Monday, May 12, 2014

It's Poke Sallet Season



Dear Friends,

Spring is being quite flirty, the thermometer going from cold to hot and back again within a few days' time. Our bodies are wondering if it's winter or summer, but thank goodness the plants know that it's time to do their thing! The poke plants around the yard are just the right size for harvesting and cooking for the family. Be sure to cook them in two changes of boiling water, to be safe! We used our poke on pizza, which everyone but Frankie liked. You can't please everyone. :)

We bought a false blue indigo plant last year and nursed it in a pot. We planted it in the ground in March, and it has rewarded us with beautiful blossoms of blue. We are excited to add another native plant to our pollinator garden.


The favas are in the same family as the false blue indigo, and their flowers are not a whit behind in beauty. We have been sneaking a few leaves here and there for salads, and are wishing we'd planted many more.


We bought an organic watermelon last week, and decided to try making pickles (sugar free) from the rind. They're not the usual pickle that we're used to, with sweet pickle spices in them, but we think they'll work great in potato salad.


We have been on a sewing spree, trying to clear out our stash and stock the Etsy shop. This skirt was a bedspread that had a big hole in the middle. Cutting around the hole left just enough to make the body of the skirt, plus a ready-made ruffle.


These two skirts are in our Etsy shop, and are quite the Prairie Princesses!


Tasha had a photo shoot with Hyrum the other day, and we "oohed and awwed" over the result~
 

"I have this crawling thing down pat!"


We've been harvesting wild edibles around our yard, and the maples in front had a bumper crop of helicopters with tasty seeds in them. We haven't yet processed them to make into cakes, roast, or use for hummus, but we know that it will be a time-consuming job! We went to a wild edibles class at the local nature center, and were excited to taste how good hummus made from the seeds is.


The dogwoods are blooming around town, and we hope that the two little sprigs we planted last week will someday grow to be as beautiful as these.


May you have a few nice days of balmy weather this spring, to enjoy being out in Mother Nature's Grocery Store and Apothecary!

Love,

Marqueta

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“Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather. ”
 
― John Ruskin

6 comments:

  1. Dear Marqueta, I have admired your blog for a while now. I just wanted to tell you how much I love visiting here. =) It always makes me smile. You have such a lovely family. Mother Nature's Grocery Store is a marvelous thing! We are just planting our vegetable gardens here. Thank you so much for your lovely, beautiful posts. Such a wonderful way to end the day. Blessings and Sunshine, Valerie shaggycreations.blogspot.com

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  2. Marqueta, Hyrum is growing up so quickly and getting cuter by the day! I love reading about your plants and uses for them. :-)

    PS - I'm back at http://by--lantern--light.blogspot.com

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  3. Dearest Marqueta,
    It is great to great to see what you are harvesting! I too am having fun doing the like!
    (Stinging Nettle and Violets) today ;-D
    LOVE the skirts!
    Oh my gosh...Hyrum is soooo CUTE!!!
    XXX OOO Blessings and HUGS Linnie

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  4. I absolutely love the false indigo plant, know here as Baptisia. Mine has grown to a tremendous size in just a year and provides dozens and dozens of seed pods for planting more. Your colorful skirts make me smile. I wish you lived nearer, I would gift your family some ducklings... we have so many babies this year I don't think the Hollow can contain them all!

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  5. I love that color combination on those skirts!

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