Reading the Landscape: Pennyroyal Wetlands - for SteemitPhotoChallenge 6
I like how plants can tell us a lot about a landscape. The theme of this week's steemitphotochallenge is Natural Landscapes – preferably without man-made objects. But even though this landscape, near my home in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, looks natural, there is so much about it that was determined by man.
Here’s what this landscape says to me. The rusty- and purple-colored plants are Pennyroyal, Mentha pulegium. It likes living in wet areas -- even in areas that are wet marshes in our wet winters. So I can tell that the pennyroyal area is wet, but not completely flooded for any long time. But the land is wet enough, for long enough, that these trees died from drowned roots -- after the land use changed from drained agricultural land to a natural area that floods every winter. Every band of plants, with their different colors and textures, says something about the soil and water conditions. Pennyroyal is native to Europe, but it has spread all around the world and is considered an invasive species in many places.
I harvested a lot of pennyroyal from the ditches in this general area last year. I dried it and use it for tea - it has a more menthol taste than spearmint or peppermint. And it smells great! Do you like pennyroyal? What landscapes around you tell you their tales?
#steemitphotochallenge #photography #nature #wildfood #haphazardhomestead
Good photo and great information.
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/http://puu.sh/qBwNm/59e4e7fdd7.png)
UPVOTE!
Also, CONGRATULATIONS!!!
I have just become your first follower.
Welcome to the community, may you grow and prosper!
Thanks! I've been looking at Steemit from the outside for a few days. Your posts have been a big part of what convinced me to sign up. I'm appreciative of you being my first follower. PS: my parents live in Arkansas, so you will be seeing some photos from my visits there sometime.
WOW, to have you say that my posts were a big part of what convinced you to sign up is incredibly encouraging to me. I've only been here for 5 weeks, and I think it is going pretty well for me. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help.
Thanks for the offer to help. I appreciated seeing your comment to someone else about how it's OK for each of us to post about similar content, in our own way, from our own perspective and experience. That attitude is what builds community. I eat a lot of wild food and my own garden produce, so I'm looking forward to seeing the foraging and gardening communities grow here.
A good friend of the family (when i was growing up) wrote a book on edible wild plants. I'll see if I can find it amongst the clutter and send you the title. you may find it interesting.
Yeah, many have already shared about things like Dandelions and Lambs Quarters, for example, and many more probably will. Plus, how many smiitie recipes have been shared?
Let's all share our parts of the story, and allow others too as well.
That's so neat, @daiperhaiku! I'll look forward to finding out what book that is. Lambs quarter is my number one favorite wild green, hands down, @papa-pepper. But I eat a lot of dandelions, too. They are both prolific here, along with a lot of other weeds!
Here is a link to the book on Amazon. http://amzn.to/2bwPGwC
Thanks for the link, @daiperhaiku! That Elias and Dykeman book is one of my favorites. I've used my copy since it was first out in 1982. I really like its organization by habitat, by season, and by uses. And they have a lot of guidance about how to prepare different plants, which was really unusual at the time. Even though I started using their book when I lived in Michigan, it's still useful for me here in Oregon, because it covers the whole US, which was also unusual for foraging books back then. That's so neat that you knew one of the authors. If you ever see them again, pass along my gratitude and appreciation!
I will. I've known Dr. D (Peter) since i was 10 or so. He and his wife are great people. Fond memories of frog egg 'hunting' in the bogs near their home in early spring for his science class.
Great photo. It reminds me of a local state park here in Upstate New York. I try to get there for a hike and photo shoot each spring and each autumn. I imagine I'll be making my yearly pilgrimage in the next 5 or 6 weeks when the weather begins to change. I'll try and post some pictures.
Upstate New York is so beautiful in the fall -- lucky you! Enjoy your trip and I'll look forward to some pictures!