Wild Leek Festival

Here they are! Isn't this a good picture of the different stages of prepare?

John went out in the morning and harvested the Leeks. As you can see, he pulled the bulb and all.
I hauled out the big cast-iron pan and put in some oil and butter. Turned the heat on and when the butter melted added the cut up bulb. Cooked them to a caramelized state.

Took them out of the pan and then cooked the greens. Added my secret seasoning ( soy sauce) and cooked a little longer. Then I combined them all.
They got eaten up right quick.

This year we had 25 people join us. Potluck was great. One attender used leeks in a Chinese steamed bread she made. Yumm.

All in all a great day with great people. And it's good to know that people had the benefits of those highly nutritious wild veggies.

violet ice-cubes

So, we're having a party this weekend. Actually our annual wild leek (ramp) festival. I fear the rain is going to make a wet day of it but we don't need to succumb to the gloom eh?
I'm making violet flower ice-cubes to brighten up the punch bowl.

Just go pick the flowers off the violets (not your African violet in the house). Both of these pictured grow on my lawn and have the heart shaped leaves. The leaves, stems and flowers are all edible and not offensive in taste. So when those ice-cubes melt just have a munch on the flower.
If you use distilled water it will tend to be a clearer ice-cube. Oh and you could also freeze a tiny leaf or two for some variety.

Dandelion Coffee

This is my very scientific experiment on making dandelion coffee. Would be nice if others tried it and shared their experiences.


I measured out 1/2oz. of the root. Since I didn't chop up the root before I dried it, I hammered the chunks in a plastic bag.

 Then I put the roots in a pan along with 2 1/4 cups ( I allowed  that extra 1/4 cup for evaporation) of water and brought that to a boil. Let it simmer for 15 minutes.







I added some cream and sweetener to the finished product and took a sip. ..... um..........well, number one there is no substitute for coffee.  Let's call it a root beverage. It has a slightly bitter after taste that will possibly appeal to my husband. You know, it could grow on you. And knowing dandelion, it could very well take root. Try it and see how you like it.

If you can't join 'em, eat 'em

Well well, we are back and hopefully on track. Wild Edible walks at the state park are starting up again and we plan to be adding more to the blog now that we had our little break. Break shmeak, more like life happens.

So I was wandering the garden boxes and planning and of course, sure as the rising sun, the dandelion lay smirking at me. All sprawled out with every place to go.

It didn't see my smile though as I went for shovel and digger. It's roots are very holdy ony so I needed to dig around and loosen and then try to pull slowly straight up. Got a couple out intact but really I'm not worried. They will return for the second harvest.

Harvest???? Yup, I plan on putting them to some productive work. If you're gonna live here you are gonna help out says I.

First thing I did was wash them up good. Tossed them into a bucket of water to help get the dirt off. Then I scrubbed them with a little brush and cut the crown and leaves off.
And since we are still heating the house with our woodburner in May for goodness sake, I just lay them on a cooling rack and then on the stove to dry the roots out.

I will chop them up when dried through and see if I can come up with some dandelion coffee. Will let you know what I think.

Lip Sumacin Good

The other day we were meandering along checking out the wild edible situation right under everyone else’s noses. We came up with about 4 different varieties of apples, currants gone wild, raspberries, hops (didn’t eat those) and staghorn sumac. John picked off 5 bunches of the sumac for us to take home. The lemony tang was finger lickin good.

I knew that sumac was used for a drink likened to lemonade so I whipped out “Stalking the Wild Asparagus” by Euell Gibbons to see what he had to say.

I put the 5 clumps in a bowl and covered them with water. Then I mashed and pounded for 10 minutes with my potato masher. I strained it through several layers of cheese cloth as the man instructed and added about 1/3 cup of sugar and a little more to the juice. Oh no not another one of those talked up wild treats. It was very refreshing. So I can talk it up. Definitely lemony. It’s a keeper.

This is the time of year to be using it. If there is a heavy rain then wait a day to pick it as the rain washes the good stuff off. But it comes back. And there is another sumac by the way that is poisonous. But it is totally different looking and has white berries and is low to the ground. No worries.

Don't Leaf Me Alone

The “healing leaf", as John’s mom called it, is growing strong in this neck of the woods. Actually it grows just about everywhere man has put his foot. The plantain is a major ingredient in the salves I make.

Primarily plantain is used for all disorders of the respiratory organs. It is used for those with weak kidneys as well as treating eczema, liver and bladder disorders and the list goes on.
I have concentrated on the skin healing abilities of course and have used it for over 30 years now. And in the last few years I have been making salves and selling them and getting good reports.

Yesterday I went out and picked some to make my oil infusion today. If the plant is clean I don’t bother washing it, but these leaves had sand on them from one of the areas on our property. I gently washed them then put them in the salad spinner to get the left over sand and most of the water off.

I then lay them out on a cotton towel and let them dry overnight to get rid of a good amount of water. I will chop them up, put them in a quart jar and pour olive oil over them, making sure to get the air bubbles out and the plant under the oil. Then I let it sit for about 4-6 weeks, strain the herb off and bottle it. I keep it in the fridge until I am ready to combine it with other herbs to make my salves.

People have used my salve for babies butts to a regular skin care routine at night. Or it's used on cuts, scrapes, etc. I make no claims. But......they do.

How to Make Fresh Herb Tea

When you think of tea what do you envision? A little bag with a string attached? A teaspoon of loose leaves dancing in a pot of boiled water? Chances are you will only be seeing a once fresh herb in its dried state.

When John serves up a pot of fresh picked nettle tea on his herb walks sometimes someone will say, “I thought you had to dry it first”. Nope. If it’s available it's even better fresh. That goes for mint leaves as well as other herbs. If it’s there use it. Dry the excess for those cold winter nights or days.

Here is how I make my tea:

Go out in the morning and cut a bunch of mint and nettles. I use the stems and leaves. The amount I figured on was enough to loosely fill a 1/2 gallon canning jar.

I cut my herbs up as I put them in the jar. I think you get more out of them that way.
Boil up some water. Pour it over the leaves to fill the jar.
Just put the cap on but don’t screw it down.
If you’re going to drink it hot then strain off the leaves and drink in about 15 minutes.
For iced I leave them steeping a little longer and strain and refrigerate. You will be amazed how wonderful, soothing, refreshing it tastes. And if you have a bit of intestinal upsets it is very therapeutic.
A note; it is best not to ball up your herbs in those tea ball things.They need to float freely to release their full affective strength. As a matter of fact...so do we. Ahhhh Fweedom.