My cousin Taryn gave me what I consider good advice a few days ago.
She said I need to try for a blog every other day instead of every day. Especially if I want photos in them.
So starting November 1st that's what I'm going to try for.
And I'm going to try some without as many photos or no photos in between the every other day stuff.
Thanks Taryn for the help.
Cattails, would you believe it?
Novya gave Logan and I our second edible plant lesson.
She tried to put this lesson off until she could get a field trip to a place where cattails grow. However, the weather got to cold and wet. Nana didn't want her tramping through the mud to get to the plants.
I had no idea that the cattail is edible. Except for the rhizome, it seems to be most useful as food during the late spring. Some writers say it was a staple of the American Indians because of its abundance.
The pollen has only a short time in the spring in which it can be gathered. It is very popular and expensive at health food stores, in capsule form. It is a source of minerals, enzymes, protein and energy. It can also be used as a flour substitute and/or thickener.
The sticky jelly you find as you gather stalks should be scraped off and saved for thickening soups in an okra-like fashion.
The rhizome is usually harvested from late fall to early spring. The starch from it can be made into flour. The rhizome can also be cooked or eaten raw.
The leaf bases can be eaten, cooked or raw in late spring. They can be eaten in the early spring, but there isn't much to them and they have a terrible bitter flavor then. However, they would serve as food if you were starving.
The green flower spike can be boiled or steamed and eaten like corn on the cob in late spring. Unlike corn it is very dry and should be served with a sauce of some kind.
In spring the shoots have a tender sweet inside that is edible raw or cooked.
Seeds once they are separated from the fluff can be eaten as seeds or ground into flour like the dandelion seeds.
There are sites on-line with recipes using cattail if you are interested in trying them.
Cattail plants have many uses other than for eating. But, at this time we are only looking at them as a source of food.
We got up this morning to a big surprise. We had snow.
We didn't get to go out and play in it because Nana and Auntie were going to Walla Walla.
Ashlee. Sarafina, Taryn, and Mara all went with them. Reeces went too. She loves to play in the snow. Of course, she goes everywhere Nana and Auntie go.
They stopped at Andes Sno-park on the way over. Reeces got to play, Taryn had her picture taken in the snow and Sarafina got out to play in the snow. Sarafina had worn her new winter jacket, pants and snow boots, so, she could have some fun and stay warm. But, she said it wasn't fun for very long because she was alone.
On the other side of the mountain they stopped near Milton-Freewater and took fall pictures. It wasn't winter yet on that side of Tollgate.
Sarafina didn't get her picture taken here. She said her winter clothing would have looked out of place.
Their first shopping stop was the Dollar Store. Mara and Ashlee went in shopping. Ashlee loves to decorate for all the holidays and anything else she can think of. She spent a lot of time looking at Fall, Winter and Christmas decorations.
Mara and Ashlee shopped together for part of the craft supplies they wanted. They want to make some of their own decorations for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. They said it was fun filling Aunties basket with their finds.
None of the girls went in at Walgreen and St. Vincent DePaul. Those were to be quick stops. So, they stayed in the car and went through the bags from the Dollar store.
At JoAnn's only Sarafina went in. She was looking for baking accessories for the holidays. She found a treat mold she loved, but, didn't have a sale coupon. She hopes to get back to buy one before Christmas.
The girls stayed in the car at Wal-Mart because Nana and Auntie wanted to do some Christmas shopping. None of the them wanted to have to keep what they saw a secret that long.
On the way home Auntie and Nana stopped at another Sno-park so Reeces could get out and play. She is one spoiled cocker spaniel. She bounced through the snow chasing Nana and got Nana to throw snowballs for her to catch. They were both still wet when they arrived home.
They said it was a very fun, relaxing day. It must have been good, as the girls were all still talking about it and sharing craft ideas as they went to bed.
Logan and I want equal time. We want a trip to Home Depot and a sporting goods store or maybe Costco. Yeah! Tools and food all in one place. I like that.
Novya chose bead work as one of her classes for this year. She is really enjoying it.
Her first attempt at bead work was a belt for herself made on a loom. She has finished it and it turned out great.
I really want her to make me a hat band. And I wouldn't turn down a matching belt.
After she finished the bead work, she cut a suede belt to go under it and the rest of the way around her waist. She finished the edges of the belt and stitched the bead work to it using crochet thread around the outside of the belt.
Then, she created ties with beads on the end and attached to the front of the belt for securing it.
I asked her what she needed to make a belt. She said, a bead loom, scissors, loom thread or cord, a small needle and lots of beads. She hadn't counted all those beads and had no idea how many it takes.
After the bead work is done you need suede crochet thread, a strong needle and large scissors for a belt like hers.
She loves working in the music room while her cousins are practicing their instruments. They play piano. violin. guitars and harp. She gets a good variety of music while working in there.
She has her pattern leaned up against the piano leg and her beads and water beside her. She's comfortable and ready to work.
She has started a new project now. She won't let any of her siblings see it. She says it's a Christmas gift and her family can't see what she's working on. She puts it away when she leaves the music room. Her cousins have been sworn to secrecy.
She starts by putting the strings on the loom and stretching them tightly. After that she can add the beads.
There is a good video of how to do beadwork at the following address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScjJsOIQP3w
I asked her if she had any dream projects she would like to do. She said, some day, she wants to do a bead headboard.
That sounds like a huge project to me.
Some other edible thistles are the Canada Thistle (or Creeping Thistle)
The stems and the veins in the leaves are edible raw after peeling to remove the stickers. Usually, the bottom half of the stems are too stringy to be good. You might want to throw them away.
The leaf itself can be eaten once the barbs are removed. Raw it is good in salads as another green. Cooked it is a good spinach replacement.
