Early spring is bursting with all its wild edible glory right now. The woods are filled with fiddleheads, trout lily, morel mushrooms, wild ginger, field garlic, dock and white lettuce leaves. The fields have violets in bloom for salads and sunshine yellow dandelions ready for dandelion wine. Invasive edible plants like Japanese knotweed and garlic mustard still have …
How do you forage and cook stinging nettles? Gather young stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) in spring, from April to June, and again in the fall, in damp, nutrient-rich soil by rivers, streams and lakes. Wear gloves, cook or dry the leaves to remove the sting, and use them like spinach, as in the nettle and …
The sun has dropped to a low spot on the horizon. The days are darker and colder and the night is longer. Winter signifies a need for deep rest and nourishment. It’s a time of quiet. Soup’s on the stove, hot teas are being sipped. The proverbial fire is being stoked in the kitchen’s hearth. …
… A plant has been calling me…Chicory. It’s been playfully waving to me from the road side for the last several days that it has been in bloom. But it wasn’t until late last night while I lay in bed reading about its virtues that I felt the strong need to return the call and …
My writing sabbatical starts today. Diving deep into my next book.#Foraging #EdiblePlants #TimberPress #MidWest
One of my most favorite, divine and seductive flowers is the Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica, Caprifoliaceae). It is a rambling vine that loves to climb and appreciates hot, dry waste places. It blooms right about Solstice — which I find apropos as it is a delightful plant with which to celebrate the sun’s highest point of …
What is the adage, “A weed is a plant that is growing where you don’t want it?” Abundant in areas of disturbed soil – at the forest’s edge, along roadsides, and on river floodplains – the Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata, Brassicaceae) is deemed by many as a noxious, invasive species, choking out native vegetation and spreading wildly across …
Spotted: Wild leeks, Allium tricoccum Regionally, Wild Leeks are distributed as far east as New York State and through Canada, west into the forests of Wisconsin and Minnesota and south into Appalachia. Here in Michigan, the Wild Leeks (or Ramps are they are also called) are plentiful in the Beech/Maple woods along the rivers and on …
It’s that time of year again — Spring! I know I’ve been thinking about planting time since January, when the seed catalogues began to drop into our mailbox (an evil tease, I say) and this time of year I become so excited to once again get my hands into the soil. It is my therapy …