educating myself on the various wild edible & medicinal plants in the woods around us. love going for hikes and know the basic plants — ferns, blackberry, huckleberry, salal and oregon grape. want to learn more and see if i can prepare and use some natural products to replace the chemical ones in my house. plan on collecting nettles this weekend and reading up on how to dry wild plants.

Here’s what I’ve found: cut plants as low to the ground as you can and bundle with a rubber band about 1-2 inches from the cut ends. if they are very dirty, gently rinse. find a dark, dry place to hang upside down until totally dried. after they are dry, remove the leaves/flowers and store in a glass jar in a cool, dark area. be sure to label with the name and date collected. paper bags can also be used to dry them if hanging upside down doesn’t seem to work.

to make a cold infusion tea: suspend herb in cloth bag in room temperature water overnight. remove herb.

to make standard infusion tea: steep herb in hot water for 1 hour, strain.

to make strong decoction: boil herb in water for 10 minutes. cool and strain.

pictures of our nettle collecting trip to post in the next few days.

Picked up our first CSA share at the farm yesterday. Mounds of fresh wonderful greens! Amazing to have such a harvest so early here in Oregon. Researched a bit how to keep everything since our little family can’t eat this much in 1 or even 2 days. Seems the best suggestions are to wash everything thoroughly, wrap or layer with paper towels and keep in the fridge. Instead of paper towels, I’m using kitchen towels and keeping in the vegetable drawer which has humidity control. Our bounty includes (from top left) spinach, garlic scapes, herb bundle, radishes & their greens, 2 heads of lettuce, arugula, mizuna greens, and (not pictured) broccoli raab.

Cooked the broccoli raab last night for dinner with some garlic scape. Sauteed some garlic, added garlic scape, then the broccoli raab. Added a bit of the no-salt organic seasoning from Costco. Topped with some shredded raw milk cheddar. It was gone before I could get a picture, so maybe next week!

This is an easy salad. In the picture, I made it with red quinoa, but the yellow works just as well. Delicious, healthy salad packed full of super foods!

1 head broccoli, steamed & cooled
1/2 cup feta cheese
1 cup quinoa cooked & cooled
juice from 1 or 2 lemons
olive oil
salt to taste
dried cranberries

combine all. add more lemon or salt to taste.

If you’re looking for great handmade jewelry, you should checkout the fabulous creations by Girl in the Pear. Whether you like classic, stylish or something more modern, she has it all. Great sense of style combined with wonderful colors and textures. Heather herself is the essence of style and that shows through in her handmade jewelry. She made this necklace for me using two charms with my daughter’s names on them that I had for years and was looking for the right necklace. She added the lovely pearl and crystals to make the perfect statement. Love the handmade earrings too.

Just finished reading Slow Death by Rubber Duck. What a fascinating book! A little scary about all the chemicals in plastics and as we know plastics are everywhere! Have been slowly switching to ceramic and glass in the kitchen, but as the research by these authors shows it’s impossible to get away from plastics. Some of the results of exposure to these toxic chemicals are pretty bad, so how can we protect our kids and still live a modern life? The book includes a few handy practical suggestions:

get rid of air fresheners
avoid bath products that have a lot of artificial fragrance/perfumes
throw away non-stick frying pans
don’t eat microwave popcorn (the bag is coated with chemicals)
choose hardwood floors instead of carpets
if you eat fish, choose small fish (like the flake tuna instead of larger cuts) as the smaller fish are younger and absorb less toxic chemicals
don’t use antibacterial products that include microban, triclosan, etc…
use vinegar and hydrogen peroxide to clean your kitchen (is just as effective as the harsh chemicals)
replace your lawn with native meadow/plants
don’t microwave in plastic
don’t drink bottled water