Not Just Another Pretty Face

  Years and years ago, Pop tried to teach us all to be survivors.  "To survive, you have to know things.  You may not necessarily need to be book smart but you do need to know things."  For a while, that made no sense whatsoever to my feeble brain but, at his insistence, I kept listening and learning.  I am glad I did and I am still learning.  Now, his words not only make sense but seem brilliant.  Not every life skill can be gleaned from the pages of a book. Some need to be hands-on knowledge.  There is a lot to be said about those hand-me-down teachings from long ago.  I find it a bit humorous  and a lot ironic that "science" is suddenly saying "Your grandparents were right!" about so many things.  Tidbits of information that we could have possessed merely by listening...really listening...are now suddenly all the rage. Books are published daily with "Grandma's remedies", "essential oils" are a huge fad after being used for centuries and "survival" classes have no vacancies.  Why? All because we were too all fired ready to pass on the teachings of ones like Pop to "move forward with progress".  Yep, now that progress is telling us we should have listened.  We should have learned.  Didn't?  Oh, no problem!  Pay us big money so you can learn what used to be common knowledge.  It seems like a lot of folks got a little too big for their britches, so to speak.  So, for whatever it is worth, I try to pass along information occasionally.  To bad others do not pay heed.  A lot of good stuff is going the wayside.

Henbit starting to bud.

  These thoughts plowed through the old brain today as I was snipping a bundle of Brussels Sprout leaves for lunch. No, my great tip of the day is not that you can eat the leaves as well as the sprouts but rather about another plant most folks deem as a weed.  Henbit, Henbit Dead Nettle, Dratted Weed or whatever you wish to call it, the plant is edible as well as quite pretty as a wildflower.   Pop always called it "Henbit" so that is the name that stuck in my head all of these years.  "Learn what plants are edible and you will never go hungry."  Good advice, Pop!  If ever need be, I know that I can gather henbit along with about a thousand other plants and survive.  I will have food, albeit food that some folks think of as unconventional food.  Henbit is a great plant to have about the place.  It is ready to grow in any given soil and climate.  To go along with its attractive appearance, it has sort of a peppery flavor making it a great addition to salads.(Henbit is in the mint family but to me, it has more of a grassy/mustard green flavor)  It can also be cooked as any other greens or added to stir fries.  Both the leaves and the flowers are edible!  Think of how pretty this would be in a salad at your next dinner party!  One word of caution though, in herbal remedies, henbit is used as a laxative.  You might want to hold off overeating it!

  Now another good point about this so-called weed.  Honeybees love it and that, my friends, is a great thing for us.  With the decline in the honeybee population, having a clean bunch of flowers makes for happy bees.  Since I prefer that no harmful chemicals touch my gardens, the henbit plants (and all other plants) produce pure, clean pollen and nectar.  Another important lesson from Pop which is just now making news..."Take care of the bees.  Without them, there won't be much left.  Bees take care of the plants and so take care of us. No bees, no us."  Pop was a smart man and it did not take a lot of book learning for him to get that way.

Against all odds...

Have you ever noticed how some things just seem to survive no matter what is thrown at them? Life should be virtually impossible and yet they flourish. What is the deal with that? I am referring to some ferns that have decided to grow on the side of the brick chimney although this could apply to some people as well. There are only tiny cracks where their roots have embedded themselves..no soil..no water..nothing to nourish the plant. How in the world are they growing? I baby plants in the garden. I give them fertilizer and water..I keep them relatively weeded..and keep the ground loosened but sometimes they still struggle. No matter how I try to help these plants nothing seems to encourage them to grow. Then there are these ferns, clinging to the bricks and to life. Determination has to play a huge part in their existence otherwise I am quite sure they would have withered away by now. Les Brown once said "Change is difficult but often essential to survival." I suppose these ferns knew that to survive they needed to change..they needed to adapt to their surroundings. Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned from these small plants..we need to adapt to our surroundings. We can flourish if we learn to use what we are given and use it to the best of our abilities. Adapt, learn and grow.. something that is hard for many of us that are so set in our ways.

As I wandered around the yard this evening, I had to laugh at something that caught my eye. Years ago, I had picked up a small toy that was a remnant of hurricane debris. This particular toy was a little, plastic doll of some sort. I brushed it off and set it on a fence post with the idea of eventually cleaning it and finding a home for it. It was a cute little thing. Today, I found it again..still on the same fence post..only now it was completely encased in a mesh of rose vines. The poor little doll appeared to be trapped! I started to rescue her but then a thought..she had survived the worst hurricane to hit here and went on to live quite happily on a fence post for about four years. There she stayed through rain, sleet and wind..not to mention several tropical storms and a couple of minor hurricanes. She is a survivor..a staunch, determined survivor! Perhaps that is exactly where she should stay as a delightful little reminder of perseverance..of survival.