Two of my favorite things are fall hikes, and pie. I probably like pie more than hiking, kayaking, gardening, and foraging. And I adore hiking, kayaking, gardening, and foraging. We live on a quarter acre lot and don’t grow black walnuts. But black walnut trees grow along some of the trials I frequent. In the fall, I hike, and gather nuts, and I get pie. Black walnut pie.Continue Reading
Much of our area is old farm land where apple trees were planted more for the family’s use than as a cash crop. Many of the trails I frequent still have old apple trees growing alongside them. They tend to be small and spotted, but still quite delicious for sauce and pies.
Crabapple is abundant, too. These are especially wonderful for jelly since they are so high in pectin. They make good cider and vinegar as well. Mix them with other foraged fruits for hedgerow jelly, and as long as crabapples make up half the recipe, no added pectin will be needed.Continue Reading
I’ve had several items on my wish list as I move towards more natural living, and slowly but surely I’m checking items off my list. Sunflair® Solar Ovens sent their Deluxe Solar Oven Kit for my honest review and I can now check one more item off that list!
The Sunflair Kit came with a portable solar oven, 2 collapsible silicone pots, a 3-lb round roaster, 2 baking/dehydrating racks, 2 heat conducting/baking trays, a thermometer, instruction booklet, and a carrying case.Continue Reading
When you’ve been doing something for a while and it’s become second nature to you, you sometimes wonder how it ever felt so confusing. But when we made the switch to pastured and grass-fed meats, as the family cook, I was definitely confused. I didn’t know how to roast a pastured chicken or how to grill grass-fed steak and keep the meat moist and tender.
This meat was different and needed to be cooked differently. I remember thinking that I’d never get to eat a moist roast chicken again. But then I learned to brine my chicken and all was well.Continue Reading
There’s something about a hot summer day that says soda, don’t you think? For me, it’s the childhood memory of Sundays at the lake with friends and cousins, sipping root beer, that makes me crave that taste. Soda is not a part of my diet anymore, unless it’s a refreshing fermented soda like homemade root beer.
We played a lot in the woods at the lake and, as I’ve mentioned in other posts, that’s where I fell in love with plants. What I didn’t know back then was that I would be foraging two of those plants in the very same woods for homemade root beer syrup.Continue Reading
Spanakopita, for those who may be wondering, is a delicious savory Greek pastry. It is traditionally made with spinach, but it is just as delicious, and more nutritious, when made with stinging nettle. No, I’m not Greek, but a local church has a wonderful festival each year and my taste buds definitely say yes to Greek food!Continue Reading