Foraging East Texas

There are a few frontiers left in th' world today, and th' world of plants is one of them. Even right here in my hometown, there are multitudes of plants that we are still learning about, and many of which we know absolutely nothing. We recently traveled to my homeland of East Texas, and though i spent my childhood here, i've been gone long enough for it to seem like we had entered into a new frontier. From both a cultural and climatic point of view, we might as well have been in a foreign country. 

We left Colorado just ahead of a spring snow storm, and when it really set in that we were entering a new land was when i found recently fallen acorns beneath a Texas live oak tree. Note how th' leaves look nothing like our more typical oak trees. These are called live oaks because they are evergreens, uncommon amongst deciduous trees, even in Texas. These were found in north Texas, off old highway 287, near Oklahoma.

Texas Live Oak

live oak acorns

We spent th' night at a rest stop south of Dallas, and awoke to find Wild Carrots all over th' place. Throughout th' rest of our stay we saw more wild carrots than just about any other plant. They grew nearly everywhere, from th' highway medians, to th' ditches to peoples frequently mowed lawns. Wild Carrot does resemble poison Hemlock, please know that you've got th' right plant before even tasting one of these, as one bite of poison hemlock could be your last. We have a friend who, just to prove she had found wild carrot, took a piece of a leaf and bit it, she instantly realized her mistake, but it was too late. She very nearly died. Th' plant she bit was poison Hemlock. Th' most obvious distinguishing feature is that carrots have hair all over them, and hemlock does not. Below are three pictures of wild carrot, and a picture of poison hemlock, and though they are and do look different, in th' field they are surprisingly similar. Be careful. Most poisonous plants just taste bad and you spit them out, no harm done, Hemlock is not like that, one bite and you're in big trouble. Do yourself a favor, and really get to know these guys before eating. With that said, once you know a wild carrot and a hemlock, they are not hard to tell apart, just pay attention. Wild carrot is a good food that should not be overlooked for fear of Hemlock.

Wild carrot first year rosette

sane plant pulled up

Wild Carrots adorned all th' roadsides in East Texas

Poison Hemlock leaf

 Here's a picture of th' Texas state flower, th' Blue Bonnet. I love these because they grow in giant patches, amongst all the other wild flowers, and cover th' medians and road sides in brilliant hues. I imagine a time before roads, and think how colorful th' world used to be.

We stayed at my grandparents place on th' western most border of th' great piney woods, a forest which extends (or used to) from the Atlantic all th' way to east Texas. At this time of year, which would be early summer there, so many plants were growing, and all different from what we're used to here in Colorado, that we felt like hungry kids walking through a salad. It seemed as though you could close your eyes and just eat anything. It felt like we were in th' Garden of Eden. Any plant we found abounded, nothing was rare if it was there. Of th' treasures we found were Japanese Honeysuckle. 

The yellow and white flowers on the left are honeysuckle. The red ones on th' right are yet to be identified, please leave us a comment if you know what they are. When i was a kid we used pick the yellow flowers and pull th' stamen out of the bottom, which would bring with it a tiny ball of nectar. Then we'd suck on that and do it again and again and again, maybe hundreds of times. I still don't know of anything that tastes so good. 

 Another favorite was th' wood sorrel, or Oxalis species. Again, these abounded. They have a pleasingly tart flavor, reminiscent of lemon, and are good added to sandwiches and salads, as well as munched on while walking around.
 We found both purple and yellow flowering sorrels, with th' purple ones having much larger leaves, but both tasted excellent.

wood sorrel in midday sun closes up

 While wandering around, we had no choice but to admire th' overhanging canopies of oak- something we don't see here in northern Colorado.

We harvested loquats, which are a Chinese native fruit that has become naturalized in many parts of th' south. And just like pecans, they ripen and fall to th' ground for th' animals, while people go to th' store and buy fruit. Strange. Because these are really really good fruits, tasting something like a pear and a plum.

Texas Loquats

On a trip to the ocean we found some beachside goods to eat. First, below th' whale shark, is a giant black nightshade bush. These provide tasty leaves and berries, which are like a pepper flavored tomato. These won't even begin to sprout for more than a month here.

And here is some large purslane, on th' left, with leaves bigger than my thumb, and on th' right an unknown plant, resembling amaranth, but succulent. We ate a bit of it and it tasted like amaranth, if you recognize this one, please let us know, as we've not been able to find it in any book or online source.

 And here's th' Sea Rocket, a member of th' Brassica family, with characteristic mustard flavor, and a little salt, due to it's being found on th' beach.

Sea Rocket (Cakile spp.)

purslane and ?

 Heading back inland from th' beach we stopped at a gas station and in th' neighboring field found these...

Yep, ripe black raspberries and mulberries. Our Blackberries haven't even sprouted yet, but here we are munching fresh picked berries in April. There are only a couple of Mulberry trees were we live, so these were a real treat for us. Mulberries are juicy and taste like sweet corn, and unlike black and raspberries, th' seeds are pleasant to eat, making this a most agreeable berry.

We also found Cleavers, Wild grape, not yet fruiting, and a new favorite, Smilax. Smilax is a vine that grows all over th' woodlands, and we ate th' tender, still growing tips whenever we could. They also produce large edible tubers which were a staple crop for th' natives to this area.

Cleavers

Wild Grape

Smilax

There were cat's ears...resembling a cross between a dandelion and a salsify.

And Pink Primrose (Oenothera speciosa), which is actually an evening primrose, not related to th' true Primrose (Primulaceae). As we child we called these Buttercups, and would ask unknowing victims to smell them, while we'd touch them to their nose leaving a bright yellow pollen mark, which our victims might not have known about were it not for our uncontrollable laughter. These have edible leaves, flowers, and roots which are very potent, like horseradish.

Pink Primrose

And Heal-All, (prunella vulgaris) which we harvested to dry for tea. This, like every good plant, is both food and medicine, as it's name suggests. Good for what ails ya- it can be eaten raw, or dried and used for tea, or tinctured fresh. It's benefits include all around wellness- sore throat and cold relief, and it stops bleeding. Drink it often to stay healthy, or to restore health during and after an illness.

Self Heal

And wild Onions.

Wild onion patch.

We also found Ground beans (apios, though i failed to get a picture). I am really excited about these, and though it was not th' season to harvest th' beans, i know where they live, and should i return fall, winter or spring, look out.

And here's another plant that abounds in th' east Texas woods. Don't make a salad out of this plant.

Poison Ivy.

I am highly allergic to poison ivy, and have tried every remedy known to man, save for a few. What works best if you get a rash is to wash it at least three times a day with pine tar soap, then rub aloe vera leaf gel on it. It's the only thing that has ever worked for me. But if you do it as soon as you notice th' rash, or th' plant you might have touched, it will save you from two weeks of hell.

Coming from th' north, after a long winter, to a land flowing with nectar and greens was truly a treasure for us all. But i realized something on this trip, for i've found many treasures in my life. Finding a treasure is a great thing, but th' true miracle is th' change that occurs in th' seeker. You can wait around all your life for a miracle, or you can wake up, and be th' person you were meant to be.

And two days later we returned home to almost two feet of snow.
In Mid April.

Fall, Acorns and Traditional Crafts

Ok friends, we've decided to merge our foraging and crafts blogs into one, which will be this one. After all, it's all traditonal, old world activity, so why th' dichotomy? If you're unfamiliar with our crafts blog i'll just tell you that all th' work i do is done without power tools, i don't even own any. I don't say this to brag but to clarify that it's more about th' process than the end result, more about that later...Now we can do posts like this one...

spoon rack

This past week has been rife with activity- Acorn processing and wood carving and turning to name a few. The above picture is a spoon rack i carved from a split elm sapling. Wooden spoons are beautiful on their own, but displayed in a nice rack they are outstanding, why hide them in a drawer?  All th' spoons were carved by me except th' two in th' middle with th' white and blue handles, which were carved by Jarrod Stonedahl, another journeyman of traditional living.

But lets talk about fall, and food gathering for a bit... anyone for some acorns?

burr oak acorns, big.

Anyone in Fort Collins reading this blog? If so, you wanna do me, or yourself rather, a favor and go out gather up some oak nuts? We're really running out of room to store them, and it's hard for me to pass them by. There's still a lot out there. I'll even help you eat them if you want. But seriously, my neighbors are starting to think that Ishi lives in my garage... help us out why don'tcha. Just look at this tree, it's covered with large acorns, half an hours worth of picking supplied us with over ten pounds. And there's a lot of half-hours in a persons life.

And don't think this is unusual around here, there's trees all over like this. You'll see. 

Let's get crackin shall we...

Look at th' inside of th' shell, how beautiful it is...

Here's a Burr Oak acorn on th' left, and an average size, unidentified as of now, acorn on th' right.

Th' Burr Oak acorns are enormous, so be carefull while drying them out, as they take a very long time.  Sometimes you'll come across ones with sunken in centers like in th' picture below.

Don't waste your time gathering these, as this is what you'll find inside.

We crack and pound all our acorns by hand. I've used blenders and coffee grinders before, but they don't work as well as pounding with a hammerstone. And more importantly, they don't work th' same way on me. And this is also why i don't use power tools, th' real reason. When i'm pounding acorns, in th' sun, with a rock, it does something to me. It takes a long time, but it's time well spent. My mind is fee to wander, while my hands perform th' task at hand. I smell the acorn, i breathe it in along with th' scent of dry leaves. (Do you know how good pounded acorns smell?) If affects me in a subtle, yet powerful way. It's th' same with carving wood with hand tools. Th' time spent changes you, makes you, builds you into a more patient, more thoughtful person. The end result becomes less important than th' way you get there. Th' native americans, and traditional people all over th' world, spent thousands of years pounding acorns with rocks, who are we to say we've come up with a better way. Have we really counted th' cost of what we've given up? Have we counted th' cost of th' tools that we now depend upon, that we consider necessary for life? It's hard, because we are so disconnected from th' price we pay, to even realize that a toll is being extracted. We don't remember what it's like to be able to drink water from our rivers and streams, or that there used to be mountains in Wyoming and West Virginia that no longer exist due to coal mining. Or that there were no landfills here a few hundred years ago. Me cracking acorns with a rock, or hewing out a piece of wood with an axe isn't going to change all that, but me and you doing it, and you, and you too, well then, things might start to look different. Or at least we'll be different, and that's worth it.

acorn pounding

Here's Beth and Fynn partaking of some fall activities, as i was hewing some bowl blanks one day.

axe hewn bowl blank

This is black locust wood, which has a relatively easy to work yellow sapwood and a seriously hard and pretty brown heartwood. It makes really pretty bowls and bows. 

pole lathe turned bowls

Before I made these two i was really turning in th' dark. I was so focused on getting a bowl that i didn't pay enough attention to how i got one. Then i was forced to spend two weeks away from my shop. I got craftsmans withdrawal. But something happened. I learned (again) to slow down. When i got back home i took my time, went slower, focused more on making nice clean cuts and keeping my tools sharp. I slowed down and my bowls and spoons came out better and in half th' time or less. Here's th' rest of what came of that locust log, as well as a couple of Aspen spoons.

This one got cold, so i had to carve a hat for it.

 Here's a couple made from opposite sides of th' log, th' one on th' left has th' sapwood on th' bottom, heartwood on top, and th' one on th' right has th' heartwood on th' bottom, making a different, and in my opinion nicer looking bowl, though it takes longer to hew because of th' greater amount of heartwood you're chopping. These are fresh off th' lathe, where as th' darker ones have been oiled already.

Here's that bow i was carving in th' last post, it's almost finished, and pulling about eighty pounds right now. Just needs to be CAREFULLY tillered down to about fifty-five, and it's ready for th' hunt. 

Ash bow, ancient European style

And two Aspen spoons.

Well, i hope you've had some good food for thought, even if you can't eat the acorns. Drop us a line and let us know what you think. I'll leave you with a few more scenes of fall.

Cheers    

~Rico

Bag full of acorns. Now that's some whole foods.