I was looking through some of my photos and came across this one of my last foraging for the fall gathering in. Sumac berries, persimmons, bradford pears from the wild and goji berries, tomatillos, peppers, tomatoes from the garden.
As I was exploring in the nearby fields I came across what I think may be sand plum trees. I want to remember that in the summer when they will be covered with plums...that is, if I am correct about the identification in the dead of winter. I had a great idea, "Why not bring a small branch or two with buds on it, stick it in some water and see if it blossoms with plum flowers. " Any day now I will know. In the mean time my cuttings from my apple trees and plum trees in the back yard have already started to give me some hope of spring.
I got permission from Pixie's Pocket to share this little piece with you. This stuff grows like.... well, like a weed everywhere in my back yard. I have never tried this for medicinal purposes and instead my go to plant is comfrey which I think every person should have growing in their back yard as I call it the miracle plant. But more about that later. Enjoy this little blurb from the Pixie....
If you haven’t ever met Chickweed before, you might want to take a
guide with you so that you are sure about the identification. Chickweed
has a handy defining feature…if you pluck a stem and hold it up to the
light, keep turning it until you notice a line of fine hairs on only one
side of the stem in a single stripe. If you haven’t put any poison on
her, then pick a young leaf and pop it in your mouth! Trust me – it’ll
be fine…I do it all the time. When I do that, all I taste is fresh and green…she’s great to throw into a salad mix for a boost of nutrients and nurturing live food (like pesto!)
It’s cold here, this morning as I write this love letter. The grass
is frosted, but Miss Chickweed is awake at sunrise and ready to roll!
She loves this crisp weather – she loves to share her cool and soothing
touch with us if we let her, too. Even if you are weird about eating
your yard (silly people – that’s what yards are for!), you can utilize
Chickweed for any skin ailments you might have. Chickweed photo by Tony Presley
I’ll give you an example. Earlier this year, I watched a huge and
very angry bartholin cyst disappear entirely in a matter of a few days –
with no popping, and no antibiotics! All it took was a sprig or two of
fresh chickweed, gently bruised and applied directly to the cyst and
covered with a damp paper towel. When the towel got warm, we got a new
sprig and tried again. We kept that routine up the whole time that the
client was at home, both before and after work and poof! Pain and swelling, begone!
Right now I have a tincture brewing with Chickweed and her sister
Nettles – they will dance with some dear friends of mine to help them
with PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) and a really impressively large
sebaceous cyst, respectively. Chickweed is most able to help you when
she’s fresh, but tinctures are a lovely light green color and they do a
good job in a pinch.
For now, I’m into the backyard to get my morning sprig of chickweed
to munch on while I get myself moving for a longer winter day. Let sweet
Stellaria help guide you into Springtime…I promise, it is right around
the corner.
I went out to the winter garden where parsley still grows, to pick some parsley for a recipe that I wanted to try. It was such an unseasonably warm winter day that I found myself checking the wild places in my garden to see if there were any edible weeds and sure enough, I found chickweed, dandelion, wild garlic and nettles. I don't much like the taste of nettles so I brought in everything else and added them to the recipe. It only adds nutrients and doesn't change the taste so why not? You might notice some cilantro too. I found some growing from last year's seed so I threw that in too.
Maybe this could go under the heading of foraging in your refrigerator :-). I saw this cool idea and thought I would try it. I noticed that sometimes when I put things like celery bottoms in the compost pile that they would continue to grow. Well the same thing can happen with other veggies and green that still have a portion of the part that sits right at ground level left on them, like romaine lettuce. So here's what you do. Eat all the lettuce that is on it and then put the stump that is left over in a glass of water. Here is my little indoor lettuce garden made from the throw away part of the lettuce that I bought at the store. Cool, huh?!
Well this is one of my favorite places to take a long walk It is close to my house and has a lot of old oil roads. That is one think I am thankful for the oil folks for. They give me an easy way into the back country without having to walk through the briars :-) Around here I am learning to appreciate this time of year for foraging. We are still finding mushrooms and wild garlic and onion and I don't have to battle chiggers or ticks to get them.
The model for this painting is wearing a coat that my aunt brought back from Russia in the 60s.
So we have worked out all the bugs on the Kindle version of the story and now you can pinch and make the words larger. It is all a learning experience. Enjoy reading the new, larger version.
