Elise Creations & Passions: January 2025

Tuesday, January 28, 2025

I have been wanting to take a great photo of this tree in Jericho, for many years and I finally got my chance. This Photo has been awarded the Photo of the Day, on Capture My Vermont, December 24, 2015.
Moon & Sunset Over Mt. Mansfield
A Glorious Winter Sunset
Bird Flying Through Sunset
Color & Drama
Flying Monkey Sunset
Sunset On Lake Champlain
Sunset On Lake Champlain

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Thanks for your visits, favs and comments. As always, appreciated very much!

© all rights reserved by Elise T. Marks. Please do not use this image on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit written permission.

Friday, January 17, 2025

Aquatic Loveliness

Water Lily & Cattail Reflections

Water Lilies and Cattails are found in a variety of wetland habitats.

Almost all waterlilies (Nymphaea and Nuphar species) are edible and can be gathered most of the year. During the summer months, when the rootstocks become mushy and rather tasteless, they're still an excellent source of survival food. Additionally, the young, unfurling leaves can be eaten raw or with unopened buds prepared as a potherb. The seeds, high in starch, protein, and oil, may be popped, parched, or ground into flour, and the potato-shaped tubers of the tuberous waterlily (N. tuberosa) can be dug from the mud and prepared like, potatoes.

The cattails (either Typha latifolia or T. angustifolia) can be utilized at almost any time of the year, because at each stage of its life cycle it has a number of edible parts. For example, you can mash the root up in cold water to separate the soluble starches, and—once these have settled, and the fibers and water have been removed—add the material to stew or mix it with other wild flours to make bread. The new shoots can be eaten raw, and those up to a foot tall may be prepared like asparagus. The head, before it emerges, can be cooked and eaten like corn on the cob. Finally, it's possible to collect cattail pollen for use in soup or as a flour.