Banished Prince Charming

Chapter 17 - Cattails And Reeds.

After a period of a week, GraceHaven had somehow grown from a tiny settlement into a pretty bustling one. On the left-hand side near the river bank, there were numerous rows of planting beds and 3 rows were designated to be of a single vegetable or fruit.

There were tapioca, sweet potatoes, potatoes, cuc.u.mber, bell peppers, string beans, watermelon, pumpkin, tomatoes and okra. A total of 30 10 foot rows of planting beds adorned the side of GraceHaven.

On the right-hand side, the overgrown reeds and cattails had been cleared for future development and the reeds had been cleared off any leaves and set aside in the sun to dry. Cattails leaves were being dried in the sun and as explained by Kayla, it could be burnt into ashes and used as an antiseptic for wounds.

The cattail roots had small pointed shoots called corms. These can be removed, peeled, and eaten, added to other spring greens for a salad, or cooked in stews or alone as a potherb and it tastes like asparagus.

Both the male and female pollen spikes can be boiled and eaten like corn on the cob, and both are delicious.

Cattail's roots produce a kind of flour that contains gluten. This could be collected by breaking the roots underwater to collect the floating scurry and then dried in the sun. This gluten could be mixed with flour as a raising agent when making loaves of bread.

The roots when boiled and macerated would produce a very fine syrup that could be used as a sweetener. This way our future boiled tapioca and tea would be sweetened.

Just the explanation by Kayla made me dizzy as it filled me with new information only found in the kitchens and those food aficionados. As a Herbalist and gatherer, her experiences were boundless and I watched how the ladies prepared the roots to remove the floating flour in the water and then placed them into another pot that would be made into syrup.

The cattails dried stalks can be used to make arrow shafts. The seed heads and dried leaves can be used as tinder. The seed head fluff can be used for pillow and bedding stuffing or as down-like insulation in clothing to be used during winter. The leaves can be used for the construction of shelters or for woven seats, floor mats and backs of chairs

They can be woven into baskets, hats and beds. The dried seed heads attached to their stalks can be dipped into melted animal fat or oil and used as torches to light up the area during the night. This could act as a deterrence against wild animals from damaging the farmlands at night.

This cattail, even though it grew wild and abundantly along the river banks does not interest me at all until it was explained in detail of its uses. A wondrous plant indeed!

I remembered clearly when Kayla and Crystal were discussing the reeds when the overgrown indicates a body of water close by.

The reed had a very wide range of local uses, including food, medicine, material for making basket and thatches too.

Roots from reeds could be eaten raw or cooked like potatoes. It contained sugar and would be sweet just like a steamed or roasted sweet potato. The flavour and texture were best when the root was young and still growing. It can be dried, ground coarsely and used as a porridge.

Certain cultural groups harvested and processed these into starch. Young shoots could be eaten raw or cooked. They were best if used before the leaves form, as they were really delicious. They could be processed just like bamboo shoots.

The partly unfolded leaves can be used as a potherb and when the young leaves were dried, grind them into a powder and mix them with cereal flour when making steamed buns. To make the first steamed buns, a 3 to 5 layered steam basket would have to be constructed first.

Reed seeds could also be eaten raw or cooked. It can be ground into a powder and used as a flour. On order to grind these, a mortar and pestle would have to be constructed using wood or even stone.

The seed was rather small and difficult to remove from the husk but it was said to be very nutritious. A type of sugary base would be extracted from the stalks or wounded stems.

A sweet liquorice-like taste can be eaten raw or cooked. The stems can be boiled in water and then the water boiled off in order to obtain the sugar. A sugary gum that exudes from the stems can be rolled into balls and eaten as sweets.

A powder extracted from the dried stems can be moistened and roasted like a marshmallow.

The leaves were used in the treatment of bronchitis and cholera, while the ash of the leaves is applied to sores.

A decoction of the flowers could be used in the treatment of cholera and food poisoning. It would be taken internally in the treatment of diarrhoea, fevers, vomiting, coughs with thick dark phlegm, urinary tract infections and food poisoning (especially from eating too much seafood)

Freshly cut shoots could be used as good green manure. The shoots would be left on top of the planting beds and slowly decomposed through the natural elements.

The plant could also be converted into fuel, even if the process seemed impossible at this moment due to lack of equipment. However, it would change once we have certain pharmaceutical glass apparatuses in the future.

The stems were useful in the production of homogeneous boards. They can also be processed into a fine fibrous material suitable as a filler in upholstery. The stems had many uses and they could be used for thatching roofs.

The stems and leaves could also be used for building dwellings, lattices, fences, arrows, weaving mats, carrying nets, basket making, insulation, and fuel. The stem was useful in the manufacture of pulps for rayon and paper.

The fibre from the leaves and stems was used for making paper, hence the term papyrus that was being used mainly for handing out decrees and official parchments. It was waterproof and more resilient than a normal piece of paper.

The stems and leaves were harvested, cut into usable pieces and soaked for 24 hours in clear water. They are then cooked for 2 hours with lye and beaten to form papyrus paper.

A fibre obtained from the plant was used for making string. The flowering stalks yield a fibre suitable for rope making as well. Jute was also one of them and both were equally strong after being made into twine, string or rope.

The leaves were used in basket making and for weaving mats. A light green dye could be obtained from the flowers through a distillation process. The inflorescence of the reed, when bundled together and bound by a piece of twine at the end of a stick could be used as a broom.

The broom would normally be used indoors rather than outdoors to clear the path of the doorway away from fallen leaves and other whatnot. The plant would be mixed with mud to make a plaster for walls. This would be much sturdier than a cruck's wall and the maintenance of these mud walls were fairly simple and convenient.

Pens for writing on parchment were cut and fashioned from the thin stems of this reed whilst the stems were also used as a linear measuring device. The ink could be made from the dye of the flowers.

After Kayla had briefed these wagon load of information, I began to understand that even the overgrown bushes such as reeds and cattails had more meaning to just being there to provide a kind of foliage or to prevent soil erosion.

"Won't removing these disrupt the soil formation along the river banks?" I queried as I was a tad worried that the riverbanks would collapse and make the river wider. "Oh, don't you worry about that matter. Let nature takes its course and these reeds and cattails would recover by itself."

"Unlike the banana plants, that would bear fruit once and then wither, these so-called grass plants would be growing abundantly as long as it is near a water source," Kayla explained reassuringly as she helped the ladies to prepare the plant for its individual purposes.

I looked at the bundle that were placed in the clearing as part of their workplace and was astounded at the tenacity of work being performed by the settlers. A smile slowly carved on my face as I realised that everyone was willing to do their part in making GraceHaven as part of their permanent home from now on.

I simply hope that peace and tranquillity would be restored in the country and life would return as normal once again.

I shrugged my shoulders and assisted the settlers on parts that would be easily understood by me. I watched Gwen as she prepared numerous traps that she would be setting up in the future for hares and fowls.

Crystal was also busy making some partitions made from reeds that she explained to me that it would be used as fences for livestock in the later part. She later explained to the rest of us that a small makeshift roofing would be made and lined with straws for the hens to roost at night.

To prevent these red jungle fowls from taking flight into the high branches of trees, parts of their feathers from the wings were removed so all the hens could do was flutter around at most about 6 feet in the air before landing on the ground clumsily. These fowls, after a few days of feeding, quickly became domesticated and would stay within their coops.

Everything looked pretty smooth sailing from then on.