Nature’s gifts are all around us, if you know how to look.
We are blessed with access to wild land, a privilege we seek to honor by learning to utilize and share its gifts.
Some of the plants we are learning to be in relationship with are Nopales (prickly Pear cactus), dewberries (like blackberries), Yeopan (a natural source of caffeinated tea), Mustang grapes (wine), Chili Pequin, and wild lemon cucumbers.
We have also processed roosters, rabbits, rattlesnake, wild pig, or deer for their pelt or meat. We generally don’t hunt or slaughter, but occasionally we are presented with a death which we try to make use of as these are skills which reconnect us to relationship with the wild world, and localize our food and fiber resources.
unfortunately, because of human development there isnt an abundance of habitat for wild animals to live in, so we allow our land to largely be a refuge. As such, we also choose to cultivate our own food from the garden and raise chickens for eggs.
Dewberry harvest
collecting mustang grapes
Mustang grapes
Eggs from our chickens
Harvesting sinew, a strong natural sewing thread from the deer leg
Nopales (cactus) a yummy vegetable
Yeopan leaves we are getting ready to roast for tea
rattlesnake skin
Deerskin from salvaged roadkill
Mustang grape wine