What's blooming in the wild...June series #5

Trying to find a better way to document and identify what's blooming on our property and when. You will find us documenting whats happening on and around the beanstalk and that includes wild blossoms.

This one peeked out the Last weeks of May and beginning of June. I'm thinking this one is Coral root but have contacted the USFS to try and verify if I am correct and what variety of coral root this actually is. 

Stay tuned...who knows how long it will take for them to get back to me.

These past months I have really been enjoying spending my stay at home Covid time getting to know my property more and realizing just how much I was taking it for granted. 

What's blooming in the wild...June series #4

Trying to find a better way to document and identify what's blooming on our property and when. You will find us documenting whats happening on and around the beanstalk and that includes wild blossoms.

Woodland Strawberry

I thought I could identify a wild strawberry but I certainly had no clue there were two types of wild strawberries. This one is the Woodland Strawberry . I will be on the look out to see if I can locate the wild strawberry as well.

fs.fed.us

friends of the wildflower garden

Woodland Strawberry


Thimble berry

Thimble berry Blossom

As far back as I can remember....as a child we would play in the woods and ride our bikes and eat wild thimble berries.

Thimble berry Blossom

As an adult I prefer raspberries now but, I do remember the  carefree days of being a child growing up on Bearpaw Rd. riding our bikes up the dirt road, with no shoes on, my wild tangled hair and covered in good clean dirt eating thimble berries

fs.fed.us

Did you know that Thimble berries are also known as the Toilet Paper Plant?

the northwest forager

What's blooming in the wild...June series #3

Trying to find a better way to document and identify what's blooming on our property and when. You will find us documenting whats happening on and around the beanstalk and that includes wild blossoms.

Trumpet Honeysuckle, Lonicera ciliosa found blooming June 1st. on the edge of our property.

This species is also known as Orange Honeysuckle, Northwest Honeysuckle, or Western Trumpet

nativeplantspnw

What's blooming in the wild...June series #2

Trying to find a better way to document and identify what's blooming on our property and when. You will find us documenting whats happening on and around the beanstalk and that includes wild blossoms.

Bunch Berry Blossoms

Bunch Berry also known as a creeping dogwood will have red berries that are edible that are high in pectin.

 fs.fed.us 

edible wild food

Bunch Berry Blossoms

Queens Cup Blossom

Queens cup will have a single brite blue berry that is not edible to humans,and should be considered poisonous.

 fs.usda.gov

Queens Cup Blossom

What's blooming in the wild...June series #1

Trying to find a better way to document and identify what's blooming on our property and when. You will find us documenting whats happening on and around the beanstalk and that includes wild blossoms.

We found this gorgeous Mountain Lady Slipper this week (June 2nd.) growing in two different locations of our property.

There doesn't seem to be a rhyme of reason for where it grows... However, it seems to grow in the shaded areas that get a little mottled sun.

The garden Iris

This Beauty  decided to bloom this morning!

Unfortunately I do not know the variety...

But she sure is Gorgeous!!

It's always pure joy and anticipation waiting for the blooms to open each year.

So worth the wait!!!

Weekly Garden view and garden pest updates

Things are really starting to grow in the garden this week. Tat soi is a new to us veggie and we really like it...Unfortunately the garden pest's have been enjoying it too!

This past week we had damage from cutworms, found a few flea beetles and the Ground Cherry in the greenhouse was coated in aphids.

We have been treating with Diatomaceous Earth, Neem Oil, Soapy water, and night trips to the garden with flashlights to hand pick off the cutworms.

feeling like we are getting it all under control and enjoying the weekly garden view. 

Grow garden grow!!!

Adding Marigolds to the vegetable garden

Handy Helpers in the garden...

I started the Fireball Marigolds from seed and needed a few more marigolds through out the garden for companions to other plants. 

The yellow ones were picked up at my local nursery and I will be adjusting the amount I need to grow for next year ;-)

Why add marigolds to your garden?

Here is a few reasons...

• Marigolds make great companion plants in the vegetable garden
• Marigolds attract Pollinators to the garden
• Marigolds repel pests
• Marigolds add beauty and vibrant blossoms to the garden

Looking ahead to drier days in the garden

This past weekend brought in another round of rain with a severe Thunderstorm warning....We battened down the hatches in the garden and prepared for the worst...

Luckily it never really hit us and the garden weathered the storm just fine. We are looking ahead to drier warmer days in the garden!

Radish taste trials

Taste trials of 4 different radish varieties and the Mr.’s favorite in order were the German giant, Crimson crunch, French Breakfast and lastly he didn’t care for the texture of Sparkler ... all radishes were planted on same day in the same raised bed in the greenhouse. The Crimson crunch was way smaller than the rest, French breakfast had a little more heat than the others and German giant was definitely bigger had the texture and taste we like but had poor germination due to it being older seed in our trials 😉 trying to narrow down and plant what we love to eat and what performs well in our garden 👍🏻 

Lemon, Dandelion & Cardamom Sugar Cookies

We used the beautiful tried and true recipe from wholefully.com for our base sugar cookies with our own modifications and adjustments to make these tasty Lemon, Dandelion & Cardamom Sugar cookies...

We urge you to try your hand at wild crafting and using wild-harvested, clean Dandelions...

If you decide to make these leave us feedback and let us know what you think!

Ingredients

For the Cookies

• 1 1/2 C. Unsalted butter (3 sticks), softened
• 2 C. Granulated sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp. Fresh squeezed Lemon Juice (*reserve remaining lemon juice for Icing)
• Zest from 1 Lemon
• 1/4 tsp. Cardamom
• 5 C. All-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. Baking powder
• 1 tsp. Pink sea salt
• 1/2 C. Fresh Dandelion petals...making sure they are natural sourced and free of pesticides or fertilizers

For the Icing

• 2 C. powdered sugar
• 2-4 Tb. Whipping Cream or Milk
• 1 Tb. Light corn syrup or honey (see notes)..I use honey ;-)
• 1 tsp. Lemon Extract extract and or remaining Lemon Juice 
• 1-2 TB. fresh Dandelion petals

Instructions

1. In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, using a hand mixer, or mixing by hand with a wooden spoon, cream together butter and sugar. Mix in eggs and Lemon Juice until well-combined.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the remainder of cookie ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to wet ingredients a little at a time, until combined.
3. Divide dough into quarters, form into discs, and wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours in the fridge, or 20 minutes in the freezer.
4. 
   Remove one disc from the fridge and roll out on floured surface until dough is 1/4" thick.Preheat oven to 400°F.
5. Cut with a cookie cutter and bake on an ungreased cookie sheet or Parchment Paper lined sheet for 6-8 minutes, watching closely. Cookies are done when bottoms are just lightly golden brown. Cool completely on wire racks before frosting. 
6. To make the sugar cookie icing: Combine powdered sugar, Extract and or Lemon Juice, Dandelion Petals, two tablespoons Cream and corn syrup or honey, adding more Cream until icing reaches desired consistency. For piping and spreading, you're looking for a thicker icing. For dipping cookies, you'll want something a bit thinner. 

Notes

• The standard way to roll out sugar cookies is to use additional flour, but you can also use powdered sugar! .
• Using corn syrup in the cookie icing recipe will result in an icing that dries soft, but stackable. Using honey will result in a softer icing that should not be stacked.

First Harvest's of the season!

It's been a long wait but we are finally starting to get a small harvest's from the garden. The Asparagus is starting to pop up! 

We have also been enjoying Chives, Onion tips, Parsley and a few Stevia leaves.

Onion seedling trimmings on Pork chops

Seeds and times like these

Closed...

Sold out...

Unable to keep up with demand!!!

So many seed suppliers have posted messages on their sites like this...

Did you order your seeds in time before Covid hit? Did you panic buy or have a seed stash on hand?? I am grateful to see so many turn to gardening in times like these.. on the other hand it’s a little unnerving to see the seed industry unable to keep up with demand. I am thankful to have a pretty good storage of heirloom seeds on hand but have been lax on my seed saving practices you can bet I will be polishing up on that this season

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