Be joyful though you have considered all the facts
John Root conducted an Edible Wild Plants Walk at the organic Lindentree Farm in nearby Lincoln yesterday evening and I was there. I learned that that weed, of which I pulled thousands from the old compost heap, is Lamb’s Quarters, that it is absolutely yummy and nutritious and grew itself for free and without my …
Continue reading “Edible Wild Plants Walk with John Root, and Homegrown Mallow”
Today I got to experiment first-hand with a remedy for Stinging Nettle stings. Some nettle was growing in my  mint patch and though I am aware of it and am careful when harvesting mint, my guests may not. I was tidying up that patch and thought I’d relocate the three nettle plants to the nettle …
I have been thinking for a while now to grow Ginger (Zingiber officinalis). Â I finally had two pieces of root that seemed like good candidates. They were quite old and had already sprouted in several places. I cut them up, making sure each part had two or three buds or eyes, and into the dark, …
Dried Feverfew (flowers and leaves) Dried Golden Chamomile (flowers) Badly dried Golden Chamomile (flowers)
Last week I sent out my first poem in the 350 poems project. It’s a project I’ve had on my mind for a while now, a way to force myself to be more attentive in daily life to the beauty of the world, the people and the language(s) around me. I used to stumble upon …
I’ve always been fascinated by evolution in all its aspects (or at least those I can comprehend) but, I realize now, for different reasons than some if not most people. Usually people’s  interest in evolution is in a theory of advancement, even perfection. These people reach for the light, like the  plants that developed vascular systems …
My copy of Botany in a Day by Thomas Elpel arrived yesterday and I am hooked. Clearly written, humorous but without fluff and to the point, tightly structured, and beginning in the beginning and ending with the end. Just the way I like my books on the structure and evolution of plants. I plan to …
Amie and the comfrey Today Amie helped me harvest the comfrey and feverfew. She helped me string up those big, fat comfrey leaves. “It’s like stringing fish!” she said. I asked her where she got that idea? She couldn’t remember, but she was right. She loved the smell of the feverfew flowers – they look and …
I made a page inventorizing the herbal medicines in my apothecary, and I thought I should  also have a page with all the herbs growing in the garden and being grown from seed. Ordered alphabetically according to their Latin name, annuals indicated: Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) (above) Chinese Aconite (Aconitum carmichaeli) SEEDLINGS Marsh Mallow (Althaea officinalis) SEEDLINGS Golden …
Last week I splurged on Wildcraft, a cooperative board game for kids (and adults) developed by HerbMentor, one of my favorite places for herbal instruction. The idea of the game is to make it up the mountain to the huckleberry patch, gather huckleberries, and make it back down again to grandma’s house before nightfall. And not …
Continue reading “Exploring Pain: Amie’s Variation of the Wildcraft Board Game”