Ah! Spring in Tennessee! Planting season’s just begun, but we’re already harvesting dyeplants. In the past few weeks we’ve picked sumac shoots and roots (Rhus glabra—for lovely lavender greys and blacks), dock (Rumex crispus—for earthy browns and thus-far elusive blues and reds) and cleavers (Galium aparine—a relative of madder and producer of oranges and rusts). We’ve also started seedlings of Japanese indigo, tropical indigo, woad, weld, madder and more, which we’ll be planting out at Bells Bend in the next few weeks.

In addition to their usefulness as dyes, many plants have medicinal or culinary uses. (Here’s where we go into the whole ‘none of this info is meant to provide any sort of medical advice, we’re not doctors but we play one on teevee’ spiel.) You should always be cautious to make sure you are correctly identifying plants, sustainably harvesting them, and judiciously considering any possible side effects or contraindications. Please do consult a reliable plant identification guide, your medical doctor, and / or a friendly old-timer. (If they’ve made it this long, they probably know what they’re doing.) Okay! Lecture over … well, that part of it, at least. We promised you rambles, didn’t we?




Sumac can be used to make a tasty tart beverage. Make sure you don’t get the poisonous kind, though. Luckily, both staghorn and smooth sumac, the kind you’re after, are easy to identify. Sumac is also used in a very tasty Middle Eastern spread called zattar. (We also call it “delicious” around here.)

Dock leaves can be eaten when very small early in the season—and in very small quantities, as they contain oxalic acid. Later in the season they get way too astringent to eat (believe me, I’ve tried, much to the amusement, or perhaps disgust, of the people standing around me as I spat out a mouthful of leaves.) The numerous dock seeds can be ground to use as flour—though this is tiresome work, speaking from personal experience.

Cleavers have a reputation for use in lymphatic disorders, and their dried seeds can make a tasty coffee substitute when roasted and ground. The name “cleavers”, as with another common name, “catchweed”, seems to refer to the plant’s tendency to stick with velcro-like tenacity to any piece of fiber—fabric or fur—that passes. The species name of the plant, aparine, means “holding” or “clinging”. (The genus name Galium, on the other hand, stems from the Greek root word for “milk” and refers to the longstanding use of the plant genus in curdling milk for cheese—or so claims my recently-acquired but already well-beloved Flowers and Plants: An International Lexicon, by Robert Shosteck. Just in case you run into any wild-yet-milkable cows while out on the plant-gathering trail.) Despite cleaver’s clingy nature, which makes it fairly unsuited for raw nibbling, it’s palatable and nutritious as a lightly steamed or boiled potherb, especially when mixed with other mild greens like lambs-quarter.

Dyeplant rambles make for all sorts of adventures. Just remember to wear your sunblock, harvest with the earth and the future in mind, and check for ticks when you get back!