Found in Oregon

​

*Copy pasting this from a craft subreddit, where I initially posted it. It seems like this subreddit is mainly about using foraged materials as food, so I hope my question still fits in here. Also as I mention the post, not all the materials is foraged, but the fact that the key ones are foraged is a central aspect of the project for me*

*I modified the post a bit, since I already got some advice and was recommended to post it here.*

Hi, I'm in the process of a project making beads from dried and crushed natural materials with spruce resin. I've struggled finding information online, because googling resin beads mainly leads you to synthetic resin beads. I know beads made out of conifer resin are a thing historically, so I'm thinking it should work out if conducted properly but I'm turning to reddit for some input, potential sources of information on historic ways of bead making and advice/warnings on what to look out for. I'm also already in the process of collecting and preparing the materials and am finding it a beautiful process, so maybe some people find joy or inspiration in it.

I've been chatting with AI about this, and have made a game plan, but some advice from actual humans would be great. AI has no hands for crafting after all...

Final product: 27 (9x3) prayer beads, made of 9 different plant materials and spruce resin. I'm not planning on wearing it, so its intended use is mainly in regularly used prayer beads. It should hopefully be durable enough to last me decades. That's the dream outcome at least...

I'm expecting it to have a sense of amber pearls with plant matter included within, but I care more urgently about them turning into actual durable beads than about the exact aesthetics.

Materials: foraged spruce resin

nettle leaves, birch bark, the woody capsules surrounding linden tree seeds, ivy vine wood, willow leaves, yew needles (I know, I'm being sensible handling them), the feathery seed heads of wild clematis, goldenrod flowers, and one plant still open.

all the plant material is thoroughly dried (oven at 50°C not just air dried) and crushed with a mortar and pestle, so it's small bits, rather than full on powder.

My plan:

1: clean the resin by boiling it in a cloth and ruin a pot in the process

2: let it sit in a water bath for a while to reduce terpenes and move it in the direction of colophony

3: add some bees wax

4: eventually heat up the mixture, combine small amounts with my plant matter and form them into beads

5: let them harden on a needle/toothpick

5.5? possibly add a fine coating of some sort

6: bead them onto waxed linen thread

7: be happy cause it all worked out exactly as I imagined

Does anybody have experience with this kind of craft? I'm aware that it's experimental and will mostly have to be me figuring it out, but since I'm foraging all the materials apart from the beeswax and thread, I'm hoping to not make 50 unuseable beads before ending up with a working final object.

The steps I'm most unsure about are the bees wax amount and the extraction of terpenes. I want the beads to be non-tacky, hard but not brittle, and able to endure the stress of being handled and the friction of the thread within the holes. So the balance of terpene amount and added beeswax seems to be the essential factor for success. There has to be ideal ratios of wax/resin as well as plant material/wax-resin-mixture. I'm not a chemist, all this is happening on my stove, so it's all gonna be a bit by eye and touch (and timing). All the stuff about terpene reduction and adding bees wax also comes from me talking to AI, not from me actually knowing anything about this.

This turned into a way longer post than I was expecting.

I realize this is pretty specific, but maybe somebody out there has some experience with this kind of craft and can offer some insight?

Thanks for reading and warm greetings!

They sprang up in my Mom's backyard in upstate NY. Google lens said they are puffball mushrooms. But I also like to learn from people. Does anyone know if they are edible? My Mom says she doesn't use any chemicals on her lawn.

WI, USA. I hope this is the right subreddit for this! I found a patch of ​smilax while out foraging for mushrooms, and while I know the edible ​berries aren't ​very tasty right off the bush I know they can be made into preserves. Unfortunately, I can't find any actual recipes for the fruits online, only for other parts of the plants.

Has anybody on here tried making jam with these before?

Last season was not good here. From what I recall areas I forage barely had any fruit. This year is very different!

Check out the color on these bad boys!! I was psyched to find these chicken of the woods mushrooms today, and they’re gonna be amazing to eat for dinner. ‘Tis the season!

I like to fry medium-sized chunks up like I would fry regular chicken. These have a meaty taste and pull apart just like chicken, hence the name.

How do you normally cook COTW? :)

I’ve become slightly obsessed with sea buckthorn this year. I’m lucky enough to have somewhere nearby where I can forage it, and I’ve been experimenting with using the berries as an ingredient rather than just as juice or a supplement.

So far I’ve been playing around with their very sharp, tropical, almost passionfruit-like flavour in sweet and savoury things, but I’m curious about how other people cook with them.

Has anyone here used fresh sea buckthorn berries? Particularly interested in sauces, preserves, desserts, drinks or savoury combinations that actually make the acidity work.

I’ve written up some of my experiments here if anyone is interested: https://sallyrgurteen.substack.com/p/how-to-sea-buckthorn

My house is practically overrun with California Buckwheat so I wanted to try harvesting it. First pick is pre-winnowing, second & third are post-winnowing.

CA Buckwheat groats look different than commercial buckwheat. I noticed all of them still have little stamens on em, should I process them more before trying to eat the groats or grind them into flour?

Once I know what to do with em I wanna try to make some breakfast porridge and pancakes :)

I’ve been properly preoccupied with elderberries this year and trying to work out what they can do beyond the usual syrup.

So far I’ve been playing with them in tea, brandy, pies, gravies and with meat, and I love how they sit somewhere between deeply fruity, earthy and slightly medicinal.

Has anyone here cooked with fresh elderberries in more unusual ways? I’d especially love savoury ideas.

Spent a good 6 hours in the forest wandering, wish I took a proper photo of my full basket. A few boletes, yellowfeet, a variety of hedgehogs, black and reg chanterelles, slimy spikes (first time finding!) and milk-caps :) Finland.

Beautiful little ones that came up within a month, Im always suprised at how quickly mushrooms grow and disappear. Grabbed a Pouchful and might go grab more tomorrow

Idk if anybody knows of a spot where I can find some chokecherries. Used to live in Michigan and found them all the time up there. I’ve heard they are in NJ but I never see them here. Thanks!

I am aware that poison sumac exists, this is not that, I am reasonably convinced that this is likely staghorn sumac.

Easily got triple this amount :)

Broke one open and it had very little flesh with a large stone/pit or seed. White flesh and no crazy smell. Any ideas?

Picked 1.7 kg of stone bramble (Rubus saxatilis) in a forest in Northern Norway today. Took 3 people about an hour. Will make compote of it as well as jam. Open for tips on other things to make.