Late summer hides one of its strangest fruits in plain sight. Those bumpy orange-red fruits on landscape Kousa dogwoods can be delicious—but only after you have positively identified the tree and learned what ripe fruit looks and feels like. How to identify, harvest, and eat Kousa dogwood fruit In our Greenville, South Carolina area, the fruit typically begins ripening in late August. Ripe fruit is orange-red, slightly soft rather than squishy, and releases easily from the tree—or falls on...
4 days ago • 1 min read
If deer have discovered your garden, a single night can undo weeks of work. An adult deer can eat more than a dozen pounds of plant material a day. Add a few hungry friends, and your garden soon becomes an all-the-deer-can-eat buffet. Dad’s simple trick for keeping deer out After sprays, dog hair, and other deterrents failed, my dad tried something almost invisible: 15–30 pound test fishing line strung between 48-inch stakes around the plants he wanted to protect. The line sits about 3 feet...
7 days ago • 1 min read
Summer rain can turn an old hardwood forest into a chanterelle treasure hunt. But safely foraging wild mushrooms requires an abundance of education and precautions. Before anything goes into your basket—or your kitchen—you need to know the habitat, the identifying features, and the dangerous lookalikes. That’s because there are plenty of wild mushrooms that can make you sick or worse, and some of those poisonous mushrooms look similar to choice edible mushrooms. How to find and positively...
11 days ago • 1 min read
Elderberry season doesn’t wait. In our Greenville, South Carolina area, elderberries ripen fast—and once the clusters start coming in, processing them can become a race against the clock. The fastest, easiest way to process elderberries We used to spend hours pulling tiny elderberries from their stems by hand. Then we discovered the steam juicer. Cut full umbels of elderberries from the plants, load the clusters (small stems still attached) into the top chamber, add water, and let the steam...
14 days ago • 2 min read
When temperatures climb into the 90s, our ducks become very predictable: they head for shade, water, and the coolest spots they can find. Domestic ducks can handle summer weather remarkably well, but they depend on us to make the right resources available before the worst heat arrives. We put together a practical checklist based on what has worked for our flock through many hot, humid South Carolina summers. Is your flock ready for the next heat wave? A few of the most important summer-care...
18 days ago • 1 min read
Is your garden producing more summer squash than you know what to do with? We’ve got four delicious ways to turn that counter full of squash into something worth looking forward to—from a savory dinner to breakfast and a crunchy snack. Summer squash fritters with blueberry aioli Crispy, savory fritters meet a colorful garden-fresh sauce. The recipe also includes a pasteurized-egg alternative if you prefer not to use a very fresh raw egg in the aioli. Get the fritter recipe Three more ways to...
21 days ago • 1 min read
Our latest YouTube short is out! In less than two minutes, you can find out how to ID and safely eat the growth tips and immature cones of Eastern hemlock trees (Tsuga canadensis). No, this is NOT the same plant as poison hemlock, which is a biennial weed in the carrot family. Check out this quick video to learn more! In case the video player doesn't work in your email client, here's the link to watch on YouTube. If you find the information helpful, please like, comment, or share to tell the...
3 months ago • 1 min read
We love introducing you to new wild-foraged ingredients. We also love giving you ideas for how to use those ingredients. In our two most recent recipe articles, we do just that... First, we show you how to turn spruce tips (the tender young growth tips on spruce trees) into delicious, savory spruce tip-pecan pesto that you can use on anything from pasta to fish to... eating by the spoonful while your spouse gives you strange looks. Second, we show you how to turn Japanese knotweed (a tangy,...
3 months ago • 1 min read
Rose flower panna cotta made from the organically grown 'Cardinal de Richelieu' roses in our front yard. Mother's Day is next weekend, so we want to share a dessert recipe that's perfect for the occasion: rose flower panna cotta. This is a simple dairy dessert that really captures the unique, delicate flavor of roses. The basic rose panna cotta recipe is pretty simple to make and only takes about 30 minutes. Go to recipe If you want to fancy things up a bit with fermented rose petals and...
3 months ago • 1 min read
