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my foraging diary

willow and squiggles said:
found this today its only small and some parts of it were green and some were white, i havent got a clue what it is. Any ideas anyone
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Looks like silver weed. When it matures a bit it should become very silvery on the top. We have some grow in our garden down by a pond, it's safe and the bunnies will eat it as part of a mix but they're not mad about it compared to other things.
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yeah my twigs way foraging book came today and ive been out foraging with it. I think i might have found ground elder and hogweed out of it. Will post pics to see what you all think. Fantastic book by the way, telling you the best greens for drying and so on. Very informative.
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And willow with leaves and catkins.
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couldnt find a pic of the hogweed will get another tomorrow.
 
Ah the evil Ground Elder :lol: I have spent a couple of hours this afternoon trying to weed one of the flower beds, which has Ground Elder growing very happily inbetween and even in the middle of plants. I hate to think of the root system underneath that patch in your photo :shock:

I don't think I have ever seen catkins looking like that. They are really super! I checked with my OH btw and he confirmed that it is definitely Willow. There are so many different types of Willow though.

I'll be very interested to know how your rabbits enjoyed the Silverweed. I don't come across it that often and have never tried it on my rabbits.

Glad your book arrived.
 
lol.. thankfully the ground elder is on one of my walks not in my garden. I only gave the buns 3 prigs of the silver weed and its been eaten so i guess they like a little of it. Its goat willow i think. There are about 30 willow trees on my walks probably more and ive been taking photos in all the different stages. There are a couple of different ones, i know some are white willow too. The buns love them all.
 
i feel like i should know this plant but for the life of me i cant think what it is. It can grow tallish and when i cut the stem its got a funny smell which smells similar to something. hard to explain but its really got an aroma. Anyone know what it is and if its safe.
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willow and squiggles said:
i feel like i should know this plant but for the life of me i cant think what it is. It can grow tallish and when i cut the stem its got a funny smell which smells similar to something. hard to explain but its really got an aroma. Anyone know what it is and if its safe.
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Looks like Cow Parsley to me - though it can be confused with Hemlock :shock:

When I first foraged it for my rabbits I ate some myself, and as I was still OK the next day, I guessed I had it right :D I did do a lot of research first though!

ETA - just seen your photos of the stem and that's different to Cow Parsley :thumb:
 
I haven't come across that before, but does it smell of celery? I ask because I thought the leaves looked very much like the leaves on a celery head. I then checked in the Wildflower book and it does look similar to Wild Celery :) I think it must be safe because ordinary Celery is OK and my rabbits like it. Also the scientific name for both ordinary Celery and Wild Celery is the same (Apium graveolens), so effectively it's the same.
 
it doesn't look like cow parsley to me. Wild celery sounds cool if it is that.

Thank You for helping me ID ground elder :wave: I've also got dead nettle for the first time today. Yet to see / smell Jack in the Hedge
 
joey&boo said:
it doesn't look like cow parsley to me. Wild celery sounds cool if it is that.

Thank You for helping me ID ground elder :wave: I've also got dead nettle for the first time today. Yet to see / smell Jack in the Hedge
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No the stem definitely doesn't fit :thumb:
 
i pick cow parsley everyday, it different than that, not at feathery and the stem hasnt got the groove in. the closest i can find in pics is the wild celery. Im going to do some more checking lol..
Im really enjoying finding new things too. xx
 
You should be able to ID it on smell. If it's Wild Celery it should smell of Celery :)

I did lots more weeding today and the rabbits had lots of Avens. I then picked some long stalky grass and some Deadnettle for them. Last time I looked they were all sprawled out dead to the world :love:

You're certainly finding lots of different plants in your local patch :)
 
I think it's certainly a possibility. I use two wildflower ID books and it looks similar to the picture in one of them, but not the other. If it is Hemlock Water Dropwort it should have hollow stems and should smell of Parsley. I think you've probably already decided not to feed it to your little ones. There is just so much that can be easily identified and which is safe that the rabbits can have, When the ID is not easy, it's really only of interest value for us to be able to ID it. Let me know if you have any more thoughts on it.
 
i didnt feed cow parsley for two weeks before bringing that home. I must have checked so many books and sites and until i could pick it as easily as i pick a dandelion and never fed it the buns. Now i know straight away which is hemlock which is cow parsley. This one though i dont know because i cant find anything to distinguish it from the poisonous ones. I will keep looking but its definitely off the menu. It hasnt got hollow stems though.
 
Its a lovely day for foraging today. All my stuff i was drying is done and packed into paper bags so i have loads or room again to dry some more. Im going to get loads of hazel leaves, brambles and plantain to dry, plus the normal forage for today. Im on the rosebay willow herb today so i can be 100% about ID of that one before it gets flowers. Hope everyone and everybun has a great day.
 
I've had a good forage today, hope you did too? . Stock piled plantain, ground elder & yellow dead nettle to dry & store.

Of course my bunnies have a lovely selection for their tea too :) Their poo looks rubbish on it though so I'm cutting back on portion size (which were massive)
 
Just stalky grass, Ribwort Plantain, Chickweed and Red Deadnettle collected and fed here. But it was a super day :love:

Regarding their poo, is it just that it looks dark rather than golden? I find that this is the case if they've had lots of grass rather than hay. As long as it looks OK otherwise then I'm not too bothered.
 
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