Our deciduous trees, volunteer and native plants and their uses.

I have a post in the wwoofers forum about my property and some of the things going on here. It is a particularly windy morning and I'm not in the mood to work outdoors so I'm starting seeds indoors and got to thinking as I watched all the trees sway in the wind... We have a ton of volunteer/pioneer/native plants including many deciduous trees that are very useful to homesteading/permaculture.

I'm going to name a few and their uses. Please feel free to chime in if I've missed anything or with your own personal plants and their uses.

Oak - multiple varieties
-acorns for food
-leaves great for humanure
-wood
Fire
Timber
Furniture/woodworking

Pine - Gray, Ponderosa, Sugar, White
-timber (mostly the white which is more rare here)
-firewood (outdoor, not in dry season. The pitch causes popping and spark throwing)
-pitch/tar/SAP
Fire starter/fuel
Glue
Seal wounds
-needles
Vitamin c tea
Pine straw
Kindling
Mulch for plants requiring acidic soil i.e. blueberry's...
-pine cones
Kindling
Pine nuts
Decoration/art

Manzanita
-berries
Food/drink
Fodder
Possibly dye?
-leaves
Medicinal/hydrating tea
Poultice
Can be chewed to rehydrate (bitter/sour)
-wood great for crafting. Burns very fast and crackles/throws sparks

Yerba Santa
-mainly known for its medicinal purposes. I also use it in my compost mix and hugel projects

Vetch
-livestock fodder
-nitrogen fixer
-green manure
-pretty flowers all spring

Grass

Clover
-fodder
-pollinators
-tea
-nitrogen fixer
-green manure

Wildflowers
-pollinators

Buckeye
-don't know much about this one, perhaps some help? I've seen a few around

Blackberries
-food
-barrier/fencing

There are thousands more to discover, but these are the main ones I notice and know. Now it's your turn... Go.

I have volunteer mimosa trees in part of my property that I am converting to food forest.
This area was used as a standard row garden by the previous owner and it is depleted of nitrogen so I am letting the mimosas grow to help replentish that.

I also have sumac trees coming up there and they are growing very well, so I am leaving them to provide shade for other plants.

Wild violets are running wild across my property for the last few years, they make great ground cover / green manure / edible flowers and leaves.

Wow, nice Cris! Sounds like you have a lot of stuff we don't have here. Is that East Coast? Would seem to be East of the Rockies anyway...

Yeah, well North Georgia Appalachian mountain region.

I have two acres, one acre of that I used to mow, I'm down to just mowing foot paths through it. I have all kinds of "surprise" useful plants that come up that I used to mow down.
For instance my two cherry trees became 10+ cherry trees because of all the root suckers that I stopped mowing down. Some are less than 4 years old and already fruiting!

It's amazing what doing LESS WORK has given me! lol