White Sage, Salvia apiana, is about three weeks from harvest time. You want to be sure that the new growth is long and sturdy for clipping and only clip the top half. Be careful not to clip old growth, as you will be cutting off next years shoots. You also want to harvest White Sage leaves just before the flower stock shoots up. The Kumeyaay people call it the umbilical cord to the heavens and used the fresh, raw stock as a food source.
The Lemonade Berry, Rhus integrifolia, is coming into blossom. The miniature, whitish pink flowers huddle together and attract the bees. I picked a few and added them to a salad. They offered much beauty and a slight bit of crunch. Not big on flavor, but the berry will make up for that come fall! Fall...lets get back to spring!
Foeniculum vulgare or Fennel, is not a native, rather an invasive, but an invasive I'm thankful for. I love Fennel and all it's virtues. Tiny, fuzzy, fern like shoots are just beginning to appear. It will be fall before the seeds are ready to harvest, but the fennel bulb can be used now to flavor many dishes.
Hore Hound, Marrubium vulgare, another non native, it has naturalized almost everywhere in America. Long known as Horehound candy or cough drops, it can still be used today for a cough relieving remedy. It's ready to harvest and I took advantage of it by putting it up in tincture form. There is something so satisfying about wilde harvesting your foods and medicines. The call to nature and the howl of the wilde beckons for attention. While so many states are buried in the mist of winter snow, I feel fortunate to be only an hour from Following Seasons between the coast, desert, the inland chaparral, and our local mountains, which are still hiding the new shoots of spring with several feet of snow.
Indulge Your Senses In Nature.......
