Brittlebush (Encelia species) is in the sunflower family and offers its bright yellow flowers to pollinating bees as early as January in parts of the desert Southwest. It is easily recognized and has some nice uses for the forager – or if you just want […]
Dessert Dutch Baby AKA Pan Plano – Part II
I started this topic last week with the basic Dutch Baby, or Pan Plano recipe. Now we are going to look at some refinements and embellishments that can be done when not squatting around a campfire. A Short Philosophy of Food Before we cook, let […]
Dutch Baby AKA Pan Plano AKA Flat Bread – Part I
You can serve Dutch Babies for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or dessert! Depends on how you make them and serve them. Their very versatility makes this a recipe that is hard to categorize. This will be a two part post – with the basic recipe today. […]
Hot Toddy – With Honey
Hot drinks on a cold winter day are great. Hot and relaxing drinks in the evening after a hard day. Super! Time to Warm Up Uncle Smokey here this week. It’s been cold around the homestead recently, and I wanted something hot and relaxing and […]
Globe Mallow
Globe mallow, desert mallow, apricot mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua) is blooming now in the Southwest, and it is one of those herbs long used by humans. Desert Wildflower The globe mallow is a common desert wildflower found especially in disturbed areas. Leaves and stems are covered […]
Violets – An Edible Winter Flower in the Desert
Violets were once called heartease, and perhaps this is why it became the birth month flower for February – the month with Valentine’s Day in it. Or maybe just because they are fragrant and lovely and ease our hearts as they start to flower. And […]
Edible Flowers in the Southwest – Part II
Cover photo – Brittlebush, one of the many Southwestern plants with edible flowers. If you water it and take care of it – why not have something to eat? Many of our desert landscape plants offer us edible flowers. And now that spring is nigh […]
Edible Flowers of the Southwest – Part I
Spring is nigh in much of the Southwest, and with it our plethora of spring flowers and forage-able plants. Edible Yards – Live Talk! If you are in the area, stop by the Sun City West Garden Club on Tuesday February 14, 2023 at 8:30am. […]
Canning Your Food
Have concerns about canning? Here at the end of “Canuary” we have a guest post from a fellow who has been canning and eating canned food most of his life. James Rancourt is now retired and lives in Massachusetts, and this is what he has […]
Cheeseweed
January 20 is National Cheese Day. We decided to celebrate with a series of posts on a plant you can forage right now in most of the Southwest – cheeseweed. What is Cheeseweed? Cheeseweed is a common name applied to a number of species in […]