Wild Edibles

Compared to the start of our Real Food Challenge, getting local food is a breeze this time of year. How much more local can you get than your own backyard? Spring is good for items like ramps and morels. Summer in our region has quite a few beauties to look out for. If you don’t have immediate access to wild foods ask around. Sometimes people are happy to share their sources. If you find a source of wild food be sure that it’s not on private property before harvesting. If in doubt, ask the owner for permission.

Disclosure: Please note that I am not an herbalist or a doctor and trying any new and/or wild foods should be done with caution. I highly suggest having an experienced someone help you forage until you are comfortable with your own knowledge. Just like other foods, wild foods can cause allergic reactions and even death in some instances. Please proceed with caution.

 

wild blackberries

Wild berries are a must! Blackberries and raspberries are starting to come in here. I picked my first ripe blackberries yesterday. I’ll be hitting the hillside every few days throughout June and deep into July to get bucketfuls. For what? Oh, let’s see – there’s cobbler, buckles, sorbet, syrups, jams, and my favorite, wine. Whatever’s left gets frozen for fruity toppings for pancakes and smoothies later in the year.

 

sassafras

Sassafras grows like mad on our property. The roots can be used to make tea, root beer, candy, and jelly. It can even be used to make mead and wine! (See a connection here?)  Sassafras was at one point completely banned because it was linked to cancer in lab rats. If you ask my opinion anything can cause cancer when given in such large doses. Even if you don’t feel like consuming sassafras I recommend at least picking off a leaf or two just to smell the amazing fragrance!

 

Chickasaw plums

Fruit trees are a glorious source of nommy goodness. Down here we’ve got Chickasaw Plums which are a very small fruit in comparison to the cultivated or imported types. What are they good for? Jam and … can you guess? Yep! Wine!

 

dandelion

While springtime is fabulous for dandelion green salads, in late spring and summer I like to pick the flowers to reserve for tea, jelly, and you got it: wine.

 

sumac berries

Last but not least is the Sumac family. Not to be confused with Poison Sumac, these trees can grow upwards around 30 feet and have brilliant red berry cones that ripen in early to mid summer. You know they’re ripe when you can touch the outside of the berries and get a tart flavor. Note that if you are allergic to cashews or mangoes to avoid the sumac tree. Native Americans use the sumac to make a type of lemonade. The fruit contains high levels of citric acid giving it a tart flavor. Native Americans also used a brew to treat blisters and sunburns. I have yet to try either of these recipes. I wonder if it can be used for wine?

What kind of wild edibles do you look for this time of year?

 

Jennifer can be found at Unearthing this Life where she snarfs and blargs about her life in the country with a Kid and Hubby.

Read Full Post »

Other’s Irresponsibility

A female cat can start having litters as early as 6 months of age and she can have up to 3 litters of 2-9 kittens each year. You can imagine how quickly things can grow out of control if spaying/neutering isn’t done. It really irks me when other people don’t spay/neuter their pets because soon this starts causing problems for neighboring houses and communities. Last winter we started noticing a little cat around, pretty soon there were three cats roaming around. Last week she moved 4 kittens into our garage and I have male cats spraying everything outside and this is starting to freak out one of our indoor cats. Because of someone’s irresponsibility, I now have a cat problem that I’m going to have to deal with.

I’ll be trapping, spaying/neutering and releasing these cats trying to limit the population growth of the feral cat colony. Now I’ll be spending money trying to make up for someone else’s cheapness. Our local humane society has a coupon for a few dollars off each spay/neuter, but I’ll still be covering most of the costs of fixing and vaccinating all these cats. I’m really annoyed at the moment that someone wouldn’t spay/neuter their pet and because of that I’m having to deal with this problem. If I do not do it I know these cats will start to suffer overpopulation, disease, starvation and other problems. So I’ll pick up the slack for someone else and start a Trap/Neuter/Release program here in my neighborhood.

Have you ever had to deal with someone else’s responsibility with spaying/neutering?

I can also be found at Chiot’s Run where I blog daily about gardening, cooking, local eating, beekeeping, and all kinds of stuff. You can also find me at Simple, Green, Frugal, Co-op, and you can follow me on Twitter.

Read Full Post »

Feeling overwhelmed…

Ever feel like this?

It seems like that at least once or twice a year I sit back and look at my life and am completely overwhelmed.

There are so many good and constructive and meaningful things that I wish to accomplish that there seems to be no way to get it all done.

I am committed to cooking from scratch from as much homegrown produce as possible.  But as noble as that is it also entails a large garden with all that involves.  Not to mention the time it takes to cook from scratch for a large family every day…all day long.

Homeschooling is something that for our family is a lifestyle choice that we made long ago.  Yet there are days that planning lessons and hanging out ALL day with my kids seems a bit…well crazy!

Then there are the animals that are as much a part of the family as anyone that need care and cleaning and feeding.

The dishes don’t do themselves…

Nor does the mountain of laundry.

There are bills and doctor’s appointments.  Dentists visits and playgroups….

I try to make sure we flex our creative muscle so crafts are a must.

And then there is the blogging…and the photography that is involved.

My mother-in-law is still lingering in hospice, visiting numerous times a week is a must.

I know it is all about prioritizing…but everything seems important and/or necessary.

So here is my question for you today.

How do you do it all? Or have you given up on doing it all and just do what you love?   Or do you delegate and sit back and eat bon bons while you order everyone around?

Seriously…there must be a system or something for getting it all done.  I would pay big bucks if someone could let me in on the secret!

Read Full Post »

Sunday Photos….All Things Purple

*****

Purple is a definite sign of life here in Tennessee.

It’s also a sign of good eats!

*****

I’m not a fan of the red, yellow and orange flowers. I find something very cool & soothing about purple flowers though. My gardens are predominately filled with purple, pink or white flowering plants. Like many of the other color days, I have a Flickr collection featuring all my purple photos.

I’d have to say my favorite purple would have to be the wild black raspberries that we pick every summer. There’s something so wonderful about their deep purple color and their wonderful flavor. I freeze them on a cookie sheet and we enjoy them in cobblers all winter long.

*****

Happy Sunday all…Kim here sharing a little purple!

What’s your favorite purple thing?

Read Full Post »

Potato Patties with Garlic & Onions recipe

I don’t know about you but I have a lot of potatoes that are just at the brink of not being good for eating anymore.  So we have been scrambling about here to try to use them up asap!

A lot have gone into Baked Potato Soup since out weather is still cool and wet.  The morning after we are likely to use some of the leftover baked potatoes for potato patties…one of our all time favorite things!

The trick to these is to use a potato that has not been over cooked since you are going to grate them.  You can use baked, boiled or steamed.  Just make sure they are fairly firm and have been refrigerated…it is much harder to grate a warm potato!

Ingredients…

6 to 8 medium russet type potatoes, cooked, cooled, peeled (if you want) and grated

1/2 sweet onion grated

2 to 3 cloves finely minced garlic

1 tsp salt (or to taste)

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Optional herbs alone or in combination to taste…

Thyme

Celery Seed

Oregano

Cayenne

Chili Powder

Another option is adding freshly grated Parmesan Cheese

Mix all the ingredients together. Using about 1/2 cup of the mixture for each, form into patties.  Place in frying pan and press with spatula to form.  Fry in hot oil or butter until nicely browned, flipping once.  Keep patties in warm oven until they are all fried and ready to serve.

So if you have left over cooked potatoes this is an simple way to please your whole family…these are seriously good!

Read Full Post »

Pick a peck of pickles

 

As we look toward a long season of harvesting I find myself excited about what we’ll be making. I wonder if we’ll have good crops and if I’ll be successful at storing food to eat throughout the winter months. The Real Food Challenge proved just how difficult it can be to commit to eating non-processed foods in late winter, especially if one is relying on regional or seasonal foods.

Today I had the opportunity to visit the Amish and Mennonite society not far from my home. They have a rather large community and a fabulous relationship with the rest of the outlying region. My daughter and I drove by all the farms, amazed at all of the produce and canned items they have to sell. Most households offered squash, cabbage, and broccoli, but a few already had some tomatoes to spare. Fresh eggs, fresh milk, homemade butter, roosters and pullets, sorghum and honey – so much to be had.

I found myself wondering how they get through the winter months without canned vegetable Blahs (they keep greenhouses and cellars and plan ahead!). I have nothing but admiration for their culture and I respect their relationship with the earth. I love that they have such a healthy relationship with food. They obviously adore food (which is apparent by the way they treat what they grow) but not one of them is overweight.

That’s seasonal eating for you. That’s a very, very limited access to processed foods. That’s working with the earth.

The Kid and I had the chance to go to the Amish auction. It was thrilling to see green peppers, tomatoes, and even blackberries. I purchased a half peck each of pickles and huge candy onions as well as a large bunch of carrots for only $11. I now have 2 gallons worth of refrigerator pickles working their magic, and we’ve already broken into the onions – onions so sweet you can eat them like an apple. And those carrots! Wow.

I know we’ll visit over and over again during the summer. Our diets will be supplemented by Amish wares. And if my garden doesn’t produce like I hope, well those Amish wares will be what we’ll eat during those late winter months. If you ever have the opportunity to visit this kind of culture, do so! I highly recommend visiting the homes or auction sites to purchase merchandise rather than going to a store that carries “Amish-made” items. Going directly to the site will not only cost you less, but it ensures that the families are getting 100% of the profit.

Do you have an Amish and/or Mennonite society nearby that offers merchandise to the public?

*****

Jennifer can also be found over at Unearthing this Life where she blargs about living in rural Tennessee, raising a precocious yet sweet daughter, and growing her own food.

Read Full Post »

Increasing Biodiversity in the Garden

I’m always trying find ways to increase the biodiversity in our gardens and to broaden my knowledge of the benefits of of biodiversity, even in the small scale garden. Every year we add a few more native/local plants, especially ones that are beneficial for insects (like milkweed, queen anne’s lace & goldenrod). We also garden without the use of any kind of sprays or dusts, even the organic ones, which still be hard on or kill beneficial insects. Our methods of pest control are limited to luring beneficial insects/birds/animals to our property and companion planting. If our cabbages get decimated by cabbage loopers we try companion planting or we try to lure beneficial birds to the garden. One of the reasons I don’t spray or do anything to limit the insect population of any kind is because I believe the “bad” insects are around for a reason. If we didn’t have them, we wouldn’t have the good ones either, or the birds/animals that rely on them for food.

What got me thinking about this was something I read a long time ago about some trees in one state. This particular type of tree was plagued by web worms (which we have a lot of around here). The state started a spraying program to control the worms, but then they noticed the trees started dying off. After further study they found out that the worms defoliated the trees right at the time the dry season started. The defoliation allowed the trees to lose less water and thus survive the dry season. When they killed off the worms, they inadvertently weakened or killed the trees. We have such a limited view of the natural world, what we often see as a “pest” if often doing a specific job, if we interrupt that natural cycle we often do more damage.

Adhering to these self-imposed rules hasn’t always been easy. We’ve been overrun with earwigs, HUGE wolf spiders, and slugs and I’ve lost crops to insect damage. We have noticed that each and every year we have a greater variety of insects, birds and other creatures in our gardens. Along with all these new species comes a healthier ecosystem. I’ve noticed that we don’t get overrun any more. When the cabbage worms start getting out of hand, the wrens eggs hatch and mama goed to work collecting all those big juicy fat green worms to feed their young. At that moment I’m thankful that I didn’t dust the cabbage or those little wren babies might not have enough to eat. The more I pay attention to these natural cycles the more thankful I am that I read that article so long ago. I love spotting a wasp patroling a broccoli plant in search of a caterpillar or birds flitting around the tomatoes looking for giant hornworms.

My newest attempt to add biodiversity to my gardens is in the way of a small pond. We’ve been wanting to add some water for the insects, frogs, toads, birds and other wildlife. I have small saucers of water I around the garden (change water frequently to avoid breeding mosquitoes), but I have been wanting to add something larger. My parents gave us their old pond when they upgraded to a larger one. We installed it a couple weeks ago and 2 days later we found a few toads in it already. We bought some fish to help with mosquito control and it looks like we’re on the way to even great diversity on our small 1/4 acre lot. I’ve noticed bees and wasps drinking from the pond and the birds love it as well. I’ll keep thinking of new ways to make my little slice of the world a refuge for the insects and animals of all shapes.

Any great tips and ideas on increasing the biodiversity in the garden? Have you noticed a greater abundance and variety of insects, birds, and other wildlife in your gardens?

I can also be found at Chiot’s Run where I blog daily about gardening, cooking, local eating, beekeeping, and all kinds of stuff. You can also find me at Simple, Green, Frugal, Co-op and you can follow me on Twitter.

Read Full Post »

Stages of Grief

My mother in law is dying.

She has spent the last 3 days in hospice sometimes lucid, most times not.  There have been many tears, many loving words, soft touches, and even some denial.

For most of my life I have remained quite untouched by death and loss.  I had never attended a funeral until I had to plan the one for my own twin daughters who were stillborn 6 years ago.

Then just a year later I suddenly lost my dad whom was one of my best friends besides being my father.

Now we are on the verge of losing my mother-in-law…

All humans will be touched by grief and loss.  And even though all humans die it is something we don’t talk about…at least in this country we don’t.  It seems so strange to me that it can be such a taboo subject.

I was talking to a friend the other day and we were talking about parents and she said “if my mother dies I don’t know what I would do…”  there is no ‘if’ about it, all of our mothers will die, as will our fathers and grandparents as has ever generation since the beginning of time. Some of us will even lose children…

As I was researching the stages of grief about a year after my daughters died I found there are 5 to 7 typical and accepted stages of grief.  Of course not everyone goes through each but most go through a combination of a least a handful of these…

1. Shock and Denial...this helps protect us from being overwhelmed all at once.
2. Pain and/or Guilt…this is the stage when the initial shock has worn off and the great pain of loss sets in.  Combined with this can be any guilt associated what might have been left undone.  Things left unsaid…  This is when life feels out of control and you cannot see that you will ever emerge from the fog of pain.
3. Anger/Bargaining…when we look for someone or something to blame.  We are more likely to lash out at this stage.  I remember railing against God for the death of my daughters.  This is also when some try to bargain for a different outcome…
4. Depression and Loneliness…when everyone seems to be getting back to ‘normal’ , when the world says your should ‘get on with your life’ a type of deep loneliness can set in.  I remember wondering how the world could keep on spinning, how everyone could just keep on even though my girls were dead.  It was hard for me to interact with friends that no longer seemed to be comfortable with my broken heart.  The focus is on the past…the ‘what ifs’
5. A Glimmer of Light…slowly you become accustomed to your new life without your loved one.  You emotions begin to calm down, the depression is slowly lifting
6. Reconstruction…you begin the task of constructing a new life without your loved one.  You take steps to solve financial and other daily issues that are posed.
7. Acceptance...this is when you accept the lose and begin to live your new reality.  I know from personal experience that this does not mean that you will instantly be happy…or happy all the time.  But it means that your have worked through your loss and are prepared to live your new life even though it means living with a piece of your heart missing.

There was a time that I could not imagine ever being truly joyful again.  Yet here I am…

I find joy in every day of my life. I also miss my loved ones and find myself in tears at small reminders of them.  My life now seems to be a patchwork of beautiful pieces that make me smile and a few that make me cry.  I have found that life does go on and that you can still find peace and joy even with a broken heart.

So as I watch my mother-in-law slowly pass from here I know that we will all be ok…maybe not right away, but we will all indeed be ok…even better than ok, we will be joyful!

She would want it that way…

Read Full Post »

Sunday Photos….All Things Blue

*****

 

“Blue color is everlastingly appointed by the Deity to be a source of delight”  John Ruskin

Nothing is as beautiful as a clear blue sky after the rainy season. me

*****

Blue happens to be my favorite color. I’ll pass on pink, yellow, and orange blossoms any day for a true blue flower.

A lot of people associate blue with sadness or melancholy, but I prefer to think of it as a thoughtful and insightful color, full of wisdom and emotion.

My favorite blue thing in the world?

Easy.

*****

Read Full Post »

June Planner

So many of us are working our way toward a more self-sufficient lifestyle. With that in mind we wanted to share some general guidelines of what to plan for on a monthly basis. Whether you’re a gardener, a beekeeper, a forager, or you keep animals, hopefully our monthly guides will help you plan ahead for the month. Depending on your exact climate you may find you need to adjust your schedule plus or minus two weeks or more.

Gardening:

• Keep an eye on compost to ensure that it stays damp. Turn often to keep proper aeration, allowing bacteria and worms to do their job.
• Stay on top of weeds while they’re small. They’re easier to remove before they develop strong roots.
• Cut back pastures or meadows before weeds go to seed. It’s also time to trim back the foliage on spring bulbs.
• Berry season is upon all of us – find local sources and research recipes for jams, pies, cakes, smoothies, and so on. Be sure to save some fruit in the freezer for winter time cravings!

 Outdoors:

• Clean up bicycles and other recreational equipment. Make sure tires are filled properly and chains are clean and oiled.
• For more southerly folks, it may be time to sharpen the blades on mowers again.
• Reduce weed growth in gardens and paths by creating borders and keeping them tidy. Instead of dangerous chemicals consider alternatives: hand picking, mulching, smothering, or spray vinegar on undesirable plants to kill them.

Indoors:

• Clean exhaust vents on refrigerators and freezers. Make sure there is plenty of circulation during the summer when they’ll be working overtime. While you’re at it, clean out you’re the vent and lint trap on your dryer to reduce the chance for a fire and to allow lots of air flow for faster drying. Consider hang drying on a line outdoors to save energy.
• If you’re a July vacationer start preparing for your absence ahead of time. Arrange for pet care, house sitters, garden sitters and so on while you have plenty of time to look into options.

 Animals:

• Check fencing for repairs. It’s a good time to paint fence posts and animal housing because of warm temperatures and less rain.
• Watch for fleas and ticks and take the necessary steps to remove/prevent them.

*****

What projects do you have lined up for this month?

Read Full Post »