RE: Collies and Colors of Summer, and Vervain
Nettles for tea, absolutely, brave them, the tea is fabulous, and highly nutritious.
And while you're at it, grab some more and sautee them, or throw them in some soup, as the stinging hairs are destroyed by cooking, and they are delicious. Just wear gloves and long sleeves when you pick them.
BTW, garlic mustard is also supposed to be delicious sauteed or in soup, so at least there is a use for them until you get them eradicated. I've also read that you can ferment them, as sort of a sauerkraut, which I'd love to try.
Funny thing, I thought I'd spotted some garlic mustard on our place, but it turned out to be a small lookalike native. So to date I've yet to find garlic mustard, nettles, jewel weed, sunchokes or Maximilian sunflowers on our place, even though they're all supposed to be rampant everywhere around here.
And the elderberries we spotted when we got here are evidently no longer around either. We had several big bushes, surrounding a black walnut just outside the barnyard, but when the sinkhole next to them enlarged, it exposed their roots and killed them. But the black walnut is still going strong, exposed roots and all.
We also had elderberries in several places along the river, but I haven't seen them for the past few years. The deer may have overgrazed them to death.
I'm currently starting a bunch of elderberry cuttings that I hope to interplant among the young black walnuts we planted near the road. These are all from some bushes that volunteered near our waterfalls, about a mile from us.
I recently discovered a vacant field with LOTS of them, so hopefully I'll finally be able to replenish our stock of homemade elderberry syrup. I had a massive bird-planted bush in my back yard in Florida.
elderberry syrup? My mom used to make elderberry wine, because, being German and frugal, she had to think up SOME use for the things. She doesn't even drink wine. Oh those Depression era people!
We have mulberry trees, but mosquitos are so thick, I rarely collect more than a handful at a time. Beware when mowing! One fell behind me and stained my shirt, and of course, I had accidentaly donned my NEW white shirt, not the old lookalike that I wear only for outdoor work (never in public; too stained, worn, mended, and torn).
I have jewel weed!
I have Maximilian sunflowers!
Wondering if I could send you seeds...? (I've never looked for seeds on jewel weed)...
https://www.cookinglight.com/food/in-season/what-are-sunchokes
I'd love seeds for jewel weed! And for nettles!
I've purchased seed for Maximilian sunflowers a couple of times, but so far haven't had any luck getting them started.
I did luckily find a seller with sunchoke roots this spring, so I have four happily growing in a large pot on my porch, but I really need to get them in the ground ASAP.
I've never made elderberry wine, though I understand it is delicious, and I have sampled elderflower cordial, which is light and lovely. I've yet to make that either.
Marek's dad turned us onto an elderflower syrup made in Poland, with which he made an absolutely lovely liqueur, and we promptly bought four bottles to bring home, and used the last of it about a week or two ago. Time for a trip to NYC. ;-)
I bought a pair of elderberries years ago, Adams and Johns I think were the varieties. And I had a largish unknown bush that had started between two of our grapefruit trees, and was starting to really take off.
I was strongly considering mowing it, until I noticed that the leaves were the same as on my two tiny elderberry plants, so I kept it . . . and it thrived for years, producing like mad, while the other two never took off, and ultimately died. Ah, well.
I miss having them close at hand, because they were a favorite treat for my doves. They won't touch most fruit, even if I cut it into small pieces.
I also want to try elderflower fritters, which are supposed to be delicious. Hence my reasoning in taking even more cuttings when possible. ;-)
I have a couple of black mulberry trees that I grew from cuttings from a friend's tree, but although they are surviving, they're not growing much, and I need to seriously mulch their bases to give them an extra boost.
Her tree is massive, shades a large portion of her roof, and she collects literally gallons of fruit each year, which she freezes and uses all year long. Wonderful fruit.
We have several native red mulberries on our place, including a couple that are near the house, but we rarely get fruit because they are in the woods, and the birds and squirrels get there first.