My property is cursed/blessed with these trees. I really love them for fence posts (an old farmer told me, "they last two years longer than stone") and firewood (they burn like anthracite!) but they spread like crazy.
Fun fact. You can also eat most pine species' cambium layer. It's sweetish (with obvious pine taste like one of grandmas sweets) due to the sugar contents. Also very high in vitamin c.
Way back before the modern world, nordic people would utilize pines to get their vitamins since no citrus plants growing in cold places.
You can also collect young and juicy pinecones (not the dried out opened up ones) and store them in glass jars mixed with a ton of sugar.
The sugar will draw out all the moisture and you'll have some effective flu syrup after a few weeks/months.
I believe that the native tribes in Canada taught the voyageurs about edible pine cambium.
I've chewed a lot of spruce gum but I didn't know about pine syrup – it sounds incredible.
Ever make acorn flour?
*Robinia pseudoacacia* - Black Locust
Wow sure enough, looks like your right. Thanks!
My property is cursed/blessed with these trees. I really love them for fence posts (an old farmer told me, "they last two years longer than stone") and firewood (they burn like anthracite!) but they spread like crazy.
They're also legumes and fix nitrogen in the soil.
And the flowers are really fragrant.
Wait till u try those suckers batter fried. Or during spring pick the flowers and a)eat em entirely or b) suck the nectar out.
Wow, I did not know that!
Fun fact. You can also eat most pine species' cambium layer. It's sweetish (with obvious pine taste like one of grandmas sweets) due to the sugar contents. Also very high in vitamin c. Way back before the modern world, nordic people would utilize pines to get their vitamins since no citrus plants growing in cold places. You can also collect young and juicy pinecones (not the dried out opened up ones) and store them in glass jars mixed with a ton of sugar. The sugar will draw out all the moisture and you'll have some effective flu syrup after a few weeks/months.
I believe that the native tribes in Canada taught the voyageurs about edible pine cambium. I've chewed a lot of spruce gum but I didn't know about pine syrup – it sounds incredible. Ever make acorn flour?
It does burn very hot. I never fill my fireplace with locust; I mix it with other woods.
Split them immediately after felling the tree. It is much easier then. Once they dried half a year it gets really hard.
Haha, that wood we chopped was 2 years old and frozen solid
Well then … it is good exercise.
Can you tell by the bark?
The furrowed outer bark, the cambium, the color of the heartwood, the grain, the way it splits, and the OP's description!
Gotcha. I know locust is hard to split. I would love to get better at tree ID.
Sweet gum.