Susan Weed's Weed Walks

Weeds in Your Garden? -- Bite Back! c.1999 Susun S. Weed

I always say the gardener's best revenge is to eat the weeds. I've been doing it for thirty years and can testify that my health and the health of my garden has never been better. Here are a few hints for gardeners who'd rather eat their weeds than hate them (and for non-gardeners who are adventurous enough to try out nature's bounty). View your weeds as cultivated plants; give them the same care and you'll reap a tremendous harvest. Harvest frequently and do it when the weeds are young and tender. Thin your weeds and pinch back the annuals so your weeds become lushly leafy. Use weeds as rotation crops; they bring up subsoil minerals and protect against many insects. "Interplant" (by not weeding out) selected weeds; try purslane, lamb's quarters, or amaranth with your corn, chickweed with peas/beans, and yellow dock, sheep sorrel, or dandelion with tomatoes).And, most importantly, harvest your weeds frequently, regularly, and generously. Dandelion by Durga Bernhard '88

Overgrown radishes, lettuces, and beans are tough and bitter. So are weeds that aren't harvested frequently enough. Give your chickweed a haircut (yes! with scissors) every 4-7 days and it will stay tender all spring, ready to be added to any salad. If you forget a patch for two weeks, it may get stringy and tough and full of seed capsules. All is not lost at this stage. The seeds are easy to collect – put the entire plant in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for 2-3 days and use the seeds that fall to the bottom of the bag – and highly nutritious, with exceptional amounts of protein and minerals.

Unthinned carrots and lettuces grow thin and spindly, so do unthinned lamb's quarters, amaranth, and other edible weeds. Wherever you decide to let the weeds grow, keep them thinned as you would any plant you expect to eat. Here's how I do it: In early spring I lightly top dress a raised bed with my cool-method compost (which is loaded with the seeds of edible weeds). Over this I strew a heavy coating of the seeds of lettuces and cresses and brassicas (cultivated salad greens), then another light covering of shifted compost. Chickweed by Durga Bernhard '89

Naturally, weed seeds germinate right along with my salad greens. When the plants are about two inches high, I go through the bed and thin the salad greens, pull out all grasses, smartweeds, cronewort, clear weed, and quick weed (though the last three are edible, I don't find them particularly palatable) and thin back the chickweed, mallows, lamb's quarters, amaranth, and garlic mustard and other edible wild greens.

Keep those annuals pinched back. You wouldn't let your basil go straight up and go to flower, don't let your lamb's quarter either. One cultivated lamb's quarter plant in my garden grew five feet high and four feet across, providing greens for salads and cooking all summer and a generous harvest of seeds for winter use.

When a crop of greens has bolted or gone to seed in your garden, you pull it all out and replant with another crop. Do the same with your weeds. We eat the greens of garlic mustard all spring, then pull it out just before it bolts (making a horseradishy vinegar from the choicest roots) -- often revealing a generous crop of chickweed lurking underneath.

Here are some of my favorite edible weeds: • Burdock (Arctium lappa) Roots of non-flowering plants harvested after frost make a vinegar that is deep, and richly flavorful as well as a world-renowned tonic. Petioles of the leaves and the flowering stalk are also edible; for recipes see my book Healing Wise. • Chickweed (Stellaria media) Young leaves and stalks, even flowers, in salads. Blend with virgin olive oil and organic garlic for an unforgettable pesto. Add seeds to porridge. Burdock by Durga Bernhard '89

• Dandelion (Taraxacum officinalis) Leaves eaten at any time, raw or cooked, but especially tasty in the fall – not spring!. Roots harvested any time; pickle in apple cider vinegar for winter use. Dandelion flower wine is justly famous. • Garlic Mustard (Alliaria officinalis) Year-round salad green. Leaves used in any season, even winter. Roots are harvested before plant flowers. Seeds are a spicy condiment. • Lamb's quarter (Chenopodium alba and related species, e.g. Chenopodium quinoa). Young leaves in salads. Older leaves and tender stalks cooked. Leaves dried and ground into flour (replaces up to half the flour in any recipe). Seeds dried and cooked in soups, porridge. • Purslane (Portulacca oleracea) The fleshy leaves and stalks of this plant are incredibly delicious in salads and not bad at all preserved in vinegar for winter use. • Sheep Sorrel (Rumex acetosella) Leaves add a sour spark to salads. Cooked with wild leeks or cultivated onion and potato they become a soup called "schav." • Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica) Young leaves cooked for 40-45 minutes and served in their broth are one of my favorite dishes. Seeds can be used in baked goods, porridge.

Wise Woman Herbal Ezine Back to list Week of August 6, 2013 - part 2 Tuesday, August 06, 2013 10:14 AM | Wise Woman (Administrator)

Bee Balm Sisters: the Monardas Allow me to introduce you to the beautiful bee balm sisters, also know as the majestic Monardas. They come in many bright colors and have the most amazing scents. Yes, you’re right, they are part of the mint family. Gardeners love the bee balm sisters for their study self-reliance. Plant them almost anywhere (from British Columbia to Texas and from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic) and you can forget them . . . until they delight you with masses of aromatic blooms tended to by dozens of bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Herbalists love the bee balm sisters for their ability to ease digestive and respiratory woes, and counter inflammation, too. A cup of hot or cold bee balm tea, of the fresh or dried leaves or flowering tops, or several spoonfuls of bee balm vinegar can help release gas from the intestines (carminative), encourage gut flora (digestive), move mucus in the lungs (expectorant), encourage sweating (diaphoretic), counter fevers (antibacterial febrifuge), counter cramps (antispasmodic), strengthen the heart (cardiac tonic), promote health (antioxidant scavenger), help induce sleep (mild sedative), and improve urinary flow (mild diuretic). The bee balm sisters help those troubled by indigestion, colic, gas pain, flatulence, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, bloating, colds, sore throat, fever, headache, sinusitis, sore eyes, nosebleed, eczema, chills, bleeding gums, tooth decay, parasites, and backache. Breathe the fragrant steam of any bergamot to open to lungs, promote deeper breathing, counter bronchitis, and relieve lung congestion. Try a poultice against bee stings and headaches, skin eruptions (measles, chicken pox).

Wise Woman Herbal Ezine Back to list Week of August 6, 2013 - part 3 Tuesday, August 06, 2013 10:16 AM | Wise Woman (Administrator)

Scarlet bee balm, Oswego tea (Monarda didyma) This is my favorite of the Monardas, and often the most difficult to find. It is considered endangered or threatened in parts of its range. The fragrance is neither minty nor oregano-y, neither citrus nor thyme, but partakes of all these with a soft and subtle sweetness. The long-lasting flower is a clear red with a hint of purple. Scarlet bee balm is my secret ingredient in comfrey infusion. One stalk of dried herb, with leaves and flowers is added to one ounce of dried comfrey leaf and infused in a quart of boiling water overnight. Be sure to use the scarlet bee balm, not the others; they are too rich in volatile oils. Some books suggest that scarlet bee balm gets bitter after it flowers, but I have not found that to be the case. (More on Oswego tea for the mentored students. Click here.)

Wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa) This is the most common wild Monarda. It contains more thymol and oreganol than Oswego tea. This makes it more interesting as a medicine – and much stronger tasting – than its more red-flowered sister. Does this one become bitter if harvested after the flowers open? It is too late this year to test this idea out, but I shall endeavor to do so next year. I’ve always harvested the whole flowering top, dried it until crisp, crumbled the leaves and petals off the stalk and then used it in soups for a powerful antioxidant and a flavor enhancer. A wild bergamot leaf poultice was used by native people’s to dry up pimples and other skin rashes. Herbalists in Colorado tincture their strongly scented, high altitude, powerful tasting wild Monarda and use it as an antiviral and anti-infective.

Cultivated bergamot (Monarda x) The most commonly sold Monarda cultivars seem to be a cross between the lovely lilac fistulosa bergamot and the stately red didyma bergamot, with the resulting plants having far more oreganol and thymol than the pale purplefistulosa and not nearly as nice a taste as the scarlet red didyma. I admit to finding the colors of the cultivars rather off putting as well. Like the scent and the taste, the concentration of oils in cultivated Monardas is over the top. Too much, I say.

Horsemint (Monarda punctata) I have yet to find this Monarda growing near to me, so no photo of it, but this plant is hard to miss. It looks like the other bergamots, but with wide-jawed yellow flowers dotted with small purple spots and held by bright white or lilac bracts. This one is loaded with volatile oils and is prized as a medicine. It contains more thymol than thyme itself does. I think I will buy a few plants of punctata from Richter’s in Ontario and see if I can get it to grow in my garden. (They probably have didyma too, if you are looking for it.)

Fancy Auntie Bee’s Bergamot Tincture Auntie Bee: Antiviral, antiseptic, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory bergamot! Harvest any bergamot when the sun is hot and it has been dry for a while.    

Chop the leaves and stalks coarsely and fill a jar very full with the plant material. Cover completely with 100 proof vodka. Lid, label, and wait six weeks. Put it up at Lammas, it’s ready by Fall Equinox.

Start with a dose of 10 drops and increase as needed. Try making one tincture before the plant flowers and another that includes the flowers. Is there a difference? Which do you prefer?

Wise Woman Herbal Ezine Back to list Week of August 16, 2013 - part 2 Saturday, August 17, 2013 10:06 AM | Wise Woman (Administrator)

Shamanic plants Here are a few of the many plants used worldwide by shamans to walk between the worlds. Being able to

use psychoactive plants is, in fact, a prerequisite in many cultures to being trained as an herbalist or a shaman. Fly agaric, the witches’ mushroom (Amanita muscaria) [photo sent to us by Rose Weissman] It’s she a beauty?! This is a classic example of the fly agaric mushroom just emerging from its egg. This is the yellow form, the one common here on the east coast. If you live on the west coast, or in Europe, your Amanita muscaria mushrooms will have a red cap. A red cap with white dots, like those you see illustrating fairy stories, especially those featuring witches. (Chuckle.) And like those plaster or plastic ones who hang with plaster or plastic gnomes. All Amanita mushrooms emerge from an egg-like sac of white material that clings in dots and dabs to the cap and remains around the base of the flaring stalk. As the cap matures and opens, the veil covering the under surface loosens and falls down around the stalk. (Mentored students, your core material this week includes photos of other Amanitas.) Humans have been allied with fly agaric for thousands of years. Some sources claim it is the most ancient of all shamanic plants used by humans; others believe Brugmansia holds that honor. Siberian shaman consume fly agaric mushrooms (and lots of water, presumably). Those of the community who also wish to commune with the spirits don’t eat the mushrooms directly, instead, they drink the shaman’s urine, believing that the mushroom poison has now been rendered safe for those less powerful. Modern shamans usually dry fly agaric and smoke it, though it is also taken as a tea, brewed in hot milk or hot water.

Black Nightshade (Solanum nigrum) Note the dark purple, almost black, and nearly round, berries of this common weedy nightshade. The small white flowers with yellow beaks and recurved petals occur in clusters of three, but the berries are usually in pairs. The ripe berries are safe to eat; they are often called “garden huckleberry.” The green berries are the psychoactive part. The usual dose is 2-4 berries eaten fresh. Like other nightshades, the effect is similar to flying.

Indian Tobacco (Lobelia inflata) This little plant is found at the edges of the forest or growing wild in the garden. It needs a fair amount of sun, which is quite obvious when you find it has a peppery taste for all its blue flower coolness. Vinegar preparations of the ripe seed pods were a big favorite with the heroic herbalists of the past. Lobelia is considered an adjuvant. That is, it makes any herbal formula it is in more effective. Check out this week’s recipe for my suggested way to use Lobelia to open your ears and eyes to the fairy realm.

Wise Woman Herbal Ezine

Back to list Week of August 16, 2013 - part 3 Saturday, August 17, 2013 10:24 AM | Wise Woman (Administrator) Here are some of the autumn beauties delighting us these days. Enjoy! (Try using this week’s recipe first and then going on a walk to appreciate the plants.) Tiger Lily (Lilium tigrum) While it is safe to eat daylilies, or any lily the opens up when it blooms, it is not safe to eat lilies that bloom to the side or down, like this bold tiger lily in my monarda garden.

Mushrooms No names. Just some lovely forms found in the forest.

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Week of August 16, 2013 - Recipe Saturday, August 17, 2013 10:28 AM | Wise Woman (Administrator) Lobelia in the Raw Lobelia inflate is my favorite plant for opening the gateway to the fairy realms. Eating a single flower, if done in the right frame of mind, can enable you to hear the songs of the green nations. This recipe only works with fresh, raw Lobelia inflata, not dried, not other species. Pick only one flower, per plant, no more!

Eating Lobelia is a sacrament to me. The tiny blossom with the enormous taste sits on my tongue and opens my ears to the language of the plants. * Find a plant of Lobelia inflata in flower. Sit with it for a while. Breathe. * Ask permission to pick a single flower. If there are no flowers left, only inflated seed pods and green leaves, ask permission to pick half of a lower leaf. * Place the flower on your tongue. Close your eyes. Breathe. * You will feel a slow fire burning its way up into your head. Open your crown chakra so you don’t get a headache. * You will feel a queasiness in your throat or your stomach. It is not for nothing this plant is called “puke weed.” But it is unlikely in the extreme that you will actually throw up, don’t worry. * I think the ideal thing to do next is to take off your shoes (and your clothes) and go for a walk in the deep dark woods. But sitting in your garden or the park, fully clothed (but barefoot please), works too. The effect is not so strong that you could not drive if you wanted to, or even “operate heavy machinery.” If you cannot find a Lobelia inflata plant, you may do this with another shamanic plant of your choice.

Wise Woman Herbal Ezine Back to list Week of May 19, 2013 Sunday, May 19, 2013 2:11 PM | Wise Woman (Administrator) Greetings of early summer joy to each and every one of you. Shall we go on a walk in the woods on this delicious day? The sun is warm and the trees are in blossom and not yet leafed out. It’s the perfect time to find and enjoy the native wildflowers of the deciduous forest, which tend to bloom while they are still bathed with sunlight, before the emerging tree leaves plunge them into shade. The air smells fresh. The sky is cerulean blue. Everything is teeming with energy. And no doubt there will be lots of fairies joining us on our walk. Take off your shoes if you wish, and come along. Our first wildflower reflects the sun and the sky: It’s light-blue with a yellow eye at its center. I call it “Quaker ladies,” an alternative to the usual field guide name of “bluet” (Houstonia caerulea). [photo 1] It’s said to be a headache remedy. Hmmm. I guess if you sent the kids out to harvest several hundred of these little flowers – and they are so abundant you could harvest hundreds of them – you’d at least get an hour of peace and quiet to resolve your headache.

[photo 1]

If I had a headache, though, I would prefer to eat violet flowers as my remedy. The darker the purple, the stronger the effect on the head, so this one [photo 2] would be better than this one [photo 3]. They are all tasty though, and surely they are robes for the fairies if the night grows cold.

[photo 2]

[photo 3]

Well! The fairies certainly are enjoying themselves painting the flowers this year. Here’s a patch of Quaker ladies dressed in white instead of the usual blue. [photo 4] On the top of this mossy cliff is the inappropriately-named, but very beautiful, wild oats (Ulvularia sessilifolia). [photo 5] This dainty fairy dress, quivering in the slightest breeze, is a bellwort, not a grass, and this particular species has leaves that touch, rather than clasp, the stalk.

[photo 4]

[photo 5]

Aha! Here’s one of my spring favorites – and certainly a favorite of the fairies – gaywings or fringed polygala (Polygala paucifolia). [photo 6] It always makes me smile when I find it. Perhaps the fairy queen will wear one to the ball this weekend. (for those who can count, photo five to be added later today)...

[photo 6]

Or perhaps she will wear a red and yellow party dress of wild columbine (Aquliegia canadensis). [photo 7] They are here, at the edge of, and across the face of, this cliff. And, this lovely plant, growing in a crack in the rock, is early saxifrage (Saxifraga virginiensis), [photo 8] the rock breaker, one of seventeen species in my area according to Peterson’s.

[photo 7]

[photo 8]

Over there, beside the trail, is trailing arbutus (Epigaea repens). [photo 9] I can’t take you to see it and I don’t know if I even dare to take a picture. It’s so shy, it sometimes dies if you look directly at it. Really. I thought it was a tall tale until I saw it happen. When it flowers, the fragrance is sensational, so I lie next to it, with my eyes closed, reveling in the scent. Down this path there are more yellow lilies springing up from the damp ground. They are heralded by strange leaves that are mottled like a trout, thus the name trout lilies (Erythronium americanum). [photo 10] Their perfect tiny yellow flowers are used by fairies as caps or skirts, I’m sure.

[photo 9]

[photo 10]

And here, almost hidden by the leaves, is a famous plant that used to be used to help the liver, roundleaved hepatica (Hepatica americana). [photo 11] The flowers come in amazing shades of purple, blue, pink, and white. There’s no reason to disturb a relatively-rare native perennial, since there are so many abundant, common plants, like dandelion, that help the liver. Follow me over this wall, around the fallen oak, and past the small quarry pond and we’ll soon come to my secret patch of dwarf ginseng (Panax trifolius). [photo 12]

[photo 11]

[photo 12]

Wise Woman Herbal Ezine Back to list Week of May 23, 2013 Thursday, May 23, 2013 11:46 AM | Wise Woman (Administrator) Dear friends and students, Welcome back to our native wildflower walk in the deep woods of early summer. If you are just joining us, you may wish to read last week’s ezine first. But you don’t have to. You can jump in right now, right here and enjoy the walk. Follow me over this wall, around the fallen oak, and past the small quarry pond and we’ll soon come to my secret patch of dwarf ginseng (Panax trifolius), [photo 12] one of the finest of the many spring tonics that grow here. Where it grows thickly, I’ll gently cut off a leaf. Here, have half. Savor it. My mouth waters for this taste in the spring, so I make an annual pilgrimage every May to be with it and nourish myself with its wildness. And right next to it is gold thread (Coptis groenlandica) [photo 13] in bloom. You and I met gold thread some weeks ago, at the right time to harvest its yellow root/rhizome. Now, we need only sit here and let our imagination turn the flowers into fairy lanterns that will light the way to the gala fairy ball.

[photo 12]

[photo 13]

We need no imagination at all to see those strange-looking green leaves as large green umbrellas. That’s American mandrake, mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum). [photo 14] The leaves are big enough for an entire family of fairies to shelter under in a thunderstorm. The entire plant is quite poisonous, except for the fruit, the May-apple (which usually ripens in July!), but once again, the deer always beat me to them. Jump across this little stream and let’s explore a swampy area. Lok at this patch of big, vibrantly-green leaves all folded up like fans. That’s Indian poke, or false hellebore (Veratrum viride) [photo 15]. Like the mandrake, it is poisonous. Unlike the mandrake, it grows tall, up to eight feet when it is flowering.

[photo 14]

[photo 15]

Stand still and close your eyes. Open your ears. The warblers are back – the myrtle warbler, the palm warbler, the black and white warbler, and the chestnut-sided warbler. Now, inhale. That delicate sweet scent is spicebush (Lindera benzoin) [photo 16] in bloom. All parts of it have been utilized as seasoning for food. The hard berries are similar to cloves, the aromatic leaves, which aren’t out yet, are somewhat like bay, and the twigs are spicy, but not peppery. And it is so beautiful. Altogether agreeable, to all the senses. It’s only a little further to the river. Let’s follow the crows. They’re going that way. Along the way we can visit with the dwarf blueberries (Viburnum anfustifolium). [photo 17] Aren’t their flowers lovely? Each one will turn into a blueberry, but I’ve yet to get more than a berry or two to eat, because the deer always beat me to them (and they eat them while they’re still green, too).

Wise Woman Herbal Ezine Back to list Week of May 23, 2013 - part 2 Thursday, May 23, 2013 12:06 PM | Wise Woman (Administrator) The barberry (Berberis thunbergii) [photo 18] is blooming too. Oh, those fairies have been busy, busy, busy. This is the Japanese barberry – the leaf margins are smooth, not toothed – but all Berberis are useful. The leaves can be eaten in salads. The berries make an excellent conserve. And the bark of the branches and roots contains the important medicinal compound, berberine, an anti-infective alkaloid. We’re nearing the river. Can you hear the rush of the little falls near the bend in the river? Under these trees is where the fairies left their pantaloons to dry out after swimming. Even the field guide agrees: calling them white Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria). [photo 19]

[photo 18]

[photo 19]

What’s this? Blooming among the needles between the big white pine and the eastern hemlock? You’re right! It’s a pink lady slipper orchid (Cypripedium acaule). [photo 20] Like the hepatica we saw earlier, the roots of this rare orchid used to be used medicinally as a nervine, but not now. That’s a pileated woodpecker making all that racket. And the chickadees sure are noisy, too. Is something upsetting them. Oh! Look! A red-tailed hawk, circling right above us! And a red flower at our feet. This stunning flower is red trillum, or wake robin (Trillium erectum). [photo 21] The root of this uncommon beauty was once used to help women giving birth since it contains the hormone oxytocin, which encourages uterine contractions. (The drug version is called pitocin.) Note the three green sepals, the three red petals, and the three-part leaf. Surely a plant of the goddess, and herb set aside for women. Let’s not disturb her, but be on our way.

[photo 20]

[photo 21]

I’ve saved the best for last, though it isn’t, strictly speaking, a wild flower. At least, not now. It will flower, but later in the year, after the leaves have died. And it is the leaves and bulbs of this plant that interest me. Here, in the seep of this spring, her it is: a beautiful patch of wild leeks (Allium tricoccum) [photo 22], also known as ramps. The smell and taste is stronger than leek, stronger even than garlic. Ramps are delicious cooked and they make a knock-out vinegar. Shall we dig a few to have with our dinner?

[photo 22]

Thanks for coming on this walk with me. Join me for daily walks in the woods at the Green Witch Intensive coming up this July, or the Green Goddess Apprentice Week in early August . Join the sacred circle of women at the Wise Woman Center for these events, or for a free moonlodge, or a work exchange weekend. Or come see me at theMidwest Women’s Herbal Conference. I’ll be there soon. Green blessings. Susun