Today's wild find :)

Grindelia lanceolata Nutt. var. lanceolata   Family Asteraceae
narrow-leaved gum-weed, spiny-tooth gum-weed
Grindelia: named for David Hieronymous Grindel (1776-1836), a German pharmacologist, physician and professor of botany at Riga, Estonia
lanceolata: lance-shaped
Plant: perennial forb

Plant uses and other interesting facts: Curlycup gumweed is an invader species which is quite drought resistant. It often becomes abundant after a period of dryness. American Indians used gumweed extracts to treat asthma, bronchitis, colic, and skin rashes. It is sticky to the touch.

***info says it blooms into Sept, and here it is Oct. and there are plants covered with blooms!  

cooking your fresh harvest!

Last night, I made a quiche using up our summer squash.  It is soo delicious!  

Butter that covers the pan after melted

approximately four large yellow squash (zucchinis can be used in addition) 

1 large onion

fresh spinach (or frozen and if desperate well drained canned can be used)

salt to taste

12 eggs beaten

1 cup cubed sharp cheddar cheese (I think this would be good with some swiss instead of some or all of the sharp cheese)

1 cup mild cheddar cheese 

cooked chopped bacon (optional)

I cook the squash (mainly yellow squash, but in this case I had a left over zucchini as well) and an onion in butter until it is tender, add in fresh small or torn leaves of spinach and cook a few minutes more until spinach is tender, lightly salt to taste, set it aside to cool.

Then spread veggetables evenly in casserole dish, spread 2/3 of all cheese evenly over veggies, pour beaten eggs all over, gently stir it all together.  

bake at 350 until it is nearly done, then place remaining remaining cheese and bacon on top, return to oven for another ten minutes or until cheese is completely melted and casserole is completely done (eggs will be firm, no jiggles or fluidy looking stuff in center)

Remove from oven and serve!  Will feed a family of four to six, or two with enough for several meals LOL.

Pesto Anyone?

Autumn is here, plants are slowing down or fading...

So we harvested our basil!  We made a simple pesto :)  Just eye balled the amounts of sunflower seeds (since pine nuts are worth their weight in GOLD) tons of garlic, and enough extra virgin organic olive oil for it to mix well.  YUMMY!!!!  

My mums are looking lovely in these cooling temps.  Going to plant a little more lettuce and some other fall greens probably tomorrow :)  I love my greens!  

Green and Gold Blessings!

Welcome Weeds!

This evening, my husband was watching a local AG show, they have a section called "Weed of the Week".  (We LOVE this section, it helps us identify many wild edibles!!! LOL)  He excitedly called me to come see tonight's weed of the week.  I asked him why, and he said "because it's that tall velvety plant you had in the garden!".  I hurried up to watch the show, even though I know they only show the whole thing about the WotW at the end because I didn't want to miss a moment of it!  

So we watched, laughed at some of the program (these guys sell all kinds of chemicals, so the show is really just one big ad selling herbicides and pesticides and fertilizers and we are organic and know better :)   

Then, there it was!!!  Our plant, tall, huge super soft leaves, tiny yellow flowers, and cute as a button seed pods (which *button plant* is one of it's names, and I saved all our seed pods to use in potpourris. It is called *velvet weed or velvet leaf* and even one of the guys on there said he didn't like to fully eradicate it because it was such a cool plant! lol 

I will grow it again, just because I love touching it :)  Here is a picture of one from Missouri state ext:   

I grow other *weeds* as well: Lambs quarters, highly nutritious!!  It has more vitamins and minerals in it than spinach!

Wild Purslane is another, great as a fresh snack, in a salad, or pickle the stems!

L

Last but not least for now, are wild violets!  Again, great in salads, cooked like any green, dried and thrown in soups and stews and the flowers are edible and make a great jelly! 

Well, that is enough for now, but I hope for those of you who haven't tried wild edibles it gives you inspiration to get to know what is growing in your yard and garden, and realize that not all things called weeds are bad things, but many are wonderful!   Oh!  I plan on growing dandelions in their own special bed next spring.  I wonder what my neighbors will think??? LOL     They grass/gardens are sprayed all around us, yet we have the greenest lawn around... and yes, it is a mix of so called *weeds* and corporate lawn company approved grass :)  I love seeing the dots of yellow from the dandelions.  

Green Blessings!

Alive and kicking! Me AND my garden!

Even though it is now fall, my garden this year is still alive, beginning to struggle at this point, kinda like me earlier this spring, and last year.... Which is one of the reasons I haven't posted in forever, too sick and down too.

Long story short, I was ended up transported to the Mayo clinic in Rochester, MN. And in short THEY (Drs. Swain. Frye (sp?) and Jen Frank NP and all their team) SAVED MY LIFE!!! I still have ongoing chronic pain conditions, but thanks to them, one was at least temporarily fixed (permanent fix is yet to come, IF North Dakota bureaucrats LET me go back!)(North Dakota is NOT a good place for disabled folks, it took me a YEAR to get help with my lymphedema, between the hoops of red tape they made me jump through and the ONE nurse educator for the whole state playing some kind of game behind my back with my EMPLOYEES NOT to get what I needed done, it took a year and only ended when I called the head of the whole thing in the capital and started making lawyer noises :(

But back to my garden... lol

This growing season has been really weird, not just for me, but for everyone I know who has gardens they don't spray with chemicals. Weird bouts of near flooding conditions followed by weeks of drought like conditions, BUGS!!! Something new for me up here in the frozen north! I hardly had any bugs before!!! And my roses! ARGH! one died, two looked like they weren't going to make it. They both finally started growing, the Carumba actually had a few blooms on it late this summer, the Winnepeg rose hasn't yet, but it is growing well, hopefully they will BOTH do better next year.

Speaking of roses, I could not help but buy two from Tyler, Texas!! Near where I am from, Tyler is reknown for their roses!! One is a brilliant bright yellow that smells as heavenly as it looks, the other is a single petal rose whose send will send you straight to cloud nine in an instant! I have them BOTH in pots and they are coming INSIDE for the winter along with my verbenas, rosemary (which has more than tripled in size :), lettuces, green onions, parsley, avocado (pray they sprout and grow! just got a HUGE pot for the trees, gonna try to keep them trimmed to fit into a pot), gerber daisys, thyme, and want to dig some of my sage out of the garden for fresh sage (ask me for my stuffed delicata squash recipe! OH MY it is so good!!!)(yes, it could be one of the reasons my arms hurt... from patting myself on the back! LOL)

Even though I was in the hospital for the first few months of our growing season, I had gotten some things planted, like a long pot of lettuces, and of green onions (love green onions best of all the onions!!!) and so while I was gone, they grew so well, not only did was my husband able to eat frequent salads, but started sharing with some of the local kids! He also would add some of our edible flowers, which really gave the kids a treat!

I think I have finally run down, and done posting for now :)

Have wonderful fall gardens!!!

Still growing...

Hello again :)

It has been a long time. I forget, get busy, or discouraged so I don't say much.

But I am still here, still growing things. It is the dead of winter, yet I have two thymes, my rosemary (YAY!!!), catnip, aloe, oregano, chives, money wort, jasmine, and a few others growing my my front south facing window.

yes, the cats loooove the catnip.... lol, I love watching them stand on tip toe sniffing it.

Seed catalogs are coming in.... I wish I had more gardening room and help, sigh... There are so many things I would love to grow. Oh well, I shall try to build on last years successes, and add more this year :)