And just like that we move into Tuesday Happenings…I know, we’re pretty blog sporadic lately – lots of stuff going on. The weather has been kind to us lately and much is getting done. A new cold frame built, fencing for the espaliered white grapes, blackberry lanes, a new elderberry patch cleaned out and planted and a mess of other stuff. Flower foraging is in full swing – I love the real deep foraging aspects of solomon’s seal shoots, milky oats tops, and wintergreen berry but I also love the ‘weedy’ aspect. Eating the things that we’ve always been familiar with and treat as weeds or forgotten greenery (as herbs and food) are a particular favorite of mine – white and red clover, dandelion, wild carrot (Queen Anne’s Lace), yarrow, chicory, violet, pine, forsythia, daisy, the sorrells/docks, raspberry leaf, wild strawberry, milkweed, daylily, bergamot, lilac – the list goes on and I learn new bits everday. Sometimes I learn to eat new parts of the plant, as well, or new ways to eat the bits I already knew.
And Duende learns well, too – whenever she gets bored waiting somewhere outside (like at the horse barn or in a parking lot) we play ‘what’s edible around here on the ground’ and she can generally come up with at least 5 or 6 things right off the bat. She knows some differences, too, between what is edible/good and what is ‘apocalypse food’ (only edible if you need to eat it). Today she helped me forage for fresh violets for our Summer Syrup series and in a few days she will help me forage and clean out dandelions to set up for Dandelion Wine (which won’t be ready until at least September – but I might hold a few bottles back for Winter to see how they age). I made it a few years ago and we drank it young (we drank it all – it was pretty good).
What are the Summer Syrups good on/with? They are great in cocktails (vodka or gin, especially), good on biscuits or pancakes, lovely on ice cream or pound cake. Anything you put syrup on! There will be an everchanging seasonal supply as different foraged bits come into their own. Enjoy!
Rock Bottom Homestead 