Salve is complete and setting up!  I cannot wait to test it out.

I was impatient so instead of soaking it in oil for days, I chopped the vegetable matter rather fine and added it to double boiler and brought it up to 100-110 degrees F for several hours (several times over the course of a day).  I then strained the weeds out and added beeswax until it melted.  I have not yet explored far enough to know if heat was a viable method for extractions or not, but it seems reasonable that a container could be placed near a cooking fire to work in a similar fashion.

​Apparently I now also have a use for some of the terrible pottery I made last spring!

Note that various publications warn that both of these items can cause contact dermatitis in some individuals so testing use before liberal application is advised.

​Disclaimer: I am an amateur at woodscraft and herblore.  Nothing below should be taken as advice or recommendations.  I am merely experimenting.  Please do your own research before consuming or using any plant for medicinal purposes.
 
The plague, and working from home, has given me a unique opportunity to watch the land around me change from year to year.  Several years ago, the invasive Japanese Stiltgrass was the dominant ground cover here, especially near my garden.  Last year, it was Cleavers (which I will talk more about soon).  This year, it is Chickweed.  There is a thick carpet of it everywhere on the top of this hill and I do not ever recall seeing it in this location before.

Research tells me that this will die off as soon as summer rolls in, but I pulled most of it from around the garden now, and will be pulling more for some experiments over the next few days.
 
The name comes from the fact that apparently chickens love to eat this plant, and the Old English form of the name is ‘cicene mete’ (chicken meat).  The plant is found in association with archaeological digs from the Saxon period in England (McKerracher, Anglo-Saxon Crops and Weeds, 2019).  I will note that the internet states that it initially flourished in Eurasia and naturalized elsewhere over time, but I am not going that deep into the ultimate origins for these things.  There is evidence of the plant from the Coppergate site at York. (Leechcraft, 107) I am looking mainly to see if they would be period for my Forester persona (14th Century England), and clearly it is.

​As I mentioned in my last post, I am very diligent about safety with plants that I am only working with for the first time.  Several sources recommended that you can identify by the flowers (five petals split so deeply that it looks like 10), a broken stem does NOT have milky sap and looking for a line of fine hairs running up the stem on one side (and it shifts position between sets of leaves).  This plant matched numerous photos in books and online and all of the criteria above.

So Chickweed is edible (not recommended for pregnant women) both raw or cooked and supposedly is rather nutritious (and high in iron).  Tonight I incorporated it into my salad, and also plan to eventually sautee a bit in butter to sample.
 
Another relevant thing that I learned this week is that chiggers (Trombicula alfreddugesi), the menace of the region where I am in the US, apparently have a close relative that lives in England that has the common name Harvest Mite (Neotrombicula autumnalis).  Chigggers eat me alive in the late spring/summer, and I am starting to see the wisdom of hosen and braies for my forestry project.  Yes, it is May 17 and I have my first three bites already.

These bites will be a weeks-long-pain but, they also give me the opportunity to try out a medical application of Chickweed!  Supposedly it can be chewed a few times and placed on an itchy bite to relieve the itch.  This would be exceptionally practical in the field if the pests managed to skirt the well-covering clothing of the 14th century.  Additionally, a poultice can be made with oil and I might attempt a salve later this week if I can track down my beeswax.
 
So, the Chickweed smells and tastes like fresh mown grass.  It is not unpleasant, but I would not want to eat mouthfuls by itself.  A bit in a salad is pleasant and adds a crunch like sprouts do.  I rough chopped some and ground with a mortar and pestle and it produces a very stringy mass and a rich green liquid.  In the future, I would more finely chop this up (or use a food processor but I am pretty sure that is not period, lol).  I pressed some onto the first bite and it was very cooling and by the time it fell off a minute or so later, the itch had subsided.  Now to see how long the effect lasts.  (ETA, it lasts about 40 minutes.  I only get an hour of relief from Benedryl gel, so that is not bad!)

​I added a bit of vinegar (apple cider because it was the closest thing at that moment) and ground it a bit longer and added that to the second bite.  It held on a bit longer than the first application and had a similar, and possibly slightly better, effect.  Finally, I chewed a bit of the plant and applied that to the third bite.  It held the best and had a similar effect to the first application.

I also heated some water, soaked the plants for about 5 minutes and then ground them up with the mortar and pestle. This concoction was much more sticky and very easily stayed on the bite for a good 5 minutes.  Adding a bit of olive oil (my choices here for fats are butter, olive oil and canola oil and cats would be licking off the butter so I went with the olive) made it cling even more so.  The initial result was that these also stopped the itching but the results did not seem to last nearly as long as the unheated version.
 
I have some more books on the way and am hoping to better learn if any of these plants are mentioned, along with their period uses, in historic sources.  I read from a very tertiary source that this particular plant was also part of medieval gardens, but do not have enough knowledge in that field to know yet if that is true or not.  An article from 2014 in The Telegraph mentions that the book The Medieval Garden (S. Landsberg) references chickweed being added to the cooking pot.  I have a copy coming so look forward to seeing what all is included in that work.

Persona Summary:

• This plant was likely known to a 14th Century Forester in England
• The understood properties in period might have been something that person had come across
• Plausible food source, potentially used in pottages and the like

Projects:

• Test the plant as a poultice on bites
  • Completed - effective at relieving the itching for 30-40 minutes
• Add the greens to a pottage
• Add greens to a salad
  • ​Completed - tastes like grass but adds nice texture
• Create a salve with chickweed to use on scrapes or bites
  • Completed - Further information HERE

​List of Resources can be found HERE 

30+ years ago I was very, very into herblore and medicinal uses for plants.  This had nothing to do with the SCA at the time (as I had not even joined yet), but my Granny had a couple of ancient pamphlets about uses for herbs and that got me rolling.  A trip with my family to a massive craft fair in Ohio led me to a Mennonite booth that sold herbs of all sorts (medicinal and culinary) and I bought up all of the things that I had read about and for the next five or so years maintained a nice collection.  Admittedly, I collected more than I used any of it, but I loved learning about it all.

My approach then was to learn about herbs and then source them from suppliers.  For my SCA Forestry project, I am going to focus, at this time, on local plants that I can see growing in the wild, learning to identify and then discover the uses (both modern and historic) if I do not already know them. 

One thing that always has fascinated me in the SCA is learning about things I find to be utterly common (such as the poison ivy mentioned earlier in this blog or common, and deeply loved, foods like potatoes) would have been unheard of for my persona in period.  So a large part of this, for me, will involve comparing my world to that of my 14th Century Forester persona's.

I will note that I am overly cautious about plants that I did not deliberately grow myself.  When I am identifying a plant, I make use of several books that I already own (and have ordered a few more) and a number of websites to make absolutely sure that what I think I have is what I actually have.  I never check with less than 5 sources and prefer those that point out very clear identifiers to help confirm a plant.  I also look to see if there are look-a-likes that are harmful and triple check to make sure I didn't stumble on that weed instead.  

Safety has to come first.

I am fortunate that I have very few allergies to contend with in this field.  This makes wild edibles a somewhat safe game for me.  If you are unfortunately enough to have a number of plant allergies (or drug allergies), I highly recommend that you learn what wild plants might be related to those items before testing anything yourself.

And safety is even more important when talking about herbal remedies.  There is more to it than knowing about whether a plant is poison or not (or in what quantities it becomes harmful).  Herbal medicines can interact with your modern drugs (or each other) in negative ways, and can create harmful side effects or lessen the functionality of your prescribed medication.  If you have drug allergies, you need to verify that a plant does not have the same or similar components to those things you cannot take.  I have a great personal example of this in that I am allergic to NSAIDS.  All of them.  They crash out my kidney function if I take even the smallest dose of the least of them (baby aspirin).  I would be rich if I had $10 for every time I said "I cannot take NSAIDS" and some utter idiot (yes, I said it) recommended White Willow to me for arthritis.

Don't listen to the idiots on the internet about these things.  Do your research, triple check everything, and take care when consuming wild plants or herbal medicines.  I am going to get off my soapbox now and go back to figuring out what is growing in my yard.

Because this plant is damaging to the environment, I started pulling it up by the roots where ever I found it in the woods here last year.  I removed huge piles of it (and ate huge piles as well, usually sauteed with spinach or other greens from my garden).  My efforts did do at least some good, as I was able to cut the amount that sprang up this year in half.  Onward with this year's weeding!

I uprooted a fair bit of garlic mustard today, and also collected some to add to ingredients from my garden for some cheese and herb hand pies.  My thoughts are that a Forester who rode out to survey his territory every morning would be taking a meal with him so I thought I would both used this foraged item (which was available in medieval Europe) and incorporate it into a portable food source.  Note that this project today is less about redacting a truly medieval recipe, than it is about eradicating a plant that is damaging to the local environment (read more HERE), and making use of a foraged item (as well as random leftovers foraged from my fridge, lol).

So, to that end, I made hand pies that I might craft again when I have the opportunity to do a garbed woods walk with friends.  For the filling I used 6oz of cream cheese (softened), and chopped up two small fronds of parsley, a handful of large spinach leaves, a few chives and the leaves of quite a few Garlic Mustard plants.  I did not note quantities but you can see what I used in the provided image.  I mixed the chopped greens, salt and pepper as well as one egg into the cream cheese and added in a hefty tablespoon of freshly shaved parmesean.

For the pastry, I used 1.25 cups of flour (about half wheat, half white), 1/4 teaspoon of salt, a stick of butter at room temp, cut into small cubes, and 3T cold water.  I mix the flour and salt and then when I add the cubes of butter to the flour I mix them in with my hands, pressing the butter and flour together between my thumb and forefinger.  I work it until the flour and butter is a grainy mixture with some pea sized lumps. I also had a package with about a heaping tablespoon or so of commercially grated parmesean cheese in it that I needed to use up so I mixed that into dough as well.  I have no idea of anyone in the middle ages added hard cheese into crust but it makes a divine pie crust so I used it (sharp cheddar also works well in a crust).

At this point I added in the 3T of water, but I will note, it was almost too much, so I added in a little more flour and, well, pretty much spilled too much into the mix.  This left my dough a bit too dry, but I rolled with it anyways at this point.  I left this to chill in the fridge for 20 minutes while I mixed up the cheese and herb mix.

I rolled out the dough and used a plastic lid to cut circles that I filled with the cheese and greens mixture, rubbed a bit of water around the edges and folded in half, pressing the seam with a fork.  I had enough space on my pan for 5 or so pies so made that many and turned the remaining crust into a small tart.  I could have gotten about 7-8 4.5inch circles out of the dough I made had I done all hand pies.  I brushed the tops with an egg wash and I baked them at 375 degrees F until they were lightly browned.

The pastry is very light and flakey (almost going into puff pastry territory rather than like a denser pie crust).  I over stuffed the hand pies and did not well seal them so they were some what bursting while hot but hold their shape very well once they have cooled down.  They taste FANTASTIC and I will absolutely make these again in a month or so with whatever greens and herbs I have in the garden (or woodlands) at that time.

Persona Summary:

• This plant was likely known to a 14th Century Forester in England
• Plausible foraged or grown food source, potentially used in pottages or where greens are needed

Projects:

• Remove the weed as I see it due to its invasive nature in the US
  • ​Ongoing work
• Cook with the plant
  • ​Completed, see above​

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​List of Resources can be found HERE

The good folks who introduced me to SCA forestry have a very definite focus on things like survival skills or long 'survival' hikes (not literally survival, but carrying 50lbs for 20 miles and being cold or wet are not my idea of fun).  I assumed, mistakenly, that this was all of what the Forestry program was about.

What I have learned since is that what folks choose to do in it is entirely up them.  One's path might encompass fishing, herblore, edible plants, cooking outdoors, thrown weapons, research... there are so many options.  Knowing that makes this all that much more appealing.

And also?  If I am to be honest, the idea of putting an SCA spin on things I plan to do here mean they are much more likely to actually get done.

While I learn more about the roles of actual Foresters in England in period, I am going to start testing some different paths from an SCA perspective.  One will involve local plants and I am starting that here!

Poison Ivy - Nemesis of the Forest

As a Forester, I would be maintaining the forest for Royal use.  While this particularly annoying plant did not exist in Medieval England, I am fairly certain that if it did it might well have been eradicated from royal presence.

I have been fighting the battle with this weed since before the pandemic.  At one point, the small side yard here was entirely full of it and it was growing as high as my hip.  Weekly battles that involved pulling up the entire root system now have that bit of yard fairly free of the plant, and my garden thrives there in its place.

I now am tackling the ivy in other locations here.  I confess that I get very little reaction to the plant myself.  I only breakout if it touches an open wound, such as a recent scratch.  I still handle the plant with care (and gloves) and make sure to wash any oils off of my skin and clothes because I live with someone who is highly allergic.

At lunch yesterday, I did go out and start to pull the plant from the area around the garage.  I was impressed that one root system that I extracted was nearly 30 feet long!  It is no wonder that this plant spreads as rapidly as it does.

I also did a very small bit of research on this monstrosity.  While the plant is native to North America and Asia, those who came to the New World were fascinated enough with it that they TOOK SOME BACK TO EUROPE AND DELIBERATELY GREW IT.  (Read more HERE )

So, I tackled the weed, and will be continuing to do so as the summer progresses.  Eventually the wood will be safe for his Lordship's wanderings. ;-)

I did start to think of other things as I was ripping up the vines, such as the fact that using gloves is necessary.  While they did not deal with this particular plant in period, there are other tasks that would involve gloves and that brought my mind to the rather cartoonish mittens from the Luttrell Psalter.

The mittens are often depicted as colorful, and below you can see a parti-colored pair and one that is striped, leading me to believe that could well have been crafted from wool in addition to possibly leather.  My next steps here will be to attempt some research on period two-finger mittens to see what I can find out and work towards crafting a set as part of my kit.  I can then test these out against the blistering ivy.