More timbering and foraging

With the spring rains holding off, I've taken advantage of the dry fields and hills to pick up timbers I had already cut, and stack them into another staging area, as well as to get some timbers from last year that never made it to the original pre-staging area. On top of these timbers, I harvested another 30 foot hard wood timber which is always exciting to have fall.. Still I successfully got it to the primary staging area safe and sound. The gaining of this timber eliminates the need for any posts in the middle of any room in the house. The design method I am using for the build calls for posts every 8 feet, but the timbers used in his examples are all softwoods, which are notorious for their less than stellar performance as beams given their lower sheer strength.

In my own build I am using all hardwoods for beams and girders, and I am increasing the girth from his suggestions (10") to in some cases a full 24"! Even at 18" which is about as small as these girders are on the narrow end, they can carry far more weight than the suggested 10" pine or cedar timbers.

I am using cedars however, as their compression strength is wonderful, as is their resistance to rot and insects. So all of the posts are cedar timbers, some of these also approaching 2 feet in diameter.

So with that in mind it is easy to see why another massive 30 foot hard wood timber would be cause for celebration!

Along with the tedious gathering up of timbers and staging them, I have had a little chance for some more basic foraging and some gleaning as well. I foraged some wild garlic (which I suspect is some other plant actually, but it tastes more like garlic than anything else..) and hen bit, though not enough of the latter yet for a meal. Then this afternoon after I finished feeding cattle and moving timbers, I checked on the garden where there were a few pitiful looking turnips left over.. which turned into a delightful dish of turnips and greens, with butter and some cajun seasoning..

Another day or so and I will have picked up all of the timbers I can for the time being.. which means back to waiting for the backhoe to get out here to finish up the excavation so the build can finally begin in earnest.

*** I have finally found the cable which connects the camera to the computer so pictures will be forthcoming, though Windoze does not recognize the device, I am sure that linux will..***

Outdoor Grocery Store

I have for many many months now enjoyed breaking my fast with fresh raspberries, muscadines, and only for the last few weeks, fresh persimmons as well. But the first two of these I must admit are cases of gleaning, not really foraging as they are intentionally planted plants (not by me, but by a neighbor) as opposed to true wild edibles. The persimmons on the other hand, if any were intentionally planted the original planter has long since passed, and no one but me, and very rarely Rancher Bob makes any use of them.

However these are far from the only wild edibles I have been either enjoying, or working to positively identify so that I may enjoy them in the future. A few other examples are henbit, which I described in the past and look forward to enjoying here again soon, as they are the first of the greens to come up. Since it is either ignored or hated by most gardeners, I have no problem harvesting more than I can possibly use in exchange only for strange looks and even rarely some gratitude for "weeding" a small area of the garden. The henbit is used much like cooked spinach. I am partial to using it in italian style dishes mixed with other ingredients, but it can easily stand on its own as a "pot herb." "Pot herb" being just another name for any cooked greens.

I gleefully took advantage of the fresh briar leaves, as some may recall. And I have enjoyed clovers, and clover look alikes such as wood sorrel and yellow sorrel, both of which are wonderful slightly sour additions to salads. I read recently that they also make fine lemonade like drinks.

Still, I very much consider myself a novice forager, one still learning as much as is possible while trying to identify as many plants as possible. Some such as pecan are ridiculously easy, others present more of a challenge, such as mushrooms, though I am making some progress on that front as well having positively identified two mushroom varieties on the land which are edible.

Last month, I finally managed to find and correctly identify a Jerusalem Artichoke, which is neither from Jerusalem nor an artichoke, but is related to the common sunflower. The tubers it produces are edible and can be substituted for potatoes for those on low starch diets. I had and still do plan on growing this as a vegetable, but finding on in the wild is an unexpected delight.

With the cold temperatures, around 20F currently, the search for wild edibles turns largely to meat. With any luck at all, I will be filling the freezer with beaver meat which I have come to learn can be used in any recipe calling for beef, but is leaner than beef. With the arrangement I have made with Captain Rob, I hope to have no need to buy meat again. Between the beaver harvest each year, and what I take of rabbit, perhaps even squirrel if I feel like it, I should have an abundant supply of meat for every occasion!

Add to that the chance at turkey and deer, and I should be able to set quite an extravagant table when I desire to do so. In some ways it is hard to believe that some folks claim that there is a food shortage. In truth there is a shortage on knowledge, and a shortage on willingness to try "new" (or very old) things..

It is really about the food

Got up this morning to move the water from the blueberries to the raspberries, the latter of which are still producing! Of course enjoyed my morning ritual of picking all of the ripe raspberries for my breakfast.

Went out into the fields and hills again today to check the fences, but also to look for more wild plums like those I found while repairing the fence a couple of days ago. I found another tree, but the fruit was not yet ripe. Still, good to find these so I know what to look for whenever I am hiking. These plums are as good if not better than any I've had elsewhere.

While up in the woods I came across what I believe to be a variety of Hen of the Woods, an edible mushroom. I need to go back with my primary mushroom identifying book to make sure. Still, a nice specimen and it has many of the necessary traits.. If it is a Hen of the Woods, then I will have some very good eating in my future as this is definitely one of the prized mushrooms, related to the Maitake of Japan. This guy is over a foot in diameter, meaning that I ought to be able to get a couple of good meals off of it, and still leave enough for it to reproduce.

I checked the quince.. still far from ripe, as is also the case with the muscadines.

Dinner was a couple of varieties of squash simply sauteed with a bit of salt and one of them finished with a bit of parm.

Later I will enjoy the mystery melon, which I have been told must be a tiger melon from Asia. Regardless it is delicious and a welcomed treat!

Mystery Melon

Let me begin by saying that I know I need a pic of this melon.. I'll get to it once I make room on the camera's card..

After heaving up rocks heavier than I should be lifting, painting Rancher Bob's propane tank with a solvent based paint that I am certain no one should ever be using, and dealing with a multitude of computer issues (the newest laptop is still screwed up, but at least in a different way..), I opted for a stroll through the much neglected garden (the vegetable garden only gets attention when Rancher Bob or I are here, so with the funeral and subsequent Austin trip, and Rancher Bob's work related travels, the garden is in decline, when it ought to be thriving).

I discovered a few squash, including some winter squash which had been left for dead.. the Malabar spinach still thriving, though going to seed, and much to my delight a mystery melon growing out amongst the corn. This was not a plant that was intentionally grown, but rather some natural hybrid of melons grown in previous years.. or maybe a throw back to some older melon..

The melon is yellow and orange striped, sort of in the same manner as a watermelon is striped. I assumed because of the color that it was some watermelon which was overripe, but my curiosity got the better of me, as it often does, so I sliced one open right where I found it. Inside it was clearly not a watermelon at all, but something closer to musk melon (with a different rind obviously) or honeydew, but not exactly like either. It smelled perfectly ripe so I sliced off a bit and tried a bite.. damn that is one good melon!

The melons are slightly larger than a softball on average, so perfect for two people. I ate half of it while I walked around the rest of the garden, and saved the other half for a treat before bed.. which I am enjoying as I type this.

I may not know the variety, or if it is even a specific variety, but with a tip of the hat to Alton Brown, I do know what it is: Good Eats!

Fresh food

Even though there are many difficulties right now, and I may well be at a crossroads, there is still much to enjoy. Fresh raspberries for breakfast, right off the cane. Blueberries for a mid morning snack, needing only a bent knee to harvest. Dinner tonight? Fresh mixed beans (Chinese long beans, Adzuki beans, haricot verde (green beans)), Chinese cucumbers, which in my experience are the most flavorful without any of the bitterness of regular cukes. in basalmic vinegar, mustard (real mustard not that neon yellow stuff) garlic, black pepper, a touch of cayenne, and salt marinated in the fridge. And fresh tomatoes sliced with salt for a appetizer.

If I were willing to heat up the house by cooking, I could have corn straight from the stalk as well, with a side of edamame.

This is a time of abundance, even in the small garden to which I have access so though my mind may be troubled by other considerations, my body is quite satisfied with the bounty of non-processed, fresh and flavorful produce at my doorstep.

Peas and Pods

Brief post tonight.. just a quick shot of my meal this evening:

This is English peas with daylily pods. After taking the pic, I added a chopped garlic flower then removed it from the heat and chowed down on this gourmet foraged meal. It was so flavorful that there was no need for salt or other seasoning. Simply a little butter.. Imagine asparagus with a lighter texture, crossed with a mild squash, with just an occassional hint of spice and you have the flavor of these particular daylilies.

This is why I live the life I am living! This is "roughing it" at its best..

Of muscadines, bok choy, and persimmons

One of the great pleasures of my recent life has been the foraging of food otherwise ignored, forgotten, or simply unfound. After arriving at my currently temporary location, I discovered the grand herald of the southern summer, the muscadine, still clinging to the vine. While most of these were inedible, at least not palatable to me, there were a few still green that the frost had turned wonderfully sweet.. these tidbits immediately took me back at least six months to the summer if not years back to the times I collected these as a child along the banks of an exciting creek full of child inspiring wonder..

At the same time, I have been practicing other forms of what would otherwise be considered urban foraging, except that I am hours away from any place anyone would mistake for even remotely "urban."

I have been enjoying the persimmons which are simply inedible until after the first frost, as well as bok choy planted int he garden which is bolting but still very tasty..

I have collected dried black eyed peas, which would be ignored by the owners as undesirable (they collected what they wanted fresh), and I could collect black walnuts were I more patient.. ( I expect that next year I will be..)

This ignores many of the wild edibles of which I am still learning, such as green briar (a nice bit of vengeance that is.. eating the damn vines which leave me cut to ribbons..) and others..

On a tree once planted I am certain by one of the early homesteaders of this site, there stands a persimmon tree, which produces fruit which is simply not edible until the frost comes and converts the starches to sugars producing a delicious if seedy treat.

All of this in December, when the winds are howling, the cold threatening, and the climate simply unwelcoming..

So in these troubles times I ask, are you really taking in all that you could for a comfortable and even gourmet lifestyle?

I am doing what I can.. give me a year and I will be living a fine life than most kings throughout history, for less than the most modest welfare queen!