Foraging!

 Is it really "foraging" if it's in my back yard and I know it's there, even if I didn't plant it? In my mind, foraging is going out looking for something you may or may not find but . . foraging sounds more "back to nature" than picking a weed out of the back yard.

I see pretty, well manicured yards but we will never have that kind of yard and I'm sure my neighbors wish we would do better but I have wild lettuce, curly dock, mullein, burnweed and plantain. We also have American Beauty Berries and comfrey that we planted.

Above is dock. Below is burnweed.

I have the burnweed, dock, mullein (shown below) and comfrey in the dehydrators. I will use those leaves to make three different salves.

Soon I will use some of the American Beauty Berry leaves to make various insect repellent and skin conditioners.

It's hard to believe we're already at the end of June and by mid to late July, most of these leaves will be starting to get dry so I wanted to harvest and use them while they're still healthy.