Medicinal Concoctions

Poultice – The simplest method of using many medicinal plants is to mash/pulp the plant by chewing then place it on the skin. Note, some plants can only be used externally and so can’t be chewed. Those must be pounded or chopped into pulp. The poultice can be placed “as is” directly on the skin though it is usually cleaner and easier to maintain proper placement if the mashed plant is wrapped in a single layer of thing fabric such as cheesecloth. Fresh plants usually contain enough water for a poultice though a bit of warm water often helps. Poultices made from dried plants will require rehydration with warm to comfortably hot water, bringing the mash to a cooked oatmeal like consistency. Poultices are generally made with leaves but also sometimes flowers and even roots.

Tisane – many call an infusion of plants steeped in hot water that is drunk an herbal tea, however the correct term is tisane. Standard ratio is 1 oz (weight) of plant in 1 qt of water steeped 30-60 minutes. Generally made from leaves and flowers.

Decoction – plant matter boiled 10-20 minutes, removed from heat, and steeped 1 hour. Decoctions that are drunk are also called tisanes. Standard ratio is 1 oz (weight) of plant in 1 qt of water. Generally made from roots, bark, and seeds.

Syrup – adding sugar to a strong (3.2oz plant per 8 oz of water) infusion or decoction as a preservative. Use equal amounts of sugar and water, simmer 20-30 minutes to dissolve all the sugar. Generally, honey, maple sugar, or raw sugar is used.

Lozenge - boiling a syrup down until it forms a hard candy upon healing. Usually requires syrup to reach a boiling temperature of 290 Fahrenheit on a candy thermometer.

Tincture – plant matter extracted in ethanol. Standard ratio for dried herbs to ethanol is 1:5 which is about 5oz of plant in a 1 qt jar filled to the neck with 100 proof vodka. Let sit minimum of 14 days, shaking twice a day but 6-8 weeks is preferred before straining out the plant. Fresh plant tinctures are made in a similar way but using the higher strength, 190 proof alcohol to take in account for the water present in the plant.

Double Extraction – combining equal amounts of a tincture and a decoction. Usually done with Reishi mushrooms to extract the water and alcohol-soluble components. The same chopped mushrooms can be decocted by boiling for 10-20 minutes an equal volume of water to the amount of vodka tincture. A stronger double extraction is done using equal amounts of fresh mushroom for the tincture and the decoction.

Oil Infusion – plant matter steeped in hot oil (125°F to 145°F) 8-12 hours, allowed to cool, the strained. Use dried herbs as fresh ones can spoil in the oil resulting in a potential poisonous concoction. Standard ratio is 4 oz herb to 1 qt of oil.

Salve – an ointment made by combining an oil infusion with bees wax to thicken the oil. Use 1:8 ratio (volume) bees wax to oil for softer ointments and 1:6 ratio for harder salves.

Liniment – plant matter tincture for EXTERNAL USE ONLY made using rubbing alcohol (isopropanol) rather than ethanol. Use the same amounts of plant and rubbing alcohol as in tinctures.

Elixir - creating a tincture that uses equal amounts of plant material, alcohol (usually brandy) and honey. Let sit at least six weeks in a dark location, shaking every day, before straining out the plant matter and transferring to a dropper bottle.

Infused Vinegar - plant matter soaked in warmed vinegar (usually apple cider or a wine-based vinegar). Heat the vinegar to approximately 100-120°F, pour over plant matter in a glass jar. Cover plant material by ~1/2 inch of vinegar. Seal tightly and store in a dark place. Shake daily for at least two weeks before straining out the plant matter and begin using.

Oxymel - adding 1 part honey to 1 part infused vinegar.

Smoke - drawing the smoke from smoldering herbs into one's mouth is a potent way of accessing the medicinal compounds of some plants. Traditionally, this smoke was swallowed rather than drawn into the lungs, thereby avoiding lung damage.


Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.

How to learn edible wild plants.

Learning edible wild plants takes time and effort, there are very few shortcuts. However, the following tips will save you a lot of wasted effort. If you are serious about learning your local edible flora here what you want to do:

The Terrible Secret About Most Edible Plant Books
I get several e-mails a week asking "what one book is the best guide to edible wild plants?". The quick response is Peterson's Guide to Edible Wild Plants. It is probably the most comprehensive guide to edible plants in North America even though it mainly focuses on the northeast. It has color pictures, line drawings, and habitat info on hundreds of plants. But I have yet to meet anyone who successfully taught themselves more than 6-9 plants using this book. Few people can translate its line drawings and postage stamp-size pictures into real plants in the real world.

There's no such thing as a prefect, complete edible plant guide. Unless you are already a plant expert it's impossible to teach yourself all your local edible plant from a single book. It's too hard to have clear pictures of every plant in every stage of it's life. For that reason you really need to have multiple reference books. I have over thirty plant books that I use as guides. These aren't all just about wild edibles. They also include wildflower guides, weed guides, tree guides, botany textbooks, gardening books, forestry books, etc... Each book has different pictures and descriptions of the same plants. Once you get some books start flipping through them every chance you get. You want to train you eyes to see specific plants in all their stages among the Big Green Sea that surrounds you. You don't need to know the name or anything else about the plant at this point, just that you might have seen it in one of your books.

Update: when this article was first written I never expected I'd write a book. Well, I have and it avoids all the problems I described. Outdoor Adventure Guides - Foraging has multiple, big pictures of each plant (leaf, flower, stem, fruit, etc...) along with pictures of any poisonous mimics. It includes range maps to show you where in North America each plant is found, it even has a calendar showing you when the plant will appear depending on if you're in the south, central, or northern areas of this continent. Idiot's Guide: Foraging is available in both paperback and Kindle editions.

Cross Referencing
Once you've found a plant that might be edible it's time to ID it. Take a bunch of pictures of the plant's flowers, leaves (top and underside), stem, and overall appearance. Compare it to many pictures in your books, match the leaves, it's size and shape, and where it is usually found to similar plants in your books. At this point it's very helpful to understand plant descriptors (sepals, palmate, lobed, etc...) as it makes it easier to search through the books. Don't limit yourself to just using books to ID a plant. The internet is obviously another great resource for figuring out what the plant might be.

Take a Class
The best thing a plant newbie can do is take a class and I'm not just saying that because I teach the subject. A few hours with a good teacher will get you through the first, steepest part of the learning curves. By the end of the class you won't be adrift in the Big Green. You'll be able to pick out many plant all around you that are safe to eat (as well as know which tasty-looking plants are highly toxic!). Once you've been taught a bunch of edible plants, learning more becomes much easier as your "plant eye" will be much stronger. Then when you are on your own looking at a landscape you'll already see plants that you can/can not eat. You'll be left with just a few plants that you don't know, which is no longer overwhelming.

The other nice thing about taking a class is you'll get to see plants in different stages of their life. A particular plant may not be ready for harvest yet, but by seeing a young one you'll be able to go back and follow its growth. Or if it's past time you may be able to collect seeds to grow your own.

Growing Your Own
One of the best things you can do to learn edible wild plants is to grow your own. Seeds can be either collected in the wild (follow all appropriate laws!) or purchased via the internet. Observing the plant from seedling to maturity is a great way to train your eyes to see it out in the wild.

The Well-Trained Eye
The repeated scanning of your plant books, internet sites, and home-grown plants will have filled your subconscious with key plant-shapes to look for and you'll be surprised at how they suddenly jump out at you! Each time you go out pick a few new plants to research and after a year or three you'll have mastered the all local edibles. You know you are doing it right when you start dreaming about edible wild plants.


Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.

Making Sauerkraut and Other Fermented Foods.

Fermentation is one of the oldest forms of food preservation. While the word fermentation usually brings to mind the conversion of grains or fruit into beer and wine, it also covers microbial actions such as the conversion of starches and sugars into lactic acid. This lactic acid is what gives the tangy sour flavor to sauerkraut, kimchee, salami, sourdough, and yogurt. Vinegar is created by similar manner by bacteria which convert the alcohol into acetic acid. The lactic and acetic acids prevent other microbes from growing and spoiling the food.

These beneficial, acid-producing bacteria are found all around us naturally and under the right conditions they can easily be harvested. "Wild-type" bacteria don't always give great results so most people purchase bacteria which has already proven to be a good performer. The easiest way to buy them is in the form of yogurt with live culture. Strain the yogurt through cheesecloth and the resulting liquid is loaded with live lactic acid-producing bacteria. Lactic acid bacteria can also be bought in pill form in the vitamin section of most stores. Look for pills labeled Probiotic Acidophilus. To use, simply crush 1-2 of the pills and add the resultant power to your fermentation crock. These bacteria will reproduce and feed on some of the plant material to produce the lactic acid.

Probiotic Acidophilus containing 1 billion active cultures per tablet.


Acetic acid producing bacteria can be found in certain unpasteurized vinegars such as Bragg's Apple Vinegar and some English malt vinegar. You can also purchase acetic acid bacteria "mother" from various places online.

The acid will attack most metal containers so ceramic, glass, or plastic vessels are used to hold the fermenting food. Traditionally large, straight-sided, wide-mouthed ceramic crocks were used and these still can be purchased from assorted online vendors. They are expensive though and usually outside the budget of most people just getting in to fermented foods. Luckily, circular ceramic crockpots and slow-cookers work just as well and are usually available from second-hand stores for under $10. Since the fermentation takes place at room temperature, the crockpot is left unplugged the whole time. The crockpots need to be circular in shape so a plate can be placed inside the crockpot to weigh down and completely submerge to food being fermented under the fermentation liquid. The acid-producing bacteria are "anaerobic" which means oxygen will prevent them from reproducing and must be excluded. Keeping the food submerged keeps the oxygen away, allowing the bacteria to do it's thing. Usually a weight is placed on the plate to keep everything submerged. I use a pitcher of water as the weight.

Sauerkraut: An Easy Fermented Food.
Sauerkraut (fermented cabbage) is one of the easiest fermented foods to make but it is also extremely nutritious. Sauerkraut is simply sliced cabbage with a little salt. More complex sauerkraut recipes call for additional things like apples, onions or spices such as dill and fennel. For your first time just stick with the basics.

Ingredients:
5 pounds of cabbage
3.5 tablespoons of sea salt (optional).
1-2 Probiotic Acidophus pills.

The salt isn't really necessary but adding it will help prevent "bad" bacteria from taking over while you are waiting for the acidophilus bacteria, which is unharmed by high salt concentrations, to grow. The acidophilus pills aren't need either as this sort of bacteria is already all around us and even on the cabbage leaves. I normally don't use these pills except when the weather is exceptionally cold resulting in slow-reproduction of the wild-type bacteria.

Step 1: Gather your stuff.

Here we have the cabbage, crockpots, bowls, and sea salt. I use sea salt as it contains extra minerals that assist the bacteria in the fermentation process. Only one crockpot will be need to hold the cabbage.

Step 2: Slice the cabbage.

Peel off some of the outer cabbage leaves to get to the cleaner interior leaves. Also "core" the cabbage to remove the stem base. The stem base doesn't ferment well as it is large and solid which prevents the bacteria from getting into it. Some people puree the stem base and add it into the crock, but that just makes extra dishes. I'm lazy so I just feed the core to my worms.

Step 3: Salt the cabbage.

Sprinkle some of the sea salt in the bottom of a large bowl, followed by some of the sliced cabbage. Continue to alternate layers of salt and cabbage. If you are adding crushed acidophilus pills do it at this same time, also in layers with the cabbage. Once the bowl is filled mix the salt and cabbage together with your hands while also crushing the cabbage to make it release its juices.

Step 4: Packing the cabbage in the crock.

Tightly pack the sliced cabbage into the crock. You want to press hard on it to drive out any air and also to squeeze more juice out. You need enough juice to completely cover all the cabbage. The salt will help draw out some of the water from the cabbage so don't worry if it at first is seems like there isn't enough juice. After a few hours a lot more juice will be freed from the cabbage so its rare that extra water needs to be added.

Step 5: Submerge the cabbage, part 1.

Place a plate on top of the cabbage to press it down under the water. I usually place a cup or an upside down bowl on top of the plate, followed by a cloth covering and then a pitcher filled with water on top of the cup or bowl. The pitcher increase the weight on the cabbge insuring it will stay submerged.

Step 5: Submerge the cabbage, part 2.

Here you can see the cloth covering and the pitcher of water. The cloth keeps out any dust, spores, or flies that might want to contaminate the sauerkraut. The pitcher adds weight to keep stuff submerged. At this point depending on the room temperature it will take anywhere from four days to four weeks for the cabbage to reach the proper level of spicy, yummy fermentation. Check it every two to three days during this time to remove any "blooms". Blooms are simply white fuzzy/spiderwebby stuffy. It is non-toxic but kind of icky looking and can impart odd flavors to the fermented veggies if not removed.

A spider-webby bloom. Just remove it, the sauerkraut will be fine.


Step 6: Eat!


Deciding when sauerkraut is "finished" is very subjective and only depends on your particular tastes. Visually it'll have a slightly translucent appearance but what really matters is the taste. If you like the way it tastes then it is finished. Pack the sauerkraut into covered glass or plastic jars and stick it in your fridge, making sure you included enough of the juice to keep the sauerkraut submerged. The batch shown being made for this article filled two quart jars.
The cold temperature of the fridge will cause bacteria growth/fermentation to slow almost to a standstill, no more lactic acid will be produced. The sauerkraut will then stay in this edible state for years.

In Mexico slices of carrots and peppers are treated this way. Kimchee is just Asian cabbages and other Asian vegetables mixed with spicy peppers and assorted seasonings and allowed to ferment into a fiery, tangy dish. Any plant can be fermented, whether it tastes good or not is up to you. I plan on making a kimchee-style dish using smartweed, dollarweed, spiderwort, chili pequins, and assorted other wild edibles. Hopefully it'll turn out fantastic...or at least edible.

Next up, a bunch of stuff mixed together.

Update on the cauliflower/daikon radish/ginger/carrot/hot pepper mix: it's fantastic!!


Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.

Common Herbal Teas

I. Introduction
II. Tea: Black, Oolong, and Green
III. Herbal Flavors
IV. Health Benefits
V. Techniques of Preparation
VI. Harvesting, Drying, and Storage
VII. Growing Herbs in Houston


I. Introduction
So, what's all this about teas and why are they so dang healthy? As usual, it's all about the chemistry. You basic “Lipton's” tea is loaded with a number of beneficial chemicals with the main class being known as "flavoniods". Most flavonoids work as antioxidants which is just a fancy way of saying they get rid of the bad, highly-reactive molecules (aka free radicals) in your body. These free radicals would normally bounce around ripping apart other necessary molecules, which is a very bad thing. Getting rid of the free radicals greatly reduces molecular damage to your cells, which is a very good thing.

If all you want to do is protect your molecules from destruction then regular tea is fine. However, why stop there? How about adding chemicals that can perk you up or make you relax, chemicals that can stimulate your immune system or settle down your stomach, chemicals that can reduces cramps or clear your sinuses of goo, maybe even extend your life? Yeah, they can do that and more. Let's learn more, shall we?


II. Tea: Black, Oolong, and Green
The most common teas (Black, Oolong, and Green) all come from the Camellia sinensis plant, originally from Asia. The difference between the three depends on how the leaves are treated after picking, mainly how much enzymatic breakdown they are allowed to undergo. This natural chemical process occurs as the leaves are dried and and once the proper level of breakdown has occur the leaves are heated to stop further breakdown.

Green tea is the least “broken” of the teas and so maintains the highest concentrations of beneficial chemicals but has the weakest flavor by most Western standards. Oolong tea is partially broken giving it a richer flavor and a slight reduction in the chemicals we seek. Black tea is allowed to break down the farthest. This results in the richest taste but a reduction of many helpful chemicals except for the antioxidants. But even Black tea been shown to reduce the clogging of arteries, inhibit cancer growth, and fight some viruses!


III. Herbal Flavors
Besides the assorted health and wellness chemicals available in herbal teas (sect. IV), they offer a whole world of tastes. Mixing and matching these flavors is one of the great joys of herbal tea.

SWEET
Anise
Licorice
Stevia leaves
Vanilla beans
Yaupon holly leaves
Blackberry/Dewberry leaves
Raspberry leaves
Apple fruit
Peach fruit Hawthorn
Strawberry leaves

FLORAL
Chamomile flowers & leaves
Elderberry flowers
Jasmine flowers
Lavender flowers
Basswood/Linden flowers
Clover (white and red)
Rose flowers
Chrysanthemum flowers

MINT
Spearmint
Peppermint 
Wintergreen 
Catnip 
Violet 
Basil 
Yerba Santa

SPICY 
Allspice
Cardamon
Cinnamon
Coriander
Fenugreek
Ginger

CITRUS*
Beebalm/Lemon balm
Lemongrass
Lemon peel
Orange peel
Lime peel Sorrel
*Warning: the peel of store-bought citrus fruit may have been treated with fungicides or other potentially toxic compounds. Wash them thoroughly before use or purchase organically grown fruits.

TART
Rose hips
Turk's cap flowers
Hibiscus flowers
Dock leaves

LICORICE
Anise
Fennel
Licorice
Star Anise
Goldenrod leaves & flowers

EARTHY/ROOTY
Dandelion root
Burdock root
Ginseng roots (flavor becomes bitter if left in water too long)
Chicory root

RESIN
Rosemary
Pine needles
Thyme
Sage
Cloves

BITTER
Chicory root
Ginseng roots (flavor becomes bitter if left in water too long)
Yarrow flowers & leaves
Willow twigs

ARBORACEOUS
Sarsaparilla roots
Birch leaves
Ginseng roots (flavor becomes bitter if left in water too long)
Sassafras roots
Burdock root
Echinacea flowers
Ephedra bark & twigs


IV. Health Benefits
Now it's time for the best part of herbal teas, the wonderful effects they can have on your body. Do you want to sleep or wake up? Are you suffering from a cold? Do you need your heart, or blood to function better? Do need to calm your stomach or your nerves? Yeah, there's a herb for that.

HERBS FOR ENERGY
Ginseng
Yaupon holly (caffeine)
Licorice
Tumeric
Chrysanthemum
Ephedra

HERBS FOR HEADACHES
Mint
Rose hips
Rosemary
Thyme
Lavender
Chrysanthemum

HERBS FOR IMPROVED HEALTH
Burdock root - blood purifier, antioxidants
Cinnamon - improves circulation, may increase longevity
Dandelion root - stimulates liver, flushes system
Lemongrass - cleanses blood, liver and kidneys; reduces blood pressure
Licorice - reduces congestion, improves focus
Stinging nettle - cleanses blood, stimulates liver & kidneys
Blackberry/Dewberry - high in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants; blood cleanser
Rose hips - vitamin C, antioxidants
Rosemary - improves liver action and blood circulation, improves memory
Persimmon - vitamin C
Sassafras - blood cleanser
Hibiscus flower - antioxidants, control blood pressure, lowers cholesterol
Red clover - antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, reduces bad cholesterol, thins blood
Ginger - reduces morning sickness, reduces arthritis pain and other chronic pain
Jasmine - antioxidants, lowers bad cholesterol, may fight cancer, boosts immune system
Ginko Biloba – improves memory
Chrysanthemum – lowers blood pressure, high in minerals
Sage – blood purifier, improves liver, kidney, and brain functions,
Thyme – reduces anemia
Fennel – reduces pain
Ginseng – improves immune system, lowers bad cholesterol, improves blood flow
Hawthorn – strengthens heart tissue & blood vessels, lowers bad cholesterol
Mint – strengthens immune system

HERBS FOR CALM
Chamomile Oatstraw
Basil Valerian root
Lemon balm St. John's Wort
Lemongrass Ginseng
Mint Sage
Jasmine Licorice

HERBS FOR STOMACH ILLS
Burdock - reduces indigestion and constipation, increases bile production
Cardamom - increases digestion, reduces gas
Chamomile - reduces indigestion
Cinnamon - reduces indigestion
Cloves – aids digestion, reduces nausea
Fennel - improves appetite, stimulates digestion, reduces gas
Ginger - reduces nausea
Lemongrass - improves digestion
Mint - improves digestion, reduces nausea
Licorice – improves digestion
Blackberry/Dewberry - helps control diarrhea
Sage - improves digestion
Ginseng – increases appetite, helps digestion, cures diarrhea
Yarrow - increases appetite, improves digestion
Red clover - reduces gas
Stevia - reduces heartburn
Anise - reduces gas and indigestion
Thyme – reduces gas
Basil – reduces diarrhea
Fennel – reduces gas, aids digestion

HERBS FOR COLDS/FLU
Burdock - reduces congestion, opens airways, reduces fever
Elderberry - improves immune system
Fennel - soothes sore throats, reduces coughing
Ginger - soothes throat, opens sinuses, reduces fever
Lemongrass - reduces fevers and other cold symptoms
Licorice - soothes sore throats, reduces coughing
Stinging nettle - reduces coughing, opens sinuses
Black berry – soothes sore throat
Sage – reduces, fever, congestion and coughing
Strawberry leaves - slows diarrhea, reduces indigestion
Thyme - reduces coughing and sore throats, strengthens immune system
Yarrow - reduces congestion and other cold symptoms
Red clover - expectorant
Ephedra - reduces congestion
Anise - expectorant, reduces congestion
Cinnamon – reduces cold symptoms

HERBS FOR WOMEN
Cinnamon - reduces menstrual cramps
Ginger - reduces menstrual cramps
Lemongrass - reduces menstrual issues
Licorice - reduces menstrual cramps
Fennel – stimulates milk flow
Motherwort - reduces PMS
Blackberry/Dewberry - general menstrual aid
Skullcap - reduces PMS mood swings
Stevia - may help prevent osteoporosis
Fenugreek – increases lactation
Red clover - reduces symptoms of menopause due to estrogen mimicking molecules, not for use by pregnant women!

HERBS FOR MEN
Ginseng - improves blood flow to Mr. Happypants
Ginko Biloba - improves blood flow to Mr. Happypants
Ginger - improves blood flow to Mr. Happypants
Hawthorn - improves blood flow to Mr. Happypants
Blackberry/Dewberry - improves blood flow to Mr. Happypants


V. Techniques of Preparation
So now let's make the tea. There are a few things to keep in mind to optimize the release of power of your herbs. Being a chemist, I'm going to pull out the big words for this section.

INFUSION
This method is used for soft plant matter such as leaves, flowers, seeds, or crushed fruits/berries. Boiling water is poured over these materials which are then steeped for 10 to 30 minutes. The water is not brought back to a boil but rather it is allowed to slowly cool or heated to below boiling. The longer the herbs are soaked in this water the more flavor, nutrients, and medicinal compounds will be released. However, be careful with some bitter herbs as a long soaking of these can render the tea unfit to drink.

DECOCTION
To decoct means to add the woody herbs to boiling water which is then kept over heat and simmered 20-60 minutes. Roots, bark, and twigs need this more vigorous extraction. As before, the longer you soak the herbs the more you'll get out of them. If making a tea with both soft and woody components first boil the roots/bark/twigs then add the leaves/flowers/fruit and remove from heat.

TINCTURE
Extraction of herbal chemicals with alcohol makes a tincture. The basic rule of thumb is 300-400 grams of herbs are used per liter of alcohol. Let this mixture soak for at least two weeks with shaking every day. Some people leave the herbs in the alcohol others filter them out. Filtering them out makes for a cleaner tincture which I find easier to use. Vodka and rum (80-100 proof) are the alcohols of choice, with rum being better at disguising flavors of harsher herbs. To use, take one teaspoon of the tincture up to three times a day, either straight or added to juice or soda.
WARNING: never use wood alcohol, rubbing alcohol, or methanol to make tinctures.



VI. Harvesting, Drying, and Storage
Okay, so know you know something about the health benefits and flavors of herbal teas, now lets learn about proper collecting and storing of your future tea. It's a pretty easy, but there are a few things you should know to make great teas.

HARVESTING
Now days it is easy to buy tea herbs off the internet or even in grocery stores. However, the fresher the better in most cases and the freshest will be the ones you grow yourself. The best time to harvest your herbs' leaves and flowers is mid-morning after any dew has evaporated but before the day's heat has a chance to really set in. Most of the flavor-producing compounds are produced by chemical reactions in the plant during the night. But these yummy compounds are easily evaporated out of the plant by the sun's heat so the later in the day you wait to pick them the less there will be of these tasty and beneficial chemicals. However if you pick the leaves/flowers while they still have a coating of dew there is a very good chance that they will mildew and turn to a mushy, useless mess during storage.

The time of day is less important for heavier parts of the plant such as roots, twigs, and bark. The proper time to collect these are based more on the calender than on a clock. Late winter/early spring is usually the right time to collect twigs, roots and bark from trees as this is when they are starting to be flooded with life again after the cold, dark winter. This new life is the vitality you want to tap. On the other hand, the roots of flowers, shrubs, and non-tree-type plants are usually better in the fall. The plant has spent all summer turning sunlight into healthy nutrients and stuffing them into the roots for storage over the winter. Come spring these nutrients were to be used to regrow the plant but now you'll be harvesting that regrowth for yourself.

DRYING and STORAGE
A basic rule of thumb is the thicker the plant matter the thicker you can pile it on top of itself during drying. Leaves are best dried while still on the stems/stalks in bundles hung up in warm, dry areas out of direct sunlight. Remember, you don't want the good chemicals to evaporate away so warm with air circulation is better than hot or direct sunlight. If you have the room, store these bundles hanging somewhere dry. A layer of cheese cloth over them will keep the dust off them.

Flowers should be removed from their stems and gently shaken to get rid of any bugs (though these bugs are a source of protein). Place them on a cookie sheets one layer deep and set them in a dry, warm place. Again, avoid hot areas or direct sunlight. Air gently passing over them with prevent mildewing, molds, or fungi from growing which are BAD for tea. Once dry, place the flowers in lidded, wide-mouth jars. Traditionally porcelain or amber-colored glass jars are preferred to reduce degradation of the herbs by light.

Heavy materials such as roots, bark and twigs should be cut into strips approximately 4" long and no wider than your little finger, then loosely pile on a cookie sheet. As before, place them in a dry, warm area with moving air to dry them without losing any goodness. Twigs and uncut roots can be bundled and hung like your did earlier with the leaves. Bark and cut roots should be stored in the same manner as flowers.


VII. Growing Herbs in Houston
The most efficient way to grow herbs is in an “herb spiral”. This is simply a six foot wide by three foot high circular ramp of soil. Your herbs are planted along this ramp with their placement determined by their required growing conditions. Plants which need full sun are placed on the south-facing side of the spiral, full shade plants go on the north side. Partial sun/shade plants can go on the east or west sides. The top portion of the spiral dries quickly while the lower levels remain moist so plants that require well-drain soil are planted higher up and moisture-loving plants go in the lower levels. Table 1. lists common herbs and their growing conditions to assist you in planning your herb spiral. Figure 1. shows the basic layout of an herb spiral.

Table 1. Common herbs
Plant___Light___Water___Height____Width
Anise....full sun....well drained....18”-24”....12”
Basil....full sun....moist....18”-24”....12”
Beebalm....partial sun....moist....24”-48”....12”
Catnip....partial sun....well drained....12”-36”....12”
Chamomile....any....dry....9”....varies
Chrysanthemum**....full sun....dry....48”....24'-48”
Coriander....sunny*....medium ....12”-36”.... 8”
Echinacea....sunny....well drained....3'-4'
Fennel....full sun....well drained....48”....24”
Fenugreek....full sun....well drained....24”  
Ginger....partial sun....moist....24”....12”
Hibiscus....full sun....moist....7'....5'
Lavender....fun sun....well drained....36”....24”
Licorice....full sun....well drained....36”....24”
Peppermint....partial shade....moist....12”-24”....12”-24”
Roses....partial sun...drained....varies
Rosemary....full sun....well drained....72”....72”
Sage....full sun....well drained....24”-36”....24”-36”
Spearmint....partial shade....moist....12”-24”....12”-24”
Stevia....full sun*....well drained    24”....8”
Strawberry....full sun....well drained....12”....bed
Violet....partial sun....moist....6”....bed
Wintergreen....partial shade....moist....12”-24”....12”-24”
Yarrow....full sun....well drained....24”-36”....10”

Figure 1.  Herb spiral

Remember, the spiral should be at or over three feet tall at the center. It is watered from the top, allowing the water to flow down around the spiral.


Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.

Collecting Tools

All one really needs to properly gather wild edible plants is sharp knife, a digging tool, and a container to hold your harvest. Personally, I prefer to use a garden shears instead of a knife when gathering leaves, shoots, tendrils, twigs, and other items that are cut off a plant. Note though that I always have a knife with me as part of the 10 Wilderness Essentials. For digging roots and tubers I use a Japanese Hori Hori Knife.

My harvest container depends on what I'm collecting. A net bags such as the type onions come in is very good for leaves/twigs/roots. Reusing a bag like this is also good for the environment. Berries and other delicate plant matter work best in shallow Tupperware-style containers. Don't use high-sided container for berries. You'll be tempted to fill the container to the top and the resulting weight will crush the berries at the bottom.

A bag with lots of pockets works great for carrying your tools, guidebooks, and harvest containers. I prefer a shoulder bag to a backpack because the shoulder bag has quicker access. You need to remove a backpack to take out/put in stuff. Shoulder bags do have an annoying tendency to swing forward into the way when you bend over, but I find clipping it to one of my rear belt loops with a cheap carabiner takes care of this problem.

Other optional gear:
1. Guidebook of edible plants (better safe than sorry)
2. Leather gloves (some plants have thorns)
3. Sunblock
4. Bug repellent
5. Long pants (better protection against bugs, sun, thorns, etc...)
6. Water (duh)
7. Small notebook
8. Ruler or small tape measure
9. Camera


Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.

Preparation Tips for Bitter Greens

Dandelions, chicory, thistles and wild lettuces are some of the most nutritional edible wild plants you can harvest but in their rawest forms they are very bitter and generally uneatable by any but the most die-hard foragers. Luckily, it is very simple to turn these plants into dishes that are not just eatable but actually delicious. It always helps to pick the leaves at the proper time (early young leaves before the flower stalk(s) have appeared) but these tricks will even help with late-harvested, extremely bitter leaves. These four different methods are as follows:
1. boiling
2. wilting with hot grease or oil
3. diluting with mild greens
4. overpowering the bitterness with salt, sour, and/or tart flavors

Boiling
Many of the bitter-tasting chemicals in these plants are soluble in hot water and so can be removed with 1-3 changes of boiling water. However this method also removes/destroys some of the nutrients so you'll need to increase the amount of greens you are cooking.

Cover the greens in excess water, boil for 10 minutes, then rinse of and taste a small bit of the plant. If it's still too bitter pour off this water and replace it with fresh water, then boil for another ten minutes. Keep doing this until the greens are edible. The resulting mass will be unattractive and lacking in the more water-soluble "good" chemicals, but the protein and other large phytochemicals will remain.

Wilting with hot grease or oil
This is my particular favorite method. Drizzling hot bacon grease or hot seasoned olive oil causes a chemical change to the bitter molecules and also leaves a protective coating on the tongue which reduces it's sensitivity to bitter flavors. Bacon/egg/sow thistle omelets are a Sunday morning treat at our house. The hot bacon grease converts the bitterness to a rich, deep flavor that I can't really describe other than to say I (and my young daughters!) find it to be fantastic. Vegans can use olive oil though for some reason I find the results to be inferior to bacon grease.

Don't completely cover the greens in the hot oil/grease, just dribble it on so most of the leaves have become a little "crinkly". I like to include a variety of bitter plants in the bowl to give a very complex mix of flavors. You will have to experiment a little to find the amount of wilting you prefer but luckily most of these plants are plentiful and it's easy to harvest plenty.

Diluting with mild greens
This is the best way for raw-foodists to incorporate dandelions and the such into their meals. It retains all the beneficial chemicals though it does require having assorted mild greens such as dayflower, young dollarweed, plantain, chickweed, amaranth, young hibiscus and turk's cap leaves, or even regular lettuce.

Finely chop or shred the bitter greens and combine them with the mild greens in a ratio of 1 part bitter-9 parts mild. This will greatly cut the bitterness to just the point of adding a unique flavor to your salad. As you grow accustom to the flavor you can increase the bitter portion, but few will go more than 3 parts bitter-7 parts mild.

Overpowering the bitterness with salt, sour, and/or tart flavors
The tongue, while amazingly sensitive to flavors, can be overwhelmed at times. Combining the bitter greens with soy sauce or a tangy red wine/vinegar dressing over-stimulates most people's taste-buds resulting in a reduced ability to taste the bitterness. This technique is another favorite of vegans and raw-foodists.

A similar effect occurs when incorporating the greens into homemade sauerkraut or kimchi. The sour fermentation of these foods will help break the bitterness though it requires more experimentation due to the unequal levels of bitter chemicals from plant to plant. In my opinion that is part of the fun of wild foods, though!


Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.

Merriwether's Immortality Elixir

A daily shot of a mixture of Reishi mushroom, Elderberry flower, Burdock root tinctures, Agarita wood, and honey keeps me healthy and knocks out anything trying to pull me down! This combines the anti-cancer, anti-viral, and anti-fungal powers of Reishi mushrooms, the immune system strengthener of elderberry, and the general adaptogen and blood/liver cleaner of burdock root. Berberine from agarita is added to maintain telomere lengths which reduces the physical aspects of aging. Honey is antimicrobial and a soothing agent.

Burdock Tinture:
1. Finely dice enough peeled, fresh burdock root to fill a quart jar 3/4 full.
2. Add enough 100 proof vodka to cover burdock root 1/2 inch deep.
3. Soak for six weeks, shaking twice daily.
4. Strain out solids, place in a tightly capped jar and store in a cool, dark place.


Elderberry Tincture:
1. Fill a 1 quart canning jar 3/4 full with fresh elderberry flowers (no stems!).
2. Add 1 tablespoon of honey, two shots of Triple Sec orange liquor and fill most of remaining space in jar with 100 proof vodka.
3. Soak for six weeks, shaking twice daily.
4. Strain out solids, place in a tightly capped jar and store in a cool, dark place.


Reishi Tincture:
1. Finely dice fresh Reishi to 3/4 fill a PINT jar.
2. Add enough 100 proof vodka to cover Reishi 1/2 inch deep.
3. Soak for six weeks, shaking twice daily.
4. Stain out the Reishi mushroom pieces and boil them for 10 minutes in water equal to the volume of vodka you used in the second step.
5. Allow water to cool, then strain out Reishi, discarding the mushroom bits.
6. Add fresh water to replace any that evaporated during boiling.
7. Combine mushroom extract water with mushroom extract vodka. Some solids will appear. You want these along with the vodka/water.
8. Place in a tightly capped jar and store in a cool, dark place.


Agarita berberine to maintain telomere lengths, preventing aging.

Final Mixture:
1. Combine 2 pints Burdock tincture, 2 pints Elderberry Tincture, and 1/2 pint Reishi Mushroom tincture.

2. Stir 3 minutes with a peeled agarita stick to add berberine.
2. Add 1.5 pints of honey (making the final blend approximately 1/3 honey), it may take a few days to dissolve into elixir.
3. Shake well before using. One shot a day is what I take but keep in mind I'm a 6'5", 240 lb, 50 year old male who works out and lives a somewhat insane life. I can't tell you what sort of dosage you should take.


Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.

Tips on Making Wild Teas

Many wild (and landscaping!) plants can be used to make flavorful and medicinal teas. However, getting the best results requires knowing a few tricks based on plant physiology. To understand the tea one must understand the plant.

Let's start with flowers. Since the source of flavors from flowers reside on the flower's surface you can use blossoms either straight off the plant or in a dried form. Most flowers will have the best flavor right at opening which usually means mornings unless they're a night-bloomer. Pick flowers before the day's sun has baked away all their flavor. If they're to be dried make sure any morning dew or rain has evaporated away and then hang the flowers someplace to dry. Don't use a dehydrator as that'll force out much of the flower's delicate flavors...though your kitchen will probably smell great. To make flower tea, bring water to a boil, let it cool five minutes, pour it over the flowers, then let steep at least 5 minutes in a covered pot or mug (again to keep the flavors trapped in the tea).

Next up, leaves. Making tea from leaves requires aging the leaves first for best results. Remember, plant cells are enclosed in a rigid cell wall which among its duties is to prevent stuff inside the plant cell from getting out just as much as stopping stuff from outside the cell getting in. If you steep fresh leaves most of the flavors and medicinal components will remain trapped inside the leaves' cells rather than entering your tea. However, when a plant get's harvested or otherwise killed a set of enzymes inside the cell are activated and begin chewing holes in the cell wall. This is part of the mechanism used by plants to return their nutrients back to the soil when they die. After about two weeks the cell wall will have assorted holes so now when the leaves are soaked all their wonderful goodness will flow into the tea. To make tea from leaves, bring water to a boil then pour it over the dried and somewhat crumbled leaves, then let steep 3-10 minutes in a covered pot or mug. Strain out the leaves before drinking.

If you do want what's inside the leaves without the time needed to wait you must chop and grind the leaves up. This ruptures the cell walls, releasing the cellular compounds. The vitamin C found in pine needles or cleavers falls into this category. When one is suffering from scurvy one can't wait two weeks for the necessary vitamin C!

Fruit teas such as rose hip or Turk's cap fruit are similar to leaf teas in that dried fruits will give a better flavor than fresh fruits. Also, since the fruits are tougher than leaves go ahead and actually boil the fruits in the water for about five minutes then let everything cool down to a drinkable temperature. I eat the fruit afterwards but be sure to remove any rose seeds from the rose hips before drying as the fine hairs on rose seeds can cause irritation at the end of their journey through your digestive system.

Root and bark are usually the toughest parts of plants so they require vigorous boiling rather than just steeping in hot water. Boil roots/bark at least 10 minutes then remove from heat and let the tea steep and cool at least another 10 minutes before straining out the plant matter. As mentioned earlier, it's best if the plant has time to "age" a few weeks so that enzymes can break down the cell walls. If you need it right away you'll have to crush/grind the roots or bark.

Flowers for Tea:
Basswood, Barbados Cherry, Blackberry, Bottlebrush, Sweet Clover, Red Clover, White Clover, Dandelion, Dewberry, Elderberry, Goldenrod, Heal's All, Henbit, Horsemint/Lemon Beebalm, Mallow, Mullein, Parsley Hawthorn, Passionvine, Pineapple Weed, Rose, Milk Thistle, Turk's Cap, Violet, Wild Bergamot, Yarrow

Leaves for Tea:
Balloon Vine, Blackberry, Bottlebrush, Burdock, Carolina Bristle Mallow, Cleavers, Dandelion, Dewberry, Ginkgo, Goldenrod, Heal's All, Henbit, Yaupon Holly, American Holly, Horsemint/Lemon Beebalm, Lizard's Tail, Pine Needles, Loquat, Lyreleaf Sage, Mullein, Parsley Hawthorn, Passionvine, Pimpernel, Pineapple Weed, Sassafras, Stinging Nettle, Bull Thistle, Milk Thistle, Violet, Yarrow


Roots, Barks, Fruit, and Mushrooms for Tea:
Blackberry, Buffalo Gourd, Burdock, Chicory, Dandelion, Dewberry, Honey Locust seedpods, Horsetails, Indian Strawberry, Lizard's Tail, Mallow Seeds, Mayhaw, Reishi Mushroom, Turkey Tail Mushroom, Parsley Hawthorn Fruit, Rose Hips, Sassafras, Slippery Elm, Sumac Berries, Bull Thistle, Milk Thistle, Turk's Cap Fruit, Willow


Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.

Making Maple Syrup & Sugar

Maple sugar/syrup is easy to make and is a wonderful source of stable, storable calories. You can collect the sap from any maple tree (not just sugar maples) in any part of the world if you know what you are doing.

First, a little plant biochemistry. The sugar in maple sap is used by the tree as building blocks for making new leaves. This means the sugary sap starts flowing in late winter when the tree starts making the leaf buds. Up north, the tree "wakes up" and begins pumping sap up to its branches when nights are still below freezing but daytime highs are in the mid-40s. This is when you need to tap your tree. In southern climates knowing when the sap flows is trickier. I suggest you drill a 1/4" hole into your tree at a slight upwards angle 3" into the tree on New Year's Day and then watch for sap to begin leaking out. Drill this hole on the south (warmest) side of the tree about 3 feet off the ground, just as you would place a tap (aka "spile"). I wouldn't put a tube or anything in it other than maybe a cotton ball that had been treated with the bleach solution. Just keep an eye on the hole and see if it starts weeping.

Traditional maple tree taps are called spiles and can be ordered on-line from various sources. You can also make your own spiles from PVC tubing, Tygon tubing, plastic pen bodies, hollowed-out pieces of elderberry, bamboo, etc. Just make sure the hole you drill will hold the spile tightly. If the hole is too big you can pack the opening with softened wax. The spile should be cut at an angle with the longer part of the spile up against the top of the hole. Sap flows into the hole from the bottom (duh), so you don't want to plug the bottom of the hole. Sterilized soda bottles make great collectors as the small top keeps crap out of the sap. Traditional sap buckets have hinged cover to do the same thing (crap protection).

You need a maple tree at least 12" in diameter to tap. Drill the tap hole(s) on the south-facing side of the tree about three feet off the ground. If the tree is more than 20 inches in diameter you can add a second spile, and if it's greater than 27 inches you can have three spiles. The tap holes are drilled 3 inches deep at a slight upward angle. Spiles will be either 5/16 inches or 7/16 inches in diameter, so use the corresponding drill bit. Pound the spile into the hole and hang your bucket from the little notch on the spile.

IMPORTANT: Wash all your drill bits and spiles with a bleach solution before they enter the tree to avoid infecting the tree with fungus or bacteria! Use a 1:10 bleach to water solution (example: 1 teaspoon bleach in 9 teaspoons of water). Let any plug-dowel soak in freshly-made bleach solution for about 15 minutes before inserting it into the hole. Soak-time for spiles and drill bits ranges from 2-3 minutes for metal or plastic objects up to 15 minutes for porous materials. Some people spray this solution on the tree just before tapping but I have a bit more faith in the strength of trees than that.

Sap will run 4-6 weeks, but the sweetest, most sugar-filled sap will be at the beginning. Check your buckets and collect the sap every day at first as the sap will really be flowing and this will keep non-sap stuff out of the buckets. By the fifth week all the sugar that had been stored in the roots has been transferred up into the new leaf buds. Remove the spile, disinfect the tap hole, then place a bleach-treated wooden dowel in the hole.

It takes about 10 gallons of sap to make one quart of syrup, or a 40-to-1 sap/syrup ratio. Boiling it down releases a LOT of water vapor so it is best done outside. Side story: one year my dad decided to boil off the water using the stove inside the house. Mom was out of town that day. Dad boiled off approximately 50 gallons of sap which caused all the wallpaper in our house to peel. When mom got home she was pretty upset.

It's best to evaporate most of the water over a wood fire outside using a big pot. Pure water boils at 212F, finished syrup boils at 219F. Keep track of the temperature with a large candy thermometer. Once you've driven off enough water outside over the fire to raise the boiling temperature to 216F you can take it inside and finish it off over the more controlled heat of your stove. Transfer the fluid to a smaller pot, filtering it through some cheese cloth if there are solids present. Once it reaches 219F transfer the hot syrup to clean (sterilized by boiling) jars.

This syrup will stay good as-is for about two months and if frozen for up to a year. For longer-term storage it is best to reduce it down to maple sugar. To do this carefully keep boiling the syrup to drive away the rest of the water. You want the temperature of the boiling sugar to be between 290F and 300F. It will want to foam over and if it does remove the pan from the heat until the sugar/syrup settles down, then return it to the heat. Traditionally, the boiling sugar (290-300F) is transferred to a wooden bowl and stirred with a wood spoon to remove the last bit of moisture. It will harden into a solid mass as it cools. This mass is broken off the spoon and out of the bowl and stored in an airtight container. When sugar is needed use a heavy-duty cheese grater to grate off what you need.


Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.

Making Self-Watering Earth Buckets

A bold person can get an almost infinite supply of free 5-gallon buckets. Restaurants, bakeries, and fast food joints are particularly good places to ask for these. At worst they'll say no, at best you'll be needing a truck to get them all home. So what does Merriwether do with free buckets? He turns them into uber-productive (hopefully) container garden thingies aka Global Buckets.


Just finished these two hours ago. Meanwhile the rest of the world seems to be wrapped in blizzards. I love Houston!!

Global buckets are based on the self-watering Earth Boxes, but are made from easy to find scrap materials. I did have to buy some 1.5" diameter PVC pipe and the soil mixture for inside the buckets, but everything else was just laying around.


1. inner bucket
2. outer bucket
3. fill tube made from 1.5" PVC tubing
4. cotton cloth to wick water from reservoir to soil
5. soil (mix of peat moss, topsoil, and vermiculite)
6. gap between two buckets which acts as the water reservoir



This is the bottom of the inner bucket.
A hole approximately 1.5"-2" in diameter is cut in the center of the bottom, this is for the cotton wick. A second hole 1.73" in diameter is cut near the edge of the bottom, this is for the fill tube. A bunch of small holes (about 5/16" in diameter) are drilled randomly around the bottom of this buck to improve drainage and allow air to get to the plant roots. Sidenote: do you really think I drilled a 1.73" hole? I just cut until the tube fit.


The bottom of the fill tube has a large notch cut in it to simplify the system.
A precise person could measure (twice) and cut (once) fill tubes to the exact length needed for perfection. Luckily, plants don't need a perfect system in which to grow, so just hack a chunk out of the bottom of the fill tube, stick it through the inner bucket, and whack it off somewhere around the top rim of the inner bucket.


An overflow hole is drilled in the outer bucket.
To keep from flooding the buckets a drain hole is drilled in the outer bucket just below the bottom of the inner bucket. Hopefully you can see how I precisely measured the location for this hole.


Completed buckets before adding soil.
Now you can see all the drain holes, the fill tube and the cotton wick. The wick was made from this really hideous dust ruffle thing that I've always hated. Hopefully this hatred won't affect the plants.


Getting ready to fill the buckets.
Being lazy, I didn't feel like holding up the wick while adding the soil so I tied it to a stick. This picture is slightly misleading as the wick does end 2"-4" below the top of the soil once the bucket is filled.


Making soil.
My soil recipe is based on Square Foot Gardening and is composed of roughly 1/3 cheap topsoil, 1/3 peat moss and 1/3 vermiculite (the stuff in the wheel barrow) mixed together thoroughly. The peat moss helps hold water, the vermiculite keeps the soil loose and aerated, the topsoil gives the plant roots a place to grow. Depending on what I grow, some fertilizer may be added to the particular bucket.


And here we are back at the beginning.
It took me about four hours total to make these eight buckets and they have all been planted with different wild edibles except for the one on the end which has chard I picked up on clearance.

This is a great way to set up a container garden in a small area, especially in hot, dry locations. Another benefit of these Global Buckets is that you can move them around to optimize their access to sun or to protect them from freezing.

Once the plants are growing I'll add either a thick layer of mulch or some secondary plant like nasturtiums to shade the soil which reduces evaporative water loss. Water is added to the system through the fill tube until water flows out the overflow hole. The plants will eventually grow their roots through the holes in the bottom of the bucket directly into the water reservoir. Until then the wick keeps the soil at the perfect level of moistness.

Update January 8th, 2011: to help protect the new plants from cold weather I picked up several 12" diameter cake covers from a local "dollar store". These covers fit over the buckets perfectly, turning them into mini-greenhouses. Originally I wanted to find some sort of clear bowl, but the shape of these cake covers works better as the fill tubes don't get in the way of the covers.


Water has condensed on the inside of the covers, making them translucent rather than transparent.


Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.

Make a Worm Composter

Here be worms.


Give me a Dremel tool and I'll change the world...or at least improve my backyard. Today's project is a vermiculture worm bin. I've been wanting to raise worms for a while, mainly for fishing but also for the great soil they produce from kitchen fruit/veggie scrapes.

So, worm bins. They are easy to make out of two identical, opaque plastic bins, shredded newspaper, and something that will make holes in two different sizes (1/4" and 1/16" diameter). The ideal bins would only be about a foot deep but as wide as possible to maximize the surface area. Right now Walmart, Target, Home Depot and other stores all have their "Christmas storage bins" on clearance dirt cheap (ha ha ha) so it's a great time to tackle (ha ha ha...fishing joke...worms...get it) this project. You want opaque bins as worms hate light and won't act naturally or even die if exposed to too much light.


1. inner bin
2. outer bin
3. loosely wadded up strips of damp newspaper
4. fruit/veggie waste
5. red wiggler worms
6. worm casings (aka worm poop) both in inner and outer bin
7. bricks or other thing to lift up inner bin

The key to a healthy worm bin is ventilation, hence lots of air holes are drilled in both bins. The holes in the wall of the outer bin should be 1/4" in diameter but only 1/16" in the walls and lid of the inner bin. If you use holes larger than 1/16" on the inner bin the worms will crawl out which leads to dried out worm carcasses all over. Yucky. Also drill about twenty or thirty 1/4" holes in the BOTTOM of the inner bed to allow the processed worm casings to fall into the outer bin. Occasionally you'll have a worm drop into the outer bin, too. Oh well.


Outer bin with brick risers in place. The risers raise the inner bin away from the outer bin to increase air flow to the inner bin.

There are several ways to get red wigglers, I bought mine from a bait shop. If you do this make sure you don't buy the big nightcrawlers used for bass fishing as they won't eat you kitchen waste. You'll want the smaller worms used for trout and panfish. If you don't want to buy the worms you can gather your own from the wild. Look in/under compost or manure piles or just lay some wet cardboard down on the grass for a day or too. When you lift it there will likely be a number of red wigglers under it. Even Amazon.com has jumped on the worm-wagon.


Place the worms and the media they came in in the bottom of the inner bin. If you caught them yourself then put a 1" layer of damp earth in the bottom of the bin. This soil shouldn't be dripping wet nor dusty dry. Aim for somewhat clumpy.


Worms, now home. Note all the ventilation holes.


Worm food: potato peels, lettuce, and a few other scraps.

One pound of worms will eat 1/2 pound of kitchen waste every day. Some people add their scraps every day, others collect about 3-days worth of kitchen waste before added it to the bins to minimize annoying/disturbing the worms. Do whatever you significant other tells you to do. It's just easier that way. Once you have a large, hungry horde of worms you can expand you scraps to include meat and other non-plant matter.


Newspaper layer. Yes, worms are excellent climbers.

Cover everything with 2"-3" of shredded newspaper. Cut the newspaper into 1" strips, soak them in water, squeeze them out to "damp sponge" wetness, loosely wad them up and toss them in the bin. Don't use glossy advertisements as they don't dampen well and the inks may be somewhat toxic.

That's about it. Store the bins in a dark area where they will neither freeze nor overheat. They can handle temperatures close to 30F and as high as 100F but will stop breeding at these temperatures. Under ideal conditions your worm population will double every 90 days. Note that like with every other creature, worms don't like living in their own excrement. You'll have to empty the inner bin about every 4 months to keep your worms healthy. Worm casings are loaded with beneficial microbes and nutrients vital to plants, often having five times as much nitrogen, seven times as much phosphorus, and eleven times as much potassium as ordinary dirt, making it a wonderful natural fertilizer.

Worm bins should have a nice, earthy smell to them. If an unpleasant odor is noticed you've probably been overfeeding the worms. Don't add any scraps for several days until the current material has been consumed. Also check that your system isn't too wet. If it is more than just damp add some more shredded newspaper to absorb excess moisture. My problem in Houston is the system drying out so I keep a spray bottle of water next to the bin to dampen the newspaper as needed.


Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.

Fermenting Texas

"I drink and I know things."
-Tyrion Lannister


The use of wild plants to produce alcohol or add flavors to alcoholic beverages goes back into prehistoric times. These are the books I recommend to help you tap your inner cave bartender!

#1 is definitely Pascal Baudar's The Wildcrafting Brewer. This is pretty much the bible of all things wild and fermented, from where to get your wild yeasts, what plants to combine with these yeasts to create alcohol, and how to blend the flavors to make fermented beers, wines, meads, and whattzits that will make people rave.


#2 is the amazing mixologist Ellen Zachos with her book The Wildcrafted Cocktail. If you want to know how to make delicious cocktails by mixing your foraged finds with traditional hard liquors and spirits, this is the book you want.


#3 is Emily Han's Wild Drinks and Cocktails, the book that started me off into the fascinating world of foraged drinks. This book covers the switchels, shrubs, and squashes which were the "cocktails" of the prohibition era. These types of drinks are being rediscovered by top-level bartenders due to their fascinating history and fantastic flavors!


#4 is Stan Hieronymus's Brewing Local. I was actually one of the technical consultants on this book which covers the history of beer in North America. The early Germany settlers made beer out of damn near EVERYTHING the grew and this book tells you how you can, too!


#5 is John Peragine's wonderful 101 Recipes for Making Wild Wines at Home. As much as I love beer, wine is much simpler to make and so it fits my busy life.


#6 is Ken Schramm's The Complete Meadmaker (not shown in picture, lent it to friend). I have a real sweet tooth and access to honey which is good because mead is my favorite fermented drink thanks to Viking ancestors.


#7 is Will Budiaman's Handcrafted Bitters. Bitters are the magic ingredient that turn a mix of alcohol and fruit juice into cocktails. There's a whole world beyond Angostura Aromatic Bitters!


#8 is Amy Steweart's The Drunken Botanist which covers all the history of the plants used to make those alcoholic drinks y'all love so much. It's a hysterical and somewhat scary book when you realize where the fine line between tasty and poisonous lays!



Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.

Identifying Unknown Plants/Mushrooms

Proper identification of plants is the hardest skill beginner foragers need to develop. Luckily there are all sorts of resources available to help you figure out what plant you've found. Below are websites, apps, and books that I've found particularly useful over the years when trying to figure out a new plant. Mushroom identification help is at the bottom of the page.

You can actually post pictures of your plant on the Facebook pages but it helps if you've done some preliminary research on what it might be. Asking "Is this a...?" will get you a water response than "What is this?". Multiple, CLEAR, pictures of leaves, flowers, fruit, etc along with information about the location and environment in which it was found helps tremendously.

Facebook
www.facebook.com/ForagingTexas/
www.facebook.com/groups/texasflora/

Weeds Websites
Weed Alert
Weed ID
Preen Weed ID
Weeds Apps
Apple ID Weeds
Google ID Weeds
Different Weed ID App
Monsanto Weed ID
Weeds Books
Weeds (A Golden Guide from St. Martin's Press)
Brush and Weeds of Texas Rangelands


Vines Websites
Vines of Central Texas (pdf file)
Vines Books
Trees, Shrubs, and Vines of the Texas Hill Country (Jan Wrede)


Wildflower Websites
Texas Wildflower Pictures
UT Wildflowers Guide
Aggie Hort Wildflowers Guide
MyWildflowers.com
Wildflowers.org
Wildflower Apps
East Texas Wildflowers (also available as Apple app)
West Texas Wildflowers (also available as Apple app)
Wildflower Books
Wildflowers of Texas (Geyata Ajilvsgi)


Trees Websites
Texas Trees Identification
Arbor Day Foundation Tree Identification
Tree Apps
LeafSnap
Tree App
Tree Books
Trees, Shrubs, and Vines of the Texas Hill Country (Jan Wrede)
Trees of East Texas (Robert Vines)


Freshwater Plant Websites
A&M Aquaplant
Freshwater Plant Books
Weeds (A Golden Guide from St. Martin's Press)


Coastal Plant Websites
Gulf Coast Plants
Coastal Plant Books
Marine Plants of the Texas Coast (Roy Lehman)


West Texas Plant Websites
Trans-Pecos Plants

Mushrooms Websites
Mushroom Expert
Texas Mushroom ID Facebook
Mushroom Apps
Roger's Mushrooms
Mushroom Books
100 Edible Mushrooms (Michael Kuo)
Texas Mushrooms
North American Mushrooms



Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.