Where would you start, what would you do? Plant identification for newbie

smik123
smik123 Posts: 60 ✭✭✭
edited November 2020 in Plant ID

I am a former suburb girl now on 10 acres in Southeast Alabama. In 100 sq feet I can see dozens of different plant life so I could spend a serious amount of time on this. I am so overwhelmed as I feel a lot may be highly beneficial like the nettles I see. And I have lots of crazy vines all over the place and not even sure how I would deal with them if I felt they should go. So if it was you at the beginning of your homesteading journey what advice would you give? Thanks

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  • Linda Bittle
    Linda Bittle Posts: 1,518 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 2020

    "Botany in a Day" is a great book for learning plant families. It's available at Amazon and bookstores. Here's the author's web site. http://www.hopspress.com/Books/Botany_in_a_Day.htm

    My mentor, John Gallagher has a free website, Learning Herbs dot com, and a paid one, Herb Mentor dot com. (I find the monthly cost to be small compared to the amount of information there. I trust the many herbalists there to give good and safe information on using plants for food and medicine. Here's the free one. You can join (or not) Herb Mentor from there. Rosalee de la Foret is his educational director, and she is my very favorite!

    Also, check out the Academy classes on this site! There's a good foraging one, and a couple on making and using herbal medicines.

  • COWLOVINGIRL
    COWLOVINGIRL Posts: 954 ✭✭✭✭
    edited June 2020

    smik123 I'm so glad you're here! So, what I would tell you is (and I didn't come up with this myself) focus on ONE project a week. Just one. Then, the next week, work one ONE more project. That way, you don't get burned out, and you are making steady progress. By the winter, things will look considerably better! I hope this helps!

    Here's where I learned this; I think its podcast#45


    You can do this!!!!

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    Hi @smik123 I am in agreement with @Mary Linda Bittle about getting the book "Botany in a Day". It is a standard used in most plant/herb/botany workshops I have been to.

    Following is a link to an interactive website for plant ID in Alabama. http://floraofalabama.org/.

    Lots of good books out there that are specific to your area. Google "plant id books for Alabama "and you will get lots of choices. Some are just about trees, some about fungi, some on specific plant life. I like the Patterson Field Guides and the Audubon ones are very good.

    @COWLOVINGIRL recommended a book to me which can be found at this link: https://bookshop.org/books/homesteader-s-herbal-companion-the-ultimate-guide-to-growing-preserving-and-using-herbs/9781493034154?aid=5789

  • Don't overlook your county's Agricultural Extension agent. It is literally their job to answer your questions about crazy vines all over the place. And they are happy to do it! I happen to also know that Alabama has some pretty good online courses about Urban Agriculture, which would probably be useful to you. https://www.aces.edu/

  • smik123
    smik123 Posts: 60 ✭✭✭

    Thank you all for the wonderful advice and links. Mary Linda Bittle, funny thing is I am part of Herb Mentor---well I pay the monthly fee and need to dive in the deep end. I find this community is helping a lot too.