Veg

[DeVaultSetter]

We touched on taro back here, and the weediness of elephants ears was mentioned over in Random, did you ever try harvesting the rhizomes for the kitchen pot? There do exist various cultivars and subvarietal forms of taro var. esculenta (too cold here for those), whereas the invasive forms mostly come from var. antiquorum. Looks like you have the latter though. 🙂

We’ve already mentioned other beauties as Californian geraniums, Mexican petunias and Century plant (American aloe), another favourite from South America is Spanish needle (Bideris Pilosa) which has a tendency to strike root in areas lacking or bereft of ground cover in liberal quantities mind you. Venturing out in a field of these in seed usually ends up in picking off thousands of seeds from fabric garments.

And, after years of plucking these myriad friends from nearly as many white cotton socks, worn out is what we are. Like this venerable sunflower:

[Spastic Hamburger]

I’m a bit nervous to do that as they contain a neurotoxin and require special processing. Don’t really feel comfortable with that risk involved.

We have century plants all over around here. They’re very popular with business for roadside decoration. We have some whose central stalks have gotten so tall they reach the utility poles!

Yeah, Spanish needle is plentiful around here. I’m always picking the spines off my clothes. Can be a real hassle, especially as the washing machine can’t get them off 😛

Tired sunflower! When they start to go past their prime, we harvest them and save the seeds. We’ll then eat the rest of the bloom. Pretty good in salads 🙂

[DeVaultSetter]

Ah, sounds more like belladonna, many forms of colocasia (including antiquorum), alocasia and even unrelated Xanthosoma are staple in many parts of the world, all requiring boiling/steaming to remove the effects of the crystallized calcium oxalate. Neurotoxins are nuked at 80°C. 🙂
The sunflower is still alive, very bowed over now, the petals are long gone since, and the leaves are beginning to pale. Youth fleeting, age defeating. Would you recommend harvesting the flowerhead for the pot?

• This reply was modified 8 months ago by DeVaultSetter.

[Spastic Hamburger]

Yep, probably a good time to eat it. Don’t want it to get sadder! 🙂

[Spastic Hamburger]

We also have quite a few wild onions in the swamps around here. I need to get better at identifying them so that I can harvest them. They taste a lot better than store bought onions!

[DeVaultSetter]

They’re probably validum, wonderful looking plants, over here we call that kind of thing bush tucker. Growing down the gully here is stinging nettle, from which the dried leaves are added to tea for health boost. Have some of it growing in pots, too.
Old age isn’t all that bad is it? Things go grey, black and hairless and perhaps somewhat less delicious, that’s all. The flowerhead had weathered too much, so just after taking the snap the goat got in and snaffled up everything.

[Spastic Hamburger]

Yeah, we have nettles too but not sure which variety. They mostly grow in sandy scrublands here. Often see them near prickly pears (a form of cactus), which are quite tasty. Haven’t seen them in a while, though, but I haven’t been to many sandy woodlands in a while.

I really need to get a book on wild edibles one day. The bookstore up the street sells them but I just haven’t gotten around to it

Things do get better with age, I know I do. 😀

Pickles, soup, stews, the list goes on!

Yep, gotta watch the goats! My aunt has one at one point. Spoiler alert: it wouldn’t stop butting people (not worth using our spoiler tags for that 😛 )

[Spastic Hamburger]

I’ve developed bad erosion around the driveway so I’m looking at putting in some ground cover to shore things up. Something from this list is probably the way to go. In particular, Mimosa strigillosa looks like a good option. 🙂

[DeVaultSetter]

Did you find one? Tussocks are reliable for such a job, they also lack what we might call “aesthetic” qualities desirable for our verges. The Californian hair grass might be an exception. 🙂
Haven’t been able to secure another Red Rubin over here since posting this update back when, have any cropped up your way recently?

[Spastic Hamburger]

Sadly, we don’t have any native plant nurseries near me so I’m probably just going to go to a nursery and pick something out.

Got plenty of that in fields around here. It’s pretty prolific! Have to be careful, though. The bugs love it!

I may have seen it somewhere recently. Not sure where but I’ll keep an eye out. I know we’ve got plenty of sweet basil, of course. Mom’s got a couple of those. I think I may have seen it at the hardware store a few months back? Can’t say for certain but I’ll be going there in a few days and will keep a look out!

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