Adam I began following you about a year ago and have learned so much. I've been walking this land for 60 years without much thought to what I was seeing as much as just feeling alive. I began wanting to know more about my plant friends.... not only what benefits they have for me but how I can help them. I appreciate all the knowledge you share so willingly and well. The more people learn about nature the more they are aware of their connection to the circle of life. We are all connected and we are all one. I thank you as does the Earth.

So glad I found this one. I’m in Montreal, where milkweed was pretty much destroyed because a lot of people are allergic, but since Covid, this has appeared all over the island in huge amounts. It actually smells really nice as a flower. The flowers are mostly getting old, but I’ll certainly be on the look out for when the pods appear. I’ll have an entire island of these to myself!

Milkweed flowers also have a gorgeous, sweet scent. We sowed seeds on our land, we have a nice stand of them now. The monarchs appeared last summer.

Brother you should come down to Kentucky and walk the woods with us. Your wisdom and respect for nature is contagious.

Some year ago, I planted Butterfly weed (that belong to the milk weed family)in my garden. When they bloomed, I was thrilled to see dozens of Monarch Butterflies enjoying the flowers. A little while later, I began to see a bunch of small light green pods (decorated with with a string of tiny golden "pearls)hanging from my weeds. I had no idea what they were, so I waited to see. Lo and behold they were Monarch cocoons, and a bit later I was treated with the sight of the baby monarchs (about 50 of them) unfurling their gorgeous wings, and open them so majestically that I thought they truly deserved their royal "title." After drying themselves in the sun, they flew off to live their lives. I felt so privileged to have witnessed such a charming show. Nature is so wonderful!

you are such a relaxing person to listen to. I feel better just watching you enjoy teaching

Hi Adam, I'm so glad I happened upon this video today! I focus on milkweed this time of year and also have lots of dogbane. These are extremely valuable to my honey bees and other local pollinators, a source of a serious nectar flow. I appreciate your channel, you have a new subscriber :) Thank you! Great information!

Money-Steelers, that's what I grew up calling milkweed seeds as they flew through the breeze on a Summer's day. As a young child, my Mother taught us that catching a money-steeler would bring us money. Needless to say, when ever we saw one of these mysterious creations floating in the air, me and my siblings would go crazy to catch it. I caught many money-steelers as a child, but as an adult, I am still waiting for the pay off. LOL! As a teen, my Grandmother taught me to use the sap of the milkweed to get rid of warts. I am pleased to learn, that I can cook and eat the flowers and young seed pods like a vegetable. The next time I catch a money-steeler, I'll put it to good use and plant it. Thank you for the video!

I've had this huge patch of milkweed in my yard for years. I noticed that there are never any monarch larvae on any of it. This year I decided to pull it all out because it was just an eye sore & was blocking the light to some of the other plants growing with it. There were these beautiful iridescent green beetles on it & I'd never seen them before. When I looked them up I found that they were dogbane beetles. I'd never heard of dogbane before. So thanks to this pretty bug I now know that my milkweed patch was never milkweed & I don't need to feel bad about pulling the stalks out. Luckily I have other areas that actually are real milkweed. Nice, informative video, thank you!

Have just watched 5 of your videos. You have such amazing knowledge and gift for sharing your passion for foraging. Thanks so much for teaching!

Great video. I own 5 acre in northern Indiana and one acre is covered with milkweed. We keep it for the Monarch.

I remember picking the milkweed pods as a kid at my elementary school during recess. We were blessed to have many wild plants surrounding our school. Love your videos! Your personality and knowledge make for such an enjoyable learning experience!

The reason it is called "indian hemp" is because it is a good fiber plant for cordage.

You make some of the best, most informative videos on KZfaq. You're entertaining and knowledgable and you've instilled a love of nature around me and a desire to learn about it and get out there and forage. Thank you .

Awesome, thank you for the great distinctions- I always want to be 100% certain when foraging! The most reassuring statement was that milkweed is hollow- Very helpful!

4 yrs ago... I love your information! And since you came up on my notices, I watch and share share share! Thank you!

Thank you so much for all your videos. I have learned a lot. You have a way of presenting that is easy to grasp. John

Last year started looking around and seeing all these amazing things I never noticed really in 30+ years. Milkweed was the first to stand out. BEAUTIFUL little flowers and they smelled so strong of perfume. I tried to capture in coconut oil not knowing what I was doing. I ended up drying them and using them in resin for art and jewelry. This year, I started learning that these things I saw the art value in last year actually have a lot of health and nutrition value. You, Trilium and She of the Woods (and others) on YT are so helpful. Love your website and how amazing it is to simply learn my land. I am so blessed to have so much just an hour outside of the city. If you don't monetize your videos I am telling you now that YOU SHOULD. It is not okay if YT makes all the revenue off ads they run on your channel. You deserve those if they run them anyway. You can also just as easily post simultaneously with YT on Odyssey I think. People can get the content commercial free there. I just use a pop up blocker LOL

I cant tell you how much i love watching and learning with you thank you so much

Everyone of your videos makes me smile! You remind me so much of myself when i was younger. 50 yrs later, i'm still obsessed with plants - particularly wild/native ones. i didn't know it was possible when younger, but you can really make a living w/ this knowledge. I have two thriving businesses utilizing native plants. The two dogbanes you mention are found across entire country - which is pretty unusual for any plant. On our land in VT/NH, they both grow and in some areas only about 20-30 ft apart. They are both excellent butterfly plants - nectar sources for a wide variety of butterflies. Thank you for all of your videos and keep up the great work you are doing!

I like the content of his videos. They give good info but even more I like that he seems like a positive person.

We let Milkweed grow in our yard... specifically along the side of the house solely for the Monarch Butterfly. Growing up in the 70's nary a summer day would go by without seeing Monarchs, now it seems as though you'd be lucky to see a single Monarch the whole year. When I learned that the Monarch was obligate to Milkweed I decided to not pull it as we do with other weeds during "spring clean up". Maybe one day I'll get to see some caterpillars munching on it.

We leave milkweed growing in our gardens and take seed pods and spread those to wild areas of the farm and lands around here had alot to spread this year .

As a kindergartner, 1st & 2nd grader, I picked the ripe seed pods and brought bags of them to school. They were picked up by someone, and taken to a factory somewhere. The fluffy capock inside of the seed heads was used to make life jackets for aboard Navy ships. I was able to contribute to the war effort (WWII) that way. Courtesy of Half Vast Flying

Before the farm I was a teacher. I really like the way you repeat characteristics...really effective. So glad I found you...I slice out some time everyday to watch one of your videos.

It grows in my mint patch. My backyard is wild since I let my chickens forage there. PS and this year saw a monarch butterfly around my yard and it's been ten years since I've seen one! Now I know!

Your videos are so informative, easy to understand and encourages wild foraging, thanks so much! Awesome job :)

Just watched this yesterday and learned so much! Thank you! On my one hour walk down a country road this AM, I was saw some milkweed with flower heads and picked some to stir fry for lunch. I didn’t know I could do this before the video and love learning new things. Also, I really appreciate that we are in basically the same region so a lot of what you (Adam) talk about is relevant to me as well though we are not in the same state. Thank you very much!

My grandma always told me how the milkweed helps the butterflies. So when I found some in my yard I always cut around it. Now that I'm getting into foraging I'm glad that I have a little garden spot of it! I leave a few plants alone and use a few plants for me. I have other options that the poor little butterfly doesn't have. My grandma was wise in many ways! Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I have learned A LOT from you! Samuel Thayers book has helped too.

Thanks so much for the distinguishing information. Adjacent land to me has dogbane, but I thought it was milkweed. I have goats and buy hay from this property and you helped me immensely.

I live in South Western Pennsylvania, and have a dedicated area on my property for the Monarch Butterfly! Right now the Milkweed is flowering out and the scent is heavenly!

I've been planting milkweed around my property. Once it starts to bloom, it is absolutely alive with various insects. The aroma is great at a distance, but once you get next to a large colony, I equate it as being in church with a bunch of 80 year old women, all wearing perfume in vast quantities. I am always rewarded with butterflies. And my honeybees love this stuff. So, every year my milkweed expands, as I take the seed pods, open them, and spread them around. I might have to try the flower heads though. Intriguing.

Thanks for setting me straight, Adam. I see these plants all over the place here in Northeastern, PA and have many times incorrectly ID'ed them as Milkweed when in point of fact they were Dogbane. I watch your content all the time, man. Always good info and extremely, pleasantly presented by you. Your passion for what you are doing is clearly visible and instantly felt by us. You, my friend, have "the gift of gab." I'll keep watching if you keep putting them up. Peace.

I love the stillness of the woods. Ive always loved to woods but i really motivated myself to learn more about the woods this summer and its drawn me to venture into them even more knowing about the bounty it contains, the feeling of calm that soaks my soul and the excitement to find a specimen ive learned about in a book or online. You have helped me much, thank you so much adam your youtube channe is my favorite channel concerning this passion!

Loved the outtakes. I'd like to pick u and plant u in my garden. You have a great voice and your grammar is very good. You obviously read a lot. I'd love to see more outtakes or bloopers. I'm so happy you have found your niche. It seem like you were born to do exactly what you are doing. I hope you stay as happy as you appear! Stay pretty 😘

The milkweed vine called honey creeper (blooms smell exactly like honey), is a wonderful wild yard addition. Many species of bees and butterflies enjoy it, as its perfume wafts across the yard.

You’re 100% right! There is very much a correlation between the amount of time we spend in nature, to our contentment. Love your videos so much and an eternally grateful for the knowledge. Love&Light

I just watched your video and then took the dog for a walk in a place with allot of milkweed. I harvested a few pods about 1 1/2 inches long. Stir fried with olive oil, a bit of salt and all i can say is thank you so much. I now have a new early summer vegetable favorite!

Great video! Thank you. My mom and I were trying to identify what had popped up in her garden. So much information in this video!

Thank you Adam. As always you explain things sooooo well. I came back to this several times and watched it at least 6 times to get the information in my head. Thank you. I have a large spaces where Common Milkweed grows and hope to try the taste next Spring and Summer. Thanks.

You are a walking encyclopedia good sir. A great teacher too. Your knowledge of plants and mushrooms is very impressive. Thanks man.

I am so glad I found your channel. I am learning so much.

Mr Haritan, someone your age should not know as much as you do. I imagine your home has degrees and awards everywhere you look. Thank you so much for sharing everything you have and everything you will.

Recently started foraging in the Pittsburgh area, you have been extremely helpful and inspiring. Thank you.

Very informative! Suggestion for future videos would be to provide the plants you are talking about side by side so that the differences can be more readily appreciated. Wholeheartedly agree with your assertions of increased happiness and well being directly proportional to the time spent outside...even if only in your own backyard. Keep up the good work.

Been watching you since i started foraging 4 years ago

I watched this video yesterday and thought I would try milkweed flowers. I have several patches of milkweed in my yard so I picked a large bowl full of unopened flowers and brought them to my kitchen. Cooked them in my microwave, added salt and pepper, then threw some butter on top. They were delicious! I scanned some of your other videos and saw many of those plants in my yard. Trying dandelions next. Thank you!

i used to be a truck driver and been all over the US and Pennsylvania and west Virginia were the only two places i never wanted to leave

Thanks for this as I am learning to raise monarchs and discerning milkweed from dogbane was very helpful.

I think my learning will never end with this channel. Sooooo good!

I'm relatively new to your videos so I'm still catching up watching them, but I absolutely love them. I learn and appreciated so much.

This is a clear explanation of distinguishing between milk weed and dogbane. I see common milk weed often when out hunting upland birds and outside edges of waterfowl sloughs. I have sometimes taken a few mature pods and shared with neighbors kids who planted around the edge of yard. Monarch 🦋🦋 do show up and do what they do. Now I know how to forage some of the parts and still leave plenty for the 🦋🦋🦋. Thank you. Peace to you. John

I have a long history of loving milkweed and now may be adding a culinary dimension to the relationship. Thank you, Adam.

I was taught as a child that the milky latex from the milkweed can get rid of warts. It really does seem to work. With repeated applications the wart slowly dissolves away.

I have a stand of milkweed and dogbane in my orchard that I let form a border. The flowers are beautiful in both plants and look hypnotizing in the light of the sunrise. I harvest the stalks of dogbane in winter and milkweed after the frost. Milkweed has a very light fiber and dogbane is a tan fiber. I use both in basket making.

I'm 99% sure I found SO MUCH DOGBANE. I needed the dead stems for fiber crafting. I grew milkweed in the garden for awhile. Dead milkweed is dark and silvery when its dessicated. The fibers can fade from silver to white through the winter. I was so tired when I found the dogbane patch. I thought I'd found some limestone on my walk, definately found some pitch and a small bundle of dead milkweed. But I looked up from the rocks on the ground, stopping at the end of the trail and my walk to catch my breath and check my fitbit, and lo and behold THERE IT WAS. Stems fitting the exact description I'd memorized. Auburn stems, branched, seedpods may resemble tiny milkweed. As soon as I broke one off at the base it was clear this was no piddly little milkweed. Fibers were coming off the base of the plant in long ribbons, determined to remain where they'd grown.

Excellent work! I really appreciate the time and effort explaining this subject. Thank you.

When you cover safe prepping for food, you mention sauteing the flower buds and boiling the leaves. Can I saute the leaves too? What are we doing to the glycosides that makes them safe? Is the heat breaking them down, or are they water soluble compounds that come out in boiling water? Thanks!

The best plant and foraging info I've seen.

This spring, On a lark, i decided to let the milkweed flourish in my horseradish and rhubarb beds. I'd heard it's edible and figured I'd give it a try. Missed the early shoots. Just watched your video and picked and cooked a dozen buds. Delicious. Thanks Adam.

I planted 3 milkweed 2 years ago, they have slowly grown more and the blossoms smell amazing!!! Waiting for more monarchs 😊 Now that I know what is edible I hope they multiply faster 😉

We love you Adam you are so knowledgeable thank you for teaching us about these plants.

Cool video! Thank you for taking the time. I’ve been growing common milkweed in my butterfly feeding station but never netted the plants, so of course they’re eaten to the ground before I really get to observe them. I found something not far from me that I suspect is milkweed and does have the sap. I need to go back now and see if those stalks are hollow! Great tip!!! 👏👏👏

You are AWESOME!!! I absolutely love your videos, you do such a fantastic job at explaining things, always very informative!

The milkweed plants in my yard are just now flowering and they have a lovely scent. The bees absolutely love it, though I have never seen Monarchs here (CO). I had no idea you could eat milkweed. Every year I have such an excess of seed pods. I was thinking of taking the seeds and throwing them in the wild near lakes and fields.

love love love your videos - what a treasure you are, and uplifting peaceful positive person doing quality work!

I wish I had the ability to pronounce words like the host. come out so easily. Jealous~I planted milkweed by the back steps because I love the smell. I've also made jewelry out of the leaves and small fruit pods. Dad said the fluff of the milkweed was used to stuff sleeping bags during the war

LOVE YOUR VIDEOS! One of my summer goals it to learn more about the wild plants on my land. We have milkweed- so excited that it can be eaten!!! Thanks so much for your work- every time you site a study - I think yeah take that!!!

Milkweed flowers smell like irises to me. Fabulous! I spread the seeds in my meadow for the butterflies, but have never considered eating them. I'll wait till there's "too many" ))).

I like to cook Milkweed flowers but a few years ago my Woodchuk neighbor ate the colony; I am nurturing a new colony still and can not yet harvest... The flowers are wonderful. Thank you for your great advice!

Great video Adam ! I try never to cut down milkweed around my property as you mentioned milkweed is so very beneficial to the Monarch butterfly ! I have also noticed as the season progresses that the milkweed attracts an interesting group of insects, one being a beautiful black and orange colored bug about an inch long , though I am not sure what this bug is , I was wondering if you knew ? Keep up the great work !

love your detailed description on the edibles and not👍👍👍

Really enjoy your videos. Very helpful and so much great information. Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge.

great to rewatch and take notes on milkweed Adam I love your videos 👍👍👍

This was EXCELLENT! I'm eagerly waiting some spots detected in winter months to sprout for thorough identification. This was very helpful!

I have always taught my kids about helping monarchs, & we are lucky to have all of the land behind our house undisturbed (old apple orchard) where milkweed grows in abundance. we have also participated in the Vermont program the helps watch & count monarch sightings.

I've been watching you for a long time and I just recently made my way back up to New England and moved into Massachusetts. I'm excited to be able to identify many plants since I've returned and I'm excited to be able to rewatch a lot of your videos

Thank you Adam for another informative video! I've been transplanting and blowing seeds of milkweed unsuccessfully, (I thought) until this year of rain! Yeah, finally!

You are a very bright young man. I like to describe young milkweed flavor comparable to asparagus when you pick young shoots in early spring. Pods I liken to a mozzarella cheese flavor when very young. I personally enjoy eating this plant, but also agree that it should be cooked. Thanks so much for sharing your wisdom.

I've said it before, and sorry to put this in four years too late, but if Adam from the ancient myth were to return, he'd take the form of this Adam. The old Adam was the namer. There is truly a power in naming our world, even if we don't use something. It's a sort of spiritual connection, I guess. I listened several times from minutes 1:00 to 1:54. Seriously, doesn't this sound like what Adam from the Bible would say if he showed up? (well, of course, he'd be appalled at the mess we've made, but I'm trying to be positive here)

Love this! I planted milkweed on my property last year for the butterflies and had no ides it was edible now it gets to be dual purpose in my yard

Thank you Adam for another excellent video! May I suggest you showing us how you prepare and cook edible foraged plants, nuts and mushrooms in your own kitchen. Now that would be awesome!🌱🍄

Milkweed flower has the most pleasant perfume of any plant I know.

Love that I found your channel 🥰🌿🌱

I started a butterfly garden last year with about a thousand square foot piece of land. We had such success we added two more similar gardens this year. They are low water, perennials, many of which are indigenous, and look and smell wonderful, while contributing to the pollinator's habitat. We then moved onto planting "host plants", such as spice bush and passion vine. Within a couple of weeks we were getting Spice Bush and Fritillary caterpillars. This fall we planted Paw Paws and New Jersey Tea, who knows what we will get next year? The point is, when you plant for nature nature responds. We raised Monarchs from eggs (as well as black and yellow swallowtail caterpillars, but they are easy to raise by comparison), talk about rewarding (in nature 1 in 10 monarchs make it to maturity because of depredation and parasitism). I suppose the greatest impact has been through living by example. The city of College Park is becoming a "pollinator city" based on the success of our gardens. Thank you for adding in the part at the end discussing the necessity of not over harvest Milkweeds, and the cause of the plant's, and consequently Monarch's, precipitous collapse.

Such great videos. So much learning. I believe you.. the more time you spend in the woods, the healthier you are.

Excellent description of the differences - I'm ready to go compare the plants I see in our field! Thank you.

Great video brother I look forward to watching more. Milkweed is everywhere in my area in RI, But now I know what dogbane looks like so I'm on a quest to find some and make cordage haha.

I love you, bro. I would shake the open milkweed blossoms at dawn into a teacup to sweeten my strawberry/blackberry leaf tea!

Quickly becoming one of my favorite people to learn from. So many of the things you show are right in my yard and I walk past them every day, that's sad. Ive been letting the milkweed grow for my honey bees, now I'll look at it closer and see if any of it is Dogbane.

When I was a kid, I helped my friends pull milkweed from their horse pasture after school so it wouldn’t make their horses sick. Now, I am a grown-up & my family has a TON of milkweed growing in the meadow behind our house! We used to run a preschool program & summer day camp. Our students loved harvesting milk weed pods! It sometimes grows in our horse pasture but our horses never ate it. Butterflies have always had a special place in my heart, so I enjoy having milkweed around ! Thanks for another wonderful video! Peace be with you! Stay safe! Keep learning! Enjoy the adventure!

the toxic cardiac glycosides are water soluble but some poison control centers still recommend not eating it even cooked. the most common drug in this class is digoxin ( from the foxglove flower). if you eat milkweed and get a blood level check for digoxin it will show up. There is a very narrow window of being therapeutic for heart failure before the level reaches toxic levels.

I grow milkweed in my garden, and in the community garden we always spare a certain number of milkweed and mullein plants and other wildflowers from weeding. Second year mullein can be pruned and used to protect young seedlings of things like kale that prefer cooler temperatures. The idea is to use the wildflowers both to draw in pollinators and predators and to help modify the microclimate in that particular garden bed.

I enjoy your videos. The wealth of knowledge is incredible. I often open the young 1-2" long pods from common milkweed before the silk gets stringy and eat the inner contents raw. It has a mild flavor and is a nice snack. I have found no need to cook that part at that stage of growth. Learned that from Sam Thayer's book. About to try the unopened flower heads for lunch today. Keep up the good work.

Your videos are wonderful! I truly appreciate you. 🌻

Your channel is awesome. Thanks for sharing such interesting and useful information.

First I want to say thank you for producing wonderful videos. I used to have 3 areas where it would grow in my yard but the only one that 'spread' was along some railroad ties used to hold the driveway gravel. I do not know what happened because I only collected the mature seed pods for decoration. I did save the seed and silk. One year none came up and that was the end of them. I found one plant growing next to some tree branches that were used for bird cover but that's gone now too. The last place was behind my garage and it is also gone. In these last 2 paces I found nightshade that had not been there before. Could the nightshade be a problem for milkweed?

This guy is awesome. He's like America's David Attenborough.

Thanks for this one. I didn't know anything about Dogbane. I just always thought of it as that thing that kind of looks like Milkweed, but isn't....

Milkweed is also a strong fiber for cordage.