i hope you eat good food, grow beautiful things, and have more love than you know what to do with.
Around now (March) is when mugwort is popping up in the garden which means it’s time to start weeding it. If I don’t, it inevitably becomes an unmanageable mess, and most people view it as a noxious and invasive weed. It is and it isn’t, …
Mugwort—just the name drives gardeners into a fearful frenzy because of how insanely invasive it is. From just a small root grows a dense, waist high perennial that covers the ground in a span of a season. It’s difficult to get rid of once established, …
First, let me just say yes, chickweed (Stellaria media) tastes good—like if butter lettuce and alfalfa sprouts had a baby… but it’s a pain to harvest and harvest enough of it to justify making a salad. However, if you have nothing to do and are …
This is not for the faint of heart–literally. The amount of butter in this is positively sinful, but once in a while makes for a wonderful treat. I cheat by steaming the oysters for a minute, until their top shells are loose so that I …
Garlic mustard is out in full force along my back fence, where I haven’t had the time to plant/cultivate anything just yet. Considered a highly invasive weed, this plant is also a wonderful foraged green in early spring, when it’s still tender and not very …
Now that spring is officially here, in general, the only things I usually buy from the store, when I do go, are meat and dairy products (sometimes grain/flour as well, but I buy rice in bulk and bake my own bread so that’s an every …
I made this with hairy bittercress but you could potentially do it with a lot of different mild flavored greens (spinach, shepherd’s purse, edible chrysanthemum, goosefoot, stinging nettle). My particular version only has 3 main ingredients–egg, shiitake mushroom, and the greens, but other versions can include …
Make sure you wash the hairy bittercress well so you don’t get a mouthful of grit, and that it’s from an area where you are certain no pesticides or herbicides have been applied! In the mornings during spring, one of the things I like to collect …
Along with dandelions and garlic mustard, hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta) is one of the first greens to come out during the spring. Often viewed as a weed, it’s actually a delightful vegetable that, while a pain to collect, is quite tasty in that it can …
One of the things I like to do most with dandelion is making a pesto. I’ll make it two or three times a year, usually in the spring and the fall when the dandelions are most tender. I pick the ones in the shaded areas …