Beautiful little henbit flowers
The dogs are groomed, the trailer bearings have been checked, and I’m packing for the trip now. Finally! It has been WAY too long since we’ve gotten out!
I took photos of the beautiful, edible little spring yard weeds today. Didn’t have time to do anything with them… maybe tomorrow.
Dandelions and chickweed
The other day I had peeled several oranges. I have used the peel in cooking before, in addition to grating the zest. I wondered if they would make a decent tea. So I left the peels on the counter a couple of days until they were brittle and dry, then ran them through the blender. Then I ran a few cloves through the coffee grinder and stirred them in.
I LOVED the tea. Ron hated it! Anyway, I’m thrilled to have a nice supply on hand.
Orange tea with cloves
Deadnettle
I’m not sure what the little violet-like flower is. We have several different kinds of violets here including wood violet and birdsfoot violet. It might be a wild escape from when i grew tri-color violas one year.
More henbit and chickweed
A fuzzy picture of Sunny, freshly groomed. He hates to have his picture taken!
Sheba, clean, fluffy and good smelling!
Tinycamper's Blog 
Carolyn
/ April 2, 2013oh love the orange peel and clove idea! what fun! look at that dandelion… love that too .. I like your dogs and I like your Casita and I like that you’re about to go be innit… 😉
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tinycamper
/ April 2, 2013You are just pure fun, Carolyn! Love your comments!!!
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Judy Crankshaw
/ April 2, 2013We should have endless free meals out of our MI yard if dandelions and chickweed are tasty. ..
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tinycamper
/ April 2, 2013Well, dandelion isn’t really tasty. It’s bitter as all get out. But the petals are pretty in salad if you get ALL the green off. The green part is horribly bitter.
The roots, roasted to a nice medium-dark brown make an exquisite coffee!
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Jo
/ April 2, 2013The flowers are so pretty. Have a great trip.
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tinycamper
/ April 2, 2013Thanks, Jo. You, too! 🙂
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Kim
/ April 2, 2013You are so creative! I never would have thought of using Orange peel for tea. How long do you think the zest would last in the fridge (for use in recipes, I mean)? Hope to see you at the GTG!
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tinycamper
/ April 2, 2013Kim, I don’t think the zest would last too long in the refrigerator. If you dried it and stored it in an airtight container, it would probably last several weeks at least. I have bought McCornick’s dried orange peel before and substituted it for zest in some dishes where fresh wasn’t critical.
I’m looking forward to stopping in for a visit at the GTG. Am not sure if it will be Sunday or Monday yet. Depends a lot on Mom’s schedule.
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Kim
/ April 3, 2013The gathering is Tuesday through Friday. Hope you can make it.
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tinycamper
/ April 3, 2013Oops. Had my dates wrong. I still plan on dropping in. 🙂
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ontheroadwithjoy
/ April 3, 2013I loved this post! I was beginning to think I was the only one that enjoyed foraging. I’m trying to learn what ‘weeds’ we can eat…to make teas and super green powders. I’ll have to try that tea!
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tinycamper
/ April 3, 2013Glad you are enoying it. The tea is pretty weak, so needs to steep longer than normal. I generally let it steep around 10 minutes, then warm it back up in the microwave.
I had not thought about trying to make super green powder!
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cozybegone
/ April 3, 2013Henbits are just about the sweetest edible I’ve ever seen (photo so vivid)….must be so grand having everything come back out in bloom! Never would have thought about making orange tea that way…I think I’d really enjoyed it! Especially with the clove. Happy packing….down the road you go, fa la la……:O)
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tinycamper
/ April 3, 2013Carla, since we live out in the country, I deliberately do not kill any of the little yard weeds. We just mow them. Some of them are exquisitely beautiful little plants. Others are just fascinating. I treasure them all. I would hate a boring, useless, perfect grass lawn whose only reason for existing was to impress the neighbors and require endless maintenance!!
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lynne
/ April 3, 2013Great puppy pictures….so glad that you are getting on the road again!
Loved all the flower photos….I am still studying the pictures and trying to distinguish between henbit and dead nettle. If we could all learn just to eat our weeds instead of using the powerful poisons. Just wishful thinking, I quess.
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tinycamper
/ April 3, 2013Lynne, the difference between henbit and deadnettle is slight. Henbit has round scalloped leaves and is green on the top. Deadnettle leaves are more triangular with purple leaves on top. There are a lot of websites that call them “henbit deadnettle” but they are not the same plant.
I have gotten away from actually eating a lot of wild edibles in recent years. I am going to try to get back to doing one mostly wild meal a week. It’s just a matter of finding the time right now.
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Marcia GB
/ April 3, 2013Glad you’re getting “out of Dodge” for a while. You’ll appreciate every moment of your trip!
your tea sounds lovely – I may have to try it. Happy Trails!
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tinycamper
/ April 3, 2013Happy trails to you, too, Marcia! It’s windy and rainy today so packing has slowed to a crawl. It may be Sunday before we can get out of here. But we won’t be looking back for a while once we finally break out of here!
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kathynik
/ April 4, 2013I find it amusing that you are working hard to get out of town, and I’m just trying to get out to the back yard, to get it in shape so that we can sit outside in the gazebo. Our biggest chore is putting the canvas top on it. I always cry when we take it down in the Fall. And I’m hoping this year to finally sort through all our 50 years of stuff (junk?)while out there – box by box! Hoping we have the resolve to let things go! But it’s so much more pleasant to do that outdoors! My idea of foraging is raking all the pine cones up and hoping I don’t get poison ivy, which we have in our woodsy area. Also glad we’re in a natural setting with some privacy so don’t have to keep the lawn up, either! Glad you’re feeling better! Dogs look great! I look forward to reading about your adventures!
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tinycamper
/ April 4, 2013Kathy, I remember your joy in your gazebo in summer and your sadness at taking it down in fall. So glad it’s going up again soon!!!
Sorting through accumulated junk is a wrenching experience. What to keep. What to let go. I do it periodically every few years. Usually I don’t miss anything I get rid of, except craft supplies. I have thought, “oh, I’ll never be interested in doing that again,” and gotten rid of supplies for various crafts. Then two or three years go by and I get the urge to do that craft again and have to go out and rebuy everything. So that’s the only thing I still hang onto.
We also have poison ivy in the woods all around us. Very fortunately neither Ron nor I are sensitive to it, but I know that could change at any time.
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Linda A.
/ April 6, 2013Oh those 4 legged babies of yours, don’t they look sweet! Sheba is sure growing into a great looking dog. Have a great trip!
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tinycamper
/ April 6, 2013Linda, they are such sweet dogs. Sheba definitely has a mind of her own, but she is calming down. She no longer jumps on people, which is a major breakthrough! I think she looks regal–not that I’m prejudiced or anything. :D.
Little Sunny has been my baby for a lot of years. He still thinks he is top dog because he gets to sleep with Mom. 🙂
Thanks for the good wishes. We are so anxious to leave!
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