowly overnight or over the day.

you can make multi blends. but i prefer to keep them separate. as they all have separate effects. and like you asked, some plants don't need to be as concentrated as others.

when you make them by themselves, you can apply each one at the best time to apply it. for best results in the plant/soil.

 

[CascadeFarmer]

i only use the wild yarrow for medicinal purposes.

A few of the fuzzy 'leaves' are good to strip and put in salads. They provide a nice bitter 'value' and good for digestive stimulation. Other than that the flowers are good as a diaphoretic. It's good to deal with fevers when you want to kick up the sweating and break it or consume before jumping into a sweatlodge. Drink a yarrow flower tea with some cayenne, jump into a hot bathtub...then cook! The pink yarrow rootlets, I'm talking about the newer pink roots of wild white yarrow, have a slight numbing effect and good for tooth/gum issues.

like is silica levels higher when fresh?

No. The silica ain't going anywhere.

Current tumbler run that I built a few days ago is about 25% Horsetail...the Snake Grass variety. Was steaming nicely on what turned out to be almost an 80F day.

 

[gaiusmarius]

lets not forget the lavender for essential plants for self sufficiency when it comes to pest management too.

btw: i did the horsetail tea thing and although my plants are healthy, i can't really tell any visible difference from the horsetail tea leaf spray at 20 to 1. the nettle tea had a more visible effect on the plants imo. maybe i can give some horsetail tea to the coco directly?

 

[CascadeFarmer]

If i was going to start cultivating for fertiliser, what would be added to:

Comfrey, nettle, dandelion, lavender, dock, lambsquarter?

If you wanna get into cultivation then Comfrey is by far the way to go. Lambsquarter and Stinging Nettles would be OK and pretty productive. I keep on cutting the Lambsquarter and Nettles back and they just grow back. Lavender is easy to grow but would not look at that for fertilizer type material. While I've never tried it for pest management seems like Gaiusmarius said. Stinging Nettles is always fun to pick!

 

[gaiusmarius]

oh i see he did mention lavender already, oh well...yeah best use gardening gloves to harvest nettles and a respirator to mix and spray that shit LOL. pfiu! not too bad once diluted but still a bit manurey...

 

[mugenbao]

I'd like to thank everyone who contributes to threads such as this, it has been an invaluable resource and a fantastic learning experience.

 

[Headbandf1]

Didnt see this posted

Using Red Cabbage instead of Litmus

I tried to find Litmus paper everywhere around here. Finally I tried a swimming-pool supply store, and they had it, although they did not know what Litmus paper was—it was a pool testing kit, and cost way too much. I consulted a chemist, who told me that Litmus paper uses the dye in red cabbage. Red Cabbage is actually purple. Put vinegar on it (acidic) and it will turn bright red. Put ammonia on it (alkali) and it will turn bright blue. Red cabbage is a lot cheaper than a pool testing kit

 

[Green&Gold]

Has anyone used Queen Annes Lace flower in an FPE, right now its really prolific and easy to collect so just wondering....?

 

[jaykush]

do research on the plant first.

 

[big_daddy]

Has anyone used Queen Annes Lace flower in an FPE, right now its really prolific and easy to collect so just wondering....?

Queen Anne's Lace is listed in Dr. Dukes ethnobotanical database and the elements/compounds can be found by clicking Daucus carota.If you click on the link to each compound, it will tell you the different uses for the compound.

b_d

 

[bonsai]

Anyone recognize this plant?

It grows in the wettest area of my yard, has hollow green stalks with branching from the base a bit like parsley. I clear a bit out each year to plant edible greens, wondering if it might be better suited to FPE than the compost bin.

 

[jaykush]

not sure what it is, looks ornamental. might want to take a leaf to a local nursery.

but just to say, compost is THE BEST source of fertilizer/biology. FPE are good. but good compost shits on FPE. so when in doubt, compost it!

 

[mad librettist]

Has anyone used Queen Annes Lace flower in an FPE, right now its really prolific and easy to collect so just wondering....?

not sure about FPE, but queen anne's lace is an indicator species for certain deficiencies, and is also great for native pollinators. It's basically a carrot without the carrot.

 

[CascadeFarmer]

Was planning on doing at least 1 more round of wild herb/weed composting but closed the season out early. Got almost 200 lbs dried and good enough. Been using it as bedding and main feed for my worm bin and they just love it. They chew through it uber fast.

 

[gOurd^jr.]

So I found a sweet patch of the snake grass/equistem shown earlier in the thread. I plan to go harvest a load of it and am wondering how best to incorporate it into my soil, short of composting it. I'm thinking if I just ferment a bucket of it that can be mixed into my soil bins and would speed up the breakdown. I have ~7-8 weeks left before I need to use the soil. I'll get some into a compost pile too, but I'd like get some into my soil sooner too. Any advice?

Found the patch while out harvesting yarrow blooms, round 2. pulled a couple pounds from the patch and there's PLENTY more, might go back to make sure I have enough for the rest of the year. Feeding my ladies tonight with the bottle that's fermented from last pick. Stuff smells incredible!