Spring in the Methow: A photographic journey

We had a beautiful day in the Methow Valley today and I enjoyed taking a walk around our cabin to see the first signs of spring.



The bluebells are out in full force, carpeting the forest floor with their blue abundance.



Yellow bells are one of my favorite edible roots. They also strongly illustrate how harvesting wild plants can actually increase their growth. When you harvest these bulbs you will find a bunch of tiny bulblets on the bulb. Separate these off and replant them in the same area. In this way you can literally increase their growth in an area by 50 times from how you found it.

The chinese use a species of yellow bells (Fritillaria cirrhosa and F. thunbergii) for medicine and it's on my list to experiment with our own native species, Fritillaria pudica.



Spring beauties (Claytonia lanceolata) are one of my favorite edibles. We eat the aerial portions as salad greens and dry the roots to eat in our winter stews.



These tiny yarrow leaves are beginning to pop up from last's years growth. Yarrow is one of my most used herbs for a myriad of conditions - from UTIs to bug bites to fevers to wounds.

You can see more of todays photo on my flicker account by clicking here