The fair pastures are growing and growing, still silver-crested with daisy fleabane, white under the silver-lined clouds, heavy with thunder, that wander over the sky. The air is so humid it hangs like a mist around lights, and i feel like I’m gulping water when i breathe. The ubiquitous sand sticks to everything – feet,…
Tag: WIld-harvesting
Sumac Lemonade
Early yesterday morning I heard the cold winds of a front rustling the branches of the naked cherry trees and making acorns rattle down on the roof from the oaks that grow all around and over us. I lay awake for a while, listening to the strange thumps and rumbling of paws outside. From far…
Wild Muscadine Meringue Pie
Suddenly everything seems to have changed. New flowers are blooming bright yellow in the weedy ways, Bidens and Sida, partridge pea and golden rod. Ripe poke and beauty berries bend the slender branches waiting for the birds. The golden and gossamer webs of the orb weavers stretch high up between the trees, and the weavers…
Black Cherry Clafoutis: A Native Florida Custard Cake
I am always unprepared for the intensity of this season, ruled by the sun and violent storms. The heat feels suffocating and damp, and when the wind blows, it is a hot wind. Every day the shining white clouds build up into flickering, violet storms piled high in the hazy sky, and where they break…
Spiderwort Soda, A Magical Elixir
I have always been enchanted with the herb Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohioensis I think is the Latin). The thin, succulent leaves, like grass leaves, poke out at a pixie-like angle, and the luminous blue three-petaled flowers, each petal delicate like a fairy’s wing, whose color delights the eye and changes even as you stare, shifting between blue…
Wild Chickweed Salad with Ranch-Style Dressing
All around the earth is greening. The forest looks lacy with new leaves, and the pastures have begun to grow. Not only have the summer grasses thrown off their winter sleep and have started to poke up their heads and send out new shoots, all the pretty weeds of spring decorate the ground between the…
CHANTERELLES: A French Recipe For Wild-harvested Mushrooms
The goats have been escaping. They are penned in with electric netting in an area of about five woodland acres, loaded with new, brushy growth and grape vines. It should be goat heaven, but they can’t stand to stay in for more than a few hours. I am going in, walking the fences to…
Rustic Dark Chocolate Meringue Cake With Wild Black Cherry Syrup
Ignore the humble appearance of this lovely dessert! It will be one of the nicest things you will ever eat! The fruity and intense black cherry flavor is set off by the rich chocolate. The meringue is also a nice way to use up extra egg whites I have left over from making ice…
Wild Plum Harvest
This is the time when the wild plums are dripping from the branches. They are tart, glowing and fragrant. Some trees bear large fruits, some small. Some are red and some are yellow. It is interesting to taste each tree’s offering, getting a different mix of sweet, tart, and bitter plum flavor with each one. …
Wild-harvested Stuffed Grape Leaves
I’ve always wanted to try making my own brined, pickled grape leaves. Not only are the ones in the store shockingly expensive, they are not organic and have weird preservatives. I always loved stuffed grape leaves, but I haven’t made them in years. This spring the wild grape leaves in the forest looked so green…
Eating Weeds
Anyone who has known me from childhood will remember that gathering and eating weeds has always been something I’ve done. I would run all over our apartment complex, finding edible plants to make picnics and feasts for my friends and family – and I still do! This time of year some of my favorite edible…
Toadstools And Fairy Rings 