Jennie Wicker

Found some artist conk mushrooms earlier today! Such a cool find. 😊🍄‍🟫

Haven't seen Carol in a few days now. She might've passed away. 😔 She left a nice ootheca behind on my lemon tree. I'm going to read up on best method for removing it without damaging it & how to properly store it to hatch the babies in the spring. 😊 Ever do this before?

Ever have shaggy mane mushrooms before? I hadn't ever ate them till this evening! And they were so good! 🍄‍🟫 Cool thing about shaggy mane is that their "lookalikes" really don't look much like them so they're a little harder to misidentify! You only want to eat these if they're young. Check the underside gills & if they're pure white, they're young & perfect for eating. If the underside is black, they're past their prime & should not be eaten. They actually dissolve into black goo when they get old lol So, I gently cleaned these off with water on a towel, cleaned off any dirt. Then I chopped off the dirty part of the stems. Cut them in half longways. Threw some butter in a skillet on medium heat & cooked em about 7 minutes or so. I threw a minced clove of garlic in the last minute. They were gone so fast my head spun 😂😂 lol Always be 💯 on your mushroom ID before consuming any wild mushrooms! While these are pretty easy to identify, people have confused them. Would you ever try these?

Did you know that a dock plant has 3 edible parts to it? I found this cute, little, healthy dock plant popping up in my garden bed & thought what better time to mention how cool dock actually is & how the young leaves, seeds & even the root are edible/useful. 😊 Young leaves can be eaten fresh or cooked! People add them to soups & what not. They’re packed full of nutrients like vitamins A & C, iron, calcium, potassium & other minerals. They also contain oxalic acid, which is responsible for that tart, sour flavor dock is known for. Eat in moderation though, foods high in oxalates, like dock can contribute to calcium oxalate kidney stones. (Cooking can reduce oxalates.) Then you have the seeds! Once they mature, they can be collected, dried & ground into a flour. Dock seed flour has been used to make things like pancakes, & the roasted seeds have even been used as a caffeine free coffee substitute. And then there’s the root… Dock has one crazy big taproot & it has a long history of herbal use. It’s been used as a bitter astringent & mild laxative & also for various skin complaints! Have you ever ate dock before or considered trying it? (Never harvest from roadsides or sprayed areas)

I have an Aloe vera hoarding issue 😂 I decided it was time to repot them and clean their leaves, & counted a total of 34 of them. There’s still a few not pictured here because I’m not completely finished. What’s also crazy is none had any pups this year. These are all at least 1 year old or older. Aloe vera has been used traditionally for a number of things externally, like sunburns, irritated or dry skin & acne prone skin, & researchers have also been looking into its wound healing abilities and anti inflammatory effects. Internally, aloe has been researched for things like digestive health, blood sugar, cholesterol, & antioxidant activity. It’s all in how it’s prepared though. You can’t simply snap off a leaf & use the whole thing internally. That yellow latex contains compounds that can act as a pretty powerful stimulant laxative lol. And well… you know what that means lol 😂 Interestingly enough, that yellow latex hasn’t been studied nearly as much for topical use as the clear gel, but researchers have found antimicrobial & anti inflammatory activity. Pretty neat if ya ask me! Do you grow Aloe vera? Did it turn into an aloe farm for you too? 😂

I’ve started bringing my plants in from outside, and apparently this pot was hiding from me. 😂 I don’t know if you can see the itty bitty sprigs of lavender sticking out, but I germinated about 20 lavender plants last spring, so I’m not surprised one got misplaced somewhere along the way. lol Now, the main show here has changed. Those are wild lettuce babies growing in there now! I’ve never kept a wild lettuce plant indoors, but I’m going to give it a try. Wild lettuce at this age really resembles dandelion. I believe these two are Lactuca serriola, aka prickly lettuce. If you look underneath the leaves, you can see the little spines along the midrib. And when I pulled one of the leaves off, there was the tiniest bit of milky white sap. In case you’ve never heard me ramble on about wild lettuce before, this is a really cool plant to have around. It has a long history of being used for its sedative and pain relieving effects. It’s been nicknamed opium lettuce even though it is not an opioid. I actually made a thick, tar like resin out of two gigantic full grown plants earlier this summer. I’ll be splitting those guys up today & they’ll be an interesting addition to my kitchen garden 😊 ever grow wild lettuce before?

Check out my patriotic girl 🇺🇸 We went to the parade in Dugger this morning. 😊

My almost 2 year old daughter loves to draw. And what's funny is she ALWAYS wants me to draw her dadda. This is the picture I drew her today 😂 She was satisfied.

Well, we have a new addition in our house. It's almost a tradition now. The last couple years, my kids have caught a praying mantis & let it go in my kitchen garden. It becomes a really fun game of "where's Waldo" but its "where's the praying mantis" instead. This one's name is Carol & I assume she's pregnant & will probably leave an ootheca or 2 somewhere among my plants. In the meantime, she'll be enjoying long walks among my plants, plenty of stink bugs to eat, and just relaxing in the evening sun. lol And we will snap a million pictures of her every time we find her. Praying mantises are so neat!

“What is meant for you will never miss you, and that which misses you was never meant for you” —unknown I swear, flowers are so much prettier hanging out of that basket lol I love that basket. No clue where it came from or how it made its way to me. I definitely did not buy it. 🤷🏽‍♀️ but, it’s almost like it was meant to be here with me. It sure has carried a lot of herbs/veggies/flowers into the house for me over the past 4 years at least. It has done its job for sure… my helper. Ever have something you use constantly but you have no idea where it came from? 😂

So, I was reading some research on sweet basil and skin, & it got me curious enough to try this for myself since I still have an abundance of it from the garden. There’s been some research done on basil in regard to its effects against acne & another study looked into its possible anti aging effects. In that study, they took an extract & applied it to human cells that they had repeatedly exposed to ultraviolet light. The extract actually reduced the oxidative stress & restored some of changes in collagen caused by the ultraviolet light! Honestly, fascinating! I’m not saying that simmering some basil for a face wash is going to magically clear up acne or erase wrinkles, but perhaps over time, this milder preparation could help with those things. 🤷🏽‍♀️ Sweet basil contains compounds like rosmarinic acid & other phenolic compounds with antioxidant activity, so I figured, why not? I’m only keeping this about 3 days in the fridge, tops, btw. And if you make a large amount, it could always be frozen & thawed back out. 😊 Any of you ever try this?

What kind of day did you all have?

Good morning folks! I don't know if you all get as excited about plants as I do, but I'm gonna share this with ya anyway. This is my little indoor purslane plant. I saved it from my garden bed. Most people pull this guy & toss it! But, did you know, not only is purslane packed with nutrients & omega 3 fatty acids, but I was reading a publication about how preparations of purslane could help with asthma! Now, I’m not telling you to ditch your inhaler & get a purslane plant or anything like that, but there is definitely some very interesting research on the subject & of course I’ll be investigating that further lol what I’ve found so far was a study on rats, but still promising! It's already been proven to be nutritious! Moderation though. Just thought I’d share that interesting tidbit with you guys! Hope you have an amazing day! 😊

Good morning! Don't let a busy Monday thin your hair like this. 😂😂

Good evening everyone! What do you think of this app so far? I think it's honestly super neat! I picked these flowers in my backyard earlier today. Black eyed Susan's, lady fingers, a few species of asters, goldenrod & red clover 💐

My flowers are wrapping up for the season. 🥹

Good morning ☀️