On Mire Weed - from Siromsja’s Book of Wildland Recipes For Health and Hunger

Excerpt from A Guide to Harvesting and Harnessing All The Wild Has To Offer

(Pages 64-65, from chapter three: living plants, hostile & benign)

Mire Weed

The Mire Weed is a dangerous and elusive yet highly valuable vegetal creature. Unlike the plant-like creatures covered in the previous chapter, this specimen has no complex anatomy like that of an animalistic creature, it is a large prehensile mass of roots and stems, all sprouting from the central bulb that is its heart. It has no brain and acts on instinct.

Mire Weed can be found in marshes and swamps. It should be harvested with extreme caution. It is carnivorous, usually feeding on waterfowl and other animals, but can be known to consume humans. It does not act with malicious intent, but driven by instinct, and hunts for sustenance. The Mire Weed will lurk in deep, murky waters, camouflaged within the vegetation, and ensnare its prey within its reaching body and pull it into the water. Even a small Mire Weed can be deadly— even if it is not strong enough to kill you outright, you will still drown if you are caught in it. And in such thick, foggy waters as a swamp’s, it is easy to become disoriented and drown when tangled in the roots of even unconscious aquatic plants that aren’t actively trying to kill and eat you. Test the ground you are walking on and any nearby water with a long stick before getting too close, or a pike or pitchfork of some sort, as such pronged weapons are best suited for fighting off a Mire Weed.

The key to killing the Mire Weed is its heart. The easiest method is to destroy the heart, but it is a valuable resource and doing so should be avoided. Ideally, one should cut the heart out of the Mire Weed-- disconnecting it from the roots of its body will cause them to fall still-- and place it in a burlap sack or some jar before it can regrow its body. Keeping it then out of water for a few hours will kill the heart, but should it become too dehydrated, the juices and pulps of the heart may not be salvageable.

Suggested uses for various components of Mire Weed

The Heart

Should one decide to start a Mire Weed farm, one would do so by keeping the still-living, isolated heart in a large jar half-full of water, with space for the creatures’ shoots to re-grow. Feed it a small rodent or something similar once a month. The Mire Weed is capable of maturing even when its size is limited by the jar. It should take between six months to a year for it to go to seed. Carefully remove the seeds from the jar with a utensil (do not put your bare hands in the jar) and place them in a new container. Repeat process as new Mire Weeds grow. Alternatively, the seeds can be dried and ground into a grainy, odourless powder, which makes for a suitable base for scent-salts. The heart can also be pressed and pulverized to extract juices. Essence should be pulpy and half-opaque, and of greenish-white tint, if it is yellowish or brown then discard, for the Mire Weed was unhealthy. Store in bottle or vial. Boil and strain through thin cloth to extract glycerin, use leftover oils as wood-safe polish. Pull dehydrated flesh of heart into strips and mix with dried allium blossoms and lemongrass to create bug repelling incense.

The Roots

Mire Weed roots vary from thin and spindly to thick and stiff. Soften by boiling and press flat to remove excess moisture. Store in sealed jar. Best used in potions of aquatic constitution and nausea diminishers. Can also be used to absorb bacteria and toxins from still water. The thicker roots of Mire Weed can be cooked and consumed in any way other root vegetables like carrots or parsnips can, but must be washed first. I recommend pickling them and serving with spicy peppers.

Do not eat any part of wild Mire Weed raw.

The Stems

The stems of Mire Weed have the most different uses. They are limp and flexible when fresh, very strong, and hard to cut. They become brittle like twigs when dried. To use as incense sticks, hang straight (or lay in desired shape) and dry thoroughly, over several days. Cut to appropriate length to roll in prepared incense dough. Alternatively, skin stems (set aside shavings for later) and steep in any potion that is not overly viscous and put over heat to loosen ‘muscles’. When potion is fully absorbed, dry and cut into bite-size pieces to make slow-release doses. Recommend for sleeping draughts to avoid overdose. Shavings of stem’s skin are also an ingredient in potions of aquatic constitution.

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Recipe for Potion of Aquatic Constitution

A brew to allow one to hold one's breath underwater for many hours (Makes 1 batch)

Ingredients:

• 1 bucket water
• 4 bundles Mire Weed root (prepared as described)
• 2 spoons Speartoad mucus
• 10 spoons oil of Meyantha seed
• The gills of any fish as long as or longer than a man's foot
• Whole bill and tongue of duck
• 7 spoons essence of mint
• 1 stomach of Giant Clawed Polwygle (see page 89)
• 3 scoops Veined Lotus powder
5 handfuls Mire Weed skin shaving

Bring water, Mire Weed roots, duck bill and tongue, speartoad mucus, and polwygle stomach to boil. Allow to boil for one hour. Mix lotus powder with meyantha seed oil into paste and add to brew slowly, stirring continuously. Stir slowly for seven minutes or until clumps of meyantha-lotus paste are no longer visible. Soak fish gills in essence of mint and add them and remaining mint essence to brew. Stir. Cover and let simmer for one hour. Sprinkle in Mire Weed skin shavings, gradually, do not dump in all at once, and stir. At this point there should not be any more floating spots of mucus. Remove from heat and strain. Discard leavings and allow final potion to cool overnight. Bottle in doses of no more than ten swallows. Do not take more than five swallows over the course of three hours, lest your lungs turn against you and drown you without having to take in any water at all.