I'm back, with my Independence Days update

I'm back. Thank you for forgiving my absence for a bit; my family had a bit of a crisis, but we're pulling through. And thank you so much for your kind comments; I was amazed at how much it helped me to have sympathetic words from strangers. It's time again for Sharon's Independence Day's Challenge, and that seems like as good a time as any to start again...


(peas, surrounded by branches to keep the chickens from uprooting them; so far, so good)

1. Plant something:
I have been very busy in the garden; more edible-plants orders arrived this week, so I planted a meader persimmon tree, 10 salmonberry bushes, 10 thimbleberry bushes, 3 elderberry bushes, 2 huckleberry bushes, creeping oregon grape groundcover, bunchberry groundcover, more good king henry, roman chamomile, and stinging nettle. And from the farmer's market (open at last!), I added lemon balm and lemon thyme.

(one of the many sticks I planted this week; can't wait until they're more bushy!)

2. Harvest something:
Eggs. Good king henry, ramps, garlic mustard.

(my perennial garden, pretty much ignored since I began planting edibles; thankfully still looking beautiful!)

4. Waste not:
Cleared some food out of storage that we're not eating, for donation to the post office's food drive.

6. Build community food systems:
The farmer's market opened again--yay! We got parsnips, leeks, scallions, and--to my great delight--wheatberries (we've never had grains there before; I was so glad to see them!)

7. Eat the food:
It's asparagus season, and therefore we are eating asparagus as often as possible: we've had lots of roasted asparagus and some stir-fried tofu and asparagus. More rhubarb cuppa-cuppa, this time using local honey rather than sugar (mmm...and I think I could cut the sweetner down next time). Roasted parsnips and leeks, wheatberry salad with scallions and sorrel.