Phenology (aka Natural Observations)

Regenerative Subsistence Seasonal & Bioregion Strategies
#21

i love steamed nettles & nettle “tea”! a big stand grows near my house, starting to get some secondary growth that hasn’t flowered yet.

someone just showed me a cool thing–how to eat nettles raw. carefully pluck a leaf off the stem , then lightly pinch together your thumb & forefinger on the front & back of the leaf and smooth down all the needles WITH the grain, from stem to tip, all over the leaf–i don’t know if this brushes them off, or breaks them off. . . anyway, then fold in half lengthwise, roll up, and stuff it in your mouth and chew. i just got one sting on one finger after eating several leaves, mouth feels fine. i don’t mind a little urtication, but not in my mouth, please! :wink:

#22

The huckelberries and Salmon berries are perfect out here in western WA right now.

#23

There are these large, red/orange, hard, bulbous ‘berry’ growing on these shrubs around the school… they look to me like the mix between and above ground radish and an apple. They are probably poisonous >> but I don’t know, anyone know what these might be?

#24
looks like I'm bumping this thread a bit..

bump away. i love it when new members come along and make additions to threads that the old crowd hasn’t seen in a while. plus, my hope for this thread involved the idea of constant bumping as people share the different observations from their local regions.

someone just showed me a cool thing--how to eat nettles raw. carefully pluck a leaf off the stem , then lightly pinch together your thumb & forefinger on the front & back of the leaf and smooth down all the needles WITH the grain, from stem to tip, all over the leaf--i don't know if this brushes them off, or breaks them off. . . anyway, then fold in half lengthwise, roll up, and stuff it in your mouth and chew. i just got one sting on one finger after eating several leaves, mouth feels fine. i don't mind a little urtication, but not in my mouth, please!

woah. that definitely sounds like something to try. i read in Steve Brill’s books that the active compounds that sting you could only be preserved via freeze drying, as heat and dehydrating deactivates them, have proven to be helpful against hay fever symptoms. as freeze drying would be really difficult primitively, this might provide a way to still get those compounds in your system without burning your mouth out.

There are these large, red/orange, hard, bulbous 'berry' growing on these shrubs around the school.. they look to me like the mix between and above ground radish and an apple. They are probably poisonous >> but I don't know, anyone know what these might be?

It doesn’t sound familiar to me. Could you get some pictures or describe the rest of the plant more (leaf shape and color, branching, leaf margin, etc.)? Maybe with some more information someone here can help you identify it.

#25

[quote=“WildeRix, post:24, topic:174”][quote=Fenriswolfr]
There are these large, red/orange, hard, bulbous ‘berry’ growing on these shrubs around the school… they look to me like the mix between and above ground radish and an apple. They are probably poisonous >> but I don’t know, anyone know what these might be?
[/quote]

It doesn’t sound familiar to me. Could you get some pictures or describe the rest of the plant more (leaf shape and color, branching, leaf margin, etc.)? Maybe with some more information someone here can help you identify it.[/quote]

Also, could you describe the fruit a little more? Do they have a crown (like a blueberry)?

#26

bulb

leaves

Stem was thorny, I really just have no idea what this is…

The inside is full of seeds

#27

It looks like a rosehip–especially from your description of the thorns.

Euell Gibbons used to scoop out the seeds with his thumbnail, stuff a raspberry inside and eat it.

As big as it looks, I would guess Rosa rugosa which I have never seen in the wild, but have only heard and read about.

#28

looks like rose hips! like the big ones on rosa rugosa. but it seems early. . . I haven’t seen any lately in Portland so I’m not sure, but I saw some flowering a few weeks ago.

#29

[quote=“WildeRix, post:27, topic:174”]stuff a raspberry inside and eat it.

As big as it looks, I would guess Rosa rugosa which I have never seen in the wild, but have only heard and read about.[/quote]
My picture makes it look blown up. It’s about 1" in length

Rose hips eh. My plantiness is lacking, but upon looking up rose hips I’d say that is what this is (and they seem really good for you too).
I wonder if it is ‘ripe’ though because it is a bit orange.

So then it’s edible? what about these seeds?

edit: it smells like pumpkin (me digging out the seeds)

#30

definitely edible. and great as a tea when you dry them, too. loaded with vitamin C and lots of other things that I can’t remember at the moment.

it does seem early to me, too. i don’t know the actual phenology of roses, but for some reason, i was thinking the hips are more of an autumn-ripening fruit.

#31

ate it, good taste :slight_smile:

#32

I’ve gathered Rosa rugosa’s vitamin C packed fruits around Portland recently and they have tasted ripe and ready. I use the flesh interchangeably with many fruit recipes and crush the seeds as a nutritious and vitamin E-rich addition to mushes, mashes, and other dishes. The leaves I sometimes use in teas and the petals in salads or as a trail side nibble. As a youngster you could find me smoking the inner bark from time to time as I used it part of my mixers inbetween the plants major growing season. I use the ripe flesh of the fruits the most, in teas, in jams, in muffins, on walks as a fresh snack, ect. It and a couple other species I enjoy the most and take time out of each year to go harvest some.

#33

thanks for the info on it! I was wondering what I could do with the seeds. Crushing them up seems to be the best bet as just chewing on them I’d like water to swallow em. And yeah it’s high in C and E so >> defiantly going to go and pick em around school.

#34

So I found this little guy dropping out of a tree near me. This is only my second year in the west coast (seattle) so I don’t really know all the native plant life. I never saw this guy in Michigan.

It’s small, maybe 1-2 inches

the inside is squishy and juicey. Tastes rather sweet, like a plum or something. has a large seed in the middle. I’m guessing it is something of the plum/peach family??

#35

That reminds me of a fruit that I saw today (I am in the Florida panhandle). It looked and tasted like a baby nectarine (about 1 inch long). It had two largish seeds/pits inside.

#36

btw, central to southeastern OH (at least) now has autumn olive berries ripening en masse.

My daughter & I love those little suckers…

#37

i just discovered that wikiversity has a bloom clock project. it has some good information for flowering phenology for plants. if i can figure out how their system works, it looks like it has a neat way of storing and parsing the data.

#38

Fenris, that is a very interesting fruit you found, was it growing in a landscaped area or a greenbelt? I’ve lived here my whole life and don’t recognize it based on your pictures.

Anyway, it’s mushroom time in western WA, has been for about two months actually. Several bags of chanterelles, too late for chicken of the woods, a few king, and Admiral boletes. There have been better years I guess, but this is the first year I’ve actually gone mushroom hunting for days and not just happened across them, so I’ve been impressed.

#39

you’re not hunting matsutake? you probably kicked them over while hunting chantrelles. A perfect specimen will earn a wildcrafter at a mushroom station 50 dollars, and that will be sold for possibly 100. oh, and they may not be worth the money totally, but it sure as hell tastes like a 50 dollar mushroom.

Paul Stamets has said this year was going to be the best year of mushroom hunting ever.

ON a backpacking trip last weekend, I found countless 25lb chicken-of-the-woods clusters, and we made bar-b-q mushrooms. it was ridiculously good.

#40

Yeah, it’s the only thing of it I’ve seen ever while out here. It was from a tree growing near my old apartment in Renton.