Let's Talk About Violet

Well folks, now that I've shaken winter off me like I shake sand crabs off my toes at the beach, I'm ready to share what's been keeping me busy all spring long!

This has been a wet, warm, and completely lovely spring. Weeellll....lovely for a Swamp Pixie or the ducks, anyway. The past month has been filled with thunderstorms one after another - deep, soaking rains that are raising the watershed and filling the reservoirs beautifully!

Because of all this rain and verdant growth, I've been going nuts devouring my yard! Grazing is much more fun than mowing, ya know?

Sweet little starsister Chickweed has been absolutely prolific along my fence row! Y'all remember Chickweed? She has been a fresh burst in my salads, stewing in my vinegar, and soaking in my vodka to make a lovely light green tincture.

Then there is my dear friend Violet. Talk about an amazing ally to have living with you - violets are strong in Vitamin A and Salicylic acid! You know what that stuff is...it is in all of your acne medications and wart removal systems. Just dump out your dyed alcohol-based astringents - soak some violet leaves and flowers in witchhazel for a month or so and then strain. Use that instead! It doesn't burn your face like the storebought cleanser, which leaves my skin red, raw, and tingling. With a gentler hand, witchhazel and violet cleanses your skin just as well, if not better, in my opinion. Apply crumpled leaves to a wart and bandage...change it regularly, and watch your wart say goodbye!


Violet brings me such joy. Seeing her leaves erupt from the ground like the earth itself sharing her heart with me is like a post-February valentine. Just three or four weeks ago I was laying on our new trampoline and noticed little bits of purple all over the yard. I screeched with joy and ran around the yard, picking the violet flowers and stuffing them in my mouth like a kid at a candy factory! Violet is my confirmation that spring is really here and set in for good...violets and thunderstoms mean winter is packing for vacation.

Now...violets are amazing for many reasons. You can eat every single flower you see in your yard and not harm the reproductive cycle of the plant...her dainty purple, blue, or white flowers exist JUST for beauty's sake. Isn't that delightful? Her seeds spread later from smaller flowers that you probably wouldn't see unless you looked for them.

You can eat the leaves, flowers, roots....it is all good! Rich in Vitamin A, her leaves add a wonderful dark green flavor to a salad, or use larger ones in place of grape leaves in your dolma recipe, or stew them up with your poke greens. You can candy her flowers, toss them in your salad for a spot of amazing color, or just be a madwoman like me and devour them straight from the ground.

Anyhow...it's time for me to sign off. There's thunder rumbling, and my computer needs to shut off and hide. Peace be with you, and may dirt be under your fingernails soon!