Wild Plant Stock Photos - Wild Food School Digital images used in the course of WFS activities over the lastfew years are now being made available online. Past emphasis has been on illustration for plant identification purposes rather than pictorial 'art'. However, more 'creative' images will be added when time permits. As the image bank expands thumbnails will be split into individual species/subject pages; currently there are just a few pages on display. Species are categorised by their common names at the moment. Shot for a variety of illustrative uses the most recent images are standardized at 50Mb TIF files from RAW; some earlier 17Mb items are also from RAW files. IMPORTANT NOTE: This image bank pictures poisonous, inedible and edible wild plants without distinction.
Bullock's Permaculture Homestead Start a Permaculture Nursery A How-To for Starting a Permaculture Nursery and Why You Should by Douglas Bullock My brothers and I grew up in a small California town with abundant open space, some large lots and horse pastures. Down the road from our place lived a man we called Crazy John who had a modest house on a big lot packed with unusual trees he had collected from around the world - almost a jungle. Sometimes John would give us kids a big sack of seeds to plant. Most people thought John was a bit "touched" because he often carried on about international conspiracy theories and the like. If you want to make a positive impact on the world as John did, I encourage you to start a home nursery. Save money and get the right plants One major benefit of starting a small nursery is that you will develop the skills to propagate the huge number of plants required to flesh out the skeletal/framework plantings that so many permaculture sites start with. How do I start? Where to put it? Grafting 1.
Identify That Plant: Master The Skill Of Plant Identification Poisonous Plants 2 Plants basically poison on contact, ingestion, or by absorption or inhalation. They cause painful skin irritations upon contact, they cause internal poisoning when eaten, and they poison through skin absorption or inhalation in respiratory system. Many edible plants have deadly relatives and look-alikes. Preparation for military missions includes learning to identify those harmful plants in the target area. Description: The castor bean is a semiwoody plant with large, alternate, starlike leaves that grows as a tree in tropical regions and as an annual in temperate regions. Habitat and Distribution: This plant is found in all tropical regions and has been introduced to temperate regions. Description: This tree has a spreading crown and grows up to 14 meters tall. Habitat and Distribution: Chinaberry is native to the Himalayas and eastern Asia but is now planted as an ornamental tree throughout the tropical and subtropical regions. Habitat and Distribution: India, east to Southeast Asia.
What Permaculture Isn’t—And Is Permaculture is notoriously hard to define. A recent survey shows that people simultaneously believe it is a design approach, a philosophy, a movement, and a set of practices. This broad and contradiction-laden brush doesn’t just make permaculture hard to describe. It can be off-putting, too. Let’s say you first encounter permaculture as a potent method of food production and are just starting to grasp that it is more than that, when someone tells you that it also includes goddess spirituality, and anti-GMO activism, and barefoot living. What would you make of that? Humans are a problem-solving species. Thomas Kuhn, in his masterwork, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, uses the word “paradigm” to mean the viewpoint that defines the problems to be solved in a particular field. “Paradigm” has been trivialized through overuse and I’m sure that Kuhn is spinning in his grave. So, why, then, is permaculture so confusing to define? The Permaculture Flower, modified from Holmgren.
Wild Medicinal Plants Archives | ETMarciniec.com Attention Wild Food Aficionados: Fall foraging forges forward, and by that alliteration I mean to say that foraging for wild food “has not yet ended” this fall, so don’t put away your scissors or your plastic knives or your bare hands just yet! Just yesterday I came across some fabulous fall dandelion greens in the Colorado high country despite its notoriously short growing season. They were growing amidst the deep, down-trodden grass at the base of willows lining an old mining road, and some were nearly as long as an arm! Up here, anywhere the miners and their mules once trod is a good place to look for dandelions. Continue reading Heads up, blog readers, especially those of you interested in wild edible plants–I have an exciting announcement to make! New Wild Food Girl site: Etmarciniec.com is now the proud parent of a new baby bloglet dedicated solely to the topic of wild edible and medicinal plants as well as other wild food. What happens to the old content? -Erica Continue reading ).
Top 10 Most Dangerous Plants In the World 1. Most likely to eat a rat Giant Pitcher Plant: Nepenthes attenboroughii Discovered more than 5000 feet above sea level on Mount Victoria in the Philippines, the giant, carnivorous pitcher plant secretes a nectar-like substance to lure unsuspecting prey into a pool of enzymes and acid. A series of sticky, downward ribs makes it nearly impossible for trapped prey to escape. The plant's 30-centimeter diameter is large enough to trap unlucky rodents, but insects are its most common meal. 2. Castor Bean Plant: Ricinus communis Castor-bean plants can be purchased at just about any garden center, despite containing the deadly poison ricin. 3. Western Water Hemlock: Cicuta douglasii Deemed the most "violently toxic plant that grows in North America" by the USDA, the water hemlock contains the toxin cicutoxin, which wreaks havoc on the central nervous system, causing grand mal seizures--which include loss of consciousness and violent muscle contractions--and eventually death, if ingested. 4. 5.
33 Tips: Lawn To Permaculture Food Forest: Booklet Waking Times Does the idea of getting fresh, nutritious food right out in front of you kitchen door sound like a good idea in these turbulent times? A growing movement to reclaim, restore, and re-localize our relationship to food is happening all around us, and you can participate by re-thinking what you do with the under-utilized space outside of your home. The manicured, grassed, perennially green American lawn is a symbol of a passing era when people had little understanding of how the developing industrialized food system could do them harm by overuse of pesticides, anti-biotics and herbicides, by depletion the soil, and by genetic modification of food crops. Permaculture design science teaches us to provide for all of our nutritional needs in a way that is beneficial to the environment and re-energizing to communities. Click here to download - 33 Practical, Down-Home, Head-Ache Saving Tips to get started with Permaculture. This article is offered under Creative Commons license.
Free Wild Plant Identification eCourse You are out in the forest and looking at the glorious plant life surrounding you. Whether you are a beginner and have never identified one plant, or a Botany professor at a university, you might appreciate this refreshingly simple approach to plant identification. I remember lovingly (and sometimes screamingly) that my college classes in Systematic Botany required me to become acquainted with that local Washington Flora that we plant dorks call “Hitchcock and Cronquist”. I always felt a contradiction of rapt fascination and obsession, alternated with profound burnout, when trying to navigate this enormous dichotomous key! In addition, my observation skills as an ethnobotanist were refined , foraging for wild foods, fibers and medicine. After many years of this love affair with plants, I learned a new way to proceed in my plant identification journey that added a much-needed holistic element. What will I need? Meet a Plant Approach the plant of your choice and find a place to start.
Non-Edible Poisonous Flowers Chart Non-edible Poisonous Flowers This chart is a list of the most commonly-known poisonous plants and flowers to avoid while selecting edible flowers. It is not complete, so just because you do not see it listed here, do not assume it is safe to eat. • Edible Flowers Chart • Edible Flowers Information and Recipes • Herb Information • Spice Information • A to Z Recipes and Food Disclaimer: This is a list of the most common poisonous plants and flowers but it is by no means complete. A to Z Recipes and Food | Articles by topic Forest Farming vs. Forest Gardening: What’s the Difference? | Farming the Woods Steve Gabriel In our pursuit of discovering forest farmers for the writing of our book, we’ve received a lot of responses from folks around developing forest gardens. This post describes the difference between the two practices. We are absolutely supportive and encouraging of forest gardens and see the two practices as companions. The topic of forest gardening has been well articulated in Dave Jacke and Eric Toensmeier’s 2005 book, Edible Forest Gardens Vol 1 & 2. Definitions With many agricultural and horticultural practices out in the world, there are many lines that one can draw in the sand; some useful and some less so. Forest Gardening: mimicking the structure and function of forests in the way we garden, or using the forest as a model for the way we garden. Dave Jacke and others advocate that in Forest Gardening we want to mimic mid-succession forests and woodlands with a 40 – 50% canopy cover. As Dave Jacke says, this is This is gardening/farming IN the forest. Further Distinctions
How To Sharpen Tools: The Family Handyman Sharpening your tools Years ago, I drove by a storefront with a hand-painted plywood sign. It read “Tool Sharpening.” Curious, I gathered a boxful of dull old handsaws and circular saw blades in my garage and carried them up to the store with the hope of getting them sharpened. Inside I saw a lean old fellow with wisps of gray hair curling from the backside of an old hunting cap. He was hunched over his vise illuminated by a single 150-watt bulb hanging from the 12-ft. ceiling. A week later when I walked into the store, he asked me what my name was and started rummaging through a pile of bags and boxes. The next day I gathered my garden tools and brought them down to the same shop. A moment passed, then he looked me in the eye and said, “Why don’t you do it yourself?” That afternoon changed forever how I look at tools. Do It All with Three Simple Tools A Grinding Wheel, a Mill File and a Sharpening Stone You can sharpen most garden tools with a simple 10-in. mill bastard file (Photo 5).
Poisonous Plants Basics Plants are amazing creatures that produce many great benefits for human consumption. We get most of our medicines from plants, our foods and even our beauty products. Still, there are poisonous plants among the wild edible plants that people need to be aware of when it comes to consuming them. To be responsible foragers we should have a few basic pieces of knowledge in our pockets to stay safe. So what are poisonous plants anyways? If you remember one simple fact, it will help you realize why plants produce certain compound to deter predators – PLANTS CANT RUN! If you were to accidentally chomp on a Skunk Cabbage you would become very familiar with oxalate crystals that are like needles that stab you all the way down! Besides defending themselves, plants also make poisonous or toxic substances as byproducts from their usual metabolic processes. Ok, so you are out with your friends harvesting Cattail and you are a new forager. Stay Calm and Act Fast. Know your plants and plant families!