The final flowers of summer and fall are coming and going fast in the wake of this drought we’ve been having. By the time this prints, however, we may finally have a drink to sustain the grasses for the cows.  

The drought has been very apparent in weeks past, as can be seen in the sudden and early fall foliage. The water that would normally continue to sustain the green leaves hasn’t been replenished, and the colors are brought on as they dry and fall. 

Plus, the growth of grass has slowed to a halt, and cows and other livestock that depend on it to graze have been forced to be fed their winter rations early. 

For farmers, water can be a fickle thing, be it too much or too little. The time of the year almost doesn’t matter, since it is such an always-needed resource. 

With so many things struggling to grow, I’ve taken to seeking out what has decided to grow despite the conditions. 

As I have written about before, foraging and plant identification are a side passion of mine. When it comes to making food and caring for livestock, it proves to be more valuable as time goes on. As I looked around at the dry foliage, I took notice of a white flower that spatters the east side of my property. Could I eat it? Use it as a tea? What is this flower anyway? Off to the Google!

I’ve gotten pretty good at taking pictures of the flowers, leaves and stems of these plants from different angles. I’ve learned that when using image search on Google, it helps to have options to narrow and cross-reference for best results. In this case, however, Google had little trouble. I was immediately presented with the identity of this beautiful yet deadly plant. The white snakeroot. 

White snakeroot, as it turns out, is quite toxic, not only to humans but also to cows that might accidentally graze it. Tremetol is the toxin in snakeroot that makes it deadly to mammals. If it doesn’t cause fatality in cows in particular, it will cause milk sickness, which can make humans sick and potentially die if consumed via the milk. I was happy that this plant was growing on my property as opposed to the fields next to us, where our family raises dairy cattle. That being said, I’ve added to my to-do list to rip it all out and burn it at our earliest opportunity. 

I continued to search for redeemable qualities of the plant and if it was in any way beneficial. All I was able to find was that it makes a pretty flower for landscaping and that it used to be used in medicine as a diaphoretic and diuretic. That being said, there are far superior and safe plants to achieve those benefits; therefore, I have concluded that there is no true use for snakeroot for myself.

My first hint about these plants was long before I had the chance to look them up. My chickens have long since cleared the grasses and plants in their enclosure. Chickens have the ability to nullify weed seed that they consume and they scratch as they browse. The only thing to be left behind in their area was the snakeroot flower. I suspected there might be something dangerous about it since they could have easily wiped it out along with the other plants, but very clearly chose not to. It further amazes me that animals have such instincts to know what is safe and what is not.

The way out here we look after our animals by looking after the ground they feed upon. To know the leaves and the trees is to know the health of the whole farm. There are new things to learn every day from modern farming and the world at large, but volumes are already there to be rediscovered; the world has been growing around us for thousands of years.