The purpose of this lab is to have some fun thinking about how plants have been useful for food, etc. throughout human history. Please note...do not eat anything ever unless you are 101% certain you know what it is - mistakes can be costly to the point of death! Listen to your instructor to be guided about proper plants that can be eaten.
Quite simply you will be taken on a guided walk around Merry Lea to discuss foraging and ethnobotany. Many plants may be eaten - even if they are just growing wild. Also, there is a long history between the indigenous people of this land and the plants that grow here. You will learn some of their stories and taste some wild plants (some introduced and some native) for yourself.
Know pertinent ethnobotanical stories from the land here at Merry Lea
Be able to reliably identify edible wild plants that can be foraged as well as their uses.
Following are a number of videos to get you excited about foraging wild plants. You are not required to watch them but I put them here as they are pertinent to Merry Lea and what has been covered in our Botany course. There are MANY more videos online that can direct you regarding specific plants in different regions...feel free to use whatever you like as a resource!
The following 4 videos all have to do with the very common plant - cattails (Typha sp.). I came to love this plant under the tutelage of Dani Tippman - a local member of the Miami tribe (the native inhabitants of the land Merry Lea now occupies). She brought be to respect this plant for its many uses - medicine, bedding, insulation, diapers, food, a building material for homes, etc. Before our region was drained cattail marshes were scattered everywhere across the landscape. That meant that wherever you were, you had this plentiful and versatile resource easy at hand. Note - the flesh of cattails takes up pollutants in the water it is growing in. If you want to eat them make sure the water is clean that they are growing in (no heavy metals, pesticides, etc.).
Cattail 1
Cattail 2
Cattail 3
Cattail 4
Eating Cambium!
Yard Salad!
Purslane...it grows everywhere!
Common Mullein - good for more than toilet paper!