Midsummer steams along, hot and humid, as July spins out her dreamy days. Honeybees hum as they visit flowers, gathering nectar and pollen for their hives, and vivid butterflies flit from flowerbeds to blooming shrubs. The rose of Sharon bush produces beautiful fuchsia flowers while the paler pink ones vie for attention.
The wild flowers of midsummer are blooming now, reminding us that autumn is not far off. Bright blue chicory flowers line the roadways, while the brilliant orange of the butterfly weed offers a beautiful contrast. These plants might be called weeds, but they are useful as well as ornamental.
Only a few of the chicory flowers open at a time, and each lasts only one day. Some farmers consider them a pest, but it is sought for its food uses and is cultivated in some places. The roots can be roasted and ground as a coffee substitute or additive. Millions of pounds of chicory are used here and abroad.
Butterfly weed is also called pleurisy root, and is often grown from seed in flower gardens. Its showy flowers attract butterflies, just as milkweed blooms attract Monarch butterflies. Its roots were chewed by the American Indians as a cure for pleurisy (hence its name) and other pulmonary ailments, and is used in home remedies today.
Midsummer brings other good things to the hills. Perhaps it is because of the frequent rains, but the chanterelle mushrooms are abounding. Our good friend and neighbor, Bob Davis, shared his bounty with us this week. Chanterelles are among the most delicious edibles, and are not to be confused with the toxic Jack O‘Lantern. Most are orangish to yellow, vase-shaped and lack true gills. Until you are familiar with them, it is best to have someone with you who is familiar with them. The Jack O’Lantern mushroom is clustered at the base of stumps and on buried roots of oaks and other deciduous wood. The roots grow together in clusters.
If you are fortunate enough to find a patch of chanterelles, clean them in the field; at home wash them thoroughly, then slice and saute. Almost all mushrooms are best sautéed in butter or oil. Most require seasoning with salt and pepper, and with garlic, onions or scallions. They can be dried, but sometimes become leathery when dehydrated. It is best to freeze them after they are cooked.
I found a recipe which sounds delicious, and plan to fix some this evening.
Chanterelles with Scrambled Eggs
One pound chanterelles
One medium onion, chopped fine
8 tablespoons butter
8 eggs
Salt, pepper
Lemon juice
Parsley, minced
Clean and divide the larger chanterelles into pieces. Cook the onion gently in the butter, then add the mushrooms and cook them over higher heat so that their liquid evaporates and only a small amount of juice is left. Beat the eggs lightly, season and pour over the chanterelles. Do not overcook. (It is important to have the chanterelles exactly right before the eggs are added.) Season with some lemon juice, turn into a heated serving dish, and sprinkle with parsley. I will let you know how it turns out!
(Later–they were delicious! I halved the recipe, and ate more than half of it myself.)
There are other wild foods that can be found this time of year, such as lambs quarter greens (if you like spinach, you will like these) mayapples, crabapples or other wild apples, and mushrooms such as puffballs, sulphur shelf or chicken mushrooms and shaggy manes. Foraging for wild foods is a profitable hobby.
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Thanks to Preston Teter and Evelyn R. Smith, we now have the words to the song I was searching for last week. Evelyn writes that she spent the first seven years of her life on Cabbage Fork (I loved this) in Roane County.
As kids, we sang this song lustily as we swung higher and higher.
SWING ‘NEATH THE
OLD APPLE TREE
O the sports of childhood!
Roaming through the wildwood
Running o’er the meadows,
happy and free,
But my heart’s a’beating,
For the old time greeting,
Swinging ‘neath the old apple tree.
Swaying in the sun beams,
Floating in the shadows,
Sailing on the breezes, happy and free;
Chasing all our sadness,
Shouting in our gladness,
Swinging ‘neath the old apple tree.
Oh, the sports of childhood!
Roaming through the wild wood,
Swinging o’er the meadow,
happy and free,
How my heart’s a’beating,
Thinking of the greeting,
Swinging ‘neath the old apple tree.
(CHORUS)
Swinging, swinging, swinging, swinging,
Lulling care to rest ‘neath the
old apple tree.
Swinging, swinging, swinging, swinging,
Swinging ‘neath the old apple tree.
We not only swung, but we climbed the old apple tree to pick the green apples before they got ripe. Mom warned us over and over not to eat green apples; they would give you a bellyache or make worms in your stomach. (This was the same type of warning when we asked for coffee–it would stunt your growth, or make your knees black. We really didn’t like coffee; but it seemed like such a grown up thing to do. The only time we were allowed coffee was on our camping trips, and we were poured a cup of the strong campfire coffee. We could barely choke it down, but we pretended to love it!)
We did like the green apples, though. When brother Larry tore down the old log barn, he found a row of old rusty salt shakers lined up on a log in the loft. Jeannie and Susie had left the evidence behind them. If they ever had the green apple bellyache, they never admitted it.
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I really appreciate the cards and letters that I receive each week, and although it is impossible to answer each one, I read them over and over and value each one. There was one from Audrey Panaro of Eleanor that I especially liked. She mentioned last week’s column about God blessing America, and enclosed a fitting scripture along that line, it was Proverbs 29-2 which reads, “When the righteous is in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked rule, the people mourn.”
It is so important to pray for righteous leaders, and to ask God to lead us in voting for the right people. Proverbs 14-34 also says, “Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”
Only God can turn our nation around.
