Nettles

A quick word on springtime delicacies! Nettles are my favorite plant to forage for as spring shuffles greenly across Idaho. After nettles, I love to hunt for wild asparagus but we can talk more about that another time.

Nettles can be found along waterways, swamps, sloughs, ditches and ponds — they like sunshine and damp soil. You can also find nettles for sale in local food co-operatives (though rarely in big box grocery stores) if you are living deep in an urban jungle and can’t get out of the city to forage. Nettles can also be added to your garden space but they can really take off and be rather unruly so choose a location for your nettle patch with some foresight. I do like to tell folks that if they are aiming to forage for food to try to stay away from roads or any place people might be spraying herbicides for weeds or invasive plants. Since our farm is located on the bank of the Snake River next to an enormous swath of public land, I simply walk out the front door here with the dogs and down to the water where the nettle patches are abundant and I take what I need from day to day. Every time I take the dogs out for a morning stroll I grab some fresh nettles, especially this time of year when the leaves are young and tender. Once the weather begins to heat up I pick bigger batches of leaves and freeze them to use at a later date.

I love to add nettle to everything in the springtime — soup, salads, stirfrys, smoothies — because it’s a powerful plant, rich in vitamins A,C,K and some B vitamins, loaded with minerals, fats and ALL the essential amino acids and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Do not eat nettles raw. Always give them at least a light sautee before you eat them or add them to meals or smoothies.

Nettles can also be brewed as a tea that reminds me a bit of raspberry leaf tea which is one of my favorite afternoon sips.

Are there any nettle experts out there? Tell us what you know!

One more Nighthawk Necklace rolled off my bench this week and it’s a tremendous piece. Layers and layers of heavy sterling silver paired with a triangular cut of Royston turquoise. I can see so many of my inspirations in this piece from what exists outside the doors of this farmhouse in the horse paddocks at the height of summer when the nighthawks are zooming in the gloaming and the horses are quietly grazing…to mid-century Finnish jewelry designs that are based off ancient Viking jewelry (!!!) and even the import shops I used to haunt when I was a teenager and obsessed with jewelry. It’s all here, manifesting itself in a way that is true to my hands and heart.

I’ll make this special piece available in my shop at the end of March. Thank you for your consideration!

https://www.thenoisyplume.com/blog/2020/03/12/15103/

Home

I have a thousand wonderful things to tell you but I will begin with this:

I am riding my first ever 50 mile horse race in April! I began conditioning Resero for the race tonight, literally, as soon as I arrived home from Jackson I was on my horse within the hour. This is how I dip my roots back down into home. When I come back from a trip, I immediately work with one of my horses and then I ride out into the sagebrush, to the top of the mesa where I can view five different mountain ranges, watch the deer, hear the coyotes, look down on our pretty little farm, feel the wind, and press up against the sky.

Nothing else helps me feel at home again like this…Far Rider and Resero, together again.

See You In Jackson

I am traveling to Jackson today with 90 necklaces, 40 rings, 102 pairs of earrings and 15 bracelets.

I will be showing my work Sing Hat Company on SATURDAY at 245 N. Glenwood just off downtown Jackson square. Doors will open at 10AM and will remain open until folks stop popping by! There will be beautiful food for your to nibble on, drinks to sip and many good people to rub shoulders with.

Christy will also be taking measurements for custom hat orders.

Thank you all for supporting me while I have been preparing for this show! I have worked tirelessly and feel prepared and full of joy! Safe travels to you if you are flying or driving to Jackson for my show and thank you for making the journey! See you soon!

+Of The West+

Happy Birthday To Me

It is with immeasurable joy that I turn one year older today. We spent my birthday doing something we do regularly that some might consider quite extraordinary but I have come to know the whole of my life is extraordinary (I see it all with such bright eyes) so I enjoyed riding my horse for five hours in a beautiful place very much. We are home now, warming up, cooking dinner, and soon I will have my cake and eat it, too.

It is good to be alive! It is good to be well! It is good to be loved!

A beloved friend of mine once said, “If it’s in your heart to celebrate, then celebrate.” That’s exactly what I did this year. I love being myself and I am so grateful for my life, for the parts that have been easy and the parts that have been hard. All I feel today is thankfulness for one more breath, one more blink, one more sunrise, one more sunset, the feeling of the wind in my long hair and the smell of my horse sweating. At the root of all of this, and more, is simple joy.

Here’s to me. Happy birthday, me.