freshtendril

[freshtendril]

I’m so lucky to have a farmer friend. This morning he dropped off some chicken eggs for me but also included a nice surprise of Turkey eggs. That’s right, eggs from his turkeys. And they are some big jumbo ones and are so beautiful. Make friends with your farmer. They bring food into your life. Literally. Thank you farmers!

#eggs #turkey eggs #turkey #farm #farming #farmcore #food #localfood #local food #eat local #community agriculture #community supported agriculture

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I decided go for a hike and check out a few of my spots and lo and behold, the Velvet Foot are out. I’ll admit it’s fun to look for fresh mushrooms in February.

#mushrooms #mushroom #wild mushrooms #mushroom hunting #mushroom foraging #forest mushroom #velvet foot mushrooms #velvet shank #enoki mushrooms #enoki #mycology

[freshtendril]

Lobster Mushroom White Manhatten Chowder

It has dehydrated Lobster and Oyster mushrooms foraged previously and some of which are campfire smoked. With white tomatoes, white carrot, celeriac, parsley root, potatoes, corn, onion, bay leaf, and thyme excavated from the snow bank in the garden. Also simmered with white wine, sherry and olive oil. Vegan. And so very hearty.

#food #garden #vegetables #garden vegetables #wild mushrooms #mushrooms #mushroom #chowder #mushroom chowder #lobster mushroom #soup #veganfood #vegan

[freshtendril]

Roots

To see the earthy vegetables cleaned of soil and laid out ready for storage every fall brings such a joy for me. The work of a successful summer garden and harvest at the end of the season gives proof of a future that provides for winter health and happiness.

Gardening and the food it provides is medicine.

#vegetables #garden vegetables #root vegetables #root crops #food #garden #gardening #carrots #radishes #leeks #parsnips #roots #gardeners #gardeners on tumblr

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My first crop of tomatoes this summer and my first ever crop of huitlacoche! 🌽 🍄

Looks are deceiving but makes some mean eats.

#food #foraging #garden #gardening #vegetables #garden vegetables #corn #huitlacoche #tomatoes #heirloom tomatoes #ugly vegetables

[freshtendril]

Edible Herbs, Flowers, and Greens

It's a riot of colors and flavors with Borage, Dill, Cilantro, Arugula, Parsley, Yellow Cress, and purple, green and fine leaved mustards.

I let them bloom and reseed year to year, and now this part of the garden is left to it's own nature. I planted most of these about 6-10 years ago and I have never needed to purchase any more seed to keep it going. I love it.

#garden #garden herbs #garden vegetables #garden flowers #flowers #herbs #vegetables #plants #cooking #foraging #borage #dill #mustard greens #arugula #cilantro

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My bonsai of Japanese maple and Lady fern, with a background of a twin European larch.

A decade ago a friend gave me the maple seedling from underneath parent maples, while the fern grew voluntarily from a spore in the same pot some time later.

Arranging bonsai is almost as fun as creating and tending to them. It's not like herding cats though. They are more like living green art-pet rescue sculpture creatures.

#bonsai #bonsai training #japanese maple #European larch #container gardening #garden #gardening #rescue plants

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Lake Trout, Toothwort and Garlic Ramp Wine Cream Sauce with Home Fries

I checked out my fave foraging spot and no morels or Gyromitras. Drat. So far anyway, it’s early still so I’ll be back. But as diligence I gathered a few Toothwort, ramp leaves, and Winter cress/creasy-Greens tops. The horseradish peppery flavor of the Toothwort and the bitter cress are perfect with trout.

Remember kids, take only what you need. Don’t take more than you use, or take too much that harms the plant or harms reproduction.

#food #cooking #foraging #food porn #Toothwort #ramps #trout #foraged food

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My Vriesea and Tillandsia arrived today. And the Tillandsia has a spike!🪴😍

#tillandsia #tillandsias #Tillandsia leiboldiana #Vriesea saundersii #bromeliad #bromeliads #air plants

[freshtendril]

A Winters Work • the lost art of wild nuts

Does anyone remember how your grandparents or maybe even some parents out there had a bowl of whole, in-the-shell nuts beside their evening chair in front of the television or in front of the fire? There would be different cracking tools and picks as they were tough nuts to crack, literally. There was a time where indigenous and settler peoples collected native nuts to shell over the fall and winter. This was used as important nourishment during the winter months where food was a bit more difficult to come by. The slower time allowed for things such as cracking nuts.

I collected these shagbark hickory nuts last fall. Sadly, out of about 100 nuts, only 3 had good nutmeat and they were oh so good. But the rest were underdeveloped, dried out or had weevil grubs. We are fortunate to have orchard-farmed and pre-shelled and nuts.

#nut #nuts #wild nuts #hickory nuts #shellled nuts #foraging #indigenous food

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Matcha Cream Hot Chocolate

It soothes the wintertime blues.

Cinnamon, cardamom pods, nutmeg, powdered ginger and cocoas, with milk, and a matcha green tea milk float.

#food #hot cocoa #cocoa #hot chocolate #tea #green tea #matcha

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I collect many houseplants. And some are given to me or are rescued as it seems that people assume that I have a green thumb. Which is true I’ll admit.

This Maidenhair Fern is a special case. It grew unwittingly from a spore in my terrarium over a decade ago alongside an orchid. I recognized the slimy-looking green growth called a prothallus, which is really where the spore germinates so to speak and the reproductive structure where the fern gametes mate and become what would grow into a mature fern. I could go on about the interesting reproductive strategies of ferns, club mosses and their allies, but for now I’m appreciative of this beautiful fern. It has grown its whole life as a houseplant and even though the air is dry with forced air and heating it surprisingly thrives during these Wisconsin winters in my house.

Thank you fern 🙏🏼 🌱

#fern #maidenhair fern #maidenhair #adiantum #plant #plants #botany #biology #houseplants #houseplant

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Olive Harvest

I had the pleasure to help out with the olive harvest for some friends who own a Quinta (farm) during a vacation in Portugal. It was so fun and rewarding climbing and working in their olive grove stripping the olives off of the gnarled branches. With my efforts I was able to take home 5 liters of olive oil from the harvest back to the U.S.

I’ll be able to cook many meals with this buttery and spicy oil. Yum.

#olive #olives #olive oil #olive grove #food #portugal

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Foraging Wild Apples

I'm astounded by the variety of colors, shapes, and flavors of wild apples. There are some that are ruby skinned, and some with pale green, more blushed in pinks, and others in ruddy yellows. They can be clean skinned or russeted, rough to the touch, or smooth. Some are with reticulated reds and streaks, and apples of rounded shapes, and some that are more like donuts with deeply indented stem and bloom ends. There are some that are small, crabapple-sized and cherry like in form. They all taste so different. There are flavors of tart, bracing sour, sweet, mild, and richness in flavor and fragrance, while a few with more musty and earthy notes. Others are bitter, sharp, and strong. Those can be my favorite as they are complex in flavor.

They have hybridized, outcrossed, and bred among other trees in a public open space, spread by the mobility of feet, wings, and paws of many people and animals over countless years with hungry mouths eating a fresh apple on the trail. Were they seeded by old apple cores left behind by the sum of the many creatures of the past? And so then which original cherished varieties? It is unknown to history.

They are easy to collect. These pomes are juiced and blended together to make the most wonderful, freshly made cider.

I love fall and its diverse bounty, especially among the wild apples.

#apple #apples #wild apples #Malus #cider #apple cider #fall cider #apple juice #foraging #botany #fruit trees #wild fruit

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I have a peach crop this season! Woo hoo!

#peach #peaches #peach tree #home orchard #home garden #food #fruit #orchard #millions of peaches

[freshtendril]

Smokey Summer Garden Chowder

With fire roasted chicken and chicken stock, sweet corn, fire roasted Padrón chilis, patty pan squash, smoked lobster mushrooms, onion, fennel, white tomatoes, cream, milk, salt, white pepper and Smoked Spanish paprika.

Spicy, Smokey, sweet, rich, tangy, and oh so good.

#food #home cooking #garden food #soup #chowder #corn chowder #mushroom chowder #summer cooking #cooking

[freshtendril]

I can almost smell fresh soil looking at your photos. Your collection of mushrooms makes me wish I liked to eat mushrooms. Do you have any mushroom recipe recommendations for a person who does not like mushrooms?

Oh that's a tricky one, and if you already don't like them then that's a hard thing to convince you to like them. I'll assume its an aversion to texture. You could try thinly slicing button mushrooms, cooking and making a simple pasta with them. That way you can taste their flavor without biting into large pieces.

If it's the flavor of them you don't like, then I'm not sure what I can do for you as that is why I love them (and their texture too). I will offer that you could make them as part of a greater dish, a note in a symphony of flavor, add it to stews, soups, sauces, tomato-based dishes and others. That way it gets mixed in and the flavors and textures are hidden. You may get used to them that way and over time you may begin to be ok with them or eventually begin to like them. Good luck.

#food #food advice