Entering the woods this morning, I felt called to share the generous number of medicinal and edible plants I pass just on the short walk to my sit spot.
Sweet fern. Makes good tea. Does NOT take the sting out of insect bites, as I originally wrote last night (teach me to write when I'm exhausted!). Rather, if you rub the crushed leaves on your skin when you first go out, it will help repel the mosquitoes before they bite you! (Thanks Jas for the heads-up!)
White pine. Needles (tea), male flowers, seeds, inner bark, small roots are all edible, and full of vitamin C.
Horsetail. Used homeopathically for lots of conditions.
Beech tree. Young leaves edible in spring.
Maples. All maples give sweet sap, not just sugar maples!
Eastern hemlock. Bark flour, needle tea (also very high in vitamin C).
Clovers. Leaves and flowers edible.
Blackberries, of course!
And these are only the plants I'm familiar with; there are dozens more I pass that I simply don't recognize yet.
And these are only the plants I'm familiar with; there are dozens more I pass that I simply don't recognize yet.
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