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Wild Blessings
Wild Blessings

Wild Blessings

A learning resource that can help you get outside and connect with nature.

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Pine Needle Popsicles

Pine Needle Popsicles with Pine twigs as sticks

Use fresh or dried pine needles to make the tea. I just happen to have a pine tree branch (quite large) in my kitchen…doesn’t everyone?

I like steeping the needles after they have dried they seem to be tastier and infuse better that way.  Fill a mason jar with an ounce or so of dried plant material, in this case Pine (chop or cut the needles to break apart cell walls to exude more of the plants goodness), I always place a spoon in the jar to keep it from breaking when the boiling water is added in.

Pouring boiling water over the Pine needles

Always cap the tea quickly to capture all of the plant essences.

Cap the Infusion

Let steep for a minimum of 5 minutes for a gentle tea and up to all night for a strong ‘infusion’ (which is more of a medicinal tea).  With Pine I let it steep for about 30 minutes.  Add more plant material if you want a stronger taste. Then strain off the plant material.

Straining off plant material

Pour Pine tea into ice cube trays drip a drop of Stevia in each cube for a natural sweetener (or you could have added it in the tea before, honey is also an option) and freeze for about 40 minutes.  At this point poke a Pine twig into the partially frozen iced cube so they’ll stick up straight when frozen.

Pine Needle Tea in Ice Cube Trays

Freeze and eat!

Sawing a Pine branch to take home

I sawed down this rather large Pine branch from a tree at the Cattail swamp last Fall.  It has graced my kitchen every since.  I nibble off it often.

Pine branch in my house

That’s all there is to it!

I’m very excited about the Eat the Tree class that is starting up where we read Linda Runyon’s great book, Eat the Trees together and follow her clear guidelines to eat these towering gifts from God.  We’ll be making flour from the inner bark of the edible trees, eating bark, tapping for sap, eating buds, nuts, fruit…. It is what Linda did to stay alive one very cold winter in the Adirondacks.  You can read my blog about that here: https://wildblessings.com/2011/09/03/wild-woman-linda-runyon-eats-the-trees/

 

 

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About Wild Blessings

Welcome to my website. My name is Holly Drake and I love to study, teach, and talk about wild foods. I live in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina with my husband Jason and my dog Max where I explore the beauty of God’s creation to learn as much as I can about wild foods that are available to us for free.

Latest Blogs

Chickweed Recipes

April 24, 2023

Befriending Knotweed

April 14, 2023

Hiking Habit

January 26, 2023

2022 Year in Review

January 4, 2023

Archive

Chickweed Recipes

April 24, 2023

Befriending Knotweed

April 14, 2023

Hiking Habit

January 26, 2023

2022 Year in Review

January 4, 2023

An Eye for Wild Blessings in 2023

January 3, 2023

Wild Preparedness – Water

December 3, 2022

Befriending Jerusalem Artichokes

December 3, 2022

Sharing the Magic

June 2, 2022

Asian Cuisine Forage to Feast

July 27, 2021

Asian Forage to Feast – Saturday

July 21, 2021

Wild Fiesta Forage to Feast

July 11, 2021

The Wildly Preserved

March 11, 2021

Support Wild Blessings

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A learning resource that can help you get outside and connect with nature.
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