[Community_garden] how NOT to deal with poison ivy

[Fred Conrad]

Dorene,

I've used impatiens biflora (snapweed and I didn't check this reference
so be charitable if I'm off) for bee stings.  It's a fun wild plant,
you'd have to assume any medicinal quality would be similar to the
domestic cousin.

One more comment about poison ivy!  The real key to the whole thing is
the ability to identify it.  If you recognize the plant in it's many
shapes, colors, sizes, lusters, and habitats, you can mostly avoid it
entirely or prepare yourself to confront it.  I think that by and large,
the plant is so tricky with the leaves being flat in the shade, convex
in the sun; dark green here, yellowish there; shiny and redish when
young, dusty and deep later; smooth edged, rough edged, oak shaped,
maple shaped; bush, vine, tall ground cover, hairy, intertwined, etc etc
etc that many times it catches people off guard.

I give it a lot of credit for being so cheerfully random.  I remember
back in the old days when it was known as Rhus radicans... We were all
younger then and the world seemed so full of promise.  Now they've
changed it to Toxicodendron which sounds so hateful, and it's not
hateful, it just is what it is.  We've hardened our hearts against it,
the whole world seems alien and less friendly and cold winds turn our
heads.  Oh well, my fate is my destiny, as they say.  I think I'm going
to get some more coffee.

fgc
Fred Conrad
Community Garden Coordinator
Atlanta Community Food Bank
732 Joseph E Lowery Blvd, NW, Atlanta, GA 30318
ph: 678.553.5932 fx: 678.553.5933
fred.conrad at acfb.org    <http://www.acfb.org> 
Our mission is to fight hunger by engaging, educating and empowering our
community. 




-----Original Message-----
From: community_garden-bounces at list.communitygarden.org
[mailto:community_garden-bounces at list.communitygarden.org] On Behalf Of
Alliums
Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2008 6:28 PM
To: community_garden at list.communitygarden.org
Subject: Re: [Community_garden] how NOT to deal with poison ivy



Hi, Folks!

Mike is a wimp -- bow saw, my eye!  We go after those poison ivy vines
on the trees with a machete!

Of course, my husband, the macheter, is immune to poison ivy -- people
almost think I'm serious when I say that's why I married him! ;-)
(Actually, I didn't know until after we'd been married a few months, but
if I HAD known, it would have definitely weighed in his favor! ;-D)

What do you think about Balsam (Impatiens Balsamina) as a "cure plant",
Mike?  Personally, I love the flowers and look for every excuse to
plant/reseed, but I've had my volunteers slice the stem and rub it
anywhere they think they have been exposed to poison ivy.  I thought it
worked, but maybe it was just the stem being so juicy.

Dorene

Dorene Pasekoff, Coordinator
St. John's United Church of Christ Organic Community Garden and
Labyrinth

A mission of
St. John's United Church of Christ, 315 Gay Street, Phoenixville, PA
19460




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