Big Bend walk

Our neighbor invited us on a woodland walk today, down a dirt road just about five miles South of our house. The ferns and wildflowers were remarkable! Let me just say ahead of time that I really tried to be selective with these pictures; I left out pictures of trillium, more ferns, Canada violets, wild columbine, bluebells and other flowers I haven't even identified yet. There were so many plants to see and know and learn about!

Jack-in-the-pulpit



An exquisitely delicate fern that I don't know the name of. Whorls around in a crown like the maidenhair, but different. ID anyone?

Fiddlehead

Bloodroot leaf

Ella holding the picked stem with "blood" oozing out

Flower of the wild ginger

And my absolute FAVORITE! I only just became acquainted with the fruit of this tree last Summer. Here are the amazing flowers of a PAW PAW!

Made a trip to Goodwill today. Gabriel spied this baseball shirt and was so excited to try it on that I just had to get it for him. We walked around downtown a bit, watched the construction workers, played on the cannon outside of the old courthouse and stopped in to see Tucker who fed us some buttered rolls and asparagus soup.
Back at home we played baseball in the yard, then went down to play REAL baseball on the field at Waddell, then back up to the yard to play catch.
Tried a new recipe for dandelion cookies, which didn't taste too much like dandelion (which I guess is a good thing), but were a pretty yellow hue.
We had KitKats for dessert, which led to me singing the KitKat theme song, which we then had to look up on YouTube, which led to this and then this, which led to figuring out how to play these songs on the keyboard. All of which made a great closing to a great day!

Sign of a real ball player
For you Papa
"the nerve has a nerve to say something"

Ella got the giggles

Afternoon snack

This and that

...from the past few days...
April 16
Gabriel rode his two wheeler for the first time sans training wheels today! Still a little tentative and likes me to walk/run alongside of him, but definitely did it!

April 17
FIRST HUMMINGBIRD OF THE SEASON!
at our feeder out front!

Saw this poking up in our backyard
(I transplanted this milkweed last summer directly into red clay and never thought it would survive):April 18
Coincidentally read in a library book today that Paul Revere made his famous midnight ride on April 18, 1775
Ella looking cute, about to slide down the curly slide: General Joshua playing WWII:

Gabriel got a bee in his bonnet to make "ginger guys" today. Joshua said that it felt like Christmas.

Wild Edibles II

MMM... don't these tender young poke greens look divine? They did to me too, until I boiled them for thirty minutes to remove the phytolaccatoxin and ended up with a fistful of disgusting green mush. Supposedly you can really spice this green mush up by dousing it with bacon fat; but then you just have fatty mush that's totally devoid of nutrients after its been steaming up your kitchen for a half hour.

So, I'm going to pass on this plant as a food source unless I am in an extreme situation with a roaring campfire.

Other notes:
1. Pokeweed has beautiful berries in the late Summer that birds LOVE
2. The berries are great for smushing into all kinds of concoctions (non edible!)
3. Visit my new friend for tons of info on tasty plants (114 youtube videos! These are great midnight viewing material)

Wild Edibles part I

If there is one wild edible you try, make it mustard! Easily recognizable, healthful and amazingly delicious! Joshua tells me to slow down on our walks over to Kendal so he can nibble on the new flower buds. The lower greens can be boiled and cooked as you would spinach, but I prefer just to eat the greens and buds raw in a salad. Mixed with a little avocado and topped with a light oil and vinegar it can't be beat. Tucker had the brilliant idea to make mustard pesto. I've made two batches so far~one we ate and the other I froze. Ella devours this spread on triscuits, which I love because she's getting so many nutrients compacted into a tasty snack. One other cool note, unlike basil pesto this stays bright green, even when put on steaming pasta. Try some today!

Shorn for Summer

Starting out:


Almost done:

Finished!

The view from our hammock:

Made up of hundreds of these: