If I were a beaver

The rest of vacation week had its ups and downs with wild edibles.












Half the pizzas on pizza
night received chopped
chickweed and it was
fantastic! My new fave
combo is tomato, onion,
garlic, chickweed...with
sauce and Daiya shreds of course, atop my homemade crusts.

Dandelion greens made it
into (and on top of) grilled
nutritional yeast cheeze
sandwiches.

However, the next day I
picked from a new patch
and sauteed them...not even
I could choke them down they
were soooo bitter!

On to what I thought would be a fabulous dessert...here's Ryan after he helped lop off a dozen stems of japanese knotweed.





















My goal was a knotweed crumble, so I did what I would mostly do for a rhubarb walnut crumble or the like. The boys helped, it smelled and looked fabulous. But as my husband said, it tasted great! Except for the splinters!! Maybe it wasn't QUITE that bad, but yeah, the thicker stems were horrendously stringy and pithy.
But can that be solved? I don't know, and the advice I've read is quite conflicted on the matter. For instance, The 3 Foragers recommend small young tender shoots...which makes sense to me because they'd be less stringy...but I did pick a few smaller shoots and I'll be darned if I could peel them before they'd either fray or I'd cut right through to the hollow core! The New England Wildflower Society (who runs among others the Garden In The Woods just around the corner from us) recommends picking the largest thickest shoots possible for easier peeling! They had quite a few recipes available online here.
I am willing to give it another go, but I'm not sure which is more prudent, though I'm leaning towards the smaller shoots and maybe they don't really need peeling?? Hmmm... Just so long as another beautiful looking dessert doesn't end up in the compost I'd be happy.

Another thing that DID go
over well, thankfully, were
dandelion tempura! The
boys of course loved picking
lots of dandelions. After a
quick bath and a patting dry,
they were ready for a simple
tempura batter and pan
frying in peanut oil.

I absolutely love these, and
will happily make them again.

As the spring season progress-
es, I'll be on the lookout for
more wild edibles to try. The
boys never tire of going out
and foraging our own food!

Farm Camp Finale

My Hello Kitty calendar
said that yesterday was
Keroppi's birthday. So that
was my theme for the boys'
final day of farm camp. I've
always thought Keroppi
was pretty cute. He's definitely
a secondary Sanrio character,
but he's got a simple sort of
charm. He's certainly the
outdoorsy type, and one of the
few cool boy characters in the
Sanrio universe.
Ryan & AJ's lunches: blueberries for Ryan, watermelon for AJ; ginger asparagus; Tofurky "flowers"; rice Keroppi w/soy cheese & nori eyes; cantaloupe flowers; roasted rosemary potatoes.
Maia... Ryan
























Nate... AJ

The boys were disappointed camp didn't last longer. And Nate is impatiently waiting until he is 4 so that he can go too. Of course next year Ryan will be almost 8 and too old.
Of course they can visit the farm any time. Ryan is tall enough for the single rope swing now.

They picked bouquets on
the last day to bring home.
The mix of flowers and
herbs is quite fragrant!

Farm camp activities included:
picking & washing carrots for
sharer pickup, worm hunts,
bug jars, drawings, picnics, reading, treasure hunts (with vegan cookies hidden!) & wool balls with bells inside (not a vegan project, I know, but still educational learning how to make a toy that used to be quite common, with wool brought by someone local with a small well-cared for group of sheep). Here are a few of their drawings:
Dinner was a muffin tin picnic:Row 1: Gerber peach puffs (don't ask me why, but I seem to buy these maybe once a year or so and the kids make it through half the container then get tired of them); watermelon slices; carrot sticks; blueberries.
Row 2: Nutz Over Chocolate Luna bar; fresh shelled peas; vegetable crackers & soy cheese; steamed broccoli.
Row 3: cucumber slices; cinnamon wheat toast; orange slices; peanuts & raisins.

Maia has begun to share the muffin tin meals too, which means I have to watch carefully to avoid her grabbing any choking hazards! Though I admit she's already had peanuts AND popcorn thanks to her very generous brothers. Oy!

Dada brought home 99 cent
vegan mini cupcakes from
Blue Shirt Cafe to celebrate
the sale of one of his businesses.
I can't count the number of
smoothies and wraps I ate
from there while pregnant
with Ryan!

Of course I had also baked a
plum raspberry crumble similar
to this recipe by Ina Garten,
with about a pint of black
raspberries from our bushes!