We have really enjoyed spring! We're so glad it's here. So outside a lot again, even to do our reading and some workbook work on our leaf blanket that we use just for that. We always move it out under the sunshine, but in summer we take it under the shade of the sycamore tree for most of the duration.
I had my camera beside me while I was about to start some reading, and my funny kids, I noticed, weren't ready to begin. They had Bob Marley (the rooster pictured above, who was named that by the previous owners, by the way, and we just kept it), and I don't know what they were trying to do...get him to eat a piece of straw? I told them it was time to read, and then they saw Sylvester the cat walking by, so William ran over and stuck Bob Marley in front of Sylvester, and Sylvester shot off like lightning (the cats do not like Bob Marley, as the latter will chase the former).
Ahhhh, look at the purple carpet of henbit and dead nettle! The pictures don't portray just how beautiful it was. If you can't remember which is henbit and which is dead nettle, remember I posted a comparison picture two years ago here.
It was this year that I finally looked into whether henbit and dead nettle were edible, as the kids kept pressing me about it. I confess I am ashamed I hadn't long ago checked into it. Turns out we've had a yard full of purple edibles all these years! Combine that with dandelion, and you've got quite a colorful salad! The kids have loved eating dandelion flowers for years now. Just like dandelion, all plant parts on both henbit and dead nettle are edible. Well, let me add I'm not sure about the roots of the latter two, but the flowers, leaves, and stems are for certain. The leaves are full of vitamins, minerals, and fiber. The flowers contain a sweet nectar! I was pleasantly surprised. It's not as good as sucking the juice from a honeysuckle flower, but the kids love it all the same. If you try one, and it doesn't contain sweet juice, pick one until you find one that does.
Trusten eats a wide range of edibles. Remember, he likes to eat juniper berries, and he also loves wild onions, which also grow in our yard. Last week he put some in a flame of fire and told me they taste like french fried potatoes (he doesn't even like potatoes) that way, but fresh they just taste like wild onions. Oh, yeah...he eats both the leaves and bulbs on the onions. Trust was probably the most delighted to discover the henbit and dead nettle were safe to eat.
I've always thought it was just crazy for people to put horrible poisons on the flowers in their yards. As a child and still today, I've always thought all the flowers making lovely colorful carpets are beautiful sights to behold and has always created a sense of joy and peace within my spirit. Now that I've been learning over the years that so many of these wild plant gifts are edible, I'm even more appalled that people do such a thing. I remember even my mother would poison our yard back home, and I could just never understand it. The ditches were filled with beautiful, fragrant red clover. What an awesome blessing it was, and I think one year she just poisoned it, and it never came back (whereas before it was mowed). I don't know whether my parents still poison their yard, but I sure hope not. I miss the red clover terribly. I wish I had some. I love clovers! (By the way, red clover is an edible, too.)
Okay...well, that's all for now, because I rattled so long about the edibles, so I'll leave the video of Elizabeth and discussion on her for later.
Until next time...
That is a beautiful purple carpet of flowers! So cool that they are edible. I think it's neat that your kids will regularly eat wild edibles. How do you get the little bugs out of dandelions?
ReplyDeleteCure pics of the kids! I can't wait until we can read outside on a blanket - we don't do that enough when it is nice, but we must!