Dian Hong

Greg Martin wrote:I came back from a nursery with a 5' tall by 5' wide giant for just $25.  The price made me do it, though I restrained myself from buying more than one, which was good as it filled up my car.  It was labeled 'Autumn Sun' Rudbeckia laciniata.  I looked it up when I got home and found that it's the same plant as 'Herbstsonne' and ran across that Missouri Botanical Garden site that made me not run back for a second lovely giant.  Has anyone eaten 'Autumn Sun'/'Herbstsonne' yet?  I have some young R. laciniata plants that I can harvest a few leaves from next year to do a direct comparison, but just wondering what others may have found.  I admit to wanting to go get a few more because they are so large and lovely and will give me such a jump start, but don't want to add the wrong plant.

I haven't found out if R. nitida is edible or not.  That would make me feel much more confident.  Anyone know?

I'm no expert, Greg, but the edible kind has a strong celery scent when you pick or crush the leaf.  A friend of mine has a lookalike - maybe a cultivar? - that doesn't have the celery scent.  

Anyway, we've moved on from eating just the leaves, to also including some young stems.  A friend of ours eats the leaves raw, but the raw leaves are too hairy to be palatable IMO.  Same friend says that Rudbeckia hirta is edible, but we haven't tried it.  

Anne Miller wrote:These are so pretty:

These are gorgeous!  Might have to rethink...

Anne Miller wrote:If you have some felted sweater pieces left over, I saw some really cute stuffed animals over at Pinterest from felted sweaters.

If the sweater has a design that would make the stuffed animal even cuter.

It has a very nice design!  It's now a competition between mitts and a stuffed animal...though practical mitts will probably win.

Carla Burke wrote:Mittens, slippers, device envelopes, hat, cowl... I'd probably have to see it, to give more ideas... but if it's felted, it won't fray, so it can be cut & sewn, or even left unfinished.

Thanks Jane and Carla.  Think I'll go with mittens.

Hi All,

I have my hands on a beautiful and very thick sweater that has been felted. The sleeves are too narrow to be made into gaiters. Any suggestions for repurposing?  

Thanks,
Liz

Katie Dee wrote:I have an abundance of swiss chard, which I like raw, but don't like it cooked.  Since I had so much, I made bundles of leaves, used rubber bands to hold the bunches together, and s-hooks to hang them from a strand of fishing line strung across the end of my porch.  Once they dried, I put them in the blender to make powder.  I store this powder in a repurposed glass spice jar in my spice rack, and sprinkle a little in just about everything savory that I make, including on top of salads.  Having it in the spice rack reminds me to use it often.

Katie, do you dry the stems as well?

Jan White wrote:I second the idea of processing your leaves into powder on an as needed basis. It's always seemed to me that the powder would lose nutrients way faster than whole leaves. I have no idea if that's true or not, but that's my thinking.

*snip*

Because of the unpleasant texture in smoothies, I wonder how nice green powder would be in soups. I'd rather have bigger pieces, I think. I have tried the powder in pasta sauce, and didn't like the texture.

I like this idea - and I'll try both, and see what the family complains about the least. :P

David Huang wrote: *snip* wild edibles that don't quite have the mouth feel we'd like.  Which is a fancy way to say they are too tough, fibrous, or some such thing that can be completely negated by pulverizing it into a fine powder.  *snip*

The leaves are always great but the tiny stems aren't that pleasant to eat from a texture standpoint.  I found I could harvest piles of them, dry, and powder making for easier processing.  *snip*

I can use a lot of these to make flavored rice dishes.  

Years ago I was doing something similar to use lots of greens for making a healthy "cracker".  I did a blog post about it if anyone is interested.  I've been thinking I need to try something like this again but using tons of dried green powders instead with something binding them all together like flax meal or hummus, which I could then spread thin and dry or bake until crisp.

Why didn't using the stems occur to me?  I'd heard that sochan stems are edible, but I've yet to try them.  And plaintain is everywhere!  Geez.  Okay: green crackers and green rice, here I come!

Kate Downham wrote:I dry nettle, mainly for use as a tea, but recently I used some to cover an aging soft cheese with for an experiment. The home-dried nettles dried either in a low oven or just in the air turn out green and lovely - so much nicer than the stale stuff in the shops, so I wonder if other greens could be treated this way for use in soups.

To dry them, I just make sure they are drying in a way with plenty of airflow, either a single layer (or stacked in alternate layers for 2-3 layers if there is lots of stem) and I put them either in the oven as it's dying down for the night, or on stainless steel cooling racks in a breezy place.

Some greens are really easy to grow in abundance in spring. Dandelions and some other weeds, for instance, are quite strong in summer but nice and mild in spring, and very healthy, so I think they would go well if carefully dried.

I think dried greens would be really good for making quick green smoothies too. A natural and free way to boost nutrition when there's not much growing outside.

Just exploring your blog - starting with the post on greens, naturally!  https://thenourishinghearthfire.com/category/homestead/

Thanks, All!  I had been hoping for some recipe ideas, but this is opening my eyes to greens I'd never considered drying, for some reason.  

I'm curious, Jeremy, whether you can dry larger lambs quarters leaves than you'd eat fresh?  

It's encouraging, too, to know that some of these can just be air-dried.  This summer, I'll try drying lambs quarters, grape leaves, chard leaves, and probably the dreaded garlic mustard.  We usually eat all the dandelion and cabbage while still fresh.  Very much looking forward to making green crackers, and to slipping dried greens into curries and salad dressing.