April 2024 Nature Log
Unfurling Over The Month
I am halfway through my first year living in a new place, experiencing the seasons and plants and environment for the first time. Last month, as spring started to wake up, I began taking my camera everywhere, hoping to document what I saw. I’m hoping to write these little nature logs over the course of the year, exploring foraging, beauty, plant learning, and more. I’ve included the foraged food recipes I made this month!
Week 1
On my first walk, I noticed a lot of skunk cabbage. This is a very unusual plant that I’d never heard of before moving here. It loves swampy, wet areas (which describes much of this property), and is one of the first plants to come up in the spring. It’s a fun one to watch the evolution of over this month.
Much of the beauty I noticed on this first week was actually in the remnants of previous seasons, not yet due to the breaking of spring.
But, I did start to see shoots. Buds on the earliest vines began to open. Coltsfoot flowered.
Week 2
The weather started to warm just a bit, and some of the rain slowed down. With the sun at my side, the progression was a lot faster.
Emilio and I also went on a spring ephemeral/wildflower walk and saw a lovely variety of blooms.
I also spotted my first mushroom of the season growing on this little stick.
Week 3
The skunk cabbage underwent quite the transformation! I began to see its massive leaves everywhere. Even now, in early May, I see these big leafy plants still expanding.
Inbox cutting off this post? Read the whole thing on Substack.
I also began to notice baby ferns uncurling everywhere. All the different species seem to have different timelines, so I’m still seeing them, too. It was fun to discover their curled up heads just poking above the ground. I was keeping an eye out for Ostrich Ferns (aka edible fiddleheads), which I had never found or eaten before. More on that in the foraging section.
Color started to make a visual difference across the landscape.
Week 4
The last week of April felt gentle. Subtle change before the explosion of May.
Foraging
Early in the month, I noticed some chives growing by our driveway. We’ve eaten these quite a few times since then. I can’t wait to grow onions because they are one of the best plants to have accessible at all times. Feeling lucky for this little patch!
Wild Green Pesto
The best thing I made this month from foraged foods is this wild green pesto. I’m hoping this is something I’ll make and jar all summer long! It includes:
5 cups of wild greens (garlic mustard, chive tops, dandelion leaves)
Olive oil
Walnuts
Parmesan
Garlic
Lemon juice
Heavy cream (because we had it in the house; would be great without)
We’ve eaten it on pasta, bread, sandwiches, etc. and froze some for later!
Fiddlehead Ferns
I actually identified an Ostrich fern grove in the second week of April, before any of the ferns started to open. I was proud of both my growing plant ID skills and the luck of finding some where we live.
I made them boiled & then sautéed (for pasta and as a side), and I pickled a batch. The pickled ones are similar to this recipe, but I boiled them longer and used:
Green garlic and garlic
Lemon peel
Dill (and some other seasonings I forget!)
Ginger
Hosta Shoots
We ate hosta shoots about three times over the month. I really liked them sautéed and added to pasta! I just cut a few stalks each time from our burgeoning leaves and cooked them in garlic and butter with other veggies/seasonings.
Teas
I love drinking tea and am having a great time experimenting with different herbal flavors. This month I tried black birch and dandelion flower (and I add a little lemon and honey in all my herbal teas).
Black Birch: Black birch has wintergreen flavor/smell, so the tea is vaguely reminiscent of root beer. But, it also has a clean minty flavor. It’s a great hot tea! I found a live fallen branch and chopped the twigs into 1/2’’ pieces, then steeped for about 20 minutes.
Dandelion Flower: This tea was lackluster hot, but delicious and refreshing iced. It was like a floral, sunny lemonade. I gathered about 2 cups of flower heads, then pulled all the petals loose from the sepals before steeping for about 12 minutes. Then, after a cup of hot tea, I poured it over ice in the afternoon.
I also processed dandelion roots to use for tea (though some say it’s more similar to coffee), but I haven’t tried it yet. I cleaned, chopped, dried, and oven roasted them before jarring them up. I just harvested some spice bush too. I’ll report back next month.
I love that you’re embracing everything around you! I have to admit the ferns were delicious. 🤤
Thank you for sharing!
Thank you! I love this reporting and the recipes🤩