wild crafting in the desert

[lithe_forager]

Any one out there live in the desert? i just moved to Texas and all the plants and vegetation fascinate me, but coming from virginia mountains, I am also scared of a lot of it (everything has spikes yikes!) . anyone know about wild herbs/plants/fruits i can harvest for tinctures/salves/spells? cool desert plants that have awesome properties? I know it's august, but anything to look forward to in the fall? plants i can grow that like these temperatures beside cacti? i also really wanna explore the wildness of this place, but people are freaking me out with all this talk of rattlers and scorpions. I am a mountain witch and all this flat, dusty land is confusing, but extremely intriguing.

[GreenGato]

Ditto here, just moved from the South East to the South West and I'm having trouble with the local flora. It all seems just so alien!

The yucca are pretty cool, I know that their fibers were used to spin by Pueblo peoples and the flowers are edible (I'm not sure if the last part is true for all yucca).

Fennel grow wild in SoCal not sure if it's true for TX, but fennel is not only amazing in an Italian stew (be careful it looks a lot like hemlock which you do NOT want to eat) the seeds also helps with lactation and digestion.

You still get a lot of invasive useful usuals (plantain, sorrel) but add it to figs and wild grapes!

I think I'm going to keep an eye out for walking tours in my area to try and learn a bit more about the desert plants.

[Pinkpower_80]

Do some research on Curanderismo. It is a traditional healing method from Mexico & the SW. A few of us on the forum are actually taking a course on it . I can't link it on my tablet but search the forum for it & it'll have the links. It's very cool. They go into a lot of the different herbs for healing, where they are found in the SW, how to use them, etc.

[random417]

A few of us on the forum are actually taking a course on it .

Here you go Pink, I dug up the link, make life easier. I didn't get around to signing up before the start date, but I'll be taking a course or two from there myself.

http://www.everythingunderthemoon.net/f ... hp?t=28085

[lithe_forager]

woah and the class is all fo free? thanks ya'll !! plants is weird. i feel like they know i am an outsider but its cool, they still wanna be my friend. desert exploring is the first thing on my list as soon as it cools down. I am used to living in the south, but August in Austin has been brootal

[MsMollimizz]

I'm also in the desert, in southern California...high desert so we can get snow !
Yuccas are cool in my opinion, my wand is made from the stalk that the flowers
grow on. It's pretty light-weight since the stalk is hollow ! I took advantage of
that since I've been having trouble with my hands again...all stemming from
my head and neck injury. Making it hard to hold anything for any length of
time anymore

Gentle Blue Light
MsMollimizz