E. Jen

Trish Robertson wrote:Do you think it possible to make a workable yarn from lichen?

Spanish moss was "retted" and spun into yarn and fabric in the southern US.
It would probably depend on the type of moss/lichen your looking at. Best way to find out is to grab some and try it!

Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote:
Last year, I had a yellow flower about 3 ft tall growing about 1 ft away from the trunk of an apple tree. I never knew what it was but I noticed that my bees liked it, so I didn't remove it. [no, it was not mustard. I know mustard is invasive here and honey bees make a honey that sugars barely one week in the jar!] It made a seed receptacle that looked like a crown.

This sounds like velvet leaf. The green, immature seeds are edible, if a bit too much trouble to pick out more than an occasional nibble. Did it have big heart-shaped leaves that were fuzzy?

I've used the western soapberry that is native to this area to wash laundry and my hair. It leaves both with a mild, slightly fruity smell. It works great. I do rinse the laundry. If I can find enough soapberries, I pick the seeds out, and run them through an old hand crank meat grinder on the fine plate (this is a lot like grinding raisins, they are sticky unless very dry) and roll them into about an inch across balls. I just drop one into a small pot of water and heat to release the soap, and add it to the washer (for a extra large, very dirty load of barn clothes - you would need less if you dont get as dirty). You can strain the water to get the bits of fruit skin off if you want, but I find they shake off on the clothes line. They can be very weedy trees and make babies and suckers come up all around them. I'm planning to try to plant a row of them in the pasture.