{"id":17179,"date":"2026-06-29T10:25:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T09:25:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=17179"},"modified":"2026-06-29T10:28:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T09:28:31","slug":"17179","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=17179","title":{"rendered":"The Queen of Foraging Plants"},"content":{"rendered":"
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THE QUEEN OF FORAGING PLANTS<\/span><\/p>\n

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So, once upon a time, the Vale of Glamorgan was pink. These days the predominant colour in the fields is yellow with Oil Seed Rape. But before tractors arrived and up to the 1950s you could expect to see acres of a pink, reddish crop. It is estimated that one in seven fields was planted with it. This was Sainfoin and is seldom seen these days. However, it is a great fodder crop and was known as the queen of foraging plants. Here are some of its benefits:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Sainfoin is a high-yielding, drought-resistant plant which needs no nitrogen fertiliser and little phosphate. It won\u2019t cause bloat, is a natural anthelmintic and, with rumen protected protein, produces top quality meat and milk. Sainfoin has deep penetrating roots making it highly suitable for the dry, alkaline soils. Sainfoin has many positive characteristics as a forage. In ruminants, these are the result of its content of high levels of chemicals called condensed tannins.<\/p>\n

However, Sainfoin has another great benefit – it is very attractive to bees and other insects and is great for beekeepers because of the quality of the honey it produces. For this reason, the Wildlife Group is planting it in different locations, including the Upper Orchid Field, Bee Loud Glade, Goldsland Orchard and Cae Ysbyty.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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THE QUEEN OF FORAGING PLANTS So, once upon a time, the Vale of Glamorgan was pink. These days the predominant colour in the fields is yellow with Oil Seed Rape. But before tractors arrived and up to the 1950s you could expect to see acres of a pink, reddish crop. It is estimated that one in seven fields was planted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[49,436],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s6cWjO-17179","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15858,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=15858","url_meta":{"origin":17179,"position":0},"title":"The Foraging Season Is Upon Us","author":"Alan Williams","date":"31st July 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"THE VILLAGE GARDENER The Foraging Season Is Upon Us We are reminded again of the changing weather patterns, as we witnessed the third heatwave of the year in the UK by the 2nd week of July. The long dry spells and longer wet spells are becoming the norm as highs\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Items for August 2025"","block_context":{"text":"New Items for August 2025","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=424"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17183,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=17183","url_meta":{"origin":17179,"position":1},"title":"June Events","author":"Alan Williams","date":"29th June 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 WOMEN\u2019S INSTITUTE June Events On June 4th we were pleased to be joined by members of the Wenvoe community and other local WIs at our meeting. We were entertained by a fast moving, amusing and educational presentation on \u201cEnjoying the Power of Plants\u201d from Roger Crookes in conjunction with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Items for July 2026"","block_context":{"text":"New Items for July 2026","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=436"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5731,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=5731","url_meta":{"origin":17179,"position":2},"title":"We Are Surrounded By Poisons","author":"Alan Williams","date":"2nd April 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 You may not realise it, but we are surrounded by poisons in the shape mainly of plants and trees. Our rural ancestors knew what to eat and what to avoid but as we become increasingly divorced from an understanding of the countryside, we are losing that knowledge. The recent\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Nature Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Nature Notes","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=49"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Deadly-Nightshade-berry-1-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17128,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=17128","url_meta":{"origin":17179,"position":3},"title":"July 2026 Diary of Events","author":"Alan Williams","date":"27th June 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Diary of Events"","block_context":{"text":"Diary of Events","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=126"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Event-Diary-jul2026.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Event-Diary-jul2026.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Event-Diary-jul2026.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Event-Diary-jul2026.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Event-Diary-jul2026.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":17027,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=17027","url_meta":{"origin":17179,"position":4},"title":"The Spiked Star of Bethlehem","author":"Alan Williams","date":"31st May 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"THE SPIKED STAR OF BETHLEHEM Not many may recognise the plant in the photo which is popping up around the Upper Orchid Field. On the logo of the Wildlife Group in a design by Heather Pollington, it is Spiked Star of Bethlehem which was first recorded growing along Caerau Lane\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Nature Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Nature Notes","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=49"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Nature-Notes.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8845,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=8845","url_meta":{"origin":17179,"position":5},"title":"Private Gardens In The UK","author":"Alan Williams","date":"28th December 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Nature Notes Private Gardens In The UK Private gardens in the UK cover an area bigger than all the Nature Reserves combined, estimated at over 10 million acres. Just as our countryside and woodland is shrinking, so is the amount of garden space which wildlife can use as more gardens\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Nature Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Nature Notes","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=49"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Smasll-garden-pondz-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17179"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17179"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17182,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17179\/revisions\/17182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}