#Stalking the wild asparagus

[cdchyld]

Just added to Etsy!

~ "Stalking the Wild Asparagus: Field Guide Edition" by Euell Gibbons (1972)

[artificial-librarian]

It feels like you’re insinuating foragers have a toxic relationship with vegetables.

[levelsevenlaserlotus]

Unsettle Me

This contains adult content, minors dni 18+

AN: Trying something new here so please be kind ❤️ Might expand on this depending on whether or not you guys would be interested.

Pairings: Dark!Natasha Romanoff x Female!Reader

Warnings: Language, Stalking, Non Consensual Sex, Somnophilia, Violence, Obsessive Behavior and just general creepiness.

Summary: Someone’s been in your apartment, you know this because when you come home from work, dinners waiting for you.

Words: 881

Masterlist Part 2

You’re still shivering and dripping water as you walk up the three flights of stairs to your shitty New York City apartment. You had just gotten back from a five-hour shift on top of your full load of college courses. The only thing you wanted to do was collapse into bed and not wake up for at least a week, but you still had to finish your essay on the Cold War.

You’re yawning as you shove the key into the keyhole in the door, and step inside, but the sight on your kitchen countertop has you alert at once. A piping hot plate of food sits at the ready. You shuffle closer to take in the food in front of you.

Rosemary and lemon chicken breast, grilled asparagus and crispy potatoes, and a bottle of red wine with a glass already poured for you. The food is hot, you can see the steam coming off the plate as if someone had cooked it minutes ago.

You stop, your heart beating wildly as you work over what this means. You didn’t see anyone coming down the stairs as you went up…was someone in your apartment now?

Your eyes flick around your studio apartment, looking for any potential hiding spots, the closet opposite your bed was open, the space too small for anyone to hide in any way. Your eyes fall to the floor, peering into the darkness under your bed, your hand reaching into your coat pocket to get a grip on your keys. Your hands are sweating and you fumble to get the keys into the spaces between your fingers the way you were taught.

You crouch down slowly as I’d you were approaching a wild animal which you very well could be and pull your phone out in your free hand, the light of the screen illuminating the dark space. Nothing but plastic storage containers with your winter clothing.

You sigh in relief but the tension in your body doesn't leave, someone was in your apartment recently too. You swallow hard, considering your options, you suppose you could call the police but what good would that do? You had no evidence other than the food on your kitchen counter, if anything they would think you were some stupid college kids trying to pull a prank.

You turn and study the door to your apartment, there was no physical indication that anyone had forced their way into your home. Whoever it was must have their key, a chill goes up your spine at the thought.

You end up dragging the small bookcase across the length of your apartment to barricade the front door. Having something physical in between you and any possible intruder made you breathe a little easier.

Turning back to your supposed dinner you take a closer look, picking up the knife and fork already set out and cutting into the chicken breast. The skin was brown and crispy, the inside juicy and cooked perfectly. Your mouth waters at the sight.

You take a closer look at the bottle of wine, the label was in French but you recognized the name from a few upscale restaurants. Expensive, four figures expensive and only sold by the bottle.

Grimacing at the sight before you and all it indicates you carry the plate over and scrape the food into the trash without a second thought. You turn and take the bottle of wine and the glass too, as you go to pour it down the drain the sight of dirty dishes in the sink stops you.

A small frying pan, already soaking, a few miscellaneous bowls and utensils wet and soapy, almost as if someone was in the middle of doing dishes before they were interrupted.

You don't notice your shaking until you hear the smash of the plate you were holding shatter against the hardwood floors. It takes another moment to realize your beading slightly, the red liquid oozing out of your finger fascinates you before it alarms you.

Stepping over the broken ceramic you fetch a tissue to tamper the blood dripping down the side of your thumb. Your body’s slower, less fluid as you sweep up the shattered remains of the plate, your eyes unable to leave the view of the front door.

You shower with the bathroom door ajar and the curtain open, the busted shower heads getting water all over the floor but you are too paranoid to care. You’ll clean it up later. You’re skin itchy as you scrub yourself with a loofah and rub lotion into your skin.

You’re no longer shaking as you clumsily prepare for bed, pulling an oversized t-shirt over your head and slipping on a cotton thong. You curl up on your side, your eyes trained on the door 20 feet away. You slip in and out of sleep, snapping awake before exhaustion pulls you back under.

Just two miles north of you, Natasha watches you through her computer screen, her face impassive as she watches you sleep. Annoyance flares up in her when she remembers you didn’t eat the dinner she made for you or anything else for that matter. She sighed, you barely took care of yourself but it was okay, that’s why she was there.

[ahedderick]

Winter-persistent

While I'm on the persimmon topic, let me write a love letter to two other "winter-persistent" fruits that I love. Groundcherries

Just - don't follow those directions from Stalking the Wild Asparagus and actually cook the darned things. I painstakingly shucked out 6 damn cups of berries one year and cooked them into pie filling. It was REVOLTING. And they're quite tasty eaten raw! More like pineapple than anything else; sweet and tart.

Also rose hips. I think pretty much everybody knows that they are edible, but relatively few people gather or use them around here.

I enjoy them as a nice, tart snack when I'm out and about the farm. Nutmeg and Hero would commit crimes to get some. Well, Nutmeg would commit crimes for pretty much any reasons, but. Goats.

Fresh fruit after freezing weather. Wonderful!!

[fourbrickstall]

More phone shots this morning in my tiny front garden

If you're thinking about getting into LEGO photography and all you have is a phone and a tiny set, that's all you need to get started.

You don't need lights or amazing scenery either.

This is my front garden that's a bit of a mess right now but that's where I took these photos this morning. The light was there, that's all.

Check out that wild asparagus stalk back there reaching for the sun!

Anyway, you can do a lot with a phone if you have simple lighting, composition, and editing.

Hope that inspires you to take up LEGO photography!

[jow99]

Camino dress rehearsal - day 2

After a great nights sleep and a coffee in bed (they have Nespresso in the kitchen), we dressed and headed downstairs to make breakfast and our lunches. This Hostal is excellent, it has a large fully kitted out kitchen and tables and chairs to dine at. We are so spoilt now for what awaits us down south.

Today’s walk started along the sea front until we hit the point where the Ter river meets the sea. We then followed the Ter for a while before heading towards Toroella de Montgri.

Walking along the Ter was lovely, checking out all the farm fields - the canola in full bloom, the apple blossoms appearing and we saw our first poppies.

We had morning tea on the outskirts of Toroella and we were both pretty happy for a break. Oddly it actually felt good to be walking uphill into the forest. Our legs definitely felt better after the coffee stop than before.

In some parts of the forest you could see the devastation that had occurred. It looked like really strong winds had whipped through and snapped the trees in half. Thankfully we eventually walked through this to where the forest was intact.

We stopped for lunch and saw a stalk of wild asparagus. We’d seen some people collecting it further back in the forest. After lunch as we neared L’Escala we could see the Pyrenees again. I forgot to mention yesterday that post all the bad weather when it dawned bright and clear on Wednesday we could see heaps more snow on the Pyrenees.

We finally hit the outskirts of L’Escala and then it was pretty mundane suburban walking until we got home. We eased the pain with a drink enroute.

We are two very tired bunnies but it was a success and now we can start planning our Camino trip. Late afternoon spent in our pjs before dressing to go out for dinner. We’re dining at Cal Galan with Katharine and Stephen and a rather zany couple who used to be their neighbours. Promises to be an interesting night (I hope I can stay awake 😬).

[thestudentfarmer]

Hello hello everyone!

I hope everyone is having a great week and has been able to work towards their goals in their Garden, homestead or sustainable journeys, even if just a little!

Today I'm doing a quick lil jot~

A lil carrot update! 🥕 some flowers are not to far off now :D while the pic doest do justice that carrot taproot is a chunk! Like the thickest carrots I've ever grown!

Only 3 corn sprouted, not a great #. I'm not sure I'll grow this variety again yet, but I am gonna use up the current seed I have and do 1 more spread in a different row.

The peppers haven't grown much, but the one I didn't top just suddenly got a bunch of flowers overnight. I'll let it keep them for now, but I'll prune a few off so it doesn't overdo it.

A wild chamomile I've let be. I plan to harvest and dry it for tea:)

A few flowers in the floral part of the yard

Some of the plants in a different area.

To be honest I was very surprised to see some asparagus spears pop up here. I thought the plant was entirely dead and gone as there hadn't been water in the bed for probably half the winter. I cant harvest ant stalks yet so I'm just gonna let it do to thing for now :) next year I can harvest a few.

Peas and a hard squash variety are with them.

I think this week would like to make a lemon loaf, some frybread and a special treat (though I don't know what yet).

I'm also going to try and get 2 more panels for the front garden made up so I can get working on a new row soon :)

🌱🥕Happy Gardening and Homesteading 🥕🌱

4.9.2023

[thegnomedruid]

oh boy, what a wild weekend it has been. I had a 4 day weekend for Veterans Day (US) and taking Monday off. I didn’t get as much done as I had intended*, but that’s because the fridge started dying it’s final death on Sunday and making that kind of a big decision wipes me right the fuck out.

But this weekend, I did:

Clean the annuals out of the greenhouse

move other outdoor plants into the greenhouse

Trim the dahlias, mulch over the pots and move into the greenhouse

put frost covers on the outdoor spigots

Break down the cardboard boxes clogging up the garage and tidy up a little bit

Move the front porch plants into the garage, toss the ones teh frost killed

Cooking:

Scones

Blue Cheese Steak & Asparagus for Dinner

Started falafel (it’s in the fridge, needs to be balled up and cooked)

Usual Laundry and weekend chores

Ordered a new fridge

Paid Bills

took my meds every day

Went for walks outside

And I’m happy with and proud of that!

*on Intention: a therapist one time talked to me about the difference between a Task and an Intention. When i was really really depressed, one of the things I struggled with was all the things I “needed” to do that weren’t getting done.

An intention was a way of framing those so that it wasn’t A Big Deal if it didn’t get done.

For example, I was going to dig up the dahlia bulbs, clean them off, and put them in a little root box in the garage, which is what I did last year. The fridge decision yesterday just blew that out of the water. Digging them up, cleaning them, drying them ... too many steps. I just needed the task DONE. I trimmed the stalks, and put some mulch over the top of the pots. They’ll keep.

I didn’t do what i originally intended, but i still took care of the plants.

It’s a little mental re-framing trick that has been super helpful for me.

Good luck, salty pirates! Take care of yourselves!

[pickeatdraw]

Saffron Milk Cap Recipe Suggestion

Garlicky Milk Caps with Onion Rice and Asparagus

If you’re lucky, you’ll get a decent haul of specimens of the same mushroom on a good year. The problem is deciding what to do with them all!

This is not so much a recipe as a suggestion. One of the problems I find with wild food recipes, aside from trawling through hundreds of variations of the same meal, is that quite often the ‘recipe’ is more of a manner of cooking. I love all my foraging guides, but there’s only so many time I can “fry in butter with bacon and salt” before I die of boredom…

I want to know what spices people are using, and what they’re serving on the side! I want to know who thinks it’s a breakfast food and who thinks it’s a decorative garnish.

So, here’s a recipe suggestion for saffron milk caps. They’re fried Spanish style (as suggested by Roger Philips), but as a pile of mushrooms isn’t a whole meal to me, they go with some tasty and complimentary sides.

I’ve actually used false saffron milk caps in this recipe. Though the use of the word ‘false’ in front of a delicious edible mushroom usually triggers panic in a forager, this one is thankfully not a poisonous imposter trying to pull off a very mean trick. In fact, it’s a very similar mushroom- apparently so similar that until recently, both were thought to be one species. The differentiating characteristic is that saffron milk caps (Lactarius Deliciosus) are found under pine, while false saffron milk caps (Lactarius Deterrimus) are found under spruce. The differentiating characteristics of pine and spruce are for another post!

Most foragers seem to recount true saffron milk caps as delicious and their false counterparts as only slightly less so. I’ve not been lucky enough to fine the pine species yet, so I can’t confirm that, but I will say the specimens I used in the recipe below were lacking in flavour but had a very pleasant texture. Luckily, some well seasoned side dishes make this a well rounded meal. Two warnings before the recipe begins; first, never eat a mushroom if you’re not 100% sure what it is; second, if you’re not a fan of garlic, this isn’t for you.

Garlicky Milk Caps with Onion Rice and Asparagus Recipe

Serves 2

Ingredients

5-6 large saffron milk caps, chopped, or more smaller specimens, intact

1 bunch asparagus

1 small onion

1 cup long grain rice

1 bulb garlic

1/2 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp sweet paprika

Handful chopped fresh parsley, or 1 tbsp dried

1 cup chicken or vegetable stock

Butter, for cooking

Salt to taste

Method:

Dice the onion and add to a saucepan over a medium heat, with a knob of butter, and fry until beginning to brown. Then add 3 cloves diced garlic, paprika, coriander seeds, and a pinch of salt. Throw the rice in the pot and stir through, toasting slightly.

Pour the stock into the rice and cover with a lid. Turn the heat to low and allow to simmer for 15 minutes, then turn off the heat. Don't open the lid at any point until you're ready to serve.

While the rice is cooking, place your milk caps into a pan and set to a medium heat with no fat. Allow them to sweat out any liquid, sprinkling over a pinch of salt to aid the process. Continue to dry fry the mushrooms and allow them to brown slightly, turning the heat a little higher if you need to.

Meanwhile, prepare your asparagus however you prefer. I used a griddle pan to fry the stalks in salted butter over a medium-high heat, turning after a few minutes or once griddle marks appear. For thick stalks, add a spoonful of water to the pan, cover with a loose lid and allow to steam for a minute or until tender.

Once all your components are ready, dice another 3 cloves of garlic and add them to the milkcaps with the parsley. Stir a few times, then serve hot with the rice, asparagus, and a slice of crusty bread.

[rabbitcruiser]

Wild Foods Day

Wild Foods Day is celebrated every year on October 28. It is a holiday dedicated to wildflowers, fruits, and veggies. Humans have consumed plants and gathered food from the wild for thousands of years. However, these wild foods are now increasingly appearing on menus in gourmet restaurants and raw food restaurants due to them being trendy. In addition, wild foods are free of preservatives and pesticides, and consuming them contributes to an environmentally conscious lifestyle.

History of Wild Foods Day

Wild foods are believed to have been in existence for over 40 million years. Wild food, generally, can be any edible plant that grows naturally without human intervention or any animal taken from its native environment for human use. It is easy to observe that the Earth is brimming with wild foods. Animals such as deer, elk, goose, turkey, and others are considered wild in the United States. In addition, various fruits and vegetables grow wild in many parts of the nation. Berry bushes of many sorts offer tasty fruits, and mushrooms cover the woodland floor. According to experts, there are approximately 2,000 edible and medicinal mushroom types worldwide. Nuts, herbs, tree fruits, and cactus pads are among more foods that grow independently, even in cities.

In many cases, wild foods are more nutritious than their farmed counterparts. This is most likely due to their natural survival mechanisms. For example, some plants grow thorns or emit an unpleasant odor to prevent predators, while others produce bitter-tasting chemical compounds. These substances are known as phytochemicals, and research reveals that these can offer us health benefits if consumed regularly.

Wild Foods Day started being mentioned regularly in the print media around 1974. Euell Gibbons, a wild food enthusiast, who became a minor media celebrity, most likely inspired the popularity of this day. He is best known for his debut book, “Stalking the Wild Asparagus.” Wild Foods Day is a celebration of all things wild and delicious that the planet has to offer.

Wild Foods Day timeline

40 Million Years Ago Wild Foods Appear

Wild foods are discovered and found in nature.

10,000 Years Ago Farming Emerges

Humans start to farm and grow their food.

1962 “Stalking the Wild Asparagus”

Euell Gibbons publishes this famous book.

1974 Wild Foods Day

The day begins to appear in print media.

Wild Foods Day FAQs

Are wild raspberries healthy?

Yes, they are rich in vitamin C, minerals, and fiber.

Are blackberry and black raspberry the same?

Even though they look very similar, black raspberries and blackberries are two completely different fruits.

What are some wild foods humans can survive on?

Humans can survive on various wild foods, such as bird eggs, wild grapes, wild berries, wild roses, bamboo shoots, wild asparagus, etc.

Wild Foods Day Activities

Learn about wild foods

Find wild foods

Eat wild foods

There is a plethora of information out there on wild foods. The different types, safety guidelines, procurement methods, etc., are interesting to learn about and might come in handy on your next trekking trip.

Using all your newfound information about wild foods, see if you can find any of them in your direct surroundings and analyze whether or not they are safe to consume. This could also be a fun activity to do with friends.

Wild foods are super trendy right now and have health benefits as well. See if your local grocery store has wild berries and other treats for you to indulge in.

5 Fun Facts About Edible Flowers

They can be minty

They can do it all

They can be strong

They can be buttery

They can be soothing

Violets taste like mint and are often used to garnish food for this reason.

Geraniums are great for savory dishes such as omelets, wines, and liquor.

Citrus flowers need to be used sparingly, or they can overpower the entire dish.

A large number of chopped flowers can be used to make flower butter.

Jasmine makes exceptional tea with many health benefits.

Why We Love Wild Foods Day

It is a unique holiday

It expands our palettes

It protects us

Wild Foods Day is a day unlike any other. It draws attention to something so widely available around us and the uses of wild food.

We can often go into a monotonous spiral when it comes to everyday food. A day like this encourages us to step out of our comfort zone and try something new.

Not all that is found in nature is safe. Some of it can be dangerous and deadly too. Wild Foods Day allows us to learn about these do’s and don’ts and preps us for our next wilderness adventure.

Source

[iamnaturalnana]

11 Best Wild Edible Plants Found In The USA

The edible wild plants movement started in the U.S. in the 1970s when a book titled “Stalking the Wild Asparagus” was published by Euell Gibbons, who was an outdoorsman and a proponent of natural diets. His classic book about foraged fare became a bible for the off-grid community. Gibbons played a huge role in turning more people on to this natural way of eating. Gibbons began foraging for local…

[downtoearthmarkets]

The much-anticipated arrival of asparagus heralds the beginning of the growing season for farmers in New York State, as it is one of the first vegetables to appear in springtime. When soil temperatures reach 50 degrees Fahrenheit, the first tender green asparagus shoots will begin to push upwards and break through the thawed earth. However, its appearance at farmers markets is short-lived as asparagus season only lasts from early May to late June. Blink and you miss it! This labile vegetable is ideally harvested when its stalks are between six to ten inches tall and about the diameter of one’s index finger. Once they get beyond this height they will start to ‘fern out’ or flower, which immediately turns the stems woody and fibrous. We’ve all experienced that one tough piece of asparagus, and it can be a rather unpleasant gastronomic encounter. Asparagus is a perennial crop which means it only needs to be planted once to come back year after year. In fact, a well-cultivated bed can produce for up to twenty years with the right amount of TLC. Farming folklore has it that some asparagus beds have reliably produced spears for over thirty years! Green asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) is regarded as the most nutritious of asparagus varieties and is the type that you’ll find at farmers markets here in the Northeast region. The native range of green asparagus encompasses most of Europe and western temperate Asia. Since its introduction to the United States over four hundred years ago, it has escaped cultivation and can be found growing wild all over the Americas. However, this speared vegetable can be quite elusive to forage for, so your best bet is to grab a bunch or two when it appears at the stalls of your local farmers market. So, get it now before, poof, it’s gone again! Asparagus does not keep for very long after its harvested, so be sure to consume it within a few days from purchase. Once it has turned mushy or slimy to the touch, it is past its prime and should tossed into the compost. To extend its storage life in your fridge, place the stems up in a glass jar with about an inch of cold water covering the ends and wrap the heads loosely with a produce bag or clingfilm. My most memorable and delightful asparagus meal transpired just last May on a warm and sunny spring day. I had spent the morning with the New York Unit of the Herb Society of America tending to the Herb Garden at John Jay Homestead in Katonah. After our gardening session, the leader of our group invited my friend and I back to her house for a spontaneous lunch. She snipped lettuce leaves from the window boxes on her deck to make a fresh green salad with and then whipped up this warm Herbed Ricotta, Asparagus, and Phyllo Tart seemingly with little effort and within only a few minutes. We lingered out back in the midday sunshine while chatting and savoring this al fresco treat. It was truly a meal to remember. As we reached for second helpings of the tart, I was reminded of Marcel Proust’s famous ode to asparagus in Remembrance of Things Past, “Asparagus, tinged with ultramarine and rosy pink which ran from their heads, finely stippled in mauve and azure, through a series of imperceptible changes to their white feet, still stained a little by the soil of their garden-bed: a rainbow-loveliness that was not of this world. I felt that these celestial hues indicated the presence of exquisite creatures who had been pleased to assume vegetable form…” Bon appétit and be sure to enjoy asparagus season while it lasts! Click the links below for some more recipe ideas: Roasted  Asparagus with Mushrooms Stir Fried  Asparagus with Garlic and Sesame

[blofieldallotments]

May 2022

Can’t remember the last time we had any rain, and April was mostly sunny with some lovely warm days especially over Easter. Nights are cool and a sneaky frost caught a few of my potatoes but the vines weren’t far enough advanced to be affected by it. Just dug up the last few leeks and harvested plenty of chard - picking rhubarb and asparagus regularly, and generally enjoying the beautiful spring.

looks like another bumper redcurrant season (netting needed quite soon!)

Peaches in Margaret's polytunnel

Early morning light, my favourite time

Wild garlic (2 different sorts) taking over the world

Some get the frost, some miss it

Apple blossom (Norfolk Beauty) on my tiny not-quite-cordons

And plenty of Morello cherry blossom - the birds will be pleased

Last of the purple sprouting broccoli

Spot the difference - my rhubarb growing next to a couple of mammoth stalks from Gordon. 

Nurtured seedlings and a lone bluebell

Vines just starting into growth. 

Earlier photos - plenty of sunshine about at the start of the season

[dave-columbus]

Penguin Book Parodies

 I’ve always been drawn to the classic Penguin Book covers. So simple in design but so timeless. I wanted to do a set of covers with a twist mainly the artwork points to a completely different aspect.

[toadstoolgardens]

Foraging for Wild Asparagus

Wild asparagus, Asparagus officinalis, is the exact same as the asparagus you'd buy at the grocery store! It's a light, bluish green plant with fern-like feathery fronds. It has deep perennial roots and annual stalks that return year after year, with this years stalks growing out of and around last year's skeletal stalks. It grows in the temperate region along country roads, in old fields, in meadows, and along fences.

Fence lines are a great place to find wild asparagus because birds eat the berries and then sit on fences and excrete the seeds, which then take root and grow. Asparagus has long been known throughout Appalachia as sparrowgrass for this reason.

Asparagus grows 3-4 feet in height with green or purplish green stalks. The stalks appear in the late spring, usually April to June, and if not picked will go to seed, put out lacy fronds, and produce red berries. It's easier to spot asparagus when it's fully grown later in the year, so you may find it useful to go identify it in the fall and return to that spot in the spring for the tender young shoots. It tends to hide among long grasses and is tough to see at the edible stage.

To harvest simply snap the asparagus stalks off a foot or so from the top. If they're eight inches high or smaller snap them off at the ground.

You can eat asparagus raw or cooked. It also freezes well for future use! A simple way to cook your fresh asparagus is to cut the spears about eight inches from the top and steam in 1/2 cup of water for 1-2 minutes. This will keep them crisp. They're delicious on their own, with some melted butter and lemon juice, or added to pizzas or pastas.

Lyle, Katie Letcher. The Complete Guide to Edible Wild Plants, Mushrooms, Fruits, and Nuts. 2017.