We have quite a few homesteaders, gardeners, herbalists and ranchers here. I thought it might be useful to post some consumable OR useful plants that might be helpful to people after SHTF beyond the usual “garden varieties”.
Things like growing conditions/zones, soils, uses, identification/foraging, nutritional, medicinal uses and share experiences growing them, eating them or using them.
Since now is planting season for a lot of people, I thought it might give people some new ideas to try!
I’ll start with a fairly common one: Osage Orange/ hedge-apple/bodark/ monkey balls/bois-d'arc/ bowwood, and naranjo chino
Maclura pomifera (Raf.) Schneid.
It does not produce huge amounts of useable timber but enough that it was used extensively as fence posts and ox yokes during the settlement of the western US because of its natural pest repellant properties and strong flexibility. Osage-orange heartwood is the most decay-resistant of all North American timbers and is immune to termites.
It is also quite drought resistant! Saves time and effort on watering.
Old adages about the fruit causing death in livestock, have been disproven in recent times by feeding experiments.
As you may have guessed from the common names, Native Americans found the wood good for making bows. It is also useful in producing yellow dyes and tannins.
It grows well in 39 of the lower US States. The commercial range includes most of the country east of the Rocky Mountains, south of the Platte River and the Great Lakes, excluding the Appalachian Mountains. Osage-orange is hardy as far north as Massachusetts but succumbs to winter-kill in northeastern Colorado and the northern parts of Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois. It grows well in 39 states.
It does have thorns and is credited to giving birth to the invention of barbed wire; it was planted as a fence to keep animals in. The thorns, 1.3 to 2.5 cm (0.5 to 1 in) long, are modified twigs.
In a very ideal location it can reach 70 feet in height, though most do not.
It is related to the mulberry but the fruit pulp and skin tastes....well...just yuck. The seeds however are decent. They taste a little like orange seeds to me.
I have seen where some people have said it made them "loopy", and caused tingly lips but that was not my experience. Some suggested the loopy reaction might be an indication of a latex allergy reaction, which it very well could be!
Other people said the seeds made into a tincture and put into a tea it eased their chronic pain and inflammation better than some of their prescriptions. Researchers are currently exploring the anti-bacterial, high flavonoid/antioxidant properties.
The jury for me is still out as to whether I would consume the seeds in anything other than very small medicinal amounts.
I would advise caution and see the tree for it's benefits outside of consumption! (that goes for any plant you would consume for the first time)
As a topical, I found this commercial product " rosacea, eczema, psoriasis, athlete’s foot, cystic acne, hormonal acne, scars, diaper rash, stretch marks, sun spots, blusters, white patches, cold sores and herpes HSV-2 outbreaks. It repairs collagen, regulates melanin and controls pigmentation. It heals cuts & burns and relieves bug bites, is Antibacterial & Anti-Fungal" it is combined with almond oil, jojoba and vit. e.
The "juice" from the fruit is high in latex so it is very sticky...I have used it to keep ants off the bark of newly planted trees. Layered and dried it makes things water resistant.
Things like growing conditions/zones, soils, uses, identification/foraging, nutritional, medicinal uses and share experiences growing them, eating them or using them.
Since now is planting season for a lot of people, I thought it might give people some new ideas to try!
I’ll start with a fairly common one: Osage Orange/ hedge-apple/bodark/ monkey balls/bois-d'arc/ bowwood, and naranjo chino
Maclura pomifera (Raf.) Schneid.
It does not produce huge amounts of useable timber but enough that it was used extensively as fence posts and ox yokes during the settlement of the western US because of its natural pest repellant properties and strong flexibility. Osage-orange heartwood is the most decay-resistant of all North American timbers and is immune to termites.
It is also quite drought resistant! Saves time and effort on watering.
Old adages about the fruit causing death in livestock, have been disproven in recent times by feeding experiments.
As you may have guessed from the common names, Native Americans found the wood good for making bows. It is also useful in producing yellow dyes and tannins.
It grows well in 39 of the lower US States. The commercial range includes most of the country east of the Rocky Mountains, south of the Platte River and the Great Lakes, excluding the Appalachian Mountains. Osage-orange is hardy as far north as Massachusetts but succumbs to winter-kill in northeastern Colorado and the northern parts of Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois. It grows well in 39 states.
It does have thorns and is credited to giving birth to the invention of barbed wire; it was planted as a fence to keep animals in. The thorns, 1.3 to 2.5 cm (0.5 to 1 in) long, are modified twigs.
In a very ideal location it can reach 70 feet in height, though most do not.
It is related to the mulberry but the fruit pulp and skin tastes....well...just yuck. The seeds however are decent. They taste a little like orange seeds to me.
I have seen where some people have said it made them "loopy", and caused tingly lips but that was not my experience. Some suggested the loopy reaction might be an indication of a latex allergy reaction, which it very well could be!
Other people said the seeds made into a tincture and put into a tea it eased their chronic pain and inflammation better than some of their prescriptions. Researchers are currently exploring the anti-bacterial, high flavonoid/antioxidant properties.
The jury for me is still out as to whether I would consume the seeds in anything other than very small medicinal amounts.
I would advise caution and see the tree for it's benefits outside of consumption! (that goes for any plant you would consume for the first time)
As a topical, I found this commercial product " rosacea, eczema, psoriasis, athlete’s foot, cystic acne, hormonal acne, scars, diaper rash, stretch marks, sun spots, blusters, white patches, cold sores and herpes HSV-2 outbreaks. It repairs collagen, regulates melanin and controls pigmentation. It heals cuts & burns and relieves bug bites, is Antibacterial & Anti-Fungal" it is combined with almond oil, jojoba and vit. e.
The "juice" from the fruit is high in latex so it is very sticky...I have used it to keep ants off the bark of newly planted trees. Layered and dried it makes things water resistant.
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