Eat Your Weedies

Weeds & Greens

Anyone who has planned a community event knows that people will show up if there’s food.  Better yet, throngs will appear if the food is free.  Until recently I assumed this was a cardinal social rule…but I've discovered an exception.  Imagine a garden growing in a neighborhood.  It doesn't have to be planted, fertilized, watered, or cultivated.  Sadly, it grows and decays each season without much more than a passing glance or aggravated huff from the humans that share its habitat.  Why?  Because this garden is hidden in plain sight.  It is the crabapples that litter the sidewalks, the dandelions that riddle the yard, the burdock burrs that tangle Fido’s fur, and the green haze that carpets the forest floor.  Somewhere between the passage of time and the progress of society, the wild plants around us have been demoted from life-giving nourishment & health to pretty ornamentals at best and noxious weeds at worst.  I've always appreciated this garden, but now I’m beginning to study it.  Like a preschooler looking at the jumble of letters that fills an encyclopedia, I’m facing the overwhelming excitement that is the plant world in my own proverbial back yard.  Plant by plant, part by part, one culinary and medicinal use at a time, I’m learning to utilize the wild garden around me.  I don’t have to be an expert, I just have to begin.  I’m writing to share that you can, too!

Cold Frame Update: There's a Radish in My Salad!

February 17th

In chilly February, Weldon and I planted a variety of seeds into our first cold frame.  In chilly March we hovered searching for tiny emerald shoots to emerge under the glass roof.  For weeks we watched as erratic temperatures and sporadic sunshine struggled to coax our radishes, kale, chard, spinach, and beets from the soil.  Now April is here...and it's still pretty chilly. Thankfully, a good warm rain last week and a few days of bursting sun did wonders for our adolescent veggies...

April 7th

Paste, Powder, & Pearly Whites

For the past two weeks I've been miserably consumed by the banal efforts to recover from dental surgery.  In all my years I've never spent so much time thinking about, let alone coddling, my mouth.  I went in for a routine appointment to remove my two lower wisdom teeth.  I came out with a golf ball in one cheek, a chunk missing from my jawbone, and bruising that a prizefighter would be proud of.  After nearly fourteen days of mushy foods and lethargic couch conquering, I’m finally feeling like myself again (despite the creepy stitches and cavernous divots in the back of my mouth).  It seems only right that after all this oral pontificating, I launch back into the blogosphere with a post about an old school dental product that’s making a comeback with homemade health nuts like me: Tooth Powder!  You may wonder why in the world I’d go to the effort to make my own tooth powder when convenient tubes of paste line the shelves of any grocery.  What on Earth could be so bad about the minty goop that advertisements promise will kill germs, fight plaque, and blindingly whiten my chompers?  Later in the post, I’ll get into why I've chosen to ditch conventional toothpaste (even natural varieties can be questionable).  For now, let’s take a look at how a few inexpensive ingredients and less than five minutes of effort can boost oral hygiene to a sparkling level.