Eating Daylilies

Two years ago, I posted about eating daylilies and I think it's worth another  re-post. The lilies are in full bloom here at our house and we're taking advantage of that by having them for lunch with egg salad and chicken salad. Yum!  :)

So, for all my new readers, here's the post..

Daylilies for Lunch??

Imagine the looks on children's faces when you serve up a platter of these beauties for lunch!  They are quick and easy to prepare, and are delicious stuffed with egg salad, tuna salad, or chicken salad.

But first, some nutritional info about the daylily.  All parts of the daylily are edible. The buds provide more vitamin C than green beans or asparagus,  have more protein than these two vegetables, and contain lots of Vitamin A. The flavor of daylilies is similar to lettuce - crunchy and slightly sweet.

In the Orient, daylilies have been considered medicinal. The roots are known to have pain-killing properties. And they have been used to treat various illnesses such as jaundice, fevers, and some tumors.

NOTE:  When you harvest daylilies, only harvest the ones in your garden - not roadside daylilies, as they are usually treated with chemicals and pesticides.  I am referring to daylilies only. Some other lilies contain alkaloids and should not be eaten. Daylilies can act as a laxative or diuretic;  so please eat in moderation.

So all you need to do is gather daylily blossoms from your garden. Wash them in cold water to remove any insects or dirt. You can wash the pollen off, as well, unless your children don't mind the orange powder on their faces.  :)  Gently dry the blossoms with a paper towel.  Stuff each blossom with a heaping tablespoon of your favorite lunch salad.


As you can see, my children had no problem with eating flowers for lunch................

You can Google "Daylily Recipes" and find lots of other ways to prepare the beautiful flowers.  Happy flower - eating!

Luke 12 :27  "Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."

Have a blessed day, friends!

Under His Wings

As you can see, Banty is a very protective mama to her babies. And even though she's not their biological mama, she doesn't know that. She protects them as if they were her very own.

 If she senses danger, she gathers them under wings to keep them safe.

 

When she does this, it reminds me of Psalm 91:4 :  

"He shall cover you with His feathers,

And under His wings you shall take refuge;

His truth shall be your shield and buckler."

I'm so thankful that we can find refuge in the Lord when troubled times are upon us.

Have a blessed day, friends!

Our Surrogate Chicken

We have been trying for 2 years to hatch our turkey eggs, but the hens just wouldn't co-operate. We made them a nice, secluded, cozy nest lined with cedar twigs and pine shavings. The hens would sit on the eggs, but not long enough to hatch them out. 

So after 2 years of disappointment, we decided to go unconventional and use a surrogate to hatch the eggs. 

Enter Banty, our Bantam hen. She might be small, but she's an excellent setter. And when went she broody a few weeks ago, we decided to give her a chance at hatching the turkey eggs. 

From the beginning, she was consistent and diligent, only leaving the nest occasionally to get a drink of water and eat the clover we were feeding her.

We waited and waited. 

Then yesterday morning, while the children were outside doing their morning chores, I heard Natalie yell, "Baby turkeys!!!"

I grabbed my camera and ran outside.

And this is what I saw..

Banty had hatched all four eggs!

One little turkey was looking a little sickly, but we hand feed him a few times. And by last night he was on his feet and acting fine.

So, our turkey flock has increased by four. 

Next up - enlarging our chicken flock by hatching out some baby chicks, and Banty just might be the one to do it.  :)

Hope you all have a lovely day!