My family has always had a garden. Even if the beds were confined on a porch shaded by tall conifers, it was essential that something is constantly growing in our backyard. In our current house, we’re lucky enough to have ample space for multiple garden beds, and a mound that, (when given permission by our heavy-footed dogs) boasts a plethora of herbs and flowers. However, it wasn’t until the pandemic began that I fully began to appreciate the importance of growing and making my own food. Limited to our yard, my curiosity towards the plants I shared it with grew and blossomed, and I began actively trying to learn everything I could about them. 

Thanks to my research and documentation, I’m now able to harvest fresh chickweed and hairy bittercress from what I would have once considered a clump of weeds, and add them to my sandwiches every day. I can strip the dying lavender of its flowers and dry them to be added to the batter of buttery scones. And I can make sure I keep our dogs away from the beautiful but toxic flowers of bittersweet nightshade.

Wortcunning: The knowledge of healing and magickal properties of plants combined with the practical skills required to make use of this knowledge.

Witchipedia

By taking it upon myself to identify and research the uses of the plants growing all around me, I’ve fostered a sense of independence within myself. I have the ability to know what I can eat and use to help my body and mind feel good, and I can find these things growing and flowering all around me.

One of my biggest concerns about moving to the temperate rainforest of Olympia is its ecological differences from the High Desert. My heart may feel so full surrounded by the rain and lush green forests, but it’s also filled with anxiety and stress of not knowing the name and use of whatever plant I may find. Luckily my parents also value the ability to nourish one’s self in the woods and have given me books about Wortcunning and herbal medicine in the Olympics. On top of that, I will also begin an apprenticeship with an herbalist this coming October, and I’m so excited. I have hope that I can turn the anxiety around my lack of knowledge of the edible and medicinal plants around Evergreen’s campus into motivation to learn more. 

Until I leave for college, I’ve begun taking advantage of the weeks of replenishing rain we had in late spring and early summer this year and harvesting, foraging, and preserving what I can to bring with me to college. Below I’ve included two recipes I made this week which turned out far better than I expected! If any fellow Oregonians are reading this, I heavily suggest you give them a try!

Oregon Grape Jam

I had been anticipating the ripening of Oregon Grapes in our front yard for months. Luckily the heavy rains this year, and then sweltering heatwaves resulted in a massive harvest which I could put to use in the kitchen, while still leaving the majority for the wildlife. 

Oregon Grapes are a digestive stimulant, have anti-microbial properties, are immune boosting, anti-inflammatory, and may also boost mood. It’s so amazing to me that we have the opportunity to find such versatile plants right outside our front doors. 

Oregon Grape Jam Recipe

2 quarts of washed and stemmed oregon grapes (ripe ones will be a blueish purple)

3 cups water

5 cups sugar

1 package liquid pectin 

1. Crush grapes and add water, using a hand blender on low- do NOT over mix.
2. Boil for 10 minutes, crushing berries as you go.
3. Place mixture in cheese-cloth lined colander, let drain for around 3-6 hours, until approximately 4 cups of juice remains. Discard debris.
4. Mix juice with sugar and bring to a rapid boil. 
5. Add pectin. Return to full boil for one minute. 
6. Place into warm sterilized jars, place the lids on and put jars into a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
7. Remove jars from water and let set overnight. 

I ended up reducing this recipe by ¾ which resulted in around 3 jars of jam.

Jam Filled Scones

With about one jar of this jam, I decided to make jam filled lavender scones, with lavender harvested from my own backyard!

Jam Filled Scones Recipe

2 cups flower

¼ cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup cold unsalted butter (cubed)

⅔ cup oat milk

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

2 tablespoons dried lavender flowers

½ cup jam

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 
2. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cream of tartar. 
3. Cut in butter and mix with hands until the misfire resembles coarse crumbs. Add oat milk. 
4. Transfer to lightly floured surface and knead, incorporating dried lavender flowers as you go. 
5. Flatten into an approximately ¾ inch thick sheet, cut dough into circles (I use the edge of a half cup measuring cup to do this). 
6. Place onto a baking sheet and use thumb to make an indent in the center. Fill with around 1 tablespoon of jam.
7. Bake for around 20 minutes or until golden brown.

These scones turned out much better than I expected as this was one of the first recipes I constructed instead of following a premade recipe exactly. They were very light and fluffy, and the flavor of the lavender and the Oregon grape jam were balanced. 

These are just a few of the recipes I’ve experimented with this summer, and I hope to be able to continue my passion of both foraging and baking in college. Thank you for reading, and feel free to try out these recipes on your own!

Adventuring on our last camping trip before Wyatt and I both leave house this fall was a chimerical-like experience. Part of me didn’t believe this day would ever come. Believing instead that my life would continue in a constant loop of seasons, where I never substantially aged, never substantially changed, remaining content and small. And while I’d say I’m still pretty content and small, all of the major changes looming on the horizon put a damper on my mental state leading into this trip. Nervous that our final full family camping trip before the coming rite of passage wouldn’t live up to the amazing trips it proceeded, and the already jarring transition from the plane of existence I find myself stumbling along during regular life, and the separate reality voyages away from home seem to exist on, I entered the trip on already wobbly legs.

However, the moment I was able to stretch my shaky limbs and breathe in the freshest air I’ve ever inhaled, (supplemented by both plankton and a wide assortment of greenery) I immediately felt at home. This homely feeling helped reassure me that I’ll be okay at college because at least I’d have the forest just past my doorstep. 

The theme of oddness continued on the very first night when Wyatt beckoned me over to see a very lost, and very cute fledgling gray jay. Living up to his species’ legacy, he carried out many multi-step attempts at robbing our camp of any the tasty morsels he could scavenge, much to my dismay. I scolded him for eating people food, trying to offer him bird alternatives instead, which for the most part he denied. We later discovered the Audubon Society had a branch close by, able to help our adrift friend and offer him a place to sleep other than the bush he had spent the previous night in near my tent. For a few hours however, he was our family friend, never straying far from the warm fire and even warmer people. 

With great luck we secured very friendly and very musically talented neighbors. A group of three people sat around the campfire as the sun set, all with song books, harmonizing to melodies I vaguely recognized, but still filled me with peace. At our own fire, we would hum along quietly with tunes we recognized, and let their voices serenade our conversations with one’s we didn’t. 

The morning of our first full day began slowly, rising from my tent long after the sun had risen and staring in amazement at the greenery around me. Forests like this always remind me why green is my favorite color.

Once everyone was awake we began our drive through the winding roads that meander along the coastal side, keeping our eyes fixed on the ocean, scouring for whale spouts. The day before, Dad and Wyatt had spotted a pod just off the shore, and we were all hoping to be greeted by them again. Once in town we wandered through shops filled with rocks and crystals, books and humerus greeting cards, and I tried salt water taffy for the first time! 

We took our lunch to the day-use area at a campsite my dad and I have camped at a handful of times before. We found a wide assortment of things near the water; kite fliers, a rotting bird with a necklace tangled in her feathers, shells and rocks, and eventually, a little cove out of the wind where we could rest. One of my favorite feelings in the world is that of warm sand. Maybe I’m drawn to it because its softness lulls me into a catatonic state, or maybe the history of the sand fascinates me more. All rocks on the earth today will eventually become sand or magma, becoming separated into a seemingly infinite amount of parts, and becoming seemingly impossible to separate from my scalp. 

It was in this sand that Wyatt and I attempted headstands (which may have been a poor choice considering sand’s affinity for my head), and discovered that while I can get up in the air for a few seconds before tumbling over, Wyatt is actually quite skilled at becoming reverse-verticale. 

That night, worn out from the physicality of the day and exhausted socially, I returned to my tent. Equally itchy and filthy as I was happy.

I have hope that before the summer comes to an end there will be more camping opportunities. Wyatt returns to Colorado on the 10th of this month, leaving only my parents and I to continue exploring the wilderness together. Maybe my dad and I will continue our summerly tradition of backpacking together, and maybe all of us will be able to escape the smoke and heat adventuring to a lake or river in the mountains. Regardless, I’m thankful for the time I’ve been able to spend with my family this summer, and I’m excited for any new opportunities that may present themselves.