Hello Spring! Spring is actually happening! For a while we were not sure it would ever get here. Spring means the beginning of wild food season for us. While you may already be picking dandelions and wishing for mushrooms, these 4 foraged foods are what get us hooked on wild every single year. Stinging Nettles: …
Wild Knotweed Jelly
This pretty pink jelly is the result of a local weed problem. Knotweed is an invasive plant that quickly takes over wastelands and riverbeds. My attitude towards this invasive species is that it is good for nothing . . . except for eating of course! Lucky for knotweed, people like me will come along and …
Spring Pictures 2013
Winter Grain Salad
Grain salad is a perennial favorite of mine (see further proof here & here). Tweeked for winters’ offerings, this grain salad features nutty wild rice harvested in Canada, locally grown spinach, and my own butternut squash. When blended together, rustic grains and veggies make a nutrient packed satisfying dish that is hearty, not heavy. I …
Sweet Fiddlehead Pickles and Post-Flooding Foraging
Things are starting to grow. Finally the weather is warm enough to allow the green to begin to show. It will be interesting to see how the green grows this year given the events of last summer. Hurricane Irene rained down upon Vermont and flooding changed the landscape. Importantly, it changed the riverbeds. Just out …
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Leftovers = Fiddlehead Forbidden Fried Rice
I live for leftovers! I always make more food than Tall Dark & Handsome and I will eat just because I am planning on leftovers. Unfortunately, sometimes a little bit of this and a little bit of that will take up a whole lot of fridge space. Sometimes my leftover meals are complete failures like …
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Sunchokes
Sunchokes or Jerusalem artichokes are a particularly fantastic nuisance to have around. In the late summer, sunchokes may easily be mistaken for an average sunflower. Wait until cold weather (spring or fall), however, and they are a plentiful food crop. This time of year, dig into the cool ground and you will find loads of …
Sumac Tea, I Swear it is Not Poison.
“Isn’t Sumac poisonous?” I answered this question at least a dozen times the other day. I guess that is what I get for openly clipping sumac at a picnic. Because I left my bag in the car I began my own parade carrying an armful of sumac fruit. I say parade because I was soon …
Stock Your Pantry with Grape Leaves
If you know me then you might know that I grew up not far from a large Greek community called Tarpon Springs. This influenced some of my food favorites growing up. Kalmata olives were more common than green or black olives, feta cheese is best when brined, Papa’s Greek salad is my favorite, and dolmades are …
Blackberry Jelly
Good News! I found my canning supplies and you missed the first 3 batches of blackberry jelly. I can also now share with you that 34 cups of berries makes lots of juice. In the past two weeks we have joined the schoolhouse group as people who own a historic schoolhouse. This is the most …