hello spring finally

This week the snow is gone and we've had beautiful 80 degree weather...

what a difference a few days made...

there are tiny snow drops all over my overgrown flower beds... 

and the little purple flower are back in my yard, not violets yet, but something else, (I can't remember their name)...

actually I shouldn't have even mentioned them as I don't have a photo... 

But the purplish weed photographed is dead nettle. 

I do have tons of that up...

and I tried it in a salad this week as it is supposedly very good for you and completely edible. 

I didn't mind it but my family hated it.

 I did read on other websites that people often put it in smoothies instead of salads to get the nutrients without the texture.

 maybe I will try that,

as for art,

 I did a variety of things but only have one thing to show...

do you remember BigBig from last summer? 

(If not, then click here for one of many posts about our trip with Bigbig)

well, he was going to be in my alphabet book on the B page with this tiny sketch of him, but then I went back to an old idea I had for him and am off into a new/old direction!

I will let you know where it takes me later.

(I love twisted paths and divergent roads anyway...........)

come foraging with me

This time I coaxed my family into trying daylilly buds....I found a bunch of instructions on the internet, all about the same so I won't give you any particular link for a recipe... I just cut off the buds, washed them, added them with some of my chopped fresh picked chives, butter and  a sprinkling of garlic powder to a frying pan with oil, and cooked them for just a few minutes till browning. I liked them better than the rest of my family, but overall they were a hit as people took second helpings after their initial taste.

success!

come foraging with me

when i was growing up, my parents read Euell Gibbons, I remember going on foraging trips in the back of an old brown truck with a broom stuck in the back...

Now I have Euell Gibbon's book, 'Stalking the wild asparagus' and I have been trying to force my family to eat things I have gathered. I am just learning and I will post a bit every now and then about my success or lack of it as I go. I tried violet syrup this spring from the violets in my yard and it tasted like grass syrup. 

fail
 Actually that was my second try...I do have to say you should be very careful that what you are foraging & eating is really what you think it is, I thought I was picking violets my first time trying the syrup and when i decided to double check, and identify it through the internet I found I was picking something not edible. So now I am very careful before i make my family eat something.

recently I tried Elderberry blow fritters...

partial success

I gathered some elderberry blossoms, "elderberry blow" sounds better.

Euell Gibbons has a recipe in his book, and I followed it but any pancake batter recipe would do...

after mixing it up, cut most of the stem off the elderberry blossom, 

hold it by it's base and dip the blow in the batter then drop it into a frying pan of hot oil. Let it cook a minute or so then flip and cook the other side till done and turning brown.

after you take them out of the oil, we dipped them in sugar. I liked them, but my son thought you could taste the stems. Maybe it would be better to actually pull all the petals off and just stir them up in the batter to avoid those little bits of green stem.


Daylillies are next...