Save Money: Eat Your Lawn

Yesterday, my Littlest was fidgety, walking in circles. Sometimes that drives me crazy. But I've been trying to think about her differently— as a person who is the best person for the job... any job that requires movement.

So I sent her out to the lawn to rescue the dandelion leaves before I mowed. A rescue mission captured her imagination.

I saved money by not buying more $5 organic baby greens (yeah, I live in New York where everything costs more, and yeah there are a few stray left-over baby greens in the salad above). We had a greater nutritious herbaceous offering alongside dinner. (As one friend of mine puts it, "Grocery store lettuce won't cure anything.")

A win, win, win situation. As long as you don't mind eating dandelion leaves :).

There's a Branch in My Tea Cup (Or, How to Get Someone to Read Your Blog Posts)

Did you know you can eat trees?

I'm not talking about a gourmet dish of stir-fried hemlock. More like pieces of trees. You probably knew that if you are, say, a cinnamon lover. I did too.

Except I didn't know I could eat pieces of trees that sit in my own back yard...

forsythia (for breakfast)

white pine (for tea time)

If you were tempted to click through to see how to eat a back yard tree, you may have just experienced a bout of curiosity piqued by what Heath & Heath call a "knowledge gap." Or, basically, you clicked through because you knew you didn't know, and it made you want to know.

Using knowledge gaps is one way to make a message stickier (besides adding pine sap, which I can attest is very, very sticky). It causes a person to want to find answers, and the extra effort they expend in doing so helps the final message stick.

The simplest tool for creating knowledge gaps is the question. So the next time you want to write a sticky blog post, just add an opening question. And see who stays for a little bloggy tea.


Pine Needle Tea photo, by L.L. Barkat.

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Over at HighCallingBlogs we're reading and discussing Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. Want to join us? :) Also, feel free to leave your link here...

Allergies Be Gone, the Lovely Way

You know how people say to eat honey, or take bee pollen, to combat spring allergies? I have a theory, based on my own humble experience: eat the flowers themselves and you can make your allergies calm down.

My favorite edible spring flower is forsythia. And we have them in abundance here. Slightly sweet and mildly bitter, I use them in any dish where I might otherwise use something like sage. Omelettes, green salads, apple salads.

But mostly, I just love eating things that are so beautiful. Yellow upon yellow, this floral cheese omelette is a personal favorite.

Regarding how to find the best forsythia, my kids gave me a little tip the other day. I can't vouch for its accuracy. But they say the flowers which are in the sun grow sweeter. Sounds like a parable for life.


Forsythia Omelette photo, by L.L. Barkat.

7 Weird Things About Being Vegetarian

Thanks to Rudy for tagging me with the "7 Weird Facts about Me" tag. To keep with L.L. tradition, I'll modify the tag a little.

So here it is. 7 Weird Things About Being Vegetarian.

1. You have to eat your veggies, thus creating a reconciliation with your mama. (Remember how she was always telling you to eat your veggies?)

2. You don't eat meat. (According to some people, that's weird. Maybe even according to your mama.)

3. You get healthier (okay, that's only weird in a fast-food culture)

4. You begin to stare openly at the beautiful vegetables in the produce section

5. You bring things like hummus and carrots to your church's morning coffee hour

6. You may start to like animals more, even the squirrels who stole your daughter's bird feeder and hid it in the prickly pines

7. You may begin to eat the flowers off of trees (Forsythia Sunshine Breakfast photo below).

8. Oh, and number 8 (which is weird in a "7 Things" tag) is that you don't have as many people to tag in your meme. So I'll leave it at this. The meme ends here I guess. On the bright side, you can spend the extra time sharing a recipe like the one below for Black Beans & Spinach Burritos. Enjoy!




Black Bean & Spinach Burritos...

I generally use leftovers for this recipe. If I've made a black bean dish the night before and have some rice on hand, here's what I do:

Put a bit of each of the following in a whole wheat wrap. Wrap it up and saute lightly for about 3 minutes on each side or until cheese seems melted:

• cooked black beans, sauteed with a little onion and minced garlic and 1/2 tsp cumin (not necessary if taken from leftover recipe)
• rice
• salsa to taste
• spinach, chopped
• cheddar cheese, grated


Food photos by L.L. Barkat.

The Back Yard News, Vol 1, No. 2

In arts & entertainment...

"Making an Angel Crown" by Sonia.

So, first you have to take forsythia* branches, and then you twist them around each other, so they're like a big loop. Then you take some string and two hydrangea flowers and you tie the flowers on with string. Now it's an angel crown.

*it can be made from willow branches too


In sports...

"One Rabbit Hole, One Baseball, and One Big Idea" by Sara.

My family and I were playing baseball in Grandma and Grandpa's back yard. The ball landed near a hole. Sonia tried to pick it up with her mitt, but it was hard to do, and she accidentally knocked it into the hole. We could hardly see the ball in the bottom of the hole, and it was too deep to get it.

We tried grill tongs. We thought to try a rake handle. We tried a double set of grill tongs, but couldn't close them around the ball. So we gave up and went back to play with the other ball.

Suddenly, Daddy got an idea. But we couldn't test his idea in the rabbit hole. We tested it in the basement. And it worked.

So we came out with the big wet-dry vaccum and put the hose in the hole. "Whhsssshhhhhh....!!" We pulled out the hose, and there on the end was the ball. Like a pink and white clown nose on the end of an elephant trunk.

Good thing that no rabbit was having tea down there!




On the menu...

"Raspberry Violet Burrito" by Sonia.

You take a violet leaf and then you take a raspberry. You put the raspberry on top of the violet leaf. Then you wrap the violet leaf around the raspberry and you eat it. Then you have a wild snack.


In the garden...

"Weed War" by Michaela D.

The D's are waging war against the weeds. Mrs. D says if we do a bit every day, by the end of the summer there won't be one left. So, keep pulling.

Wordless Wednesday: Provision

I come around
a leafy bend
only to discover
red. Tart red,
bursting red
provision...
guarded ever so
cleverly by thorns.

As the scratches on my arms will attest, I reached for this beautiful provision despite the risks. And these three containers were my reward.

Photo by L.L. Barkat.

Wordless Wednesday: Unexpected

In the morning, I weed the garden, then realize I have received the gift of an unexpected lunch. Oxalis. Shamrocks, if you will. I pluck the leaves and put them in a bowl, dot them with the simple yellow flowers... add shredded coconut, a dash of sugar, lime juice, light sesame oil, salt, sliced cucumbers and dark purple plum slices. Creation's bounty awakes on my tongue.


Oxalis photo by L.L. Barkat.

Wordless Wednesday: Tea Leaves

In the morning, as the sun is still making its way over the pine, I take my scissors and trim the fabric of my landscape... wild strawberry, dandelion, and violet leaves... raspberry leaves, oregano, mint... and, oops, an unripe blueberry... it all goes into the tea water... green, lush, free it steeps and fills the kitchen with a light fragrance... and I drink the beauty of the day.


Summer Tea Leaves photo, by L.L. Barkat.

Sun Promises

I've always loved the sun. I love to watch it rise and set. I cherish quiet moments when it shines gently on my face. Now, in the mornings, when I go to my secret place, I marvel when it pours into the the little "woods."

Surely, the sun is a symbol of hope for me, as it has been for countless other generations. It expresses the provision of God in its consistency. It reminds me of this wonderful verse in Psalm 145...

The LORD upholds all who are falling,
and raises up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food in due season.
You open your hand, satisfying the desire
of every living thing. vss 14-16

Yes, God provides for each season, in due time. And this is something else I've been learning. Today I discovered, for instance, that I can eat my forsythia blossoms. This is the season for it. He has provided.


Sunshine Breakfast



Mix all:

- apple, cut in chunks
- 1/4 of a lemon, squeezed over apples
- sprinkle of sea salt
- maple syrup to taste
- few sprinkles cinnamon
- sprouted, dehydrated, spiced buckwheat; or granola
- raw pecans
- forsythia blossoms
- sprinkle of dandelion greens


Raw Buckwheat



- Soak about 1 and 1/2 cups hull-less buckwheat about 6 hours. Drain into colander.
- Let sprout about two days.
- Add a few pours of honey, and sprinkle with 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, and a bit of sea salt, cloves, allspice.
- Dehydrate at 115 degrees until dry (about six hours).

This is an "earthy" food. Not for frosted flakes lovers, trust me.


About buckwheat: source of protein and iron; soothing to the digestive tract; contains rutin which reduces blood pressure, promotes circulation, heals capillaries, and neutralizes radiation and X-rays; increases glucose tolerance, decreases cholesterol.

About apples: high in malic and tartaric acid which resists bacteria and yeast in digesitve tract; contain pectin which removes cholesterol, radiation, and toxic metals from the body; may prevent tooth decay; prevent blood sugar swings.

Sunset photo, food photos by L.L. Barkat.

Wordless Wednesday: Eating Violets

When eating violets, avoid the yellow ones, which are not edible.

The new, tender leaves of blue or white violets make a lovely salad, though. Just add olive oil, salt and pepper, lemon juice, and confectionary sugar.

This recipe was approved by a ten- and a seven-year old, who both tried to sneak more violets out of the bowl before daddy came home to get his share.

About violets... high in iron, calcium, and anti-oxidants.

Violet Salad photo, by L.L. Barkat.

Re-Vision

Wendell Berry has a lot to say about our visions for life. In The Gift of Good Land, he discusses the destruction of prairie and forest, saying this...

"As we felled and burned the forests, so we burned, plowed, and overgrazed the prairies. We came with visions but not with sight. We did not see or understand where we were or what was there, but destroyed what was there for the sake of what we desired. And the desire was always native to the place we left behind." p.82

In saying this, Berry urges me to know my own land, to understand where I am, and what is here. I'm compelled not to simply destroy what exists, for the vision of "perfection" handed down to me. (In my county, that would be the vision of a pristine lawn with narry a "weed" in sight.)

So I am learning, and I am trying to participate in a "re-visioning."

As part of the process, I went on a wild edibles hike this past Saturday, with Steve Brill. And I came home to a weekend of discovery... that on my own property I have garlic mustard (pic above) with a "horseradish" root, and edible violets, and day lilies (don't confuse with inedible Tiger Lilies), dandelions, and wild onions.

I felt a fresh vision of the gift I hold right here, on my own small parcel of land. My ten-year-old daughter expressed it well on Sunday night. She gave this blessing before the meal...

"Thank you, Lord for this day when we could be together. And thank you for all this wonderful food, that we didn't even have to pay for! Amen."

For a related post on my other blog, visit Discerning the Violet


Here's a recipe using dandelion greens. Pick them young, before the flowers come, for milder greens. If you've already got flowers, you could also eat those instead. Just pluck the green part off the bottom.



Caldo Gallego

Saute in a bit of oil 'til brown:

- 1 onion, chopped


Add and saute briefly:

- 1 garlic, minced
- 1 TB "bacuns"
- 1/2 tsp. smoke spice (if using Liquid Smoke, add at next step)
- 1/2 tsp. fennel seed
- 1/4 tsp. red pepper
- 1/2 tsp. ground cumin


Add and boil about 15 minutes (til potatoes tender):

- 2 potatoes, large dice
- 1 to 1 1/2 cups cooked red beans or chickpeas
- large tomato, chopped, or small can diced tomatoes
- water, to cover all (put more or less for thicker or thinner soup)


Finish:

- good pour olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- bunch of dandelion greens, chopped (let wilt in soup before serving); if dandelions are out of season, substitute spinach

Serve with crusty whole wheat bread or rice and a salad.

Caldo Gallego photo by L.L. Barkat.

Wordless Wednesday: First Harvest

First harvest of the year,
fresh from the back lawn...
young dandelion leaves


Photo by L.L. Barkat.