The Midwest is known for potent catnip.
Jae Almond of The Gypsy Travelin’ Market & Bakery is a catnip forager. A vendor at the Dane County Farmers’ Market who sells baked goods as well as herbs, Almond wild-harvests her catnip.
“I’ve had cats since I was a kid, so I’ve always had catnip toys,” says Almond. She started wild-gathering catnip when she spotted it growing near her home.
“It can be difficult to find, but I’ve always lived in places where things grow wild,” says Almond. If you know what you’re looking for, she says, “it’s pretty easy to spot, and easy to identify by rubbing the leaf, because the scent is in the oil.”
That’s found most abundantly in the leaf and the stem, but especially in the flower, says Almond. Catnip, a member of the mint family, has a white flower.
After picking and drying the plant, Almond either sells it as is or stuffs it into little cloth mice for the cats to play with. Her catnip and catnip mice last at least a year, customers tell her. “I get really potent stuff. The Midwest is known for some of the more potent catnip,” Almond says.
This is in contrast to commercial catnip. “Most catnip that you buy in the store, they’re grinding up the stems,” she says. “It even looks bad, yellowy. Mine is more green and you can smell it even outside the bag. Cats really go nuts over it. That’s because I only use the little stems and the flower tops. Stalky stems I don’t even use — they’re like a filler.”
Almond will be selling at the final Dane County Farmers’ Market on Dec. 21 at Monona Terrace. “Otherwise, I’m at craft fairs,” she says. Almond does not have a web presence that lists her fair schedule, but she says her repeat customers “know where I’ll be.”
Cats don’t eat catnip; they react to an ingredient in the oil, nepetalactone, that acts as a stimulant. “You can use it fresh, or dry it and sprinkle it around where they sleep, or make toys with it,” Almond suggests. It may, she says, help deter cats from “doing naughty things,” but notes that “not all cats like catnip — the ones that don’t will often like a little valerian.”
Catnip is good for people too. It was traditionally used for babies with stomach complaints, and “it makes a good tea, with rose hips and and honey.”
Catnip is not the same as cat grass, which is grown from wheat, oat, rye or barley seeds and is eaten by cats to aid in digestion and helps the cat either throw up or digest hairballs.
The MadCat stores on Williamson Street and Monroe Street sell fresh pre-grown wheatgrass; the MadCat on Mineral Point Road sells a pre-grown blend of oat, rye and barley. MadCat also sells starter kits and some seedlings of the live plants.
