Category: Uncategorized
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Foraging Wild Elderberry
American Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) is commonly found throughout eastern and central North America. It is commonly found along streambanks, meadows, woodland edges, and roadsides. It’s both edible and medicinal, though particualarly prized for its medicinal value. The European version of elderberry looks very similar, but mainly the flowers are harvested for medicine, whereas the North…
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1. Redefine What “Homestead” Actually Means Hey, I’m the biggest dreamer in the world. I would not have started Tracks and Roots if I wasn’t, but it’s important to remember many homestead bloggers and vloggers out there are NOT bringing in the big bucks or even treading water with their homestead. If they are online…
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15 Reasons Why Kids Need Nature
Nature is essential to growing healthy, competent children. Time in the backyard, going to a park, gardening, or exploring an abandoned woodlot all count as time in nature. For children under 5, an hour or two daily in the backyard might be enough to meet their needs. For children under 5, two to three hours…
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How to Prepare for a Winter Storm
Winter Storm Preparedness: Don’t Get Caught Unready Have you ever been caught in a winter storm without power? Were you comfortable? Did you promise yourself you’d prepare better next time—only to forget once life returned to normal? With the rise in weather-related disasters (and no, it’s not your imagination—they really are increasing), winter preparedness is…
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Foraging Common Blue Violet
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White Clover Iced Tea
White Clover is a common garden and lawn “weed.” However, it is edible and makes a tasty, nutricious, and medicinal tea! Identification: Leaves: 3 elliptical leaflets together on one stalk; occationally a 4 leaf clover can be found Flowers: Bloom from March October. Flowers are white and turn brown over time. They are 8 mm…
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We did a crazy thing. My husband had been wanting to hike False Cape State Park with kids for a decade, since before we had kids. I remember it being tough in the heat and all the bugs even without kids. False Cape State Park is in Virginia Beach, Virginia and its one of the…
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How to Bring Play Back to Childhood
We are experiencing a massive PLAY deficit among children. This means that kids are more likely to become anxious, depressed, and have poor emotional regulation, be less creative, able to problem-solve less well, have lower IQ’s, have reduced social skills, and more. I’m not just talking about play in the streets, in backyards, and parks.…
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Foraging Winter Cress
Learn how to forage wild cress! There are many different types of cress, all in the family Brassicaceae, commonly referred to as brassicas or the mustard family. The Brassica genus includes many well-known vegetables like cabbage, kale, broccoli, and mustard, but some species have parts that are tough, bitter, or even mildly toxic in large…
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Violet Thumbprint Cookies
Common blue violet (Viola sororia) is one of my childhood favorite plants. I spent many barefoot, summer days in my hammock under a mimosa tree watching the hummingbirds flit here and there and reading novels – while eating violet leaves and flowers below me whenever I’d get hungry. I remember begging my dad to…