Folks look at my yard/
and see lots of grass to mow./
They miss wildflowers.
Lots of folks are out harvesting elderberries, especially the North American native American Elderberry, or Sambucus Canadensis. Health benefits abound! BUT, many people are posting photos of Pokeweed or Pokeberry (also known as Pokesalat) on social media, and asking: Are these Elderberries? NO! And knowing the difference when you’re harvesting elderberries is critical! Pokeweed berries…
It’s a dream to find edible wild food, but you have to really look for mushrooms. Gene and Jan are interested in putting up tree houses on their acreage on Vashon Island, WA, and running a bed and breakfast. They also enjoy foraging for wild food (and creating their own, where possible). Dreaming of oyster…
Today my wife and I went out to the lower meadow to pick blackberries with thorns. About 20 minutes later, we made a fresh blackberry cobbler, and I wrote this poem about the experience: It reminds me of the time I visited a rose garden in Freiburg, in the southwest corner of Germany, just south…
At Spirit Tree Farms, we’re learning a lot about wildflower seed harvesting as we go along. Why do we do wildflower seed harvesting? Simple: To grow more wildflowers, to aid Mother Nature, and to attract more butterflies and other pollinators. Wildflower Seed Harvesting Lessons This year (Dec., 2021), as I was harvesting goldenrod and crownbeard…
The Northwest Georgia summer is hot. That doesn’t surprise me. I expected the weight of heat like an oven. What shocks my mind, not my system, is that August on the banks of the West Chickamauga is not as uncomfortable as I remember Wisconsin being. Mid-August growing up in Milwaukee when it was 99 +…
It always strikes me as strange when folks say they can’t work in the rain. I’m learning that people in different parts of the country have very different perspectives on working in the rain. I lived in Seattle for nearly three decades. What happens when you have plans to work in the yard in Seattle…