Green smoothie — on the wild side

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Angelyn

Bittercress smoothieThis is so cool . . .  I have been reading about adding foraged greens to a blended drink.  So I tried it out.  I found a nicely sized bittercress plant in the yard.  After picking the plant and removing its lower leaves, I added it to the blender with a large handful of soaked Brazil nuts, a banana, two dates, some water and lots of ice cubes.  Then, blended together and . . .  voila!

Bittercress smoothieIt tastes marvelous.  There’s not even a “taste” of green to it.  Just the right amount of sweetness, nuttiness and knowing that I’ve done something really good for myself.

Posted in Foraged, Harvest, Recipes | Leave a comment

“Wild” green salad

Posted on January 28, 2012 by Angelyn
Common chickweed

Common chickweed

I’ve been enjoying some fresh salad greens for a couple months — despite the cold wintery weather.  Gradually I am learning which “weeds” are actually edible in a salad.  So . . . with the addition of chickweed, sheep sorrel, bittercress, plantain and oxeye daisy leaves, I’ve had some really great salads.  I added these wild greens to the bits of bok choy, arugula, lemon balm, garlic chives and carrots I’ve scrounged from the winter garden.  Granted, most everything is pretty small right now and I selectively harvest from the wild edibles because I want the plants to flourish later this spring and summer.

There’s no photo of these delicious salads because every time I’ve thought about taking a photo . . . I’ve already eaten the salad!

Posted in Foraged, Harvest, Vegetable garden | Leave a comment

Do the frogs know something I don’t?

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Angelyn

Frog eggsThe frogs came out of winter hibernation about a week ago when we received lots of cold rain.  They’ve been croaking ever since.  And now they have even mated and laid eggs!  Today is a cold, windy, cloudy 40 degree day.  Still, they are swimming around as if it were sunny and warm.

Do they think it’s spring already??

Posted in Frogs | Leave a comment

Let me hibernate

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Angelyn

111127 P1480902I was cleaning out stones which had fallen into the frog pools when I came to this stone.  I lifted the flap of pool liner which was covering the stone and saw . . .

111127 P1480905. . . a frog perched on the stone attempting to move into hibernation.  Well I decided that stone could stay right where it was.  Then I noticed a second frog in the water behind this same stone.  He, too, looked very black.

As I took these photographs, the frog opened his eyes as if to say, “Okay, that’s enough.  I’m ready to hibernate.  Please cover me back up and go away.”

111127 P1480908And so I did.

Posted in Amphibians | Leave a comment

Cat vs. bat

Posted on November 12, 2011 by Angelyn

111112 P1480606I had just finished photographing some plants which were still blooming when I heard my cat calling to me.  He had that special call which says, “I’m so good!  Look at me.  I caught something wonderful and I want to show it to you.”

Oh my!  He had managed to catch a bat!  A little brown bat to be specific.  Although, in the photo above, it almost looks like the bat has caught the cat since its wings are covering the cat’s face.

111112 P1480608After dropping the bat in the yard, my cat seemed to be less interested in playing with it any more and was willing for me to perform a “bat rescue.”  I put the cat in the house and went back out to see if the bat might survive.

111112 P1480612I found the bat had been pretty severely injured and it would not / could not grab a twig I offered it.  I carefully wrapped it in leaves and placed it into the woods.  Even though it was relatively warm today, the night temperature was going to drop to freezing again.  I suspect the bat will not make it.

The only other question remaining was how did the cat capture the bat?  This particular cat loves to climb trees.  Perhaps he climbed a tree and disturbed a resting (beginning to hibernate?) bat.  Any movement from the bat would attract the cat’s attention and I suspect the bat would have been very slow to move since it was cool and sunny.

Rest in peace, little one.

Posted in Mammals | Leave a comment

Rose hip harvesting

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Angelyn

Rose hipI planted a rose bush (Rosa canina) a few years ago.  This year there were some lovely looking rose hips that I decided to harvest.  Then I was puzzled.  How do I “process” them?  A bit of Internet searching indicated it would be good to remove the “seeds with hairs.”

Well, I did not get around to this until after the hips had been drying on the counter for a long, long time.  When I did pick up the knife to slice a rose hip open, I found it was easy to cut.  And I found all those seeds . . . with lots of small hairs which felt like they could be really irritating.

Rose hips and seedsNow that I’ve studied this photo more closely, I see I need to go back and brush off the hairs even more from the hips.  I did nibble a tiny piece of rose hip while working with them and found it deliciously tart — as I had anticipated given its reported Vitamin C content.

Posted in Flowers, Harvest | 2 Comments

Muscadine harvest

Posted on October 8, 2011 by Angelyn

MuscadineA month ago (above photo), the muscadine grapes started ripening.  As they ripened even more (photo below taken two weeks later) . . .

Muscadine . . . I began eating a few each day.  And recently, I had enough ripe muscadines to keep a bowlful at hand.

MuscadineI love the first burst of sweet flavor followed by lip-puckering tartness.  Spitting out the large seeds reminds me of eating watermelon.

Posted in Fruits, Harvest | 2 Comments

A gift of Jerusalem artichokes

Posted on October 1, 2011 by Angelyn

111001 Jerusalem artichokeIt may not look like much at the moment . . . and . . . this is the new Jerusalem artichoke bed.  A friend gifted me with some surplus and, after checking with the Deva of the Garden about where to plant these, I dug up the soil in a fresh spot and planted.  Just wait until next year when I will be able to see the cheerful flowers from the house window.  And next fall I will have fresh Jerusalem artichokes to harvest.

We are now experiencing fall-like weather with wind and cooler temperatures.  So I took a tour of the garden to see how plants are faring as they prepare for the winter season.  I noticed the purple coneflower seed heads were ripe so I spread the seed in the new bed created this summer for them.  Then I noticed the lizard. . .

111001 Lizard on oxeye daisy leafCan you see it?  The lizard’s tail is on the ox-eye daisy leaf and the purple coneflower seed head is to the upper right.

The nasturtiums are doing well in the new cool hoop house bed.  I’ve been eating an occasional leaf when I stop by.

111001 NasturtiumThe comfrey is well established — after transplanting it in the heat of the summer from another friend’s “over-run with comfrey” bed.

111001 ComfreyThis leek looks good.  I wonder if I should harvest and eat it now . . . or let it over-winter?

111001 LeekAaahh . . . the wintergreen (teaberry) has lovely berries which are ripening.  They will be fun to eat during the winter.

111001 Wintergreen (teaberry) #2I planted two of these wintergreen plants about three years ago.  They have spread nicely and I’m looking forward to their completely covering this particular garden bed in the future.

Posted in Conscious nature collaboration, Flowers, Herbs, Vegetable garden | 2 Comments

Colorful beans

Posted on September 28, 2011 by Angelyn

110827 Brown green beans #2I love the look of these beans with all their varied hues.  They are actually the same type of bean: Kentucky Wonder green bean seeds.  As they dry out, they turn from light green to tan in color.  I expect to use them for planting next year.  Here are some more colorful bean seeds I’ve gathered and dried for planting in the future.

110827 Tigers eye beansTiger’s Eye — a type of pinto  bean.

110827 Golden lumen beansGolden Lumen — a type of wax bean.

110827 Peking black crowder peas #9And Peking Black — a type of crowder pea.

Posted in Harvest, Vegetable garden | Leave a comment

Gathering those crowder peas

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Angelyn

110829 Crowder peaI’ve been harvesting the bean pods from the crowder pea plants for weeks now.  It’s nearing the end of the season and very few pods remain on the plants.  One day I collected nearly a five gallon bucket full . . .

110906 Crowder peas. . . and spread them on the floor to finish drying out.  I had picked them on a damp day — in between rain storms when it looked like it would not stop raining for days.  After the pods were dry, I began the shelling process.

110827 Peking black crowder peas #4Some of the beans were thoroughly dried out already . . .

110827 Peking black crowder peas #3. . .  and some were not . . .

110827 Peking black crowder peas #8Here’s a closeup comparison of the dried beans on the left and the “green” beans on the right.  By the way, these are “Peking Black” crowder peas so they look black rather than the traditional tan crowder pea color.

110827 Peking black crowder peas #10After the crowder peas have dried as much as they possibly can, I store them in containers for re-hydrating and cooking later in the year.  I appreciate how easy it is to store this food and that it does not require cooking, canning or freezing.  And . . . for any crowder peas which were on the vine so long that they began to look not so appetizing . . . I save them as seed for next year’s planting.

Posted in Harvest, Vegetable garden | 1 Comment