Local Plant Resources- Behind the Supermarket

[Charlotte Dion]

Well it started as an irritating little incident when my key broke off while opening the hatchback. It became an opportunity to learn more about nature's bounty in an unexpected place....behind Shaw's supermarket.

It took 45 minutes for my husband to arrive with the second key to drive me and the sundries home. I took advantage of the time to check out the plants growing around the perimeter of the parking lot...it was a much cooler place to wait in the shade. I must note that this lot borders directly on wetlands that serve as a public water source-so no herbicides, runoff etc.

Here's what I found along the fence behind the market and drugstore:

Edibles
Cattails- edible roots for flour or stir fry now
Riverside grapes for harvest mid September
Blackberries harvest now and ongoing until early Sept.
White birch- harvest sap in spring or watch for medicinal Chaga fungi in winter
Muskrat and Snapping turtle in case your really hungry or just adventurous

Medicinal Herbs
Jewel weed
*Purple loosestrife
Willow
*New England Aster and other asters
*Boneset!
*Gravel root/ Joe Pye weed
St. John's wort
Queen Anne's lace
*Goldenrod
*Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) is planted about the parking lot as part of the landscaping

Note: * Some of the plants that should be in your herb cabinet along with others if you want to be prepared for the nasty flu season that's been predicted.

Nature does provide and the place just might surprise you as it did me!

[Charlotte Dion]

Just want to add that I came home with an armful of herbs and some berries gathered along the fence line. The marshy wilderness has more to offer to one willing to put on their boots and bug repellent.