Pass The Rosehips Honey

This is the vicious lovely Multiflora Rose. These beasts beauties have been known to rip man, woman, child and beast to shreds. Just try passing one at full throttle on a John Deere and see if you don’t agree. These bad boys beauties are wicked bad.

They do have a few redeeming qualities if you are cursed blessed to have one or two or a couple dozen. The rose hips are packed with Vit C….more Vit C than an orange.

I know, I can hear you saying, “no way”. “Yes way.” However picking these tiny little seed thingies is very labor intensive. I’m cursed blessed to still have one or so more clusters of Multiflora Rose left in our back 40. Honey Some believe that the madix was made for this lovely bush from hell and believe me it’s the only way to be rid of it. But, if you are cursed blessed as I am, please make use of it.

My one good standing is in the Blackberry patch (another blessing), so picking these tiny little things was another battle of flesh and blood. After getting a long thorn from this ugly lovely rose, under my thumb nail, I called it quites. I was blessed with 2/3 cup, but that was after I pulled the tiny little stems off.

Now that my finger tips are numb and calloused, I mashed my rosehips in my morter and pistal….you know, that thing we used in High School science class.

You have to admit they are a lovely shade of red. The birds love them too, so I didn’t wait until after the first frost to pick….otherwise, there might not of been any left. I know, at this point your asking yourself why I’m going to all this trouble when all I need to do is pull a bottle of Vit C off the shelf….they have rosehips in them too.

Well, I call this “Simple Living” or “The Simple Life w/o Paris Hilton”….my daughter, Sweet Girl, can’t quite imagine what I mean by that. She thinks that I go to way too much trouble to do this thing called life. The funny thing is she meets gals all the time who say, “oh I want to be just like your mom”. She says, “come on over”!

I digress. Once you’ve smashed your berries, you can cover them with raw honey. (why raw? I’m so glad you asked. Raw honey has live enzymes, just like raw milk or raw carrot juice or raw anything. And make sure you buy your honey from a reputable source…..did you know that honey sold by….well, I won’t name them, but sold by some very well known places….if you were to ask them for their barrels the barrel would say something like….Product of CHINA or Vietnam and it will say, Honey & Corn Syrup!!!!!! I’m dead serious! So make sure it’s local raw honey!)

Okay back to the rosehips….. It makes a yummy way to take Vit C. And you’ve spent hardly anything, except for the honey, which in my case I’m gonna eat anyway. If times ever get really hard for you and they are for many right now, you only need to look as far as your back door for Vit C. If you don’t have any rosehips nearby, Pine needles also are loaded and you can make some tea. It’s good to know some foraging skills….more later on my black walnut salvaging.

Then just take a spoonful and enjoy or use 2-3 tsp and pour boiling water over it as to make a tea. Kids love taking their vitamins this way.

Last year I made some Rose Petal Honey. The Petals are carminative, stimulant, emmenagogue, antibacterial; Astringent; and Tonic. Now it’s up to you to look all that up, I’m just sayin that Rose petals are also very good for you. Of course DO NOT ever use the ones you buy in the store or receive in from your Honey! Only use organic rose petals that have NEVER been sprayed. I only buy mine from Mountain Rose Herbs. I love eating it on buttered toast, with the sweet hint of rose! You can strain the petals out of the honey after it’s sat for a few weeks, but I just left mine in and they have crystallized with the honey and are so good to eat. Using a tea strainer you can also put a couple heaping teaspoons in the strainer and pour boiling water over and let steep…..mmmm rose honey tea! So good and so good for you.

What are you foraging? Anything interesting?

UPDATE Warning:  Do NOT eat too many rosehips!  I was a bit under the weather on my B-day.  I ate too many rosehips and boy did I ever have a doubled over tummy!  DO NOT do that!  And DO NOT dumb the seeds in your compost or you will have more Multiflora Rose!  I haven’t done that, but I thought I’d mention it so you aren’t yelling at me next year when volunteers are coming up by the dozens!

Stock Piling For The Dark Days

Tuesday I went apple picking at our local You Pick Farm. I use to take the kids there all the time when they were little. Our play group would meet there for outings and pickings and picnics. There were lots of moms and kids there and it brought back lots of great memories.

Our apple trees produce nice cow apples and I have managed to make sauce with them in the past, but they are just too much work cutting out all the spots. By the time I’m done with them, my hands are cramped up and it takes me days to open my fingers again. We don’t really do much to take care of our trees. I prune them in the winter, but that’s about it. The farm I went to, only uses sprays when they absolutely have to….what that means is they don’t spray too often. I’d prefer organic, but we don’t have any near by and well, mine are organic and they look pathetic. Since I can’t grow everything we need, or it didn’t grow this year, but rotted, I can either go without or buy the best I can. So, I chose to buy the best I could.

I’ll store my apples in the shed this winter, trying not to freeze them. I’ll probably put them in a cooler for insulation and wrap a couple blankets around the cooler. Hopefully they will keep well.

I hope to get some freezer sauce made, although since I’m having issues with freezer space, I just might have to can them. Honey and the kids love apple pie. So I’ll make sure that we have plenty on hand for the holidays.

I picked 35 lbs. Which didn’t take any time at all. The trees were loaded. It’s too bad they wouldn’t give me the ones on the ground for sauce making. The only ones pickable were Ida Red, Stayman, and Golden Delicious.

It was a nice sweater day.

Fields of greens, broccoli and tomatoes for the pickin.

And of course lots of pumpkins.

I brought home a few cooking pumpkins for pies and some extra butternut and acorn squash that should keep well in the basement.

Sweet Girl asked me one day, “why do you call this simple living? it looks like a lot of hard work to me.” I guess it all depends on how you look at it. I don’t think my kids will be following in my footsteps, at least not anytime soon.

On my way home I stopped to see my AI man….(you know…artificial….)

Seems as if my Josie girl is having some really really strong heats! That’s a story for another day.

His Holsteins were out grazing and the corn was being harvested. (ask me how my sinuses feel? Just awful. The dust from the corn fields is killing me.)

I enjoyed my day riding in our country side.

How do ya like them Green Acres? Nice horse farm.

But as I say, “you can ride a cow, but you can’t milk a horse.”

While The Sun Shines

Photo Credit: Wonder Sighter on Flickr

You’ve heard it said, “make hay while the sun shines!”  That saying has never been truer in our neck of the woods lately.  We’ve had one of the wettest springs that I can remember.  Months of rain.

The problem is, hay can’t be made in the rain and I’ve learned that once it’s cut it needs to be baled before it rains again.  If not, then it’s ruined.  Our farmers are having a hard time finding enough days dry to cut and bale.  The price of hay this winter might be higher because the supply is probably going to be down due to all the rain…..the fields look nice and boy are they growing, but once the grass goes to seed, it’s not good either.  There’s a real tight window for farmers.

I was making calls yesterday for Alfalfa Hay.  It’s at a premium here in Howard County going for $6.00-$7.00/bale.  We only have about 4-5 dairy farms left.  Mostly we have horse farms here on the rolling hills of Central Maryland.  So, there’s plenty of Orchard Grass & Timothy Hay.  In fact, one farmer is having a “sale” on Orchard Grass Hay today and tomorrow…..I guess a 4th special….who ever thought….so, even though I don’t have room for my winters supply, at $3.00 a bale, I’ll make room somewhere…..maybe the kids bedrooms! 😉   I’ll get a couple and see if my Josie even likes it.  Then I’ll go back for maybe…..50.  I’ll mix the Alfalfa & Orchard Grass for the winter months of milking.

In my mini van with no back seats, I can get (12) 40lb bales!  Not bad!

But, back to Alfalfa….there are only a couple farms close by that grow Alfalfa.  One happens to be on Honey’s way to and from work.  This particular farmer hasn’t been able to get out and cut his fields for new hay….so it just might go to seed…..so…..he has 50 left from 2008…..if it’s good…..I’ll take all 50.

Of course Honey always asks me that same question….”what are you going to do with all that?”………and I always reply….”I’ll figure out something.”

My little barn only holds 20 with some grain stored too.  Right now I can put the bales in the milk room and then put down pallets and cover the hay with tarps.  It works for me.  Just so long as it stays dry.  So maybe I’ll line the stacks with straw on the outside….just for extra protection.  OR maybe I’ll build a lean-to on the back of the barn…..mmmm…..and a chicken coop…..and …and…and!

(by the way, isn’t that a gorgeous picture that was taken in VA….looks to me like the Shenandoah Valley.  Thank you Wonder Sighter!)

I love the red barn…..hey look a lean-to….probably for hay storage!!!  I’m sure I can do that!