Early on in my visit I wondered where the nettles are around here. Not finding any right away simply led me to lambs quarters. We've had them many times now, stirred into eggs and in a wild edibles salad that also included chickweed, violet's(flowers and leaves), dandelion leaves and young plantain leaves. Oh, and some local bacon and hard boiled farm eggs. And a home made strawberry vinagrette! A couple of days ago while on a walk with my sister I found one single nettle. Yep, one. It was in a shady patch under an oak, surrounded by violets and clover. A ha!
The real breakthrough though, happened yesterday while on a nature wander with my two nephewsand our beagle, Daisy. We went to a wildlife management area on the Yocona River(that's pronounced Yawk-na, ya'll) to check out the birds and look for tracks. We spent two hours following the beagle's nose, and saw raccoon, deer, and possum tracks. We also had the fun of finding three different beaver dams and a beautiful cypress swamp. It was in this cypress swamp that I came across a large patch of nettles. Shady, damp, thick turf. And again surrounded by jewel-purple violets. We left soon after, because a snake was spotted sliding into the water not far from us.
Next up, craw-dad bisque!
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