January 9, 2023 It’s a double feature project plan. Project A: Milkweed floss capelet. This will likely take more than one growing season to collect enough floss to cover the capelet, but I have a p pretty good start to my collection. Project B: Reclaimed woolen winter dirndl blouse, whicg I believe is called a…
Category: plants
As has been noted, I am re-raveling the Dude Sweater for Justin using all one fiber and a new pattern which knits in the round, and is therefore straight knitting, not ribbed. This should be a lot more fun to knit, but it does stretch my skill set a little (as all good projects should).…
As is tradition in our collective family, we went camping for “birthday week.” I guess it has been a while since we’ve camped at Cape Cod, what with a global pandemic and high anxiety and all, but this year we were able to make it back for a visit. The campground we like to visit…
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Bayberries
Gosh, we’ve been so busy these past few weeks that I’m not even sure where to begin regarding our newfound obsession with bayberries. I guess it’s been about three weeks since my last post, so I’ll try to recap as best I can. A few weeks back we were exploring the woods that line the…
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Rabbit Tobacco
In these very home-bound and isolated times, Justin and I have found the pastime of taking afternoon / early evening “nature baths” in our local wooded parks. We live within feet to a river that opens out into a bay a few miles south, so the landscape is part brackish swamp with an overtone of…
This has been maybe the most fun, most exciting, severely delicious experiment we’ve done so far. I. Am. Hooked. So a few weeks ago, we made Ginger Ale. While that was delicious and 100% worth doing again, we wanted to try for a root beer. We worked with what we had on hand at the…
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Mushroom Jerky
I almost can’t believe it myself, but this mushroom jerky is THE BOMB, YO’S! A little while back, I saw a recipe from three foragers about how to make jerky out of Hen-Of-The-Woods. I love Hen-Of-The-Woods, but it’s not quite season, and I’m not that good at finding it. I posted the recipe to a…
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Old German Tomato
This year I started a bunch of very old seeds from my stash, unsure if they would even sprout. The Old German tomato was one of them, but I think it was mislabeled as a Orange German Strawberry tomato, which I heard can happen. The Orange German Strawberry tomato is an oxheart, which traditionally have…
I love purslane. The first time I had purslane was when I was invited to a former student’s house for lunch. She made a traditional Mexican pork stew with “verdolagas” or what we call purslane, tomatillos (another favorite) and peppers. It was delicious. I’ve never been much of a meat-eater, and the pork was fine…
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Chickpea Chronicles
In mid-May, I was just crazy about sprouting things. I was sprouting our regular spicy seed mix (sandwiches & salads) that we get at The Green Grocer, but also mung beans for nime chow, and chickpeas for hummus. Before we ground up the chickpeas into sprouted hummus and falafel (both delicious, by the way), I…
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Kitchen Garden
The little cottage garden is starting to really come together. Justin & I have been collecting our pistachio & peanut shells since September. Originally, I had planned to use them as mulch for the garden beds, but then when I realized that the mulch for the ground around the sideyard area was worn and thin,…
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Short harvest
It’s been hot and dry the past couple weeks here, so I’ve been trying to get to the garden every other day or so to water. Yesterday, I noticed some of the garlic was 2/3 brown, and ready to pull. This year, I tried an experiment and planted the peppers in between the garlic to…
I thinned our baby beets and cleared much of the purslane, but grabbed some choice clusters to pack into our tacos later.
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#Plantlife
It’s windy, warm, and projected to rain. All the reasons I bring our houseplants out for the day. This beautiful Bay Laurel is about four years old. I bought it from Seven Arrows Farm in Attleboro, and it has served me well. All year long, I’m able to pluck from it, and though it has…
I’m falling way behind, folks, but I’m in for the month! I’m not going to blog the repeats that we eat because we tend to eat the same things over and over; however, this sandwich – while it is a relative staple on our lunch menu – was extraordinary and worth blogging about. Justin picks up these great rolls…