jen m

don't eat the digitalis, either!  fox glove.  it's easy to spot in bloom, but not in bloom, well, it can look like mullen or comfery or dog's bane or any number of other things to the untrained eye.  and there are two kinds of hemlock- water hemloc and poison hemlock.  both deadly. 

i asked a guy who has a phd and owns a wild flower preserve about the camas, because i want to harvest some, and he said they don't grow in quite the same habitat or bloom at the same time, and he thought i would be safe to harvest it while not in bloom.  however, i thought it would be prudent to scope out some sites to harvest that i know are free and clear of death camas, and i found a nice big patch or two that is filled with wild onion, so while i'm harvesting the camas, i'll get some onions, too.

only eat/use medicinally things you know for absolutely sure 100% positive you know what they are.  if you really want to learn, take a class on plant taxonomy so that you are sure of your identification.  get a good book that has good visuals of the plants, both edible and poisonous,  (such as Gregory Tillfords book, and i'm sure Arthor's book is most excellent) and double/triple check.  the deadly ones are, well, deadly.

what i'm wondering, is has anyone ever found anything better to do with them than bread and fry them?  they are soooooo good like that, but how about some variety?  the flavor tends to get lost in complicated recipes, soups, etc.  any ideas?  i sauteed some up in butter and at that over freshly boiled ravioli, that was good.  i bet cream of mushroom soup with morels would be good.

salal leaves are a mild astringent, so pick some, dry them in a paper bag, then powder them up and when you get a bruise or a wound, mix with a little hot water and slather on, and it will help reduce the swelling and heal it up.  better yet, add some oregon grape leaves, a few st. johns wort flowers, a few plantain leaves, and a little arnica (and i do mean a little- they say it's toxic if it gets into the body, but i have found using a little internally to be ok.  i mean a little, one or two drops of tincture, or 1 leaf in a few cups of leaves.  I have accidentally ingested much more, and i lived to tell the tale).  and some of whatever else is growing around that isn't toxic...  and you have a nice plaster for wounds & bruises.  add some yarrow, and apply the powder directly to a bleeding wound and it will stop/slow the bleeding.  since everything is edible, you can also take about a table spoon of the powder, mix it with water and slug it down, thus treating the owie internally and externally.

i don't think you need a tincture licence, but if you are making them commercially, you might need a comercial kitchen permit.  if you keep your opperation small, it's doubtfull you will run into any trouble. 

i usually harvest usnea by picking it up off the ground or picking up and taking home sticks that it is growing on.  i growns on dead wood, and grows very slowly.  the people who had problems with usnea were using usneaic acid, which is concentraited, and not the whole plant,  but i think it may have been kidney problems.  I don't think it's a dangerous herb, just one that you may want to use only when you need it, for lung problems, or to put in a formula to quit smoking. 

I asked on a couple of listserves that i'm on for herbalists, and got no reply.  they live under the skin, and are nasty, and i've had them long ago and tried a few things, but nothing worked except the chemicals.  I'd suggest not putting it off, that will minimize your exposure.  and if you wanted, take some stuff to support your liver, cleanse, during the treatment, such as go out and eat some dandelion greens, or burdock root, and drink plenty of water.  and make sure not to get re-exposed, wash and dry all your bedding, clothes, etc. 

there is more than one lichen that looks like USN, it is important to identify the right one.  if you gently pull it apart, inside is a stringy white filament- like a tiny piece of elastic.  if it doesn't have this, it isn't USN.  i don't think the other is poisonous, but to get the medicinal properties, you need USN.  it's a good antifungal & good for lung stuff, it is sort of like the 'lungs of the forest' and that is what it does for us, as well, cleans/strengthens the respiratory system.  this plant, it wants to be harvested with respect- ask first (the plant, not the USFS).  and pick it up from the ground, sicks laying on the ground, not off trees. 
i have seen one warning about possible negative effects of usneaic acid, but i looked into it a good deal and determined that it is most likely safe, but probably shouldn't be used long term or in large doses.  as with all things, moderation.  there are also a lot of ideas of how it is or is not processed to be effective. 

i'm thinking juicing, or at least putting thru a sieve would be a good way to use wild berries, because they are so seedy.  mash them, cook a bit, and strain.  then, preserve by hot packing in half pints, sort of like jam/jelly but no sugar, or freeze in ice cube trays (probably much safer, considering the sugar in jams helps preseve it somehow, and hot packing something like berry pulp or juice, or freezing it in icue cube trays (i'm not entirely sure hot packing something like that would be safe), and then adding it to a glass of water or a berry pie, or a hot cup of tea.  the russians do this with black currents, only they are mashed up with a bunch of sugar, and put in hot water.  but most wild berrys are so seedy, but also so high in nutrients (things like hawthorn, salal, service berrie have a a lot of bioflavinoids) and there is something special about berries and magical health properties.  huckleberries are the exception, of course, not being so seedy and they are sooooo good.  this kind of pulp would be a good vitamin c suppliment (if frozen)  when one gets a cold.  or scurvy, of course. 

sour dough and whole grains go fine together,  i usually use 1/4 white flour, more or less.  i've been working on perfecting my pancakes for a while now, and have been told by more than one person, 'these are the best pancakes i ever ate'.  the secret is, us a mix of grains, whole wheat pastry, buckwheat, cornmeal, ry, oat bran, spelt, kamut, you name it, throw some in.  in the SD starter, is stick to wheat, sometimes whole, sometimes white, depending on what's close by.  i don't really cook with exact recipes, and when i do, i change it some, but i can try to come up with something if anyone is interested.  there are a lot of ways to make a good pancake. 
and yes, waffles too, just add a bit more oil to the recipe, and maybe an extra egg. 
and bread, buscits, corn bread, chocklate cake, doughnuts, and so on.  and for anyone not eating diary, in baking, SD can produce a finished product that is as tasty as if you used butter milk.

what are you doing with all those natives?  i can see eating them off the bush, but they are all pretty seedy and bland?  or bitter?  I've heard Oregon grape jam is good, but I'm not inclined to make any, when i have huckle berries, or rasperries.  but I'm sure the natives are the most nutritios, so I'm interested in ideas of how to incorporate them.  i just can't imagine salal pancakes are all that tasty! 
i planted to evergreen huckleberries, and they survied, but are not thriving.  anway, i can go out and pick the natives, don't see much reason to grow them. 
it sounds like aronias and gumis.  my growing space is pretty small, so i tend to avoid things that need special treatment  such as a pollinator.