Pokeberries

They're getting ripe. I've always thought they were such a nice shade of quinacridone violet. I won't be using them in any jams or jellies, however, since I understand them to be quite poisonous.



I do, however, love harvesting the young, tender leaves and boiling them up for a mess o' greens. They're very strong-tasting, much stronger and wilder than collards or spinach. My granddad says that when he was a little kid growing up in rural southern Oklahoma during the Depression, they used to slice up the stems of the poke plant and fry it like okra. I haven't ever tried that, but I heart fried okra and that's a scarce item up this far north, so I may resort to fried pokestem at some point.

I'm sure my neighbors all think I'm like Granny Clampett when I tote my basket out into the backyard and start picking weeds for supper. Hey, they don't know what they're missing, these freaky people who think cornbread should have SUGAR in it. Puh-leeze.