Well drained soil

Lowbush Blueberry – Vaccinium Angustifolium: Edible & Medicinal Uses of the Super Berry of Wild Plants

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Lowbush Blueberry – Vaccinium Angustifolium

Lowbush blueberry AKA “low sweet” blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium) is common here, as is velvet-leaf blueberry (Vaccinium myrtilloides) which thrives around marshes. I’ve heard a few personal anecdotes from locals about picking blueberries all the while watching a black bear or bears doing the same nearby. There’s a myth (I originally believed!) that blackflies pollinate blueberry … [Read more…]

Wild Red Raspberry – Rubus Idaeus Var. Strigosus: Edible & Medicinal Uses of a Berry Sweet Wild Plant

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Wild Red Raspberry Syn. American Red Raspberry - Rubus Idaeus Var. Strigosus

Wild red raspberry syn. American red raspberry (Rubus idaeus var. strigosus) is one of hundreds of wild edible and medicinal brambles. Its fruit is not a true berry, but a cluster of drupelets. So, yeah, bananas are berries and raspberries are not. Around Haliburton you’ll also find purple-flowering raspberry (Rubus odoratus), which will be covered … [Read more…]

Violets – Viola Spp.: Edible & Medicinal Uses of the Pretty Little Things of Wild Plants

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Violets - Viola Spp.

Violets (Viola spp.) are aplenty around here and all are edible and medicinal. Happily, the plant is unharmed by picking the flowers. However, some species are rare so do take the usual proper precautions in ID-ing and monitoring your wild plant allies. While you’ll probably only find it in southern Ontario, viola pedata is one … [Read more…]

Wild Leek – Allium Tricoccum: Edible & Medicinal Uses of Ramps, The Top Locally Foraged Wild Plant

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Wild Leek – Allium Tricoccum

Wild leek or ramps (Allium tricoccum) is a popular foraged plant by people who aren’t otherwise foragers around here. Some properties have carpets of them. Others have been stripped of them as people don’t know offhand how long the bulbs take to grow and how easy it is to devastate a population of ramps. In … [Read more…]

Quaking Aspen – Populus Tremuloides: Edible & Medicinal Uses of a Popple’r Wild Plant

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Quaking Aspen - Populus Tremuloides

“Balm of Gilead” can be made from various poplar buds including quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides), a common edible, medicinal and useful tree in our area. Last month we talked about balsam poplar. But quaking aspen was my first ID’d poplar. I noticed a set of trees on the one-acre wood that softly trembled in the … [Read more…]

White Ash – Fraxinus Americana: Edible & Medicinal Uses of the Crafty Tree of Wild Plants

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White Ash - Fraxinus Americana

White ash (Fraxinus americana) is a useful tree to know. In fact, it’s one of the top five trees Caleb Kinew Nini Musgrave @canadianbushcraft recommends knowing in our area. The other four being birch, cedar, spruce and basswood. The “white” refers to the pale underside of leaves, twigs, and bark, although it’s really more of … [Read more…]