Red Bud Flowers are edible and pretty!

There are lots and lots of edible flowers.  Some of the first to arrive in the spring and very plentiful, I might add, are those of the redbud tree.  I hear the pods produced later in the season are also edible and are similar to pea pods but I can't attest to that yet as I haven't tried them.  ( I will)   But in the mean time I will be adding the delicious flowers to brighten my salads.  Notice also the sprouts of the pea plant included in this pretty salad. 

Local Book Sellers

Those of you who live in Tulsa and want to pick up a copy of Claire Goes Foraging for your young ones can find it at Decopolis, The Bookend at Phoenix, Grumpy's Garden, Trinity Book Store.  And the rest of you can always find it on Amazon or right here on my blog.

Edible and Available right now

There are several edible weeds growing in my back yard right now.  If you don't poison your yard, I bet you can find these in your yard too.  Personally, I don't like the flavor of all of these plants but you could certainly throw a handful in a soup or smoothy and never know the difference.  Can you identify any of these plants?

I knew I was always happier when there was dirt under my fingernails :-)

http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/antidepressant-microbes-soil.htm

Apparently it is true.... there's some antidepressant stuff in the dirt but you have to get your hands dirty to get the full benefit.   :-)

Gathering Herbs

I was listing some paintings on Ebay today and ran across one of my favorites.  This painting was inspired by a walk in an ancient forest in Oklahoma and by a Waterhouse painting.  The painting was one done as I lead the class through the process of painting a portrait in my adult oil painting class.  Instead of putting my subject inside a building as Waterhouse did, I moved her outside, into the forest and gave her a job to do.  She has been out gathering spring greens and herbs.  If you want to visit her in my ebay gallery click here.

Got a nice write up in Edible Tulsa

http://digitaleditions.sheridan.com/publication/?i=246606