The Saffron Decision
by Timothy Fulmer
Saffron is the subject here. We are going to go into a few different directions not immediately related, but when the last line is read all the story threads will be tightly woven onto a comfortable and coherent narrative. Consider this blog written by a writer profoundly influenced by W. Somerset Maugham. Those familiar with the celebrated author know he would write 600 plus pages to set the scene for a 75-page story. When you finally get to the story, wow. No promises here though.
We begin with a little backstory about what happened in 2013. That was the year the land and home, now known as Mossygoat Farm, had its last human residents before our family. In 2015, we had the good fortune to purchase and caretake this wonderful piece of Oregon. The house and land laid dormant from 2013 until 2015. Two years of absolutely no maintenance or care for the land (and home) had passed, every plant that was present in 2015 was thriving without human interference or aid. For us it was the best possible scenario for foraging. Nature had reigned supreme with her decisions on growth and decay. In addition to working overtime getting our home habitable, we spent our first three years performing an in-depth study of what the land was doing. We wanted to understand the biodynamics occurring on the land and benefit from what nature provided us. We were fortunate to have such a healthy diversity of thriving plants and wildlife. We have acres of open fields, diverse stands of mature trees including Oak, Beech, Ash, Maple, Cottonwood, Douglas Fir, Cedar and all the understory plants that occupy a good size stand of mature trees. The headwaters of the South Yamhill River run through our land with her many creeks in very close proximity. Each year introduced observable changes in both the flora and fauna. We were part of the changes by simply being present. Predominately it was simply mother nature herself.
In 2018, with all the blessings nature has provided us, we were truly reticent to introduce any non-native species plant. This is the beginning of the saffron decision. For many years prior we had been talking about growing saffron and cultivating the potent flower. Prior to Mossygoat Farm, we never had enough room to properly grow enough saffron. By properly we mean no greenhouse in a box growing. I will strongly state that we are absolutely not against greenhouse growing, however, we also feel strongly that all plants truly offer their best when growing as mother nature intended. That year we studied all the botanical literature available about saffron. In 2019, with much deliberation, we decided to plant saffron at Mossygoat Farm. The health, culinary, and practical uses of saffron outweighed the possibility of this fantastic flower adversely affecting or overwhelming the native flora and fauna.
Halloween 2019 we witnessed our first crocus blooming. Success! The next three years we experimented with our options regarding the corms. Crocus sativus (saffron) is a sterile flower. Reproduction occurs exclusively through the corms dividing. The good news is that all of our tests concluded that the saffron was thriving as well in the Pacific Northwest as it did in Akrotiri on the Island of Thera, 16th Century B.C.E. A side note: the elk, deer, and rabbits absolutely love the saffron flower and leaf, so it is always a friendly competition who gets to the blossoms first. Another side note: those familiar with Western Oregon birds know the many species of hawks have robust populations here. A Hawk’s favorite prey is often rabbits. We have more rabbits than hawks at Mossygoat Farm because there is a (successful) mating pair of bald eagles living in a mature Cottonwood tree on our riverbank. I do not know if an ornithologist would concur but, where the eagles soar the hawks do not. Our eagles seem to most often savor the trout and salmon from the river sparing many of the rabbits. The point is that even though the fauna will happily eat the blossom and every leaf to a nub, the saffron continues to thrive.
That brings us to the saffron decision regarding Wild Wisdom Botanicals. In 2022 Kimberly founded her company to share with the world her appreciation and understanding of how the natural world can help people and animals in need. We forage for our plants that comprise the family of Wild Wisdom Botanicals products. Where we forage is, in our opinion, hyper critical. The energy of the land and the possible poisons introduced by man are profoundly thought about while we forage. Wild Wisdom Botanicals products are made only from plants foraged on our land. To fully ensure this magical piece of gladsome earth and flowing water is willing to share her bounty, we have intentionally waited seven years before offering Wild Wisdom Botanicals products.
The reason this blog was written is because saffron obviously is an introduced plant and that application runs contrary to our particular foraging practices. Of all the beneficial plants that would likely thrive if planted at Mossygoat Farm, and believe me there are many, saffron has made the cut. If evidence is displayed that saffron is detrimental to this ecosystem it will be immediately removed. Meanwhile we have chosen to employ all the fantastic properties saffron has in our Wild Wisdom Botanicals. As foragers, we cannot underscore enough how emotionally challenging it was to introduce a plant to our farm. With great joy we are excited to bring the fantastic properties of Crocus sativus to our Wild Wisdom Botanicals family of products.
