Hal Schibel

I would like to rescind my previous submission as it was a duplicate of the foraging "make a tea" BB and I would rather use that cup of tea for the foraging BB. Apologies, I thought some BBs could be used as two-fers.

Anyway, here is a completely different dandelion infusion made from dried dandelion leaves.

Harvesting dandelions.


Cutting them up.


Dehydrating dandelions.


Stored dandelion leaves.


Getting ready for tea.



Pouring the hot water.


Completed infusion.

Rebekah Harmon wrote:Could currants count?

Mike Haasl wrote:I'm not sure if those are a foraging option in Montana...  

I was just about to ask about currants as well. They grow like weeds here. I found this article claiming tgat tgey grow in Montana:

https://extension-store.montana.edu/montguides/growing-currants-and-gooseberries-in-montana

If it doesn't work for this BB, I think the dry list says you can harvest "berries" (without the specific type being specified).

For this badge bit, you will create a dandelion leaf or root poultice.
- Make dandelion leaf or root poultice, with pictures of it being made, and of it being finished.

To document this BB, post pictures or a 2-minute video depicting the following:
-Your dandelion leaves or roots being harvested
-Your poultice in mid-preparation
-Your completed poultice

Dandelions being harvested


Separating out parts of the plant


Mortar and pestle. This was actually my first actually super successful use of the mortar and pestle. Hurray!



Completed poultice

To show you’ve completed this Badge Bit, you must post:
- a picture of your plants being harvested
- a picture of the infusion being made
- a picture of the finished  infusion

Harvesting dandelions



Making infusion



Finished infusion

To show you've completed this Badge Bit, you must post:
- a picture of the fresh herb being harvested
- a picture of your herbs drying (hanging, in a dehydrator, in a bag, etc.)
- a picture of your herbs in a sealed and labelled container, with the label indicating where the herbs came from, the method of drying, and the date

Harvesting dandelions.



Rinsing off the dirt.


Chopping them up.



Dehydrating.


Completed dried dandelion root.

I made dandelion fritters. Last year I missed my window and didn't grab any dandelions before they all went to seed and disappeared.
This is the recipe I used: https://simplybeyondherbs.com/fried-dandelions/

Prepare a dish (soup, salad, entree, side, etc.) that uses at least a cup of one of:
- dandelion (blossoms or leaves)

To document your completion of the BB, provide the following:
- A picture of one of the plants in the wild
- A picture of obviously more than a cup of foraged ingredients (or pic of the ingredients in a measuring cup)
- A picture of the finished dish
- A description of what the dish is


Some dandelions. I can't imagine anyone cultivating dandelions, they just appear. These were out on the margins of my field and I don't think anyone has been actively managing the field for at least 13 years.


More than a cup of dandelion blossoms.


Olive oil and coconut oil for frying.



Frying the dandelions covered in batter. Sorry for the sideways picture.


Frying fritters.


Completed fritters with whipped cream and maple syrup.

To document your completion of the BB, provide the following:
- A picture of one of the plants in the wild
- A picture of the harvested goods with the remaining plant in the background
- A picture of the yummy tea in a cup

I made a cup of dandelion tea. I expected it to just taste like grass but I thought it had a delicious flavor to it.

Here are some dandelions growing out in the field. I can't imagine anyone cultivating dandelions, they just appear everywhere.


Picked a few leaves.


Harvested leaves for tea.


Making tea.


Straining leaves.


Completed tea.

We had an old store-bought first aid kit that I mounted on the inside of the linen closet door. I tossed a bunch of expired medications that were in it and replaced them. I added some more natural items that we would actually use.

To complete this BB, the minimum requirements are:
 - you must create or restock a first aid kit (that needs restocking)

To show you've completed this Badge Bit, you must provide:
  - a before picture of the supplies to create your first aid kit (or of the current status of a first aid kit)
  - a list of the supplies in the first aid kit being created (or a list of supplies in stock and out of stock in the first aid kit)
  - an after picture of the completed first aid kit you made (or of the newly restocked first aid kit)


Here is the first aid kit and the door that I am going to mount it to. I used command picture hangers so it can be removed and does not damage the door.


Here is the kit mounted to the door.


The old kit had a bunch of antacid, aspirin, and sting relief that was expired so I pulled those out and tossed them.


I made some labels for all of the compartments once I decided what I wanted to keep and where I wanted everything to go. I added some Benadryl for serious allergic reactions and kept the antiseptic wipes, hand sanitizer, and the antibiotic ointment (for guests not comfortable with the more natural treatments I added). There were some things I wanted to include that were too big to fit in this little kit so I made little packets of some medicines and picked some of my key smaller natural remedies. Larger natural remedies and medications go in the medicine cabinet, but this first aid kit is intended for quick response to small incidents around the house/property.


The completed kit:



The completed kit contains:

Antiseptic wipes

Nail clippers

Hand sanitizer

Antacid (baking soda with appropriate dosage info on the packet)

Pain relief (willow bark capsules with appropriate dosage written on the packet)

Allergy treatment (Benadryl pills)

Triple antibiotic ointment

Wraps for wounds and small splints

Cut rescue powder for small bleeds

Nitrile gloves

Eye pads

Butterfly closures

Cotton swabs and Q-tips

Bandaids of various sizes (Bandaids always get all mixed up and go everywhere so they are now contained in a single place)

Scrape, burn, and rash treatment (calendula cream, boo-boo mineral spray, and Ssssting stop)

Bug bite and splinter relief (Bug bite thing to pull out stingers/venom, tweezers, safety pin/lighter for digging out splinters, and charcoal drawing salve)

Since we have a lot of first aid stuff I put all of the more intense first aid supplies in a crate in the linen closet right next to this first aid kit for trauma/wound care.



The trauma/wound care crate contains:

Hydrogen pyroxide

Isopropyl alcohol

Wraps and splints

Gauze pads

Scalpels

Chest seal

Tourniquet

Instant ice pack

Now that this trauma care kit is created instead of having all of our first aid stuff spread around the house, we can keep it stocked and add things as needed. And since it is in a crate it can be mobile to quickly respond to injuries.

I like how the suggestion is to add a shelving system, but in my case I removed the custom shelving system put in by the previous owners. The problems included the rods for hanging things were not far enough apart and did not allow for adult sized clothes and dresses. There were also drawers installed that no longer stayed on their tracks due to warping and settling.

To complete this BB, the minimum requirements are:
  - organize a dysfunctional closet (maybe add a shelving system)

To show you've completed this Badge Bit, you must provide proof of the following with pictures (or a video < 2 mins long):
  - before, during, and after of organizing a dysfunctional closet
  - demonstrate it meets the above stated requirements


Here is the closet before, along with a dresser that was not meeting our needs. The closet and the single dresser were not enough to hold all of our clothes and clothes were laying everywhere and were blocking the closet. The dresser drawers were too big and clothes that went in them nicely folded did not stay folded for long. All of our clothes were wrinkled and smelled like dresser or would fall down and gunk up access to other clothes. Not a good system at all.


Here is a closeup of my dresses not fitting on the double-decker hanging rod system.


Here is the custom shelf unit. i removed the drawers because they kept falling off their rails.


I removed everything and pried off all of the custom parts.


Here is the totally empty closet. Under the custom shelves was a weird square with two different types of carpet. That's interesting but not a big problem. There were also several different types of wallpaper. Clearly this closet has been re-done several times.


I re-installed some of the custom rod brackets and cut a new rod that would go across the entire closet.


Now my clothes actually fit in the closet! I might do a shoe rack on the bottom at some point but I have tried getting my husband to use a shoe rack multiple times and they always end up on the floor anyway so for now they are just going to live on the floor.


To replace the very cramped dresser, i got us a set of tall dressers to replace the nightstands and to offer smaller drawers and shelves so clothes can stay folded nicely. No more clothes all over the room! Yay!

I don't think they are giving away seeds or at least I haven't gotten a reply. I ended up ordering some from a local seed coop that had some. Fingers crossed I can get it to grow!

https://snakeriverseeds.com/products/rye-sepp-holzer