Part of the fun of buying a new farm or homestead is getting to know the plants around you. We have a ton of red buds, wild cherry trees, rose of sharons and crepe myrtles that the previous owners lovingly planted around the house. However, today I went walking back in the field.
It hasn't been cut in months, between buying the house and buying a tractor, it's been left to grow wild - and I'm so glad that it has. We've got a combination of good and bad in that field. A part of it is covered in milkweed, which brings in the Monarchs. We've got tons of medicinal plants, too - clover, goldenrod, and thistle, for example.
But we also have lespedeza (a horrible invasive that nothing but goats will eat) and dog bane (which is poisonous to all animals). I guess you have to take the good with the bad, huh?
I wanted to share some of the pictures I took this afternoon while wild foraging. I did harvest some goldenrod and thistle to make tinctures, and will harvest clover, red raspberry and rose hips later.
Enjoy!
(I've identified the plants below by Google :) So if I've got any of them wrong, please leave me a comment and let me know!)
Goldenrod
Red Clover
Thistle
Thistle Close Up
Dogbane