Today I murdered more garlic mustard. I have also been remulching (after many years) the front yard here. We have no real soil, so very little grows... and most of that is stilt grass. I am covering it all to hopefully have this round die off before going to seed. Then another year I can clear areas of mulch and plant native wildflowers and other things.
I do need to decide which saplings in the front yard will get to have a chance at growing. There are white and red oaks, ash (white, I think), black cherry and one redbud (that one gets a pass to see if it makes it).
BUT, I did find Longstyle Sweetroot (Osmorhiza longistylis). I pulled just one to test it out. This is a native plant, so will not become part of my apothecary (which has a 14th C English focus), but I still am testing everything safe out.
It absolutely smells of anise. I tried the leaves raw and they were tender, tasted lightly of anise and had a bitter note as well. I liked them, but the BigMan did not at all.
The root is SWEET. Delightfully so. It tingles on the tongue the way ginger does. I do not like licorice candy at all but this is somewhat dialed back from that and I enjoy it.
So I made tea from the leaves (WAY too "green" tasting for tea). The roots (sweet and refreshing but I made it a little strong). And some mint from the garden. Mixing the mint tea 3 to 1 with the sweetroot, and diluting just a bit makes a fabulous beverage. After these seed I might harvest a few more roots to add to summer beverages.
I do need to decide which saplings in the front yard will get to have a chance at growing. There are white and red oaks, ash (white, I think), black cherry and one redbud (that one gets a pass to see if it makes it).
BUT, I did find Longstyle Sweetroot (Osmorhiza longistylis). I pulled just one to test it out. This is a native plant, so will not become part of my apothecary (which has a 14th C English focus), but I still am testing everything safe out.
It absolutely smells of anise. I tried the leaves raw and they were tender, tasted lightly of anise and had a bitter note as well. I liked them, but the BigMan did not at all.
The root is SWEET. Delightfully so. It tingles on the tongue the way ginger does. I do not like licorice candy at all but this is somewhat dialed back from that and I enjoy it.
So I made tea from the leaves (WAY too "green" tasting for tea). The roots (sweet and refreshing but I made it a little strong). And some mint from the garden. Mixing the mint tea 3 to 1 with the sweetroot, and diluting just a bit makes a fabulous beverage. After these seed I might harvest a few more roots to add to summer beverages.
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