Exploring the "back woods"

I spent a little time exploring our acre of woods behind our house this week.  I was checking to see if I could find any morel mushrooms but I think it is to early.  Perhaps this week I will have more luck.  Anyway, I found many interesting things while exploring so I thought I would do a little show-and-tell.  This creepy doll head was found face down in the dirt.  I put it on the stick to get a better photo -- but I think it looks like it is from a horror movie.  I am curious about how old it is and what happened to the little girl who owned it.

Next, I spotted some interesting plants.  This is a Jack-In-The-Pulpit...

some very fuzzy fern fiddleheads...

a marsh marigold...

and a mystery item.  I have no clue what this is.  Charlie thinks it is a young mushroom.  I'm not even going to guess, I'm just going to keep watching it to see what it does.

I also found this cobalt blue glass jar in the back.  The lid is corroded and falling apart.  These old items scattered about make me want to get a metal detector and see what I can find back there.  We live atop a ridge of sand about 50 miles long.  I've been told that the Native Americans would have had a road along this ridge ages ago.  Often loggers would have used these same roads in their pursuits as well.  I can really feel the history of that woods.  Particularly when I come upon this tree...

This is an old oak tree.  It's limbs are larger that most trees.  I know it is in rough shape, but it is still alive -- still growing.  Can you even imagine the number of lightning storms it has survived?
Anyway, as you can see, Sassy came with me to explore.  She followed me around fairly closely.  She is not an outdoors cat and a strong breeze can freak her out.  Other cats scare her.  Pretty much everything scares her.  So to have her come back this far with me is impressive.

Found Apples

Charlie and I went foraging for apples and pears yesterday.  We braved a drainage ditch for the apples and I had to avoid bees to get to the pears.  It was worth it though.  I made an apple crisp with the apples and brought it with us to the Labor Day cookout at my in-laws.  Yum.  And the best part is that they were free!

strawberry jam, asparagus and morels

I made my very first strawberry jam last week.  It is freezer jam and was a lot easier than I thought it would be.  It is delicious too!  If you can get some fresh strawberries this year from a local farmer or the farmers market, I would recommend trying it.  Just buy a box or two of sure-jel and follow the recipe provided.

As I mentioned previously, we didn't have much luck looking for asparagus.  The one in the photo below was really thick in diameter.  I shot this photo to show what asparagus looks like in the wild.  Notice the pale dried up stalks from last summer's growth.  The old stalks are one of the better ways to find a patch in the Fall.  All you have to do is remember where they are in the Spring and you have free veggies!

Most of the asparagus we found was already branching out as seen below.  Eventually, they become quite large and look like wispy Christmas trees.  When we found a few like the one below we still checked the area for smaller ones.  We found plenty that had already been cut by someone else.  Oh well.

My friend from work brought me some morels today.  They are gorgeous and we can't wait to eat them.  These are cut in half and soaking in water to get rid of the bugs and dirt.

A day in the sun

This past Sunday was absolutely gorgeous.  We spent the entire afternoon and into the evening outdoors.  Charlie and his brother work with a guy that is fairly self sufficient and has his own homestead out in the middle of nowhere (I will call him "D").  We went over to his place along with my brother in law, his wife and their 3 kids.  First we went out into the woods to look for morel mushrooms.  Although we didn't find any morels, we filled two paper bags with beefsteak mushrooms.  I came out of the woods blistered and bruised (ill-fitting size 12 rubber boots + shin level fallen trees = ouch) but it was good to hike and get lots of air.  Oh, and a photo of a gorgeous trillium...

Then we fished on D's pond.  Charlie caught a nice trout and someone else caught a bluegill.  D. cooked up a mess of food while everyone kept fishing.  He made venison burgers, potatoes, corned beef hash, beefsteak mushrooms, applesauce, and of course the fish.  I don't eat meat but the rest of the food was amazing.  Apparently D. does a lot of hunting.  He has a sweet dog named Clover -- he made her a fox hat.  Here she is modeling it for you...

Here is a photo of D. and his bee hive.

And a photo of the honey he sent home with us, and some homemade raspberry wine that was also gifted.  Yum!

Overall, it was a great day.  I got some sun and fresh air, spent some time with Charlie and some of his family, and daydreamed about having my own little homestead someday soon.

Now it is mid-week and I'm just getting this post together.  Monday rolled around and life got busy again.  Last night and tonight I managed to plant some peas, lettuce and onions.  Much more news will be coming from the garden.

Sassy seems to have a urinary tract infection.  Right now I am trying to treat her with homeopathics but I worry that I am doing the wrong thing for her and am considering taking her to the vet for antibiotics.  If you pray for animals, send one out for her -- because she is uncomfortable.

Stalking the Wild Asparagus

I have been reading an interesting book called Stalking the Wild Asparagus by Euell Gibbons (the Grapenuts spokesman back in the day).  I am really enjoying it.  It talks about all the different wild foods out there that most people pass up -- like cattails, acorns, wild berries, etc.  

Charlie and I have been going out on the weekend and hunting for asparagus.  It is a fun hobby to have.  We don't really save money or anything because of the gas we use to find the vegetable.  It just feels good to be able to have that direct link to your food source.  People are so far removed from where our food comes from.  Ever since humans first walked on earth they have either hunted or gathered or grown their own food.  Now we go to a job and do something totally unrelated to our own survival so we can get some money to buy some food that has been shipped in from who-knows-where and served in a Mc-wrapper.  Kids don't even know what meat is.  If they did I bet there would be more vegetarian kids out there.

Anyway, I think I will make some asparagus soup with this last batch we found.  I included a photo I shot of what wild asparagus looks like if anyone wants to try.  I would suggest getting the book from the library though for more insight as to where to look.  Basically we drive down the road near farmers fields and look along the top of the ditch between the road and the field.  They are usually along the edge of the ditch.  It is almost impossible to see the small ones so you have to look for a mature stalk that has already branched out and then look around the base for small stalks.  Also, if you find one, look around for the dead plant from last year.  Once you get an eye for the dead ones, you can spot those in the ditch and check to see if new ones are coming up.