Wildcrafting New BrunswickIdeas for wildcrafting in New Brunswick.
Added by leto #4 on 2004-09-27. Last modified 2004-11-26 17:57. Originally created 2004-09-27. F0 License: Attribution-ShareAlike
|
Seaweed - Collect for to make compost and soil activator. Also edible. Dulse (a type of seaweed) is eaten in this area.
Rockweed - Special type of seaweed which has sacs of aloe-like substance that is commercially harvested for skin-care products.
Pineappleweed - tasty plant that grows on the roadside everywhere, great for tea.
Chanterelle mushroom - grows all over the Maritimes, perhaps sell to local restaraunts.
Tree seeds (sugar maple, red maple, tamarack) and perhaps also start small tree nursery
More ideas from survivingpeakoil.com:
Fresh Grass / Leaves. Making Leaf Concentrate at Home. Wash and cut leaves into pieces 2 - 3" long, use only fresh green leaves known to be edible, such as alfalfa, Swiss chard, lambsquarters, blackeye peas, wheat, mustard, kale, or collards. While many other plants make good concentrate, it is safer for beginners to stick with commonly eaten leaf crops. Grind the leaves to a pulp. (Use a manual meat grinder or flour grinder, a wheat grass juicer, or a household blender. Fruit and vegetable juicers usually clog up quickly from the large amount of fiber in leaves.) This step ruptures the cell walls of the leaves liberating protein and other nutrients.
Press as much juice as possible from the pulped leaves, and pour the pulped leaves into a sheer nylon or polyester cloth of the type used for curtains. Squeeze out as much juice as possible. You should not be able to squeeze any juice out of a handful of this pulp when you are done.
Heat the juice rapidly to the boiling point, stir very gently to prevent burning and remove from heat as soon as the leaf juice boils. A green curd should float to the top. Separate the curd that forms in the heated juice in a closely woven cloth. When this wet curd has cooled, squeeze the "whey" out of the curd. It should be dry enough to crumble. You may want to make a very simple press with a wooden 2" x 4" x 8' lever to apply more pressure than you can with just your hands. This can be used for pressing the juice from the pulped leaves as well.
What remains in the cloth is leaf concentrate. 10 lbs. of leaves should give you roughly 1/2 lb. leaf concentrate; 4 1/2 lbs. of fiber for mulch, compost, rabbit or goat feed; and 5 lbs. of "whey" for watering plants. If not used right away, leaf concentrate can be dried at about 120 F, ground to a fine powder, and stored for later use in airtight plastic bags away from any light. Good Luck!