Category: Nature’s Beauty

My Love of Foraging Began With Mint 

Being fascinated with herbs and their many uses for as long as I can remember, I have grown and used many of them in cooking since I was a teenager. A friend introduced me to Mother Earth News when I was 15 or 16. After reading about organic gardening, I became especially interested in various herbs and their uses. I continued to read and do research over the years and began to make teas from many of them. Eventually I added wild herbs and flowers to my collection.  

My first tea was peppermint. It settled a belly ache and our doctor said it was safe for my first baby Charles, who was colicky for quite some time. He was eventually found to be lactose intolerant. Charles will be 26 as of July and still drinks my mint tea. He joined the Navy when he was 18. Last time he was deployed I asked what he would like me to send him. The only thing he wanted was my mint tea and chocolate mint which I also started making during his childhood years.  

From the time my youngest son, Chris was a baby he would not swallow pills and would spit out any liquid medicine I gave him. He would, however, drink mint tea. My grandmother used dandelions and was pretty much never sick, so I did research on them. Apparently, it has antibiotic properties. So, I began adding it to my mint tea whenever he was sick.  He could have the worst flu ever and would only be sick enough to stay down for one day. He has drunk that tea every time he gets sick for 22 years now. Evan as an adult Chris will come in and say “Mom I am so sick; would you make me some of that tea?  

As a child we lived out in the country for short periods of time. My dad would take us on walks or bicycle rides on Sunday afternoons. We often picked berries along the way, to take home and eat the next morning for breakfast. At some point he showed how to pull out the petals of a red clover flower and suck the liquid out of them. It was sweet and we began doing that anytime we saw red cover. This memory gave me an idea and I tried adding it to the mint tea. The tea was not sweet enough for my youngest and I really try to avoid sugar when possible. Red clover was a hit! Both boys loved it. Thus began my journey into foraging.  

Cherry Trees and Memories

That old Cherry Tree is the most Giving Tree as any I know of.

When our first son was born, we planted a cherry tree. It grew as he did, and we started having picnics under the tree when he was three or four years old. When his brother was born the fall after he turned three, we decided to plant another cherry tree of a different kind the following spring. By the time, the boys were old enough to climb trees the first cherry tree was big enough to climb. It had the large, sweet cherries that taste so good without cooking. They would both climb up to pick cherries to for that night’s desert but end up eating more than the picked. So, I usually had enough to eat a few after dinner, but not much else. I never minded because I grow everything organically and the cherries were a healthy snack.

A few years later they began making forts under the cherry trees. Their cousins or friends came over to play and they drug out their soldier costumes. It was not long after the 9/11 incident and Fireman, Police Officer and Soldier costumes were the rage at Halloween time. We always let the boys play with their costumes, the oldest passing down his too the youngest. The forts started by dragging dead limbs from other trees. They arranged them propped up against the tree trunk. Before long they realized the grass that we raked up under all the trees after mowing, made a perfect camouflage for the limbs.

One weekend my younger brother came for the weekend with his oldest boy to have a sleep over. He and my husband were very close, and he used to come have movie marathons when he had a free weekend while in Med school. This weekend my husband was in need of a new suit, so him and my brother went shopping and I went out to play with the boys. We found canteens that held water and packed peanut butter sandwiches and other snacks in the soldier packs. Then we headed to the way back (what my kids called the three lots behind the house and garage) to start building forts. The first cherry tree was visible from the driveway, so they started on it first.

I made a few trips back to the house for more water and the boys built the forts without my help. They had made them before, so I was not worried about it. They used more branches than usual and placed them closer together. Then came the grass. It was packed together from being raked really thick under the trees. They used large sections and laid them on the branches, like a grass hut. It worked very well.

Soon after they finished the first fort and had branches stacked for the second one, they heard the car pull up. The boys climbed in the forts and hid, sending me to tell the guys to go check out the boy’s forts. They looked towards the way back and did not see anything. I just told them to walk back there. The boys ended up laughing so hard because the grown-up men could not see their fort until they were almost all the way back to it.

As my boys started growing into men, that beloved cherry tree with so many good memories began to die. It made me sad, but we had to cut it down.

We discovered that a baby tree had started to grow at the base of that tree. We left it to keep growing and hope someday it will get big and fun for grandchildren to play in. We left the stump a little taller than usual and cut it in such a way as to have a seat to sit on halfway to the back of our property. The little tree is still growing although not very big yet. I hope by the time my oldest gets married and has kids that the new tree will be big enough for his first child to have a picnic underneath it. I can sit on the old stump and read to my grandchild “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein. That old Cherry Tree is the most Giving Tree as any I know of.

End Of The Season

Three little squrrels sleeping in our walnut tree.

This is the same tree that I wrote about previously when I said it felt like the squirrels were throwing walnuts at me. I looked up at the tree when I first went outside today and I thought I saw a couple of nests. Squirrels nest look much like a birds only larger. I went back in to get my phone so I could zoom in on the nests and to my surprise all three were squirrels sleeping on the branches. Not one nest in the tree.

All three squirrels sleeping soundly in the tree. The ornery things that throw walnuts at me every fall and tease my dogs all year long. We have a tornado warning siren that goes off every Friday to test that it is working properly. It went off as I was trying to get some photos and I thought I had missed my opportunity, but no. They slept right through it. I went back in to let the dogs out and get somethings to do a little yard work and they still slept.

At the back of the fenced yard is a climbing rose. When I went out with the dogs I saw this and had to share it. It is so rare to see a rose on any of my rose vines this late in the year. If you look at the bottom right of this photo youwill see a tree stump and what is left of the hulls of several walnuts. Those same ornery squirrels sit here and chew the hulls off of the walnuts before they carry them off to store for winter. They make sure the dogs see them chattering to get their attention.

When we first moved here we had a very freindly squrrel that would get almost close enough to touch. He would chatter at us and we would put stuff out for him to eat. He lived here long enough that his fur started turning gray. That last time we saw him he looked silver from head to toe. The following year he was no long here. I suppose he didn’t make it through winter that year, but he lived longer than I think most squirrels do. I miss him, but these three newer squrrels are quite amusing and maybe they will be more friendly in time.

I spent a little time clearing out some of the tomato stems out of the raised beds. It was about to storm so I had to quit and go back in the house. I will do a little bit every day it’s not raining and have it cleared by the end of this month. If the weather doesn’t turn too cold I will rake up some of the leaves to cover the raised beds and to finish filling our compost bin. That is how we keep the soil in good shape for for planting each year.

While I was working I checked the red lettuce that I had left in the garden, to go to seed. It is finally getting close but still not quite there. I am hoping to have enough seed to plant more than usual next year. I have collected seeds from the bell peppers already. Tomorrow is another day, so weather permitting I will get a little more done then.

Find Our Recipes: How We Use What We Grow

Using what grow

Scroll down until you see this page list on the right side. The “Everyday Life” page will show some of what we do with what we grow and a few recipes. Several recipes are listed under that page. More will be added through the winter as we use things we have stored or preserved.

  • Irish Pototo Soup
  • Roasted Chicken
  • Sweet & Sour Cole Slaw
  • Taco Salad
  • Vegetable soup
  • Chili
  • Apple Crisp
  • Pickled Beets and Eggs
  • Pea Salad
  • Pizza Pasta
  • Banana Nut Bread

If you have Questions or a recipe you would like us to add, leave a message in the comments.

Christine

One’s Weed Is Another’s Flower

Daisies will always remind me of my Dad.

Michaelmass Daisies

When I was a child my Dad often called me Daisy Mae. I cannot tell you how many times I heard him say “Put your shoes on Daisy Mae”. I hated wearing shoes (still do) and every time he turned his back; I would kick them off. For those of you too young to remember, Daisy Mae was a cartoon character in the Sunday Newspaper who was always barefoot.

My Dad also sang all the time when I was young. His song for me was “Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two). For that reason, daisies have always had a special meaning for me. The field of flowers where I got stung by a bee when I was around three years old (in my Yellow House stories) had wild daisies. Many of the places I lived growing up had wild daisies or at least something that resembled daisies.  I often picked them and braided them together to make a crown to wear on my head, which only made Dad call me Daisy even more. 

Throughout the years I have collected a variety of things with Daisies on them. If you walk through my house, you will see a variety of daisy reminders. Outside is another matter. I have tried planting them but for some reason the only last a few years. Several times it was due to having repairs done on the house and they got trampled on and supplies laid on them when we had new siding put on. Other times one of the dogs dug them up.

I gave up trying to plant Daisies after a while. I thought about planting them again this spring, but we got sidetracked with rebuilding our back porch. One day this spring while out helping with the porch and working in the raised beds I noticed some blooms growing among the weeds where we stack our firewood. They looked like little miniature Daisies. I picked some for a vase in my kitchen every so often until I stopped seeing them.

Yesterday when I was outside just enjoying the wind blowing through the trees in what I think of as perfect weather, I noticed they were back. This time they came up between our fence and our neighbors. I took pictures this time but did not pick any. I left them because I liked the way they looked along the fence. Daisies will always remind me of my Dad. I like seeing them when I walk out back each day and I will probably plant some in the front next spring along with the cone flowers that look so much like pink Daisies to me.

As I started writing this, I thought I should use my app PlantNet, and find out what exactly they are. It turns out they are Michaelmass Daisies. So, I have my daisies outside after all.

More Autumn Color Changes From our Back Yard

What a difference a week makes. Last week this tree was dropping walnuts all over. It seemed like it was throwing them at me. It was hard to keep up with throwing them out of the fenced area where the dogs play. One of my friends mentioned that walnuts are toxic to dogs so I researched it and according to PetMD and several other sources, black walnuts, which these are, cause several health risks in dogs.

By yesterday the leaves had all turned colors. Last night it rained pretty hard and this morning most of those leaves are on the ground. The leaves of all the different trees change color and drop their leaves at different times, this time of year we have quite a variety of colors. Soon there will be no more green leaves and a month from now almost all the leaves will be on the ground.

The Beauty of Autumn Colors From Our Back Yard

Sometimes you just need to take a walk through your own back yard.

You don’t always have to go on a trip to find beauty in nature.  Sometimes you just need to take a walk through your own back yard. Since I did not need to clear out my raised bed gardens yet, I decided to take a walk through the back yard. We have three lots back behind the house, the sheds and the garage. I enjoy being outside when the weather is so beautiful. At 75 degrees and a gentle breeze it is simply perfect for me. So many changes with the onset of Autumn. The change in colors and the leaves falling everywhere. Our cherry trees have already lost all their leaves and look a bit wintery already but the leaves on the other trees appear to be taking turns changing and shedding leaves just a few at a time.