Awesome Secret Sister . . .

Bad receiving sister etiquette.  That would be me. 

Yes, I joined another one of Carla's Secret Sister Swaps. I adore doing them and I got s much joy from putting together my "sisters" package and I really do hope she likes it. Not sure how long it will take to get to her as she's stationed out in Afghanistan right now but it will get there eventually.

I received my secret sister's package from the lovely Sam of http://www.anostrichnamedsam.blogspot.ca/ two weeks ago now and I have failed at posting about it.   I did at least email her and let her know I got it safe and sound and loved it.   Now I am finally going to share it with all of you.

Behold! A lovely array of thing that I love!  I really need to make a trip to Chapters now. I know just the book I've been wanting to get for myself for a while now.  Though, knowing me I'll get distracted there and get something else or another few things that I didn't mean to get but fell in love with anyways *lol* I'm so not allowed to go there more than a couple times a year.  We love books.

Above the gift card, my most favoritest chocolates in the WORLD. (Even tops the Seroogies Melt Away bars I grew up on back in Green Bay Wisconsin that USED to be my favorite. )  Some great little travel sized lotions for my super dry hands. I really like the Jasmine one but they all have great scents.  And one of them even sparkles! 

Add to that 4 packets of seed for our crazy garden which I'm so excited to get back into now that the weather is warming up. 

A cute little Easter puppy for Little Badger.

A darling pair of amethyst purple earrings. 

And then this little gem.  A cookbook, which she hit the nail right on the head when she said in her note she thought it might be something I'd like, that has a lot of rustic and classic recipes.  Including some great edible wild plant recipes (goose foot, purslane, cat tail!)  It's an older book that was passed through to her from a friend and now she's passed it to me.  I love it!  

I'm especially excited about the bread section.  Reading though it was so much easier for me than my "Bread Bible" book and a lot more things make a lot more sense now. Also it has a good solid wheat loaf which my book didn't have and I can't wait to try it out!  Though I do have to hold off till I finish this second dietbet as I am just far too weak when it comes to bread and I don't know if I could resist eating a whole loaf. 

Yes. . .  I said it.  *hangs head in shame* I'm THAT bad.  My biggest weakness, buttered toast and fresh squish warm buttered bread.

So thank you Sam. You did an amazing job and I loved it all!

That thing I (wanted to) harvest.

So, last week I was walking back from the library with a friend when I noticed the empty lot near my house had an abundance of beautiful red clover. Excited, I planned to go back soon to do a little harvesting. I was too late....

Look at all that lovely MOWED OVER clover. 

But while wandering around the lot I did find some other treasures I look forward to going back for.

A nice patch of chicory.

Wild Yarrow (though we have some growing in our garden) Yarrow is known to be good for wounds.

 

And not pictured is a nice supply of Plantain that's actually farther away from the road than I usually find it. I'm going to try to harvest a bit and I might try to use it to make a salve. 

Here is a neat little bit of info:  If you ever run into a patch of stinging nettles, find a plantain plant, chew up a leaf, and place the chewed pulp on the rash.

And further up the street on my run this morning I spotted St Johns Wart!

It does take some fancy foot work to navigate the lot though as I discovered it's a bit of a snail haven.

I'm looking forward to going back when it's a bit thicker and seeing what else I can find!

***  Most of the plants listed above are not safe for pregnant or breastfeeding mama's. Please do your research before using any herbs for teas, foods, or healing.***