Blackberry Season Begins!

While I do love the cosmos, sunflowers, and yarrow that are blooming ... they provide little sustenance. So, this year I am setting a goal to forage more from the landscape. At this time of the year it is blackberry season and my front yard is surrounded by these tenacious plants.

Yesterday morning I went out with a bowl to collect for our breakfast. We share this land with thousands of birds so, there is quiet a lot of competition for the berries. Even so (and even despite my lack of adequate footwear) I was able to harvest plenty in just 15 minutes of picking and ran indoors to make a fruit salad with some other items we already had in the kitchen.

After breakfast I went out into the garden to do some watering and also try out the new (new to me at least) camera I was given from my mom over the holidays. Most of the pictures turned out quite dark, I have a lot to learn. This one of a volunteer mullein surrounded by cosmos is exactly the feeling I wanted to capture.

The garden itself is full of volunteer flower and herbs that I have transplanted from the wildland beyond. There are a few cannabis plants that are just now forming buds, young tulsi plants, and a handful of squash that are just getting into their stride. Really, the only thing to harvest in the garden are the weeds.

And harvest I do! Now that we have horses wandering most of the farm, this once abundant weed is only to be found inside this garden. The young leaves of Spanish needles aren't yet bitter and are very nutritious to humans as well as horses. It has earned the nick name farmer's friend for a reason!

I add Spanish needles/Farmer's friend to just about every lunch and dinner. It is an ideal addition to omelettes, chopped up finely in soups, and makes a great ingredient to pesto alongside basil. Rumor has it that it is the most nutritious weed in the mountains so, I think I will do a full herbal profile on this abundant herb/weed soon!