Vines Guy was tasked with removing invasives primarily because he has a degree in conservation.
He does not know how to identify invasives.
VG: what plant is this?
Me: -runs hands through it a few times- immature amur honeysuckle. Get rid of it.
VG: what about this one? Seek says its a cabbage.
Me: -breaks a stem- milkweed. Keep it.
VG: what about this one?
Me: -rolls a leaf in my fingers, smells it, eats it-
VG:
Me: horseweed. Not invasive, but really aggressive. Not bad to pull it.
VG: you just ate that?????
At lunch-
VG: I cant believe you ate that before you knew what it was.
Me: I had an idea what it was. None of the lookalikes are poisonous, so it was either horseweed or something else in the dicot family. Then when I smelled the leaves and it was spicy I figured it out.
VG: I was always told not to eat wild plants because it could be poison ivy.
Me: I mean, I was told that, too. But then I learned how to identify poison ivy. And then I started reading about medicinal and edible plants, learned what has lookalikes and whats obvious. Turns out a lot of invasives and 'weeds' are edible- horseweed, purselane, plantain, dandelion...
VG: but not ALL of the plant is edible.
Me: I mean... some arent worth eating, but all parts of dandelions are edible.
VG: what?
Me: ...where did I lose you?
VG: even the leaves????
Me: people put them in salads. My dad likes dandelion wine made out of the flowers. If you dry the roots up the make a tea that apparently is good for your liver.
VG: hey I found this picture of you.
VG: why did you apologize to the milkweed plant?
Me: because I had to break off its stem to ID it.
VG: no... like why did you apologize to a plant?
Me: to help it grow.
VG: is that how it works?
Me: I mean... what am I losing by doing it?
VG: i usually scream at them.
Me: that probably works too. They do not have good hearing.
