As we now know, mankind has long since been deposed as “king of creation.” Modern humans are absolutely incapable of seeing things in the long term and have lost all connection with the Cosmos and the inter-species balance that has allowed our planet to evolve for millennia. They are the only illogical predators on this globe and in the last fifty years they have caused the disappearance of thousands of animal and plant species, turned once-fertile regions into deserts, changed the climate, irreversibly compromised the future of their own descendants for generations, polluted the water, air, and earth, and abandoned the quest of their own soul … Man has already become an idiot as an animal; he now becomes stupid about what it means to be human.
Out of the roughly 250,000 plants that have been currently identified, he cultivates a mere hundred, which he deliberately adulterates, in the same way that he only uses a small fraction of the infinite possibilities offered to him by his brain.
On the other hand, with the help of only two of the rose species found in nature (the dog rose and de Gaulle rose), he was able to breed 10,000 varieties—the most important of which is apparently the rose!
A study performed some years ago by the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed that wild plants contain 62% more protein, 186% more vitamin A, 81% more vitamin C, and 150% more calcium than cultivated plants. So why do we not just let wild plants grow in our gardens? An American scientist has also shown that the so-called “primitive” peoples who came before us did not have to wage a never-ending battle for survival. In fact, their balanced diet was provided by wild plants for most of the year, and by stored provisions for the less-clement season when they slowed down their activities and quietly “hibernated.” This allowed them to go through what was not a miserable, but a luxuriant life. There is no greater wealth than to restrict your needs and the knowledge of how to assume the necessities imposed upon us by the laws of nature.
It is guaranteed that if we start cultivating wild plants again, they will become staples of our gardens. If circumstances compel us to follow this path, then we should do so wisely. One book I recommend is Claude Auber’s Le Jardin potager biologique. I revisit this topic in chapter 11 on planting. [Another good book for English readers is Gaia’s Garden by Toby Hemenway, published by Chelsea Green—Trans.]
(Extract from Se nourrir de rien, by Alain Saury, Paris: Maloine)
Don’t forget that air and sunlight are essential foods, as are good relations with our fellow humans and nature.
Cull roots in the evening. Harvest flowers and fruits in the morning.
Remember that an essential form of nourishment comes out of the earth: the telluric current; and another one comes down from the sky: the cosmic current.
Harvest without tearing roots or branches (except out of nutritional necessity), so that everything can grow back.
Tear only one leaf from each salad plant: this causes it an injury, of course, but it will live its full lifespan and provide the seeds you need for future nourishment.
Never peel roots and fruits, brush them off.
Chew long and slowly—avoiding mixing some kinds of foods with others—in order to be more properly and quickly nourished, and in order to be thrifty and thereby generous, so that all may eat.
Masticate the cores of those fruits that have them, because the nutritional energetic principles (glucids, lipids, protides) are contained in the seeds.
Suck fruit pits for a long time (as children do instinctively); they contain an entire tree in potential and their magnetic force will nourish you on an essential level.
Learn anew how to live and respect all that surrounds you, and do unto all what you would have them do unto you.
Plants will always provide valuable clues about the nature of the terrain in which they are growing, and the opposite is equally true.
Grazing lands, gorse, dry moors, scattered trees and bushes are characteristic of dry permeable soils (limestone, sand, andesite, lava, sandstone, trachyte, chalk …)
Alfalfa and sainfoin are a guarantee of the presence of chalk in the soil; as are box trees, sorbs, rowan, bloodtwig dogwood, barberry, pawpaw, green ash, linden.
Oats, wheat, and barley indicate the presence of alluvial silt (chalks, potassium, phosphorus): rye, potato, buckwheat reveal siliceous soils, as do pine, juniper, digitalis, chestnut, heather, broom, gorse, and so forth.
Forests and wooded clumps near grasslands are characteristic of wet, impermeable soil (clays, marl, gneiss, porphyry, schist, granite, and granulite …)
Note: Never forget that a landscape can be changed with the addition of humus.
This is the art of using the preventive or healing properties of simple plants. In extreme cases, such as those required by people trying to survive, the main concern becomes health and recovery through finding natural immune system boosters, more than treating an illness generally nurtured by egotism, bad habits, and eating too much food that doesn’t meet the body’s physiological needs. I will offer some advice here in any case that could prove helpful.
DRYING PLANTS There are time-tested methods for causing the water in a plant to evaporate, allowing us to preserve it and its properties. Places appropriate for this should be dark and dry, with gentle air movement (attics, barns, rooms with darkened windows). The plants can be dried after they have been harvested and allowed to wilt under the Sun if the weather permits. It is imperative that plants of different species are not clumped together when drying.
Whether it is simply the flowering tops or the whole plant, they should be hung upside down to dry in bouquets hanging from string. Detached leaves and flowers and pieces of root (after they have been washed off with water and dried) are placed in layers no more than an inch in depth on jute cloths placed in crates. It is a good idea to stir these layers from time to time. The drying time ranges from six to twelve days on average and should never be more than three weeks.
Another means of drying is to place the plants on grids over hot air vents. The drying of the various parts of the plants is complete once all moisture is removed and they have become stiff but not brittle.
CONSERVATION Plants should be stored in hermetically sealed jars and protected from exposure to light. One method is to place the jars in strong paper bags sealed with tape, which should then be set in a dry spot. If, after a year, the contents of any of these jars have not been used, it is a good idea to throw them away as they tend to lose all their therapeutic properties after so many months.
INFUSION An infusion is basically a herbal tea created by pouring boiling water over a plant in order to release some of its properties. Unless you know otherwise, the general rule of thumb is to not steep anything more than three minutes (and the average infusion uses one teaspoon of herbs per cup), avoid blending different herbs together, or go on long cures without any break (twenty-one days a month is a reasonable length).
MACERATION This involves allowing plants to steep in a liquid over a certain time (the length can vary) until all its soluble parts have dissolved.
DECOCTION This is the name for the resulting product after a substance has been boiled for a varying length of time in order to extract its soluble principles.
Note: Don’t forget that a plant’s properties can reverse depending on the quantity used and the time involved in preparation: two mint leaves have a calming effect, four are stimulating.
Seawater contains ninety-two of all currently known elements: it therefore has the richest quantity of mineral salts, trace elements, and iodine, in particular. These nutritional elements and catalysts are fully necessary for food assimilation in general and nutrition.
Sea salt, like seawater, contains them, and moreover has the power to fix them in our body’s water. Its absence in extremely hot lands can prove fatal; people die of dehydration.
Seawater (if not polluted) can be ingested pure or diluted in fresh water. The salt is obtained when seawater evaporates under the effects of sun and wind. It is currently harvested in salt marshes that contain immense pools or flats consisting of several increasingly smaller levels, in which the salt tables are established. Salt can also be scratched off of coastal rocks.
Salt is also still extracted from gem mines in which now long-vanished ancient seas left behind large deposits of salt in the sedimentary rocks of the Earth’s crust. Traditional mining techniques can be used (wells, tunnels, wagons, shovels, pickaxes) or water can be injected in a well bored into a salt layer. This water is then pumped back out and allowed to evaporate so that its salt can be recovered, just as is done with seawater.
Everyone is familiar with the culinary use of salt in everyday cooking, and its role in preserving foods and smoking meats (for more see the chapter on preserving and storing food).
There is another food often recommended to diabetics, incorrectly called salt, which is used as a cooking ingredient and is of high quality: celery salt. This is not the common product, blending crushed celery seeds with salt, but is obtained by using different parts of the celery plant that have been dried and crushed into a powder. Wild celery or celeriac can also be used for this purpose; its aromatic and nutritive properties are even stronger than its garden cousin.
Note: The only nutritious salt is unadulterated gray sea salt, not that white crap called refined table salt.
Endangered and Protected Plant Species in North America
Because of various forms of pollution and the destruction caused to the environment out of a single-minded lust for profit, or sheer ignorance or simple disrespect for nature, many plant species have become extinct or are threatened.
In addition to the protections offered by the 1973 Endangered Species Act, there are state laws designed to prevent over-harvesting of endangered species and protect rare ones, which may not be removed without a permit from the requisite state agency. This is a sample listing out of the hundreds that are now considered endangered.
Note: The harvest of wild mushrooms can also be severely restricted because of the looming danger of extinction to some species, such as the Canadian pine mushroom.
5.2: Some Nutritious Wild Plants
Table of the abbreviations used in the sections on the constituent elements of the different plants.
Mineral Salts and Trace Elements
Aluminum = Al
Antimony = Sb
Arsenic = As
Barium = Ba
Bismuth = Bi
Calcium = Ca
Carbon = C
Chlorine = Cl
Cobalt = Co
Copper = Cu
Fluorine = Fl
Gold = Au
Iodine = I
Iron = Fe
Lead = Pb
Lithium = Li
Magnesium = Mg
Manganese = Mn
Nickel = Ni
Phosphorus = P
Platinum = Pt
Potassium = K
Silicon = Si
Silver = Ag
Sodium = Na
Sulfur = S
Strontium = Sr
Tin = Sn
Vanadium = V
Vitamins = Vit
Zinc = Zn
The heading for each plant includes its common name followed by its scientific name, in italics, and family in parentheses.
(Allium vineale—Liliaceae)
OTHER NAMES Bear’s Garlic, Ransoms, Buckrams, Crow Garlic, Broad-leaved Garlic
DESCRIPTION Tough stems that grow from thirty to eighty centimeters high (and sometimes 120) with leaves that look like hollow tubes; it has short, papery bracts, greenish or pink umbel-shaped flowers, prominent stamens, and an oval-shaped bulb.
WHERE IT GROWS Dry prairies, wild areas; vines: Europe, North America, Syria.
WHEN IT GROWS This plant appears in late spring and summer; harvest the bulb after the plant flowers from June to July.
COMPOSITION Glucides 28%; lipids 0.1%; protides 6%; Vit A, B1, B2, B3, and C; Zn, Mn, S, I, P, Mg, Ca, Fe, Na, K; antibacterial properties; several enzymatic and hormonal catalysts.
OBSERVATIONS The three-hundred-some different kinds of garlic inhabiting the Earth are all edible and nutritious, including wild leeks and onions. They are sweet enough to be eaten raw by themselves.
(Amygdalus communis—Rosaceae)
DESCRIPTION This is a tree with spreading branches that grows around twenty-five to forty feet high. The bark is a deep gray-brown, cracked, and the trunk is often twisted; the oblong leaves are alternate and narrow, often five to six times longer than their width; they are smooth, finely toothed, and light green in color. Their white flowers, which grow singly or in pairs, appear before the leaves from February to March. The fruit, a green drupe, contains one or two almonds.
WHERE IT GROWS It is both cultivated and occurs subspontaneously in temperate regions of both the old and new worlds. Its chief location is around the Mediterranean basin, and in France and other countries of Europe it is combined with grape cultivation. They can be found on the borders of fields, embankments, hillsides, rocky areas, and near old walls. They are also found in southwestern Asia.
WHEN IT GROWS The tree produces fruits in August and September.
COMPOSITION Protides 20%, lipids 54%; glucides 17%; Vit B1, B2, B3, C, and E; S, P, Cl, Na, K, Mg, Ca, Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn.
OBSERVATIONS It should not be confused with its sister plant, bitter almond, whose taste is entirely different and toxic to boot. Almonds are easy to digest and highly nutritious. They are a good food for the colder times of the year. They provide good food oil.
(Asparagus acutifolius—Liliaceae)
OTHER NAMES Thorny-leaved Asparagus
DESCRIPTION This is a hardy perennial whose root produces numerous ramifications and grows from twelve to thirty-nine inches high. The stems have an enormous number of branches that produce a feathery, spindly foliage. Greenish-yellow flowers appear from August to September. The plant produces soft, thick spears and small green or black berries containing several seeds the size of a pea.
WHERE IT GROWS Bushes, hedges, dry, rocky areas; the plant has a predilection for limestone soils. It grows up to 3,000 feet in altitude and thrives across Europe and North America.
WHEN IT GROWS It sprouts in the spring; roots can be taken as needed.
COMPOSITION Lipids, glucides, protides (all in very small quantities); Vit A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, and C; C, P, Mn, Ca, Fe, Na, K, Zn, B. It has the amino acid asparagine, tannin.
OBSERVATIONS This food is excellent for replenishing the body’s mineral needs and is a purgative. Its spears (turions) are quite tender and remarkably tasty when eaten raw and fresh. The roots are edible.
(Tropaeolum majus—Tropaeolaceae)
OTHER NAMES Monks Cress, Indian Cress
DESCRIPTION This is an annual (except in greenhouses and in South America where it is a perennial) with yellow-white fibrous roots and herbaceous, trailing stems. It is a smooth climbing plant that can grow as high as seven or eight feet. It has many bright, light green leaves that are smooth-edged or have five slight lobes. The hermaphroditic, five-petal flowers grow singly and vary in color from a deep yellow and orange to red. The fruit is segmented into three sections.
WHERE IT GROWS Pots or trays, ornamental gardens and parks. It is cultivated throughout the world.
WHEN IT GROWS It is normally sowed during March and April in a nursery or frame, then placed in loose soil at the end of May; then the plants are transplanted in June. Culling of the leaves and flowers can be done as needed as soon as they start appearing.
COMPOSITION Sulfur heteroside; enzyme; essential oil; sugars (dextrose, levulose, maltose); resins; pectins; gums; oxalic acid (toxic in large amounts); phosphoric acid; Vitamin C (225 mg per 100 grams of fresh leaves).
OBSERVATIONS Oxalic acid becomes toxic to human beings when more than four grams is ingested; 100 grams of nasturtium leaves contains around one gram. The stems are also refreshing and the flowers are delicious (jams can be made from these flowers similar to rose jellies—see the chapter on preserving and storing food). Its buds and tender seeds can be preserved in salted water like dandelion buds or capers.
(Nasturtium officinale—Brassicaceae)
OTHER NAMES White Watercress, True Watercress, Brooklime
DESCRIPTION An adventive semi-aquatic perennial with whitish roots. Its thick hollow stems, which are often crawling along the surface, can measure as long as eight feet. The leaves are rounded and grow in alternation up the stalk, with the top leaf growing larger than those below it. Its white flowers bloom from July to September. Its siliques (seed capsules) are about ¼ to ¾ of an inch in size.
WHERE IT GROWS Streams, riversides, semi-flooded areas and wetlands; can be found in all the temperate regions (both hot and cold) throughout the world.
WHEN IT GROWS It begins appearing in the spring and lasts through the summer. The stems and leaves can be harvested as soon as they appear.
COMPOSITION Sulpho-nitrogen oil; Vit A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, C; Ca, I, Cu, Zn, As, P, Mn, Fe; glucoside (nasturtine).
OBSERVATIONS Watercress is an antioxidant, it is tonic and reportedly excellent for cleansing the liver and the bloodstream as well as the lungs. English herbalist Nicholas Culpepper recommended it for clearing facial spots and blemishes. It is believed to be an effective expectorant. Avoid eating watercress that grows along waterways that cross through sheep fields; it could transmit sheep liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica).
(Medicago sativa— Fabaceae)
OTHER NAMES Lucerne, Buffalo Grass, Buffalo Herb, Chilean Clover, Purple Medick
DESCRIPTION An adventive herbaceous perennial with a woody root and a crown with numerous shoot buds that grow anywhere from seven to twenty-eight inches high. It has alternating trifoliate leaves that are slightly notched toward the top, and clusters of purple or violet-blue flowers about two to three inches large, which bloom from June through October. Its fruits are spiral-shaped pods holding ten to twenty green or waxy yellow seeds.
WHERE IT GROWS Uncultivated areas, embankments, meadows, fields, cultivated or subspontaneous. It grows in most of the world’s temperate regions up to 6,000 or 7,000 feet.
WHEN IT GROWS its leaves can be taken as needed; its roots should be dug up in spring.
COMPOSITION Citric, malic, and malonic acids; chlorophyll, Vit A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, C, D, E. K.; P, Ca, S, F, Mg, Si, Cu, Mn.
OBSERVATIONS The roots need to be cooked but the leaves should be eaten raw for a food that is particularly good at restoring the body’s proper mineral content. It is also ideal for preventing or curing scurvy and rickets (Vitamin D). Other benefits include anti-sterility (Vitamin E) and accelerated blood clotting (Vitamin K).
(Nymphaea alba—Nymphaeaceae)
OTHER NAMES European White Lily, Nenuphar
DESCRIPTION An aquatic perennial, the white lotus has extremely thick multiple, underground roots at some distance from each other. Its leaves are large, tough, and thick, and range from four to ten inches in diameter. They look like an upside-down heart floating on or hovering slightly above the surface of the water. They produce milky white flowers about two to four inches in size that bloom on their surface in June and July, and release a very sweet fragrance. Its round fruit is placed back in the water by its carrying stem, which buries it in the mud upside down.
WHERE IT GROWS Ponds, marshes, rivers, calm waters, in areas up to around 2,600 feet in altitude. It mainly grows in Europe and Asia.
WHEN IT GROWS It starts appearing in the spring; the roots should be collected when the plant is still young.
COMPOSITION Lipids, glucides, starch, resin; tannic and metabaric acids, nupharine.
OBSERVATIONS The rhizomes of all water lilies (North American varieties include the white water lily Nymphaea odorata, the Mexican lily, and the spatterdock, among others) and lotuses are nutritious after proper preparation. They must be allowed to macerate for two days in water after harvesting to dissolve their toxic properties, which cause nausea. They should then be cooked two times before rinsing them off.
Note: This is a food source that requires much patience to enjoy but which has also saved the life of more than one person during times of famine.
(Urtica dioica—Urticaceae)
OTHER NAMES Common or Stinging Nettle, Burn Nettle, Burn Hazel
DESCRIPTION A single-stemmed perennial that grows from two to five feet high. Its soft green, somewhat heart-shaped leaves grow opposite one another; nettle flowers grow in dense axillary clusters, and are small and brown or green in color. They bloom from June to October. It reproduces through its roots.
Note: It is possible to start nettle plants from seed, but it will be six years before it produces a flowering stem. It has to be started in a good nettle compost for one year.
WHERE IT GROWS In long-inhabited areas: hedges, roadsides, along paths, near ruins, landfills, trash dumps, along railroad tracks, gardens, and wooded copses, in soil with saltpeter, up to 7,000 feet in altitude throughout the world.
COMPOSITION Protides; glucides; Vitamins A and C; Mn, Fe, S, Si, Ca, K, Cl; ammoniac; gallic acid; stinging properties.
OBSERVATIONS This is an extremely nutritious plant. They lose their stinging properties if allowed to rest several hours after cutting them; if not, the leaves should be scalded before being eaten alone. If the stems are eaten, they require additional cooking time to ensure they are tender. Watch out for seeds. Ten grams a day will prevent urination. A foodstuff since prehistoric times and much relied upon during times of famine, nettles are also used to make cloth, torches, rope, fishing nets, paper, and dye. Its sister plants Urtica urens and Urtica pilulifera offer the same qualities.
(Taraxacum officinale—Compositae)
OTHER NAMES Monks-head, Blowball, Irish Daisy, Wet-a-bed, Milk Witch, Cankerwort
DESCRIPTION Dandelion is a flowering herbaceous perennial with a pivoting taproot that can grow anywhere from two inches to four feet high. Its single stems are hollow and contain a milky latex, and its leaves grow out from the bottom in a star-like pattern that forms a circle around the stem. The leaves are green, lobed, and serrated. Their single flowers are yellow and yellow-orange, and when they die these form into delicate white spheres that can be dissolved by a single puff of breath.
WHERE IT GROWS Dandelions grow everywhere, and are often considered a weed. The grow on both cultivated and uncultivated lands, along railroad tracks and stream banks, pasturelands, yards, prairies, landfills, junkyards, marshes, peat bogs, and even on thatched roofs. They grow worldwide up to 9–10,000 feet in altitude.
WHEN IT GROWS They grow year-round except in those areas where it is too cold in winter, and their leaves can be harvested as they appear.
COMPOSITION Glucides; protides; Vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, and C; Ca, K, Fe, Mn, Mg, P, Si, S, and Na; palmitic, resinic, linoleic acids; glycerol; lactucerol; diastases; levulose; taraxine; inuline; tannin.
OBSERVATIONS The leaves can be harvested as often as needed, buds once they start appearing (they can be preserved in salted water); the roots are harvested after the seeds have been scattered. All parts of the plant are eaten raw. Dandelions provide an extremely delicious and nutritious food.
(Plantago major—Plantaginaceae)
OTHER NAMES Greater Plantain, White Man’s Footprint, Rat-tail Plantain
DESCRIPTION A herbaceous perennial that grows from three to twenty inches tall. It has thick, oval-shaped leaves with three to eleven prominent veins and wavy edges. The flowers are greenish-brown or reddish and grow in dense spikes that start blooming in May. The seeds are housed on long spikes, with each capsule holding four to eight seeds.
WHERE IT GROWS Places that have been disturbed by human activity (that’s why Native Americans called this plant “white man’s footprint”). These include fallow lands, roadsides, fields, yards, and ditches. It prefers limestone soils. It can grow in most temperate regions and even in the hotter zones.
WHEN IT GROWS It can be found throughout the year, except in those areas where the winters are too cold.
COMPOSITION Leaves 2.5% protein; 0.5 % lipids; 11% non-nitrogen extractive; 81% water; 2% cellulose; 2 % mineral salts (Cl, K, Si, Mg, P).
OBSERVATIONS The leaves of all members of the plantain family are edible as well as their seeds (which birds are quite fond of), and which can provide an excellent table oil.
Note: Only the very young leaves can be eaten raw as they become tough fairly quickly—older leaves can be tenderized by cooking.
(Malus communis—Rosaceae)
DESCRIPTION The apple tree grows anywhere from ten to thirty-nine feet tall. It has widespread branches that give it a rounded appearance. The simple oval leaves grow in alternation and are delicately serrated and slightly downy. The pink and white flowers grow in bunches and bloom in May and June.
WHERE IT GROWS Hedges, scrublands, at the edges of woods and forests, can thrive at altitudes as high as 40,000 feet. Apples are cultivated everywhere in the world’s temperate regions, and can appear wild, subspontaneous, or naturalized.
WHEN IT GROWS It puts out blossoms in May and fruits by October.
COMPOSITION Glucides; lipids; protides (in the seeds); Vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, and C; S, P, Cl, Na, K, Mg, Ca, Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn, I, As, Co; tannin; cellulose; pectin.
OBSERVATIONS Apples are not only one of the most nutritious fruits, they have the clear advantage of being stored for long periods as long as it is in a dry place that is dark and minimally ventilated. Every part of the apple is worth eating, including its seeds, which can provide an oil rich in unsaturated fats. It is important to note that apple pips do contain amygdalin, a sugar and cyanide compound. Large amounts can prove unhealthy, though there is only one recorded fatality from eating apple seeds.
(Rubus fructicosus—Rosaceae)
DESCRIPTION This is a hardy perennial with sharp thorn-like “prickles,” and it can grow as high as three feet. Its stems have a two-year life cycle: the first year they grow straight, then they curve down in the second to reenter the ground where they form adventitious roots. The leaves are trifoliate (or mode) and serrated; clusters of white or pink flowers bloom from June to September. Their fruit is fleshy and a dark violet color when mature.
WHERE THEY GROW Woods, hedges, uncultivated areas, ruins, paths, walls. They grow throughout Europe, North America, Asia, and southern Africa. They can live in altitudes as high as 7,800 feet.
WHEN THEY GROW The plants start flowering in early summer and fruit can be harvested from August into November, depending on the time of the first frost.
COMPOSITIONS Glucides; Vitamins A, B3, B5, and C; S, P, Cl, Na, K, Mg, Ca, Fe, Cu, Mn, I; tannin, essential oil, pectin.
OBSERVATIONS This is a very refreshing fruit that can be preserved in the form of a jam or jelly (see the chapter on preserving foods). It is an excellent source of Vitamin C and mineral salts.
There are currently around 150 kinds of Rubus, all of whose berries are nutritious (raspberry, strawberry, dog rose…).
(Suaeda maritima or linearis—Salsolaceae)
OTHER NAMES Seepweed, Sea Purslane
DESCRIPTION As its name indicates, sea blite is an annual; it has a leafy stem with narrow, semi-cylindrical, succulent, yellow-green leaves that are around three to eleven inches long. Its flowers are green and grow beneath the leaves in clumps of two to five from July to the end of October, its fruits are globular and hang down from the plant.
WHERE IT GROWS The seashore, salt marshes. Grows mainly on the coastlines of all the temperate zones, but varieties can be found in Texan and Nebraskan salt marshes.
WHEN IT GROWS Throughout the warmer months; flowers and leaves can be harvested as needed.
COMPOSITION It is said to be a good source of Omega-3.
OBSERVATIONS In India the flowers and leaves are a common foodstuff—Native Americans are also recorded as using it in their diet. The tiny size of the leaves calls for patience on the part of the chewer.
(Tilia cordata—Tiliaceae)
OTHER NAMES Wild Linden
DESCRIPTION This tree grows from 60 to 130 feet tall. Its rate of growth is slow but this tree can live for 1,200 years. The trunk is smooth until it reaches twenty years, then it becomes cracked: its lower branches are horizontal and its crown is characterized by a maze of branches. The leaves grow singly in alternation, are distinctly heart-shaped and are serrated on the edges and smooth on the bottom. The whitish flowers are very aromatic, making this tree a popular spot for bees. They bloom ephemerally in June and July and produce a globular drupe that holds one or two seeds.
WHERE THEY GROW They grow in forests up to an altitude of 5,000 feet. As this tree was highly cultivated, it can be found in parks, gardens, and alongside roads and paths. Native to Europe, it can also be found throughout North America.
WHEN THEY GROW The flowers bloom in June and July and the fruits are available from July through August. The tree can be tapped for its sap in the early spring.
COMPOSITION Flowers: lipids; Vitamin C; essence, sugars, tannic substances; sterols; mucilage; gum; Seeds: lipids; Sap: carotene, glucides, tannin, mucilage, tartric acid, diastases, Al; ascorbic acid; lipids.
OBSERVATIONS This tree is one of man’s best friends. Its sap is as nutritious as that of the maple or birch tree. Its dried nutritious leaves can be made into a flour when blended with barley flour that is suitable for making bread capable of filling the deficiencies when individuals are not getting enough meat in their diet. The flowers (with or without their bracts) are nutritious. The stems and flowers can be dried to make an herbal tea whose calming virtues are very well known. Its seeds can be dried and ground into a powder—mixed with hot water this provides an excellent coffee substitute. Melliferous.
(Fucus vesiculosus—Fucaceae)
OTHER NAMES Rock Weed, Sea Oak, Dyers Fucus, Rock Wrack, Paddy Tang
DESCRIPTION A green algae with brown splotches that turns an olive-green color when dried. The thallus adheres to the substratum with a rough disk; it is divided into fronds lined by a fairly distinct medial nerve surrounded by air-filled protuberances that act as floaters. During reproduction the ends of the fronds bulge and become scattered with pores, whose fertile parts form receptacles on the thallus.
WHERE THEY GROW On the coasts of both sides of the Atlantic from the tropics to the Northern regions.
WHEN TO HARVEST The thallus can be harvested during the period it is producing fruit; depending on the region, this is usually from June to September.
COMPOSITION Protides, lipids, glucides; Vitamin C, B1, and E; S, Cl, Na, K, Mg, Ca, Fe, Cu, Mn; mucilage, essential oil, bitter principle, manitol, algine.
OBSERVATIONS Bladderwrack, along with sugar kelp (Laminaire saccharine) is one of the most common forms of seaweed on our coasts. The fronds torn off the plant by the tides should not be harvested. Harvesting takes place at low tide on the rocks of the shore, if on foot, and from areas further out to sea if a boat is available. It can be eaten raw when fresh, or it can be dried and remoistened for later consumption. It can also be crushed into a powder for seasoning foods and for making jams.
Alphabetical List of Other Edible Wild Plants
Borage, Broad Bean, Burdock, Common Chickweed, Common Hogweed, Dog Rose, English Daisy, Ground Cherry, Mallow, Muntingia, Passion Flower, Poppy, Ramps, Rhubarb, Rowan, Spring Hawthorn, Vetch, Violet, Water Chestnut, Wild Carrot, Wild Garlic, Wild Lettuce, Yellow Nutsedge.
Note: To obtain more detailed information on these and other edible wild plants, there are a variety of books available, such as Edible Wild Plants: A North American Field Guide to Over 200 Natural Foods, which can be quite helpful.
5.3: Other Wild Plants and Their Various Uses
We all know our nutritional need for the essential fatty acids contained in plant seeds and sometimes also in fruit pulp (raffia, olive) or bulbs. These lipids are warming nourishment and the vehicles for fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K). There are also phospholipids in their makeup that help to protect the skin, to regulate nervous tissue growth, to aid in reproduction, to normalize cholesterol level, and to normalize the functioning of the liver, small intestines and bladder.
Some indigenous peoples in warm regions have rudimentary practices for extracting their oil. They pile the oil-bearing vessel onto absorbent fabric, leaving them completely exposed to the Sun; the oil comes out and is absorbed by the fabric, which is then drained. The other, more current, method consists of crushing the seeds either with a rock, mortar or grinder; the cracked seeds are then arranged in a line, at the bottom of a tub pierced with holes, which is deposited under a screw or lever press. But the simplest process really is an excellent grinder that imitates human jaws and carefully chews the shelled seeds (melon, squash, olive …).
(Juglans regia—English walnut)
OTHER NAMES Persian walnut, English walnut, common walnut, California walnut
DESCRIPTION A tree of ten to thirty-five meters in height and a trunk of two meters diameter; a low stem, divided into large crooked branches; a high, wide crown, rounded, whitish-gray bark, cracked, smooth and cracked lengthwise; leaves alternate, feather out with five to nine leaflets, whole, smooth, firm; flowers separated by sexes: males as cylindrical, females grouped from one to four at the ends of the branches; fruit four to five cm; has fleshy green envelope, a core—or nuts—that are woody, egg-shaped; contains irregular cotyledons.
WHERE THEY GROW Bushy valley bottoms; uncultivated valleys; along the sides of railroad tracks and paths; near ruins; in southern Europe, south Asia and North America; at altitudes up to 1,200 meters. The main region of cultivation is in the southwest region of Isere, in France.
WHEN TO HARVEST The fruits are ripe between September and October.
COMPOSITION Proteins, fats, carbohydrates, Vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, C, S, P, Cl, Na, K, Mg, Ca, Fe, Zn, Cu
OBSERVATIONS An excellent oil-producer assuring relatively fresh nutrients all winter; an excellent source of oil.
(Olea europaea—Oleaceae)
DESCRIPTION Perennial or shrub with grayish-white branches; ash-green foliage; cracked, rough bark; two to four meters high; evergreens; without stipules; whole, leathery, glabrous; top is green; whitish below; small whitish flowers in upright clusters have leaf axils, blooms May to June; green fruit; nuts at maturity; curved drupe, one to three cm; core contains one or two seeds.
WHERE THEY GROW Old walls, stony slopes, rockeries, wooden scrubs at an altitude of up to 800 meters. Cultivated, naturalized or wild, it is in all the Mediterranean regions of Europe, in southwest Asia, North Africa and North America. In Switzerland, it grows in south Ticino.
WHEN TO HARVEST Drupe picking from January to March.
COMPOSITION Fats, carbohydrates, vitamins A, C, E, S, P, Cl, Na, K, Mg, Ca, Fe, Cu, Mn
OIL 90% unsaturated fat
OBSERVATIONS The olive is one of the most extraordinary nutrients, along with wheat and fruit, that God has given us. Although it is only edible after debittering (for which no one blames it), its benefits spread completely into us.
Note: Its oil is the best in the world.
(Helianthus annuus—Compositae)
OTHER NAMES Sun, Parrot seed, crown of Sun, Sun gardens.
DESCRIPTION Annual plant 50 cm to 5 meters tall; strong stem; thick, broad leaves, more or less toothed, alternating, sometimes opposite to the base of the stem; inflorescence solitary yellow; 10 to 80 cm in diameter; blooms July to October; seeds nesting very tightly in the flower head.
WHERE THEY GROW Wild on roadsides and railways, vines, potato or beet fields; up to 1,000 meters altitude. Cultivated: Europe, Russia, the North American west, Peru, Mexico.
WHEN TO HARVEST From August to November.
COMPOSITION Proteins, lipids, carbohydrates; cellulose, pentosans, nuclein; minerals.
OIL 85% unsaturated fat
COMMENTS Excellent table oil from dehulled seeds, which can be eaten raw or roasted or dried. The flower heads, prior to flowering, are eaten like artichokes; the dried leaves are used in cigars and are the delight of sheep and calves, pigs, rabbits, and deer. With the spinal rods, paper, buoys, and life jackets can be manufactured. Ground into flour, the seeds make bread. Honey-producing. The sunflower dries up swampy areas, dehumidifies the air, and fights malaria.
List of Other Oil-Producing Plants
Cardamine pratensis; cabbage; lettuce; snapdragon; black and red radish; nettle; hazelnut; mustard; pepper; raffia palm; Tilia; pine nuts; flax; tobacco; tomato; grapes; cotton; cashew; wheat; peanut.
Some Wild, Oil-Producing Plants That Can be Used for Lighting
The majority of oils cited earlier are also good oils to use for lighting. Other, non-combustible oils have similar properties, including Ligustrum and dogwood.
You can make candles with the dried stem of the mullein, coated with tallow. Birch bark wrapped in itself does the same thing.
You can also mix the long, climbing stems (as in dogwood) with pine rods; shave them and let them dry. Then beat them to extract the marrow. Assembled into bundles, sticks burn more slowly, provided they are well angled.
Note: See also the chapter on manufacturing.
In his excellent body of work Les Plantes Médicinales (Lechevalier), the Abbey Fournier classes tobacco replacement into four groups: “Those smoked as narcotics by fans or to stimulate the imagination, to allow access to an artificial paradise. Opium, hemp, thistles. Another group is represented as medication, coltsfoot, for example. A third group includes plants smoked by some adolescents or children imitating adults, for example: stems from clematis wood and cattail reeds. The fourth and last group is, by far, the most important. Here, several tobacco substitutes are found including many species intended only to provide the smoker with smoking pleasure, whether physical or psychological.”
It is difficult to destroy the negative connotation attached to the idea of smoking and for which toxic tobacco is responsible … toxic in high doses, and if the practice of smoking becomes habitual, as this can cause the smoker to have asthma attacks and will also affect the non-smoker. One can currently find, in French pharmacies, cigarettes that are able to fight asthma and any respiratory disease causing allergic reactions or shortness of breath due to bronchial spasms, rhinitis or catarrhal inflammation. The composition for a box of 20 cigarettes is: Belladonna leaves 20 g; Stramoine 20 g; Ment 40 g; Sage 17 g; Potassium Nitrate 3 g. The smoker will smoke fewer than five cigarettes per day to prevent an attack or whenever there is inflammation. Potassium nitrate is only used to prevent combustion.
(Atropa belladonna—Solanaceae)
OTHER NAMES Beautiful Lady, Death Cherries
DESCRIPTION Perennial, erect stems, highly branched, up to two meters high, oval-pointed leaves measuring twenty cm long; dark purple flowers; greenery flourishing as a solitary bell or as a pair. From June to August; black, shiny berry. Very toxic.
WHERE THEY GROW Timber, rocky wood, rubble, wet areas, hedges, with preference for calcareous soils; up to 1,600 meters altitude; Europe, the North of Africa, North America, Southeast Asia.
WHEN TO HARVEST Leafy stems are harvested just before flowering—quick drying in a dry dark place as hanging bouquets or wreaths or on racks in thin layers; storage in bags or metal boxes.
COMPOSITION Chloride, nitrate, choline, asparagine, sugars, sterols, succinic acid, scopoletin, alkaloids (hyociamine, atropine …).
OBSERVATIONS Due to its alkaloids, belladonna leaf is very toxic but, in correct doses, it is a very good antispasmodic for smooth muscle tissues (digestive tract, bronchial tubes), a sedative for visceral pain, for neuralgia, and to create moderate secretions (sweat, bile, saliva).
A dangerous brother, Datura stramonium, is used in fumigations. Its subtle similarities are due to its antispasmodic properties. In our work, Les Plantes Fumables (Maloine), we identified and defined all smokable plants, but we want to give you here two more:
(Eucalyptus globulus—Myrtaceae)
OTHER NAMES The Tasmanian Blue Gum, Southern Blue Gum or Blue Gum
DESCRIPTION The tree can live eighty years and reach one hundred meters high and twenty-eight meters circumference in its countries of origin; in Europe, its straight trunk has smooth, ash-gray bark and rarely exceeds thirty-five meters; its young branches carry oval, opposite, sessile, whole leaves; its older branches have alternating, greenish-blue, sickle-shaped leaves arranged on a vertical plane and giving a bit of shade; whitish flowers extend from a wooden, top-shaped chalice, crowned with a headdress; fruits are from two kinds of seeds—blackish and brownish.
WHERE THEY GROW Wild in Tasmania, southern Australia; with a preference for the siliceous soils. Naturalized on the Mediterranean coast (Provence, Corsica, Spain, Italy, Algeria) and the world’s warm temperate regions.
WHEN TO HARVEST After the spring bloom in full fun, the older leaves (sickles) are collected, which one places immediately to dry in a dry, dark place, in thin layers, before locking them in hermetically sealed, opaque boxes or vases.
COMPOSITION Tannic and gallic acids, rutin, alcohol, resin acid: essential oil (eucalyptol, phellandrene, eudesmol, pinene, aromadendrene: valerie aldehyde, butyric acid, hexanoic acid, amyl- and ethyl- alcohol …).
COMMENTS Good balsamic and antiseptic for the respiratory tract, eucalyptus is used for fumigation or as a cigarette for any respiratory tract infection: bronchitis, asthma, emphysema, cough, flu, tuberculosis. The very active properties of its essential oil will be found by inhaling its dried leaves. It aids in elimination, deodorizing sputum, as a bronchial disinfectant. Its qualities are also used for cleaning and to kill mosquitoes.
(Lactuca serriola—Compositae)
OTHER NAMES Prickly lettuce, milk thistle, compass plant
DESCRIPTION Annual or biennial plant from 50 to 125 cm high; rigid stems support rods to the top of slender branches: bluish-green leaves; segmented; curved; their tranches face south and their front toward the west and east; the yellow flowers bloom from June to August; white pappus achene; abundant milk.
WHERE THEY GROW Calcareous soils, rocky slopes, wasteland, ruins, vineyards, riverbanks, roadsides and railways; up to 2,000 meters in altitude; all temperate zones of the Old World. Their sister vegetable is grown in nearly the whole world.
WHEN TO HARVEST After the flowering and before September and every fifteen days, milk is collected through an extended incision in the stem. Collected in glasses, the latex is then put into wooden pots, or it coagulates, and is then dried on trays in the sun before being cut into bars. Leaves are cut after flowering and dried on the floor of a dry, dark room. They are wet again after a stay in the cellar if one wishes to smoke them as a cigar or cigarette.
COMPOSITION The whole plant: Lactucarium (a substance with effects similar to opium minus the addictive properties), lactucin, asparagine, lactic acid, hyoscyamine, chlorophyll, Vitamins A, B, C, D, E; S, P, Cl, Na, K, Mg, Ca, Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn, I, Co, As.
OBSERVATIONS Wild lettuce is an excellent nutrient with a much more pronounced flavor than the garden lettuce from which it is derived. Its young leaves are more delectable and less harsh. Its leaves are sometimes smoked together with its dried latex and mixed like hemp with other smokable plants; its effects are both sedative and hallucinogenic.
List of Other Smokable, Wild Plants
Artemisia; Arnica; Burdock; Betony; Beet; Mullein; Cassis; Chestnut; Quince tree; Doronic; Marshmallow; Lobelia; Corn; Lilac; Peppermint; Oregano; Pussy Foot- Pine; Marigold; Bramble; Rose; Sage; Sunflower; Coltsfoot; Kelp; Verbena; Violet
Natural or Unnatural Honey—Carbohydrates
Everyone knows the exceptional nutrient content of natural, unheated honey, with its living sugars directly assimilated by the human body: fructose 38%, dextrose 31%, maltose 7%, saccharose 1 to 2%, superior sugars between 1 and 2% … without forgetting its richness in mineral salts and vitamins. It is also one of the first quality foods for its bioelectronics.
It is in everyone’s interest to consume it fresh. Let us understand that wild honey is harvested by smoking out the swarm who often finds refuge in hollow trees, under branches, in holes in boulders … but we have an interest in preserving the bee who ensures the fertilization of countless plants and our future harvests. By penetrating the swarm in a hive that we built (see Chapter 8) and not withdrawing a third of their production, like any other beekeeper, we ensure long pollen-producing life.
Bees also carry two other nutrient bonanzas: pollen and royal jelly. Currently there are excellent books on beekeeping, and one of our works has been dedicated to this topic: Les Plantes Mellifères (Lechevalier).
Here we give you the three qualities of honey-producing plants adapted to assume a mono-floral honey.
(Calluna vulgaris—Ericaceae)
DESCRIPTION Winding subshrub, rust-colored bark, with many erect branches from 10 to 100 cm tall; small evergreens, very tight, narrow, longitudinal rows of four, sessile, facing; pink flowers in irregular clusters, blooming from July to November.
WHERE THEY GROW Siliceous terrains with potassium content and at middle altitude (except Swiss Alps: 2,700 meters). All of Europe, northern Africa, northwest Asia, North American boreal.
HONEY PROPERTIES Gelatinous, thick, red, dark honey of coarse grain and hard to keep; a very pronounced taste; especially rehabilitating, strengthening, rich in mineral salts, diuretic, anti-rheumatic, urinary tract disinfectant.
COMMENTS All the Calluna and Erica are honey-producing; irregular production of nectar; abundant honey in hot and humid climates—none in good and dry climates, the winter is a good complement to the hive. Added to gingerbread. In France: Landes and Sologne.
(Abies alba—Abietaceae)
OTHER NAMES Silver fir, European silver fir
DESCRIPTION A tree that can reach 50 meters high and 2 meters diameter and live for eight hundred years; regularly branched trunk in whorls of horizontal branches, which together comprise a sharp pyramidal crown; many leaves, persistent, linear, flat, dark-green upper side with three green lines and two whitish ones below; fruiting, erect cones; tough, cylindrical undercut; fairly large seeds provided with a short, wide wing.
PLACE Mountains and from 400 to 2,000 meters altitude. Central and Southern Europe, Asia Minor.
HONEY PROPERTIES Greenish-brown honey, thick, pasty, difficult to extract; its aroma is reminiscent of the odor of tree resin; it does not harden completely during crystallization; good to treat all respiratory infections but especially the bronchial region.
COMMENTS Honey comes not from flowers but from honeydew or from the ooze of certain living plants, and you can find it naturally on them or coming from incisions made in the plant’s tissue by certain insects or even by the excretion of other insects.
(Thymus vulgaris—Lamiaceae)
OTHER NAMES Common thyme, garden thyme, thyme
DESCRIPTION Subshrub with woody stems, winding at the base; highly branched; erect or ascending from 7 to 30 cm high (cultivated: 1.5 to 2 meters): Small linear, narrow, oval-shaped, petiole leaves serving the base beams of smaller, opposite leaves; small pink or white flowers grow in the axils of the larger leaves: strong, aromatic odor.
WHERE THEY GROW Clay soil; limestone; rockeries; undergrowth; scrublands; trail edges; slopes to 1,200 meters altitude; common throughout the Mediterranean; elsewhere cultivated or semi-wild.
HONEY PROPERTIES Honey is dark yellow or amber; strong, delicious, variable crystallization and often with mottling; it is recommended to fight intestinal putrefaction, intestinal disease, bronchitis, colds, digestive weakness, asthenia, general weakness.
COMMENTS Honeydew is often associated with rosemary and thyme.
List of Other Honey-Producing Plants
Apricot; Almond; May tree; Cherry; Chestnut; Sessile oak; Rape; Hyssop; Epilobium; Lavender; Orange; Mustard; Apple; Rosemary; Buckwheat; Sage; Alfalfa; Sweet clover; Lemon balm; Mint; Marjoram; Dandelion; Blackberry bush; French Honeysuckle; etc.
Apricot; Almond; Box tree; Chestnut; Raspberry; Ivy; Horse chestnut; Hazelnut; Elm; Poplar; Peach; Dandelion; Apple; Pear; Prune; Willow; Sunflower; Jerusalem artichoke; grape vine; etc.
The history of mankind is aligned with that of grains. Since time immemorial, each civilization has evolved thanks to grains, to which we have always had recourse in times of famine. Wheat has lasted longest as the most prestigious of all, and “Give us this day our daily bread” from Our Father is not only a symbol, but a deep reality—wheat bread has all the components of the human body and in the same proportions. And it is the only food, once cooked, that increases its bioelectronics—provided the Sun cooks it (between refractory stones or by similar means—wood oven, infrared … See also the part about baking bread in our chapter on cooking).
But wheat is not the only grass grain; others of excellent virtue also exist. All are cultivated and it is rare to find them in the wild state. One can see them grow spontaneously around their crops, and some can be consumed in their raw state, such as common wheat. These include: oats (Avena sativa), wheat (Triticum vulgare), spelt (Triticum spelta), millet (Panicum milliaceum), corn (Zea mays), barley (Hordeum vulgare), rice (Oryza sativa), buckwheat (Polygonum fagopyrum), rye (Secale cereale), and sorghum (Sorghum vulgare).
Yet other grasses are still found in the wild:
MILLET WOOD (Milium effusum)—loves the fresh woods to 1,000 meters altitude in the northern hemisphere.
MOUSE BARLEY (Hordeum murinum)—loves the wastelands, rubble, fence edges, ruins; to 1,700 meters altitude. It is common in France, Sweden, central and southern Europe, northern Africa, the Near East and North America.
Another superb quality of grains is their nearly unlimited possibilities for preservation. Five-thousand-year-old grains of wheat have been found in Egyptian monuments, which, once sown, germinated. But grains stored for a long time must meet optimal qualities: dry, dark, and slightly ventilated rooms that take into account predators, insects, small rodents, and also disease.
The plants one curses in times of abundance are blessed in times of famine precisely because of their extreme proliferation; for instance, the couch grass Cynodon dactylon and Agropyron repens. Their rhizomes can be dried, powdered, and therefore produce bread flour when mixed with grains. The same goes for dried lime leaves and acorns.
(Cynodon dactylon—graminaceous)
OTHER NAMES Cock’s-foot, cocksfoot grasses, orchard grasses
DESCRIPTION Perennial from 20 to 50 cm high, the lower stems prostrate, has a long, creeping underground stem that produces many suckers that multiply: glaucous green leaves, narrow, sessile, flat, elongated, sheathing, alternate; spikelets in two rows and turned in the same direction; carried by four to seven long, slender ears more or less spread and gathered in an umbel at the top of the stem; greenish or purplish flowers that bloom from July to October.
WHERE THEY GROW Vines, edges of walls, slopes, dry sand, cultivated fields, wastelands, siliceous grounds; all in temperate and warm regions.
WHEN TO HARVEST Rhizomes, as and when required from March to October.
COMPOSITION Mucilage, levulose, potassium, salts, amylaceous substance, fatty oil, triticine, iron, silicic acid, cynodine …
OBSERVATIONS Chopped and roasted rhizomes also provide excellent hot tea with their syrupy concoction; one can make a kind of honeydew (Mellano graminis) able to sweeten any preparation: their sugary substances readily turn into sugar, or into alcohol by fermentation.
QUACKGRASS Put 4 kg of chopped rhizomes in a barrel, drizzle them with warm water several times until white spots appear; cut together with 1 kg of crushed juniper berries, 2 kg of sugar and 100 grams of brewer’s yeast; for three days add 8 liter of very hot water, stir, close the barrel and provide a spigot with straws and let stand for six days, decant, and consume after two days. Very smooth beer.
The plants used for textile purposes (cotton, hemp, nettle, flax) will never have the thermal properties of the fabric obtained from animal by-products: silk, wool, feathers, skins. However, they are of great service and their contribution is not negligible.
Hemp (Cannabis sativa) is a plant of eastern origin. Under temperate climates, it loses its resinous virtues and thus hashish; an essentially fibrous plant of such quality that it is recognized by the Navy for producing excellent sailing ropes. Though once used in the textile industry, it was rapidly displaced by cotton and synthetics fabric.
Cotton (Gossypium arboretum) is a plant from the tropical regions of America and Asia, Egypt, India and Russia, it would therefore be difficult to use it in the absence of import.
Nettle is a widespread plant and is still used in the fabrication of cloth.
Textile flax (Linum usitatissimum) is today still employed because it is the most resistant natural fiber. Harvest occurs before the maturity of its seeds, which makes it impossible to exploit its oil as much for food as for paints. This cultivated flax comes from wild flax.
(Linum angustifolium—Linaceae)
OTHER NAMES Lin Lin, pocket sheets, wood, leaves, tenuous Lin Lin
DESCRIPTION Plant grows from 30 to 60 cm high; stems erect or ascending, glabrous, suckers at the base, sterile, tender green leaves, lanceolate, alternate, narrow, ribbed by one to three; large light blue flowers with five toothed petals; blooming from May to July; brownish capsule with ten seeds.
WHERE THEY GROW Hillsides, lawns, to 800 meters altitude, southern Europe
WHEN TO HARVEST After complete maturity, from June to September, harvest the rods and put in stacks to dry.
COMMENTS For the preparation of flax, see our chapter on the subject.
Note: during the last world war, fabric was made from wood fiber and human hair.
Chestnut, Ivy, Arum, White Campion, etc.
Nature offers a few plants capable of ensuring the cleanliness of our machines because of the saponin or the foam they contain. These include:
Indian Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum), thanks to its shelled nuts after decoction;
Ivy (Hedera helix)—the leaves are macerated in a bucket of water until obtaining a soapy liquid;
Arum (Arum maculatum) tubes provide the same result after the same operation;
White campion (Lychnis dioica) and the saponaire (Sapanaria officinalis), which one leaves whole and completely steeped, from root to flower, boiling for one hour over low heat;
Alfalfa roots—put the dried, cut or crushed, alfalfa roots in a sealed bag, let them boil for a half-hour in water; take out the foamy liquid for soap.
(Saponaria officinalis—Caryophyllaceae)
OTHER NAMES Soap dish, soap grass fuller, soap pit
DESCRIPTION Perennial from 30 to 75 cm high, erect stems, opposite, oval, pointed leaves, longitudinal ribs; pale or mauve pink flowers at the top of the stem, blooms from June to October; highly branched, creeping rhizomes wearing thick buds by which it multiplies.
PLACE Roadsides, near houses, hedges, banks, river edges; altitude to 1,600 meters. Common in almost all of Europe.
COMPOSITION Galactan, saponins (especially flowers), sugars, gum, salts, minerals, petrol, fats, glutamine, saponaroside – Vit C (leaves).
OBSERVATIONS Considered by phytotherapy to be a depurative, diuretic, sudorific, tonic, diaphoretic, anti-toxic, vermifuge, anti-syphilis … Used in either form: infused or decocted. Used as soap for personal hygiene and laundry after maceration of the whole plant with its flowers, which have a strong foaming property. One might also dry the roots in order to reduce them to a powder, which retains the saponification properties.
Ash Wood: Boil the ashes in a container of water and then sift: results in caustic potash with which you can wash directly or make black soap concentration.
As everyone knows, “livre” (the French word for book) comes from the Latin word “liber,” which means “bark.” And one can make paper with any kind of fibrous plant: nettle, flex, hemp, cane … thus, with the wood fibers, cotton, cloth. You will find information on this later in the book.
You can obtain, from the parts of many plants, dyes capable of pleasantly coloring fabrics, either from animal origins (silk, wool) or natural fibers from plants (cotton, flax, hemp, nettle …). Later in the book, you will learn more about the various necessary operations.
Here is a list that will give you the name of some dyes.
GREEN heather (dried twigs), carrot (whole plant), fig (young shoots and leaves), ferns (young stock), ash (fresh bark), chickweed (whole plant, without roots), mulberry (leaves), walnut burl (young shoots or fruit), elder (leaves and young berries), tansy (stems in early bloom), privet (berries).
YELLOW Judas tree (twigs, young leaves), gorse (flowering branches), birch (young leaves), dyer’s chamomile (flowers), geranium (whole plant without roots), goldenrod (whole plant without roots)
VIOLET oregano (whole plant without roots)
PURPLE blueberry (fruit)
BROWN juniper (berries or branches), cherry (bark), walnut (fresh or dried husk leaves), blackthorn (bark or fruit)
RED spindle (seeds vessels)
ORANGE onion (dried, colored skin), French marigold (fresh or faded flowers)
One can obtain ink from mixtures of cooked oils and carbon black or from the coloring materials of vegetables or fruits.
A recipe from M. Crussel: 8 g of beeswax, 2 g of white soap, 2 g of shellac, 3 teaspoons carbon black … Melt together the wax and soap. Before the mixture ignites, add the carbon black that was stirred with a spatula. Let burn for thirty seconds. Turn off the flame, gradually add the lacquer. Put the vase on the fire until the mixture is ignited. Extinguish the flame and pour it into the mold when the ink is cooled off a bit. To be used, it must be dissolved in water in a heated dish and reconstituted by adding cold water.
Moths will leave a space where there are dotted bags filled with santoline (Santolina chamaecyparissus) or absinthe (Artemisia absinthium) or organic oranges (Citrus sinesis) fully stuffed with cloves (Eugenia caryophyllata).
Fleas cannot stand the smell of burnt pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium).
Flies leave an area inhabited by herb of grace plants (Ruta graveolens) planted in pots or hanging in bunches.
Ants cannot stand lemon (Citrus limonum) or pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium) on the ground or in powders.
Mosquitoes (as well as rats) are repelled by the smell of burned peppermint (Mentha piperita).
Various insects are horrified by a decoction of garlic (Allium sativum) peels.
Roses are protected from parasites when in the vicinity of garlic and chives (Allium schoenoprasum).
Earthworms benefit farmland by their aerating and by their droppings and are attracted to valerian (Valeriana officinalis).
Plants for a herbarium are well protected if they are fixed by glue obtained from acorns (Quercus robur) dried in the oven.
Note: To obtain powder from a plant, the dried plant and a coffee grinder suffice.
5.4: Some nutritional mushrooms
Mushrooms are very interesting. Here is their most current dietetic composition, whether the mushroom is from the city or wild:
Mushrooms (for 100 g): Protein 4 g – Fats .3 – Glucides 6 – Water 88 – Cellulose .8 – Vitamins B2, B3, B5, C, E, P, Cl, Na, K, Mg, Ca, Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn, I.
At the end of these paragraphs, we propose to give rudimentary information about their cultivation, which you can undertake yourself.
The mushroom is of an innumerable variety. Fresh and dry, it feeds us. The mushroom is an excellent winter plant, like the oil-producing plants, grains, vegetable plants, nuts and hibernation.
First we will honor the wild mushroom, which, for some, is the ancestor of the cultivated mushroom (Psalliota hortensis).
(Psalliota campestris—Agaricaceae)
OTHER NAMES meadow mushroom
DESCRIPTION White hat, silky fibrillose, from 5 to 12 cm in diameter; almost spherical, taller than big; old, it takes the shape of a bell often flattening on top; chocolate brown and pink gills; short feet, laid out; curved; narrow, often obsolete ring; white, consistent flesh; little odor, very flavorful.
WHERE THEY GROW Ditches, roadsides, pastures (especially those of horses), often arranged in fairy rings; all of northern, temperate hemispheres and Australia.
WHEN TO HARVEST Summer and Fall
OBSERVATIONS A bit less fleshy than the cultivated mushroom but also very excellent and capable of the same culinary preparations.
Note: Coniferous forest (Psalliota silvatica) and fallow forest varities (Peronospora trifoliorum) are both edible.
Mushrooms are reproduced by spores (20 million per mg) and one must absolutely avoid picking all the mushrooms from the same place because they would no longer be able to reproduce—so many species have already disappeared because of this, as well as due to the abuse of chemical products and to the suppression of hedges, trees, and paths. The abuse of man’s toxic products, such as antibiotics, allows their dangerous multiplication in our intestines and even in our lungs, while people die of mycosis caused by the imbalance of the intestinal flora.
According to an eminent scholar in the field, the professor Roger Heim, the best edible mushrooms are the termitomyces. These are the mushrooms birthed in the interior of the termite mounds, on the stacks made by a particular species of termites, the Macrotermes, in Asia, India, and Africa. A thin string is developed at the top, which penetrates to a depth of up to 2 meters, and to the bond of the termite mound so compactly that only dynamite could undo it.
While the fungus grows, his hat grows and reaches out of the cave to the air and sometimes to considerable dimensions. In some African territories, these mushrooms are objects of considerable commerce: in a village, each possesses its field, but also its termite mound on which the farmer harvests the mushrooms. These mushrooms are succulent, and probably the best in the world in gustative terms.
(Boletus edulis)
OTHER NAMES Penny bun, porcino
DESCRIPTION Light to dark brown hat, convex, often slightly lobed, dry, sticky, 5 to 25 cm in diameter; young almost white tubes, then shades of greenish yellow, rounded foot and then clubbed cylinder, whitish then brownish; firm, white flesh, nutty flavor.
WHERE THEY GROW Softwood, clear beech; Europe
WHEN TO HARVEST Summer or fall according to the region
OBSERVATIONS Quite an exquisite mushroom, as are its subspecies: recticulatus, pinicola, aereus; they keep very well once dried (see procedures later in this book).
(Sparassis crispa)
DESCRIPTION Fruiting is spherically contoured from 8 to 20 cm high, from 6 to 30 cm long, can weigh up to 6 kg; trunk has many wavy and frizzy branches; resembles the head of a yellowish-brown cabbage; white flesh; stringy; cartilaginous; spicy, aniseed aroma.
WHERE THEY GROW Large, coniferous forests; plains and mountains of the entire northern hemisphere.
WHEN TO HARVEST Fall
COMMENTS Fruiting may stay fresh longer if left soaking in water in a cool place; quite delicious raw or barely cooked.
(Craterellus cornucopioides)
OTHER NAMES Horn of plenty, black trumpet, trumpet of the dead
DESCRIPTION Fruiting funnel 5 to 12 cm high, 5 to 8 cm wide in the upper part, a dark brown interior, a wide opening and undulating edges, a gray-brown outside, smooth, blue-rimmed; it grows in tight, almost black bands; thin, brittle flesh; pleasant scent.
PLACE Wood leaves especially at the foot of beech and oak trees. Throughout the northern hemisphere and South Australia
SEASON Summer and fall
COMMENTS Very flavorful; one can let them dry, pulverize them and use them as a condiment.
(Cantharellus cibarius)
OTHER NAMES Golden chanterelle, girolle
DESCRIPTION The hat is the yellow color of an egg, from 1 to 7 cm in diameter; vaulted at first, then flattening; funnel-shaped at maturity; scalloped and winding edge; developed and branched folds with a more vivid color than that of the hat; short feet; thickening upwards with whitish flesh; slight fruit scent.
WHERE THEY GROW Coniferous forests and hardwoods of the entire temperate northern hemisphere and Australia.
WHEN TO HARVEST Summer and fall
COMMENTS Tasty but quite indigestible unless steeped in brine; does not alter quickly due to its hard flesh.
(Lactarius deliciosus)
OTHER NAMES Saffron milk cap
DESCRIPTION Vaulted hat then collapsed in center; from 5 to 15 cm long; wound margin from below; smooth and hairless but chapped in wet weather; reddish orange tinged with shades of light or dirty-green; reddish orange gills that go green when touched; brittle and tight; orange cylindrical foot; fluffy insides then hollow later; pleasant aroma; spicy and pungent taste.
WHERE THEY GROW On young pines and humid places; the temperate northern hemisphere; Australia and Russia
WHEN TO HARVEST Summer
COMMENTS Delicious mushroom; slightly spicy and peppery; crunchier than the cep
(Macrolepiota procera)
DESCRIPTION Yellow hat, nearly oval; a bit cracked; from 10 to 30 cm in diameter then, once opened, large and flat with a prominent nipple at the center; white gills; tightly curved; very tall feet, slender from 20 to 40 cm; bulb at base; brown scaly, double ring spread; white, tough flesh but good scent; a pleasant taste.
WHERE THEY GROW Woods, forest edges, grassy places; all of the northern hemisphere, Africa, India, Australia.
WHEN TO HARVEST Fall
COMMENTS Excellent mushroom in which the leathery flesh needs only light cooking.
(Marasmius oreades)
COMMON NAMES Fairy Ring Mushroom
DESCRIPTION Hat from 2 to 5 cm in diameter, brownish tan, dark blade, fawn color in the dry state; convex at the dented blade; feet from 4 to 7 cm high and lighter in color than the hat; hard, elastic, felted, white when young; whitish gills; quite apart and notched; pale flesh with the scent of freshly cut wood.
WHERE THEY GROW Pastures, roadsides, meadows, in rows or fairy rings; all of the temperate northern hemisphere and Australia
WHEN TO HARVEST After warm rains from May until autumn
OBSERVATIONS Excellent edible mushroom; dries easily and stores well (see information on conservation later in this book).
(Morchella esculenta)
OTHER NAMES Yellow morel, true morel, sponge morel
DESCRIPTION Yellowish-brown hat from 3 to 7 cm high; from 3 to 5 cm; thick, rounded, oval; large celled, limited by sinuous and sharp edges; feet from 6 to 12 cm high; yellowish-brown flesh; fragile.
WHERE THEY GROW The hedgerows, scrubs rich in humus; all of the temperate northern hemisphere and Australia
WHEN TO HARVEST After the warm rains of April and May
OBSERVATIONS Very fragrant mushroom; scald before consumption.
Note: Semi-free morel, conical morel, white morel, wrinkled foot morel are as edible in the same conditions.
(Hydnum repandum)
OTHER NAMES Sweet tooth or hedgehog mushroom
DESCRIPTION Pale yellow amber, dry and dull; from 6 to 20 cm; fairly flat, convex; paler, tighter spines than the hat; from 5 to 10 mm long; feet are thick, irregular, pale, often short; pale flesh; brittle; a bit bitter, nearly white to pale yellow.
WHERE THEY GROW Coniferous forests or forest leaves, in groups or in fairy circles. All of the temperate northern hemisphere.
WHEN TO HARVEST Summer, Autumn
OBSERVATIONS A slightly closed mushroom, the whiter the better; bitter taste
The Bare-Toothed Russula Mushroom
(Russula vesca)
OTHER NAMES The Flirt
DESCRIPTION Hat a range of red tones, brown and brownish-green, from 4 to 10 cm diameters, smooth, slightly rough, flattened-convex; white gills, pitted rust; white feet, slightly hard, often turns brown; firm, white flesh; sweet, nutty flavor.
WHERE THEY GROW Wood leaves, wetland soils
WHEN TO HARVEST Aummer, fall
OBSERVATIONS Exquisite mushroom, very good preservation
The Mushrooms Of Rudolf Steiner
In his remarkable work, Agriculture—Fondements spirituels de la method bio-dynamique (Anthroposophique Romandes, Geneve), Rudolf Steiner says this about mushrooms:
Having them in the pastures will have greatly improved the health of the livestock. Shrubs exert a beneficial action merely by their presence. This is because reciprocal actions are a general rule in nature.
I will even go so far as to say that animals are not as stupid as humans. It does not take long to gain this affinity. And when it is realized that love is innate in the bushes, animals will eat them with gusto! They eat what they need, that which magnificently balances with the other feedstuff that serve them.
In continuing to examine natural affinities, one acquires new notions about the nature of plant pests. We have seen birds’ attraction to softwood and bushes for mammals. And there are also mushrooms for the microscopic fauna of bacteria and other microbes, for all harmful parasites. And these parasites create symbiosis with all kinds of mushrooms, which grow everywhere or the mushrooms multiplies. This is where we must seek the origin of disease and other even more important damage. So we build an agriculture landscape not only incorporating the woods but also prairies in some portion. These grasslands act in an effective manner for agriculture because they provide excellent ground for the growth of mushrooms. And one must examine carefully if the prairies carry mushrooms. One finds, in this case, any prairie rich in mushrooms, even if it is small, if near a cultivated field, it will marvelously preserve the cultures of all invading parasites thanks to the bacteria’s affinity to the mushrooms and any harmful microbes because the mushrooms have more affinity with the failure of disease than any other plant.
A Deadly Mushroom: The Amanita phalloides
DESCRIPTION Not all mushrooms are edible and many of them are toxic and even deadly. The most dangerous are the Amanita phalloides and their modified forms: Amanita citrine, Amanita verna, Amanita virosa. They are actually responsible for 80% of serious poisonings by mushrooms and for 52% of deadly cases.
OTHER NAMES Destroying angel, fool’s mushroom, death angel
DESCRIPTION Olive-green hat from 7 to 12 cm; a clearer edge; or yellowish-green-olive all over, sometimes tinted gray; slightly sticky, often ribbed with or without rough veneer; white gills or the color of the hat; feet bulging at the base, white in the beginning then yellowish or greyish; from 8 to 12 mm thickness, in the shape of a bulb equally soft; habitually hidden by a white, membranous volva; relatively tall and lobbed; soft, white flesh, greenish under the cuticle; a very faint raw potato scent.
WHERE THEY GROW Woods leaves and mixed trees, wet soil; all of the temperate northern hemisphere.
SEASON Abundant in summer; isolated in fall
COMMENTS The also-deadly Amanita verna may be confused with the farmed mushroom; one sees the difference in the color of their gills—white with the Amanita, reddish-chocolate brown for the Psalliota; and the farmed mushroom does not have a half-free volva.
The Cultivated Mushroom and its Farming
PLACE caves, cellars, underground shelters, attics or outdoors
VENTILATION slow and continuous
HUMIDITY continuous but not stagnant
TEMPERATURE between 8 and 20°C. Optimum temperature maintained between 12 and 15°C.
MANURE sheep, donkey, chicken will suffice, but the best is horse. Take the manure with pitchforks, shake it up to divide; and make a slope before progressively mounting from 1 to 1.5 m; mix the droppings well with the straw; maintain a gauge between the slope and the bulk of manure, water with emphasis on the driest parts. Finally, trample the borders to help fermentation. Temperature should be 70°C for some days.
The cultivated mushroom
Seven to eight days later, return to the first piling, to reveal the badly fermented exterior part that you will again throw atop; water slightly, and as you approach the edges, comb the sides to compact and again trample the edges. Six to eight days later, the manure is ready; the mushroom odor evident; do not let the water drain and don’t dirty it; moist and smooth, it takes volume immediately; from dark brown with whitish parts.
SET UP Arrange the mushroom beds in the area set aside for their cultivation so they are no higher than sixteen inches. Be sure to shake the manure so that it is mixed well. The foundational bed should consist of almost a foot of crumbled manure, which should be about four inches wider than the mushroom bed to be built on top of it. Trample it underfoot until it is the desired width, by removing the excess at the side. This will be the base of the mushroom bed on top of which you will construct the “body” and “hat” in the same way, rounding off the edges with your hands. Once you have finished building the bed, clean the surrounding area.
One can also make flowerbeds from 1 meter long and high, 20 cm on the edges and 25 at the center, for good humidity when watering.
Note: boxes, tubs, and uplands can make for support elements.
SEEDING At the end of the installation, seed with fresh, white seeds or dry, white spores; once bloomed, place them for seven to eight days in a warm, humid place or on a warm horticultural tray. Then separate the white into fractions the size of a walnut; uncover the manure and introduce it to 2 or 3 cm deep; replace the manure, dividing it up into 15, 15 cm each. At the beginning of three or four weeks, the development will reach the width of the palm of the hand … go to the next stage.
MINERAL CASING The bed can also be covered with a three-quarter-inch-thick layer of soil that is a good blend of 75% crushed limestone and 25% fresh garden dirt.
Other local material can be used but don’t forget that siliceous-only land does not retain water and that limestone-only soil can become compacted by humidity.
The mixture must be very homogenous; wet it enough so that it retains the imprints of the fingers without vanishing. With a shovel or a simple wooded board, 12 cm by 30 cm, project the soil onto the bed by turning it quickly, making it adhere to the earth in uniform thickness; wet with a very fine watering can; twenty-four hours later, reinsure the adhesion of earth to manure.
Upkeep: water abundantly to the level of earth and abundantly on the surface of the beds with the fine watering can; avoid having the water cross the mineral casing if possible; at the end of three to six weeks, fruiting bodies appear in seeds or spider legs. On the twentieth day, the mushrooms are adults.
HARVESTING You can tell when a cultivated mushroom is ready to be harvested by sticking the tip of your finger between the edge of the cap and the upper part of the foot. The flesh will be slightly yielding. To harvest, take the cap delicately between the fingers and slightly twist it, without removing it or damaging the young neighboring spores. They can be harvested every day for a period of two to six months. The beds should be cleaned after each picking. Suspect mushrooms—any with detached spores—should be thrown away immediately. Maintain a consistent level of humidity by slightly watering the beds and supplying the bases with much more generous amounts of water. Following each harvest, remove any rootstock that might rot and plug up the holes left by their removal with mineral casing dirt.
OUTDOOR Permeable land with slight slope and drainage channel; less fermented manure for sheltered farming; wheels from .65 meters long by equal height; after seeding, cover with a thick litter of dried straw to accommodate; a month later, remove the cover and gobter; farm from spring or from autumn.
WITHOUT MANURE Use old plaster rubble crushed into ¼ inch pieces, wet and arranged in piles along a wall .60 meters high; seed and cover with a ¾ to 1¼-inch-thick layer of mineral casing immediately; water from time to time with a solution of potassium nitrate (2 g per liter of water); harvesting should be possible two months later, fruiting can be extended by four to five months.
Note: one can also cultivate mushrooms in greenhouses, on stretchers, on vegetable layers in mobile cultures, cold beds.