A Quick Note

Not much time to blog recently, but I ran into a friend who is an expert on edible plants. He reminded me I should be sure a give a warning about the edible wild onion and garlic.
When you harvest the wild onion and garlic it should SMELL like onion or garlic. There are some look alike plants that can be toxic if you eat enough- but, they don't have the smell so you should have no trouble choosing the correct plant! If it doesn't have that nice stinky smell- don't eat it!

Let your medicine be your food and your food be your medicine....Hippocrates

Today we go foraging for food!
We are looking for spring weeds that are edible. 

So, first lets look at the wild onion or garlic.  Most of you will be familiar with this weed!  I will tell you I have never seen it as big as it is this year-not in our part of the country. Lots of weeds we have here are smaller than places with different soil or more water- apparently, this is so for the wild onion or garlic.  I am used to them being about 3-6 inches.  This year I am harvesting specimens that are 12-18 inches!!!

In this picture the plant is about 4-5 inches.  In the past I primarily used the flowers in salads or stews and soups.  I knew you could use the bulb but, frankly, I never saw the use in that as it was little and seemed too much trouble.

However, in this picture, the plant on this table is about 18 inches.  As you can see there is a more defined bulb which is not unlike a small green onion bulb.  So, this year I will definitely be adding the bulb to my cooking.  Enjoy now, though, this is a spring weed and disappears under the later hot summer sun.

The next plant may also be familiar to you- it is the prickly pear cactus or napol or napolita.  You may be familiar with using the tuna to make jelly but my favorite portion is the pad itself.  This is an excellent plant medicine as well as food.  It is well known as a blood sugar regulator- I strongly urge you to include this plant helper in your diet regularly if you have diabetes! 

Preparation is a little tricky!  The cactus in the picture is a spineless variety that I shamelessly bootlegged from Belize.  However, don't let the appearance fool you!  There are tiny little hairy prickles just trying to get under your skin.  Some people burn them off, some scrape them off and some put them in a bucket of sand and rub them off.  If you have a way to remove these little prickles please share-I have yet to come away unscathed!

There are a number of ways to prepare them- a favorite is to cut the pads into strips and stir fry them, add a nice goose egg and some homemade chili on the side- yummy, breakfast!  One day I plan on trying to make a salsa with cactus, onion, tomato, jalapeno, etc.  They can also be prepared as a side veggie.  Experiment and enjoy a very healthy edible southwest standard!

This is my final weed of the day- a surprising one, I will bet you!

Do you recognize this weed.  You might be more familiar with it as a large round weed, dried and blowing down the road- yep, TUMBLEWEED!

Yes, you heard me right- an edible weed.  Yes, I'm suggesting you go out and gather some and eat it!

This picture is a patch of young shoots and this is the stage at which I prefer to harvest.  The young shoots about 3-6 inches tall.  At this stage they are soft and there is no sign of stickers or other thistle unpleasantness.  You can also harvest and eat the new growth at the tips of the larger plant but, personally, I find that to be a lot of work for a little return and I am a lazy forager.

Just harvest them like the greens they are and prepare them the same way.  Cook up a "mess," as my grandmother would say, with some bacon grease and a little salt.  Yum, Yum.  They are very mild and almost sweet- without the bitterness of some greens.  Try some Russian Thistle, aka tumbleweed, in your greens pot!

There will be more opportunities to forage and harvest for edible weeds in the weeks ahead as the summer plants appear.  Keep an eye out for wild purslane- it's still a little early around the farm but I am anxiously awaiting the appearance of this very nutritious plant!  Keep your eyes on the ground!

What better way to close today than a picture of little boys in their Easter finest? 

Does that not just shout Spring!!!

Zane Michael, Jax Everett and Sawyer Knox

Nona's boys!

It's official, Spring is here!

I am going out on a limb and declaring no more freeze! I was driving down the road from the highway to the farm and, suddenly, the mesquite trees are leafing out.
Ok, the little ones are really covered in leaves but you can't really trust those little whipper snappers. They don't have enough life experience, get excited and bloom too early!
But, the adults have unfurled enough that you can see the yellow-green leaves in the sunlight. So, to test my theory, I jumped out of the car as soon as I got home and checked with our grandmother and grandfather mesquite.....and, yes, there they were. Not as many, just peeking out...but, there they were. Mesquite leaves! It's official!!!!
So, that puts me in the mood for some foraging! Join me tomorrow and we will go foraging for the edible weeds! I think you will be surprised at what we find to eat!
See you tomorrow- bring your snips and foraging bag!

Today just a word from the late Juliette de Bairacli Levy:

Mankind can not forsake herbs. They are promised in the Bible to the human race, and that promise is well known, for it is proudly quoted in almost every herbal. In the Old and New Testaments there are over a dozen mentions of herbs or medicinal trees of value to mankind, for food or medicine. That our forefathers valued an herb garden is shown in Ahab's plea to Naboth (I Kings 22:2): "give me thy vineyard that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house."
Man can never excel Nature in medicine manufacture, for she makes the best ones. There is an herb, or several herbs, to cure or relieve every ailment of man and animal, bird and insect; and herbs applied in agriculture practice will even cure crops of their diseases.
The human race should make a study of herbs and not be content to remain ignorant of a medicine which is man's rightful inheritance, and which has only become lost to man through their ignorance and laziness and their departure from natural living. People should not be content to pay high prices for chemical medicines, which are seldom beneficial to the human body because they are unnatural, and which are very often harmful, their total effects being unknown. Instead they should learn to know the wild mredicinal plants- the herbs- which are free for the gathering. Teeming in the countryside, the world over, are medicinal herbs and edible plants; it shows disbelief in the power of God to pass them by.
Common Herbs for Natural Health
Juliette de Bairacli Levy

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly....

Yeah, folks we've had a bit of it all today and it isn't noon yet!
Mike woke, much earlier than me, to open the birdhouses and release our feathered friends for their day.  On the way out the door he encountered doggy diarrhea in the kitchen, courtesy our aged Great Pyr.  Wait....hold....here it comes!  It got worse!
When he arrived in the chicken house, which also acts as a green house, he discovered that ALL of the seedlings for this year's garden were eaten to the ground by mice or rats!  EVERYTHING!!! Tomatoes, peppers....ours and the grand kids. 
Not a good start to the day, you say?
I agree completely.....but, my turn was coming.  I hopped, or crawled (not being a morning person) out of bed and stepped directly into a puddle of doggy vomit, courtesy our Mastiff.
Please reread the above- Great Pyr.....Mastiff.  Do you see what I am getting at here?  These are not dogs that make small messes!
The only thing that I can say is that I am blessed to be married to an angel and he cleaned up both situations, once he ran into the bedroom to see what I was screaming about!
The blessings continued.  You are never alone when you have rural and urban farmer friends.  Within an hour I had bartered goose eggs for seedlings from a wonderful urban farmer friend!  That is how it's done with "country" people-and it doesn't matter whether those folks live in the city or on a dirt road....it's a heart thing, it's about community, it's about taking care of each other...it's not about zip code.  Thanks, Pamela!
This is a picture of this morning's take of eggs, just the first round in the hen houses.  A goose, three duck, a half dozen chicken and a guinea.  The plants surrounding the eggs are sunflower and horehound (lower right).  So, I think today I will talk about horehound.
I know you have heard of this herb.  Horehound cough drops?  Yep, but it didn't always appear wrapped in cellophane and packaged in a sack.  Believe it or not it was gathered by the grannies and prepared for their family's respiratory illnesses.
Before I go into uses and preparation, humor me while I tell a telling little story.
I was teaching an herb class at the farm one Spring and I encouraged the students to go gather 3 plants to prepare as teas.  I had discussed horehound so I was not too surprised when it was one of the herbs hauled to the table.  We carefully prepared our medicinal teas and tasted each.  Yummy spearmint....lemony lemon balm.....and horehound.  As we sipped each, I reviewed the properties.
I suppose the students were too enthralled with my herbal wisdom (tongue in cheek) to notice that the teacher did NOT pick up her cup of horehound tea and sip it!
Tea was spit across the room!  Into cups!  Hands grabbed for lemon balm and spearmint tea.
Important lessons learned that day:  horehound is a bitter, bitter herb and if the teacher doesn't drink it you might want to pass!
When I moved to the farm there was no horehound here, of course, there was not much but red packed clay.  I met Mike, he had 17 acres in Leuders.  After he came to join me we would take my lawn mower to Leuders to mow his place, which had tons of horehound.  Now, we have tons of horehound here at the farm.  See how plants move themselves around?  It can be on the blades of a mower, on the jeans of the farmer or in the droppings of birds.  Nature is so creative.

Let's talk about the uses and properties of horehound!  Horehound is an old fashion bitter, not as glamorous as some of the popular, trendy herbs in the materia medica.  But, if you know anything about me, you know that I believe it is important to use herbs in your environment (maybe a blog on that upcoming)....thus, horehound is a go-to respiratory in my medicine cabinet.

The scientific name is Marrubium Vulgare (common weed).  If you look at the plant, it is a gray green and the leaves are thick.  The actions are tonic, expectorant, bitter, aromatic and pectoral.  What the heck does this mean?
Let's discuss two actions that are specific for the respiratory system:
Expectorants you may be familiar with- think Mucinex or Robitussin. These type herbs (or medicines) help rid the respiratory system of excess mucus; they tone and tighten; they help dry out the respiratory system; they sooth and heal. Pretty good!
You probably haven't heard of the term "Pectorals."  I don't think you are going to find anything in the drug store with that title.  A pectoral is an herb that is specific for the respiratory system.  They heal and tone the respiratory system.  Pretty good stuff!
So, for the respiratory tract, for cough and wheeze, gather some horehound leaves!  You can make a tea but refer to above!  YUCK!  I actually have used the tea in a pinch- drink small amounts at a time (not a problem) and avoid drinking too much as it may prove laxative.
Commonly horehound is made into a "candy."  You just boil a handful of the fresh leaves in 1 and 1/2 cup of water.  Strain the liquid.  Use 4 tablespoons of this infusion to 2 pounds of brown sugar and 1 teaspoon of honey.  Boil it down for half an hour, more or less. The candy is finish when a teaspoon hardens when it is dropped into cold water.  Pour it on to a hard surface let it dry then cut or break it into candy squares when it cool- how easy is that?
Our grannies were so good at using the plants around them, and they knew how to take care of their families.  Where on earth did we begin to think we did not have that same power?  Think about it!
Now, I am off to cook a big pot of Chocolate Chili from a great new cookbook called Well Fed by Melissa Joulwan from Austin, Texas.  I highly recommend it, especially if you are interested in the Paleo or Primal or Caveman movement-look into that BTW, if you don't know what I'm talking about.
Check out her blog:
www.theclothesmakethegirl.com
So, I haven't organized how this blog thing is going to go, yet.  I had actually planned to talk about harvesting and preparing one of my favorite greens today but....well, you can see that didn't happen. 
Know what I'm talking about- tumbleweed.  Yep!  Yummy!!!  Next time!
Have a healthy, happy day- take your health in your hands today!

Of Algerita and Eggs
I put on my red alligator shoes and slogged out to get you guys a picture of the Algerita of yesterday's post.
First, we have to consider the word "slogged."  When it rains on a chicken farm the barnyards do not have mud- no, no.  I do not know what the stuff is called and probably you probably do not want to study on it overly long.....
but, I choose to call it "sloggy stuff."  Thus, rubber shoes and slogging.
It was nap time for the geese and ducks, they were laying here and there about their yard. No one was happy to see me. Apparently, having their nap interrupted did not go over well and both ganders were hissing like crazy at me-oh, well!
But, I do think it was worth the trip. Isn't the Algerita beautiful?  The bees were very busy harvesting the pollen, making a lovely droning hum. The sweet smell of the flowers seemed particularly strong after the morning rain and the branches were full of song birds when I first entered the yard. There is nothing as lovely as the song birds adding their voice to the quacking and honking of the barnyard fowl.  Do not let anyone tell you it is quiet in the country-at least not in our country!
The area below the Algerita is a very popular egg laying area.  On the west side is an old tire with some hay in it which has been commandeered by the geese-you can always count on a goose egg or two there. That is the first place Zane goes when he "picks" eggs because he prefers to eat goose eggs.
On the east side there is a protected area that is a favorite of the ducks, always a dependable "harvest" there.  Sure enough I was able to head back to the house with a goose egg, a duck egg and a chicken eggs (found in some random place in the big barn).
This started me contemplating on eggs.  People really don't know enough about the eggs they eat!  Did you know that 100% of eggs from Big Ag production laying houses are contaminated with salmonella?  That's why it's so important that you keep them refrigerated and handle with care. Whereas, eggs you get from us or other family farms can be kept in a bowl on the cabinet.
Did you know that hens from those Big Ag laying operations never touch the ground?  I won't even go into what happens to those poor girls but you really ought to check it out for yourself if you are going to eat their eggs.

Our ladies, and gents, spend their days wondering about the chicken yard.  Honking, quacking and courting.  They lay their eggs where they want to and make us find them.  They eat some bugs and whatever greenery they haven't already destroyed.  In the interest of full disclosure, we do not pasture our fowl all the time.  They may be turned into an area of vegetation on some days and they have some experiment crops of clover and alfalfa to enjoy.  We supplement them with organic scratch, no additives.  However, many families do use the free range or pasture method which is probably preferable, but not practical for us.

You might notice the goose egg is covered with mud and the chicken egg has bits of hay sticking to it.  That is because our fowl don't sit in a cage all day dropping eggs into a shoot that rolls them into something else. Our birds are out and about being, well...birds.  The mud washes off!
While I am waxing poetic on eggs-one more little lesson on eggs.  The farmer has 30 days to get his eggs to the store and the store has 30 days to sale the eggs to you.  That "use by" date is probably 60 days from the laying date.  Sixty days, hummm....salmonella contaminated, mass produced eggs from Big Ag or fresh eggs from happy girls raised by family farmers. You weigh your choices- and hop on down to the farmer's market or call your favorite family egg producer and eat REAL EGGS from happy, healthy fowl!
Yes, this was not exactly a post on herbs.  But, I think you will find that as you become interested in plant medicine it leads very naturally into what is healthy for our bodies and our world! 
Have a happy, healthy day and be thankful for the plants and animals that provide for our nourishment!

Bloom where you are planted (or a little philosophy served up with your herbs):
I was sitting on a comfy chair watching my husband work the earth in our garden thinking on this subject, as I do from time to time.  There are actually two sides to this blooming question.  First is the most obvious, make the best of where you are, in fact, thrive and bloom!  The shadow side of this question is a little thornier.  Does one just put roots down into the ground and hang on stubbornly while wilting in the dry summer heat?  What if blooming just ain't blooming happenin'?
I am a gypsy at heart, married to a homebody and committed to 14 acres in dry, hot North Central Texas.  We like to grow things but I forgot to check about the under ground water question when I bought this place!  No water!  We plant and hope in the spring, in the summer we spend our life savings on water while watching the plants die.  Mike says he may as well bang his head on a concrete wall!  But, here we are with dogs and geese and ducks and chickens and cats all depending on us and a husband who is a homebody.  So, it's the blooming question raising it's blooming head as I sit here with spring fever!
Hummm, what is that I smell?  It smells like honey, so sweet.  Ahhh, yes I am sitting not so near a algerita.  Do you know the algerita plant?  I bet you do....
It's an evergreen shrub that grows out and about our lands here in this part of Texas.  It is probably about 6-9 feet and right now is covered with sweet smelling yellow flowers-do you see it? But, don't sniff too closely or you will get your nose poked, think holly!  Beware of bees gathering the sweet pollen!
In the fall the flowers will be replaced by fruit-red berries.  The berries can be gathered to make jelly, but don't stick your hand in there to pick them!  OUCH.  My mom says as children they would be sent out to gather the berries.  Here's how it's done-you place a clean sheet under the shrub and then beat it (gently please) until the berries fall onto the sheet.  Gather the sheet and berries without pain!
It you chop up a bit of the root and cut it open you will find that inside the bark the plant is yellow.  What does this suggest?  Yep, contains berberine.  It can be used like goldenseal or Oregon Graperoot.  I think it's important to use the medicines in your own yard rather than those from somewhere else....thus Algerita when you need a berberine containing medicine, please.
What would that be for?  A bitter tonic.  Bitters used to be used a lot more than they are now and they are still very important in other countries-we, however, like our sweet!
A bitter might have been used as a spring tonic by your grandmother.  To stimulate the gastric system, act as a laxative and get the liver going after a winter of heavy foods and less activity.  I think of this as kind of a seasonal tonic-a spring cleaning tonic. It is not a tonic you would want to use for more than a week, maybe two.
Sitting there smelling the sweet algerita I imagined I might get a shovel and dig a little root, pound it up real good and maybe tincture it.  That way I could have a couple of years worth of spring tonic from one small plant-after checking, of course, to make sure there was plenty to harvest.
I'm was brought brought back from my musings as 3 crows flew over where Mike was working.  I watched as my sweetheart dug the ground and prepared it for his veggies.  I noticed how much the soil has been improved over the years he has worked with it, how dead red clay had been replaced by loose, brown living soil.
Oh, hell yeah....just keep working and improving the soil of life and before you know it you are blooming right where you are with people and things you love!

Same blog site, new focus!

I have had some requests to start a blog on all things herbal. How to proceed....first, a name. Hmmm, the only name I liked, dancingwithherbs, was already in use! Oh, yeah, by someone in Trent, Texas.

Ok, we'll just renovate the old blog...give it a face lift and change the focus.

And here we go!

The new focus of the old blog site will be herbs, plants and the peoples' medicine!

If you're new to reading anything I post you will immediately notice I am a bit verbose. If you ask me what time it is, I will tell you how to make a clock. Just wanted to offer that warning up front, if that bothers you I suggest you don't add my blog to your favorites list!

However, if you would like to learn more about herbs and plants....about foraging and wildcrafting for food and medicine....about how to identify and incorporate your own herbal allies...about feeling empowered to care for yourself in most injuries and illnesses.........STAY TUNED?