Good morning! We have our showering guest again today. The ice stranded him in town so he stayed overnight. Turns out I take in stray humans as well as stray cats and dogs. Who knew?

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Ever wonder if there's something sadder than a wet cat? Yep. A cold wet cat. Poor Shadow. Got the freezing rain. Then slept on my flannel PJs. Wait. Why is he "poor" again?

Wondering today about various things. Like.... My Polish grandma said, "If you want to know someone, look at who they hate, not who they love." I wonder sometimes what that says about me, y'know?

So I'm wondering.... just in general.... gives my brain a break from stress.

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New insomnia cure: The fish video for cats. Stare at that, and down I went. Go figure, right? (Or not, in my case.)

Today in 1770, England shipped rhubarb to the US (then colonies) for the first time. Rhubarb is packed with great vitamins, but remember that the leaves are *poisonous*, even in domesticated cultivated rhubarb varieties (which are about all that's left). Stalks are good, like sour-tart celery, but avoid the leaves! And no, the color of the stalks is not an indicator of their flavor or nutrition. That's a myth. The red ones have a few more antioxidants, but not enough to do more than make it pretty in a pie. And if the rhubarb was harvested after a frost or freeze, *do not eat any part of it*. The oxalic acid content of the leaves is part of why they're toxic, and a frost/freeze on a living plant means the plant sucks into its stem those things that were in the leaves.... Like the high amounts of oxalic acid. (The same reason you can't eat raw dark greens in huge quantity, btw, b/c oxalic acid is not only bitter to the taste but is hell on your kidneys if ingested in excess, and yes, I rattled all that off withotu looking, I cook all the time, and know wild greens, and that's why I only harvest the newest dandelion and lamb's quarter leaves, b/c those are the best in taste and lowest in oxalic acid content.)

So why does a rhubarb "suck back" from the leaves in serious cold? It grows from arhizome, like ginger or similar, and it's a perennial. So, like anything that grows perennially, when stressed, it sucks everythign back to its root/rhizome from which it grows, and stores up for its future use. Yes, plants do that. Cool, right? Anyway, rhubarb originated in Asia and got to Europe as a delicacy (eventually) via the Silk Road back in the 14th century or so (we think?) and then crossed the Atlantic in 1770 and here we are for why I know what the hell I'm talking about when it comes to rhubarb anyway.  See? Really, this makes sense (in my head....)

This, btw, is why rhizomes of plants are often so darn nutritious. We eat a lot of rhizomes. The'yre like roots but not. Rhizomes are kind of like underground stems with "nodes", for lack of a better term, and those put out either shoots or roots or both. Cattail rhizomes and the white part of the young leaves are a lovely crisp snack all year, and the roots are heavy with gluten and carbs, for example. (Yes, I've eaten them. Honestly, it's nto different from cucumber or celery, it's all in your head how you approach it...) Other food rhizomes include ginger, turmeric, ground nuts (I tried those once, eh, no thanks), but no, not potatoes!

Potatoes are *tubers*. The difference? A tuber is underground, like a rhizome, but its shape is going to be round, oval, oblong (like, gee, a potato) and it's going to be more "fleshy", an drhizomes will usually have roots, liek straggly hairs or tendrils. For me, the big tell is also texture. Rhizomes tend to be like celery in that they have looooong fibrous, rather flat-ish shape/structure, and you can peel little woody fibers out of them, basically. If you ever grate raw ginger, you'll see what I mean. Also, tubers don't have all these weird shapes.

And all that because I got started on rhubarb. WTH?!

Oh, as for why I learned wild foods.... Grmaps taught me. He needed to know to survive in his teens. Turned out, so did I. I'm rubbish at most of them, but the ones I do know, I *know*, so... in case of starvation, you'll find me out in the pastures and forests with the critters.

Incidentally,t he old tale that if a cow eats it (or goat or other animal of choice) means it's human safe? Bullcrap. Utterly wrong. No cow jokes intended, btw. The fact grazing critters often avoid what we need to avoid is a nice coincidence, but a goat wille at ivy, kudzu, and even rhubarb leaves, and be just fine, whereas we'd keel over dead. *clunk*

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And as you wonder what makes me tick (Hint: Chocolate)....

A peaceful Wednesday to all! I gotta grab a shower while I can before hot water runs out.