If you can't lick it, eat it! I have a lot of Japanese knotweed growing in my yard. It grows in the wetter areas and kind of looks like bamboo with big heart-shaped leaves and lacy white flowers. It grows to be 7 feet tall, towering way over me.

Oregon has knotweed listed as an invasive plant species, and it really takes over in the yard. At first we tried to cut it all down, but that's really messy as the stalks have lots of juice and kind of explode when the weed whacker hits them! Then I found an article that said the knotweed was nutritious, and though I didn't think it tasted all that great, I feed it to my goats and they love it.

I saw recipes for soups and salads for knotweed, but since I learned how to make jelly in 4H, I thought I would give it a try. It made a very pretty peach color and has citrus kind of flavor.

The knotweed is said to have lots of vitamins A and C. It's grown in Japan for something called resveratrol which is supposed to have anti-aging properties. My goats have no wrinkles, so maybe that's true!

An Upcycled Cold Frame For An Early Start

The weather has been pretty mild so far this winter, but I am thinking a cold frame will help plant seedlings get an early start.


There are lots and lots of plans for cold frames on the internet. They are pretty much a sloped box with a glass or plastic lid. The walls of the box keep out icy winds, and the glass top works like a greenhouse to keep the tender plant starts warm.

I found a free sliding glass door at a window company that was pretty worn out as a sliding door. It is really heavy so my mom helped to move it. The frame is from two 2x12x8 foot pieces and a 2x6x8 foot piece, cut to fit the size of the door. The slope is just the difference between the back 2x12 and the front 2x6. I left the bottom open for drainage.

I'll try some early salad greens, peas, and some nasturtiums. If I replace the glass door with a screen door later, I might just be able to sneak some basil past the wild bunnies!

Wild Berries Arrive First

It seems like it's forever from when you first see flowers on your vines and trees until there is ripe fruit. This year it seems like it's taking even longer with a wet spring. Luckily, I got an early taste from the wild plants in the yard.
We usually try to keep the wild blackberries and salmonberries trimmed back because they grow exactly where you don't want them. But we were slow to trim this year, and they showed off small ripe fruit while the cultivated blackberries were still flowering. Even though they are small, they are sweeter and have more flavor than the giant cultivated ones.

After a good afternoon hunting, I scored a pint of wild blackberries and a handful of juicy salmonberries. It was just enough to get in some practice canning preserves.