Wildcrafting

What is wild crafting? It is simply harvesting wild growing plants for use. Our focus has become directed to wild crafting this year as we are excited to identify and harvest the things growing on our very natural 85 acres which we just moved (in Dec.) on to homestead. We have 60% pasture and 40% woods. We have 5 small springs, and lots of wild life. It was last used (SEVERAL years ago) as a grazing cattle farm with about 50 head of cattle...but it has been sitting for along time..This is very exciting because it has had time to work out the nitrates from the cattle and also we were ensured that chemicals have not been used on it for many many years (at least the last two owners). (Perfect conditions for wild crafting!) Since we live in the country, we have been able to talk with previous owners and family of previous owners and learn the property's history. That is pretty cool!

Anyway...I digress...back to wildcrafting. My garden planting is "not happening" this year, since our attentions are in so many other directions on the homestead. (There are 2 blueberry bushes, 4 tomato plants and 2 pepper plants despite my severe neglect.) I have "let that go" with the intent to pick it up next year. This year, one of the many things I want to focus on is what is already growing here....Wildcrafting. We are armed with resources, mentors, courses and motivation to explore our land. (More on all those things to come in future posts!) I have tweaked the kids lesson plans to include this as a part of our school so it takes precedence (we live a lifestyle of learning, "schooling" year round). I have the dehydrators set up on the back porch ready to receive a bumper crop of delights so that we can experiment all year long. I have jars and a dark pantry prepared for storage. I have bees wax grated, assorted oils, alcohol and glycerin standing by. Homemade muslin tea bags, my Berkey Filter and jelly cloths. Not to mention I've got a family of 8 homesteading for the first time, with every kind of scratchy/itchy stingy plant and bug out their. There will be no shortage of remedies needed i am sure. :-) I will be featuring information on herbs, as well as plants, trees, and critters we discover on the farm. Of course we will also have recipes, resources, tips and techniques too! My focus will not only be herbs for medicine but also for food. This is going to be so much fun!

So far we have identified/studied/harvested (off the top of my head): Honeysuckle, Roses, Musk Thistle, Yarrow, Elder, Plantain, Burdock, Fleabane, Red Clover, Cow Vetch, Poison Ivy, :-), Black Berries, and Ox Eye Daisies.

Yesterday me and my 4 year old son, took the 4 wheeler in the pasture across the street (our property has a dead end road running through the center of it). We have 8 of the neighbors horses grazing in that field, to help us manage the grass until we get some animals or a tractor of our own. The horses were all very curious about the 4 wheeler. My son and I were off it and approaching our specimen (a 12 foot tall Elder bush surrounded in a thicket of blackberries!). The horses, surrounded the four wheeler and started sniffing it and nibbling at it...if only they could talk! They want to taste and smell this strange thing that we road in on...I had a back pack with some supplies and loppers strapped to the back of it on the rack and I had to shoo two horses away from it because they were yanking on it trying to get it off the machine. I thought it was very funny. I tried to get pictures, but they didn't turn out well...I was too close to it all and I didn't want to vacate the scene long enough to get a good shot with my boy in the midst of all those horses...but I wish you could have seen it. My four wheeler was clearly "the new kid on the block" to the herd! As it turned out, after getting scratched up pretty good, I only took a small test batch of blossoms home to play with...I am hoping to get DH to help me go back and manage the thicket to harvest more. I want to use discernment in how many blooms I take, because I will sacrifice the berries they would have turned into in doing so...and I am looking forward to harvesting those too! I can see the bush from my front porch with binoculars, so I am going to try to beat the birds to the berries at the end of the summer. The bush was teaming with life though! I never heard so many bees buzzin'! I wonder if their might be a hive close by! What an amazing thing that would be!!!! I've been praying for local honey! LOL!

Today, we "went to town" to get some muslin and stop at Tractor Supply for some industrial weed eater attachments, and I saw all kinds of treasures along the road side! I am going to have to find a "I stop for weeds" bumper sticker soon! :-) (My DH humors me and does stop. He's so wonderful!)

Stay tuned...if you are like me - you will never see weeds the same again!