#foraging

I found these beautiful pink flowers blooming on our beach property.

The tree is Madero Negro and the flowers are edible (!!) and although the leaves are not, they can be used as a natural insecticide when crushed and soaked in water.

The tree is also used as a living fence and is very beneficial as it fixes nitrogen in the soil.

Foraging for wild edibles on the Northern Pacific coast of Nicaragua. 

Shamus was introduced to these two wild edibles near our new home on the beach.

1. Fruto de Papaturro: I haven’t been able to find much information about this fruit online other then that monkeys enjoy them. 

2. Tiguilote: known to be anti parasitic among locals and is also known as the clammy cherry tree. The berries are also known as clammy cherries or glue berries, snotty gobbles, pink pearl, fragrant manjack or Indian cherry.

The white gooey inner pulp is traditionally used to make glue and that doesn’t surprise me as they leave a latex-y film on the teeth when eaten. 

hedgehog-moss:

I spent a whole afternoon picking 600 dandelions to make dandelion honey :) I got about 6 jars, using 1.5kg of sugar, 2 grapefruits, 1 orange and 2 lemons. The chickens helped a bit, if only by providing constructive criticism as I looked for good dandelion spots (though I think they assumed I was looking for worms.) The other animals helped not one bit.

MONK SEAL with a SPOTTED EEL stuck in its nose
Neomonachus schauinslandi
©NOAA Fisheries/Brittany Dolan

A juvenile Hawaiian monk seal was found with a spotted eel in its nose at French Frigate Shoals in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands this past summer. And it wasn’t the first time it happened.

Though NOAA has been monitoring the monk seal population in the northern islands of Hawaii for almost 40 years, this eel-in-the-nose problem has been observed a handful of times, but only since 2016.

The NOAA has proposed two hypotheses: first, that eels launch themselves defensively at the seals while they are foraging for food, shoving their mouths and noses into the crevices of coral reefs and under rocks.  

Another theory the agency suggests is that a seal may swallow an eel whole and then regurgitate it through its nose.

The conservation agency reassured concerned viewers that the eel was successfully removed, saying that the procedure required light restraint of the seal and a slow, steady pull on the eel, taking around 30 seconds in total. “In all cases the eel was successfully removed and the seals were fine. The eels, however, did not make it,” the agency said. Text Source

NOTE: Someone made a pandemic mask of a monk seal with an eel…
https://twitter.com/SamanthaSHauser/status/1290760993232941058/photo/1

getting close to the appalachian trail southern terminus. i was half-starved and foraging for blueberries at this point. 21 miles to go…

Forest finds

Stringing together herbs while sipping on a delicious nettle and @loving_earth maca green smoothie. nettle grows in many places, and is so much more than an itchy weed. I picked some yesterday morning at the market, they’re so delicious inside a smoothie, and don’t worry, once blended up they lose their sting
Nettle is taken as a blood purifier, as a tea it helps to cure mucus congestion, skin irritations, water retention and diarrhoea. The beverage is also said to help nursing mothers produce milk and it also stimulates the digestive glands of the stomach, intestines, liver, pancreas and gall bladder.
Nettle juice will even ease the stinging of the rash brought about from contact with the plants own bristled leaves! ✨
The seeds are super easy to spread, just keep the very tops of the stems and spread them over your soil ！

instagram @smoothblender

c  h  a  m  o  m  i  l  e

Japanese Maple and Pollen.

Northwest Foraging prints are here! Use code SPRINGITON for 20% off at fridaclements.com

#fridaclements #illustration #botanical #foraging #handmade #seattle #hippies

After heavy rain - there is fungi explosion in Catskills

Here is lovely Lactarius delicious group