Happy new year!

I wish all my friends and readers a wonderful and successful 2020. May all your wishes come true!

Ich wünsche all meinen Freunden und Lesern ein wundervolles und erfolgreiches 2020. Mögen all Eure Wünsche in Erfüllung gehen!

Auguro a tutti i miei amici e lettori un eccezionale 2020 pieno di successo e che tutti i vostri desideri si adempino

Max Planck über die Materie

„Als Physiker, der sein ganzes Leben der nüchternen Wissenschaft, der Erforschung der Materie widmete, bin ich sicher von dem Verdacht frei, für einen Schwarmgeist gehalten zu werden. Und so sage ich nach meinen Erforschungen des Atoms dieses: Es gibt keine Materie an sich. Alle Materie entsteht und besteht nur durch eine Kraft, welche die Atomteilchen in Schwingung bringt und sie zum winzigsten Sonnensystem des Alls zusammenhält. Da es im ganzen Weltall aber weder eine intelligente Kraft noch eine ewige Kraft gibt—es ist der Menschheit nicht gelungen, das heißersehnte Perpetuum mobile zu erfinden—so müssen wir hinter dieser Kraft einen bewußten intelligenten Geist annehmen. Dieser Geist ist der Urgrund aller Materie.“ (Max Planck)

God Jule! - Ein wunderschönes Julfest

... to all friends that are holding this day high. Wherever you live on earth. This year wintersolistice is on 22 December :-) and then the sun starts rising again. The days get longer and soon we will see the effects when we get up.

... an alle Freunde, die diesen Tag feiern. Woimmer Du auch lebst. Dieses Jahr ist die Wintersonnwende am 22. Dezember :-) und dann beginn die Sonne erneut länger am Himmel zu stehen. Die Tage werden wieder länger und wir werden die Veränderung sehen, wenn wir aufstehen.

Working on a translation about cancer treatment

I am through approx. 10.000 words by now and have quite a long way to go. There is one thing I am wondering about: all the time the text talks about "treating the symptoms of cancer", that is that doctors help people by treating the syptoms. How come nobody wants to treat the causes?

Many of my readers know that I have quite some experience in that field and that I have my very own understanding.

Well, once people are diagnosed with cancer they are trapped in kind of a cobweb. People, make sure to be informed, to be informed about possibilities and ways even if you don't have to deal with cancer. It could be that you are the one who can help - and if it is "only" with words.

Let me go ahead here ... sometimes I have to write down thoughts, and still I cannot write what I really would like to say ... see, I am only a translator with loads of experience and a huge interest in quantum phyics and much, much more.

Image by Susanne Jutzeler, suju-foto from Pixabay

Heart and Brain - a great video to watch

Once there was a time ...

... without the so-called Social Media. We got up, had breakfast, did our work, were not continuously "connected". Well, maybe we were connected in a different way.

It was the time of chatting via IRC on various topics, the time of mailing lists for discussion among colleagues, a time of politeness with enough time. We simply went our way.

We are the creators - how can we be the creators if we are continuously overloaded with contents that is often negative? In marketing we do know it well: "only give positive messages". That is, the sentence has to be without negation. Some concentration is necessary to reach this goal.

Global warming, global cooling, climate change ... they are all children of the same father: they install fear in people. Plastics, glyphosate etc. - our attention is kept onto exactly these topics.

But what if we simply concentrate on what we want, leaving out all the negativeness? Isn't the result the same, if not better?

One example: What if we buy apples in their natural form and just avoid to underline that "we do not want plastic"? Our brain does understand "we do want plastic", the negation is not perceived. Therefore we must be very aware of what we express and how we do it.

Mark 11:24 (World English Bible)
Therefore I tell you, all things whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received them, and you shall have them.

Praying has a lot to do with emotion. It does not matter if you are Christian or whatever or do not believe in any god. Your "prayer", if loaded with emotion and created with the right words, will move the universe.

What does "being awaken" really mean? It means that you are aware of the fact that you are a creator. You maybe believe it is "knowing what goes wrong in the world" - well ... what goes wrong in the world is thanks to the many thoughts exactly about the things that go wrong.

We are kept busy with stuff instead of freeing our mind and time to get the necessary things going in a positive way.

We are dimensional beings ... we are creators.

Bild von / Image by Николай Оберемченко - Pixabay

Max Planck about consciousness and matter

I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as derivative from consciousness. We cannot get behind consciousness. Everything that we talk about, everything that we regard as existing, postulates consciousness. (Max Planck)

Bild von InspiredImages auf Pixabay

About change and new models ...

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” (Buckminster Fuller)

Photo from Pixabay

Quote about languages by Emile Cioran

On n'habite pas un pays, on habite une langue. - One doesn't live in a country, one lives in a language. (Emile Cioran)

First Steps with the Pin Loom

Well ... the wood was VERY hard - the next loom will be built with a softer loom - for test purposes I used fairly thin wool.

Sausages with an Indian Flair - Würstchen indisch angehaucht

Well, I am writing down this recipe, so that I am able to make it again :-) These days I am testing some new recipes since I am changing my diet to lower amounts of carbohydrates. Actually I wanted to make this with meat, but since sausages were on offer ... 

Ingredients (8 servings):

1 kg of sausages (cut in pieces)
1 butternut squash (cut in small pieces) - any other squash will do fine as well
1 kg onions (cut in half rings)
100 g butter
1 apple (cut in small pieces)
1 tsp. ginger (powder)
1 tsp. cumin (powder)
1 tsp. coriander (powder)
1 tsp. tumeric (powder)
3 tbsp. paprika (powder)
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. chili (powder or flakes)
salt

Procedure:

Add all the spices in a bowl and add some water (that helps to distribute them evenly)
Fry the onions in butter for a couple of minutes.
Add the apple pieces and go ahead stirfying until the onions get some brownish parts.
Add the squash and stirfry some minutes.
Add the sausages and stirfry some minutes.
Add the mixture of spices and stir well.
Add two cups of water and cook on low fire until the squash is ready. (If needed, just add some more water).
Adjust to your taste with salt.

Serve with rice or just eat it as soup. (For further pictures, please see below).

Ich schreibe das Rezept auf, damit ich es noch einmal nachkochen kann :-) Im Moment probiere ich viele neue Rezepte aus, weil ich mein Essen insgesamt auf weniger Kohlenhydrate umstelle. Eigentlich wollte ich Fleisch verwenden, aber dann waren die Würstchen im Angebot ...

Zutaten (8 Personen):

1 kg Würstchen (geschnitten)
1 Butternut- Kürbis (klein geschnitten) - man kann auch andere Kürbissorten verwenden
1 kg Zwiebeln (in halbe Ringe geschnitten)
100 g Butter
1 Apfel (klein geschnitten)
1 Tl Ingwer (Pulver)
1 Tl Kreuzkümmel (Pulver)
1 Tl Koriander (Pulver)
1 Tl Kurkuma (Pulver)
3 El Paprika (Pulver)
1 Tl Zitronensaft
1/2 Tl Chili (Pulver oder Flocken)
Salz

Zubereitung:

Alle Gewürze in eine kleine Schüssel geben und mit Wasser anrühren (so verteilen sie sich besser)
Die Zwiebeln ein paar Minuten in Butter anbraten.
Den Apfel hinzugeben und unter Rühren weiter braten, bis die Zwiebeln leicht bräunlich werden.
Den Kürbis hinzugeben und unter Rühren ein paar Minuten weiter braten.
Die Würstchen hinzugeben und unter Rühren ein paar Minuten weiter braten.
Die Gewürzmischung darüber geben.
Zwei Tassen Wasser hinzugeben und so lange köcheln lassen, bis der Kürbis gar ist. (Wenn nötig zusätzliches Wasser nachgießen).
Nach eigenem Geschmack salzen.

Mit Reis servieren oder einfach als Suppe essen. (Weitere Bilder unten).

Not enough time to get everything done

Hi all, I am sorry for not being here frequently enough to keep things going. I will try to keep posts coming again. I hope it will work out fine. LIke you can see from the picture, also my garden needs more work ... at least I have the kale growing and I can still harvest swiss chard, some small pumpkins, magenta spreen, amaranth, some tomatoes, carrots ... all bit by bit.
Maybe I should just get photos going, even just adding some hashtags and without text ... hmmm ...

Quote by Nicola Tesla on the Secrets of the Universe

If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration. (Nicola Tesla)

Zürdelsocken - Zürdel socks

Deutsch

Vor Jahren, Ende 2009, habe ich, als ich noch in Italien lebte, über die Viedothek des Bayerischen Rundfunks eine Sendung der Frankenschau über Zürdelsocken gesehen. Es ging dabei nicht nur um die heutige Herstellung, sondern auch um die Geschichte und "wie man einst" solche Socken/Schuhe herstellte, denn das was heute im allgemeinen als Zürdelsocken bekannt ist, spiegelt die Geschichte nicht unbedingt wieder. Leider finde ich den Beitrag nicht mehr und finde auch online nur "moderne" Zürdelsocken.


Zürdelsocken oder auch Zürdelschuhe waren die Schuhe der armen Leute, denn die Wolle verfilzte und wurde praktisch zu einem genau passenden Schuh, der warm und trocken war. Wolle weist Wasser natürlich ab, siehe auch die typischen Lodenmäntel.

Der Begriff "Zürdeln" ist heute kaum noch bekannt. Als ich klein war wurden handgestrickte Pullover usw. wieder aufgetrennt - meine Oma sagte so was wie "IIch muß noch änn Pullovä aufzürdel". Leider finde ich auch hierzu in der Literatur keine Belege. Dennoch: vielleicht erinnert sich die/der eine oder andere noch an den Begriff. Ja, und solche Socken konnte sie auch stricken. Von ihr habe ich auch das Socken stricken gelernt.

Die Leute waren früher arm und konnten es sich nicht leisten, kardierte Schafwolle, die man ja noch zum Stricken neuer Sachen, Weben usw. verwenden konnte, einfach so, versteckt in die Socken einzuarbeiten. Sie verwendeten meist aufgetrennte Wolle, die nicht mehr anders zu verwenden war, denn sehen konnte man sie ja nicht und warm war sie trotzdem.

Die Socken auf meinen Bildern wurden zwei Nummern Größer gestrickt, als die normale Schuhgröße un alle 4 Maschen wird dann ein Kammzugbündel eingelegt. Dies wiederholt man alle vier Runden.

Wir haben uns dieses Jahre endlich Holzschuhe für unsere Mittelaltergewandung zugelegt. Holzschuhe sind ja an sich schon gut isolierend und warm. Wenn man da dann noch Zürdelsocken anzieht, dann sollten sie wirklich warm und isolierend sein.

Andere Begriffe sind: Zudeldatschen, Zudelsocken

English

Sorry, my English here is not really great - I have to review this more than once. This is a fast translation, since a couple of weeks ago we were talking about this and I wanted to make it available for some friends that do not speak/read German. If you feel like proofreading, please do so and let me know by e-mail (binawanner _at_ gmail _dot_ com).

Years ago, at the end of 2009, when I was still living in Italy, I watched a report about Zürdel socks. It was not only about the way they are made today, but also about the history and "how one once" made such socks/shoes, because the Zürdel socks we know today do not necessarily reflect history. Unfortunately I can't find the report anymore and there are only "modern" Zürdel socks online.

Zürdel socks are also called Zürdel shoes and were the shoes of the poor, because the wool felted and turned into a shoe that fitted perfectly, that was warm and dry. Wool naturally repels water, see also the typical loden coats.

The term "Zürdeln" is hardly known today. When I was a little girl, hand-knitted sweaters etc. were unravelled - my grandmother said something like "IIch muss noch änn Pullovä aufzürdel". Unfortunately, up to date I could not find any evidence for this in the relevant literature. Nevertheless: maybe some of you still remember the these kind of socks. Of course she also knitted them herself. She also taught me how to knit socks (in general - normal ones and Zürdel socks).

People used to be poor and couldn't afford to use carded sheep's wool, which could still be used for knitting new things, weaving, etc., in their socks. They used mostly ripped wool, which could not be used in any other way, because one couldn't see it and nevertheless it was warm.

The socks on my pictures were knitted two sizes bigger than the normal shoe size. I inserted some combed wool each 4 stitches and then repeated this each 4 rows.

This year (2019), we finally bought some wooden clogs for our medieval outfit. Wooden shoes by themselves are insulating and warm. If you put on Zürdel socks those wooden clogs become even warmer and more insulating.

Erstveröffentlichung: 14.11.2014
Aktualisierung: 25.09.2019 + English (needs editing)

How much of food is needed in a month

This is an answer to a post on facebook which I prefer to keep on my blog for further use and updates.

Hmmmm ... I actually would go another way - calories are not calories. Some will make you hungry and some will feed you. I would go for: what do we eat right now in a month, asking my family what they do buy in terms of additional food to the meals I make at home. Then get your meal plan to a "difficult situation meal plan" for a month (I have one and used it a lot when I came back from the hospital in 2017) and write down what your family buys additionally. This gives you an overview about what you need in a month in terms of food and money. Add 5% to your numbers for each family member, just to make sure you do not need to run. And this is then the basis for your shopping list. Write down YOUR recipes and not those of others, because YOU are cooking.

One month is your starting point.

Notes:
I prefer lentils over beans, because they cook faster.
I prefer dried peas over beans, because they cook faster.
I cook beans in huge amounts and get them canned, so that I have less work when having to cook them for a meal.

First publication: 22 September 2019

Fiber from the Lotus Flower

The lotus flower can be used to produce fibers and yarn. I am collecting information about this topic here.

From Sheep to Wool - Vom Schaf zur Wolle

1) English
2) Deutsch

EN: First of all I would like to introduce you to my favourite sheep breed, but then again: all sheep are great. So these below are Coburg Fox Sheep:

Erst mal möchte ich Euch meine Lieblingsschäfchen vorstellen, wobei: alle Schafe sind toll.
Das sind also Coburger Füchse:

Stachelbeeren - Einkochzeit

Einkochzeit bei Stachelbeeren: 30 Minuten

Owly ... Eulchen ...

1. English
2. Deutsch

English

A friend of mine asked me if I could make her one of "my owls" - well, and here it is. For me working with wool also is part of selfsufficiency and by making decorative stuff a set of skills is required. And: it is fun, simply fun. The owl is crocheted, filled with sheep's wool and the eyes and the beak are needle felted.

Deutsch

Eine Freundin hat mich gefragt, ob ich ihr eine "meiner Eulen" mache - na ja, und hier ist sie. Für mich gehört das Arbeiten mit Wolle zur Selbstversorgung und wenn man dann solche Dekoartikel macht, braucht man gleich mehrere Fähigkeiten. Und: es macht Spaß, ganz einfach Spaß. Die Eule ist gehäkelt, mit Schafwolle gefüllt und die Augen und der Schnabel sind gefilzt.

Flour Dumplings - Mehlspatzen

1. English
2. Deutsch

English

This is an old recipe of my grandma, that is: it is from her cook-book of 1927 with adaptations by her.

• 500 g of flour
• 250 ml of water or milk
• 1 tbsp of salt
• 2 eggs
• if you have it: a bit of fresh yeast (how much that bit is, nobody knows ... well ... I take half a teaspoon of dry yeast - it works fine)

Chickweed - Vogelmiere

1. English
2. Deutsch

English: 

Chickweed grows a bit all over my garden beds and pots. It's a great addition to my salads and one can also make pesto with it, just substitute basil with chickweed and you will be astonished how great this tastes. Remember to cut it into small pieces before processing it in a blender, since the centre of the stem has a little string that is not easy to process in there. Chickweed also grows in winter under the snow, so it's definitely one of the few fresh winter plants. It has also a number of medical properties: it is said to reduce inflammation and to be beneficial in the case of fragile superficial veins, just to mention two.

Further reading:

• Plants for a Future
• Wikipedia

Deutsch: 

Vogelmiere wächst irgendwie überall in meinen Beeten und Töpfen. Es ist eine super Zutat zu meinen Salaten und man kann auch Pesto damit machen. Man ersetzt das Basilikum einfach durch Vogelmiere - und: es schmeckt wirklich toll. Bitte nicht vergessen, die Vogelmiere klein zu schneiden, bevor sie in den Mixer kommt. Ihre Stängel haben einen Faden, der im Mixer nicht zerkleinert wird. Vogelmiere wächst auch unter Schnee und gehört somit zu den wenigen frischen Winterpflanzen. Die Pflanze hat auch medizinische Eigenschaften: man sagt, sie sei entzündungshemmend und sie helfe bei fragilen Venen an der Hautoberfläche, nur um zwei zu nennen.

Mehr lesen:

• Wikipedia

International Mother Language Day fan page on facebook

I think about this fan page over and over again. It comes alive once a year, only to "sleep" again until the next 21st February. Many people caring about their mother language. Well, there was a time when we reached near 10,000 people with a group. We then were 15 admins and also there the main activity was around International Mother Language Day. The group was then deleted by facebook for whatever reason.

But why do we care only once a year? Why don't we care every day or at least once a week?

When one of the languages of this world gets lost, loads of wisdom gets lost with it. Wisdom not only about words, but also about living, medicine, plants and so much more. Is language loss and biodiversity loss correlated? What if everything from poisoning our planet to using materials that pollute our environement is correlated as well?

What if we start to preserve each day a bit? A bit of a language, a bit of our planet? Hmmm ....

Image from Pixabay:
https://pixabay.com/illustrations/letters-school-learn-alphabet-abc-3704026/

Paprika - Einkochzeit

Man findet viele verschiedene Angaben, von 30 Minuten bis 90 Minuten bei 100 °C. Von nur mit Essig bis ohne Essig.

Ich persönlich koche Paprika bei 100°C 60 Minuten ein.

Origanum vulgare

1) Text in English
2) Text auf Deutsch

English

Oregano is said to be:

• Antirheumatic
• Antiseptic
• Antispasmodic
• Diaphoretic

Calendula in Tomato Sauce with fried Mozzarella - Calendula in Tomatensoße mit frittiertem Mozzarella

This is the picture story for the recipe in my book to come :-)
Please note that I take most photos with my mobile, just for a fast documentation, not to have the best shots ever :-D It is just a matter of time - or I cook or I concentrate on photography.

Hier die Bilderstrecke für das Rezept, das in meinem Buch enthalten sein wird :-)
Nur kurz eine Info: ich nehme die meisten Fotos mit meinem Handy auf, also einfach nur um die Schritte zu dokumentieren und nicht, um tolle Fotos zu machen - entweder koche ich oder ich konzentriere mich auf Fotografie :-D

Thoughts about theories concerning our future

This is an answer to a question about Valentina Zharkova's newest paper in a group on FB:
Well in its past Mother Earth had times that were much hotter and times that were much colder than those we are living in right now. Valentina Zharkova, in terms of solar cycles, says what has always been true for me: there's no need for menkind to intervene, Mother Earth is

Just a nice photo by my daughter - photo taken near Effelder, Thuringia

(c) Luna Cretella, all rightsreserved

Sunburn on crops

I am really not sure if this is actually kind of a sunburn, but mainly the leaves of peas and beans are having some kind of trouble with the sun. I cannot move the two pots with peas on my balcony into shade, but I could do this with the beans. The peas got more or less devastated. They went all dry while the beans only have some parts of the leaves "burnt". No, it is not a pest, it can only be the sun. I have a similar situation in the garden:

Corn growth ... it seems to be quite late - and weak

Last week we were driving to a village next to our home and I saw the many corn fields. The plants seem to be so small and all those open gaps. I will drive along that road again next week and take pictures. But still

Harvesting time for berries is at it's highest point :-)

A short update from my side ... it is really hot over here  - African heat. 32°C at 8 PM. We just came back from the garden of my father-in-law. There were so many redcurrants and gooseberries to harvest ... well ... now my family gets

Zitat von Albert Einstein

Phantasie ist wichtiger als Wissen, denn Wissen ist begrenzt.

Zitat von Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Es ist nicht genug, zu wissen, man muss es auch anwenden.

Quote by Pete Seger - goods and their properties

If it can't be reduced, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refinished, resold, recycled, or composted, then it should be restricted, redesigned or removed from construction.

Extending my growing space

Yesterday I harvested a handful of sugar snap peas and had them for a snack. I am far away from being able to have enough food for my family, though it is getting better step by step.

In order to grow more, I do need growing surface and I need crops that go beyond salad.

When I started with my first garden bed in 2014.

Medicinal plants that grow in my garden or nearby

Thanks to a conversation on facebook, I tried to list which plants with medicinal properties are growing in my garden and I noted that there are so many, when I start to list them. Maybe it is good to have a list :-) so here it is:

Have:

• basil
• calendula
• dandelion
• lactuca virosa
• oregano
• parsley
• peppermint
• sage
• sambucus nigra
• stinging nettle
• thyme 
• yarrow

Want:

• echinacea purpurea
• cardus marianus

How I got into Gardening

Actually I am answering to a question here, and I do it on my blog, because I believe that this question comes up over and over again when we talk with people. Said that I am also curious how you got into gardening.

When I was a little girl my grandparents had a garden where I often went to help my grandpa. It was there where I learnt many things I still do today and many particulars are "coming back" to me bit by bit. At that time

Skills, skills and again ... sklills

This very likely is going to be another one of those blogs, where I consider what we really do need to learn for the future. What our children should learn at school.

First of all: what is a skill?

A skill refers to an activity one needs to train and learn to do "whatever". It is practical knowledge. When you are skilled you have the ability to do something in such a way that things work out fine.

Time for the first salad from my own garden - Der erste Salat aus dem Garten

Finally ... the first salad from our garden. Made from onion greens, salad leaves and pea greens. This year the temperatures were so low that not even the peashoots wanted to grow ... I only have some from the balcony up to now, where it is definitely warmer than in the garden.

Flashback - My garden on May 20, 2015

When plants protect one another - Magenta Spreen

Magenta spreen ... my husband hates it, because it literally invades every small angle in the garden and it is loads of work to clean up. On the other hand I love it, because it protects little seedlings from cold weather and is one of the first crops one can harvest in bulk.

Hablitzia tamnoides - Caucasian Trailing Spinach

Picture by user Daderot on Wikimedia Commons
License CC-0

Today I received a seed package with a special plant: Hablitzia. It is a trailing plant, the leaves of which can be prepared just like spinach.
There was no way to find out if it is hardy enough for our climate. It is sold as a perennial here in Germany, so it should resist some frost. While here it is sold as an ornamental plant, it is a food plant in the region it comes from, the Caucasus, and therefore I will use it as such. The seeds will go into the soil the coming week-end. Having 10 of it, I will put them in three small pots and then we will see ...

Gardening and Using Less Plastic

Lollo Rosso and some pea shoots I also use
for salad in this case on my balcony.

Like all so often I am connecting various themes: in this case gardening and using less plastic. We are living in a time of rising prices because of different reasons: drought, ecotax (that is eventually going to come), floods in some places, late frosts or whatever else. For many people around the world this means that they cannot afford to buy organic and “nude” vegetables and fruit anymore, since they have to choose the cheaper food. One consequence is that again more food with plastic packaging gets into the shopping cart.

Well, we can do something that

    • provides us with natural and healthy food,
    • makes us carry less stuff home,
    • lets us save money which in turn we may spend for better choices.

Gardening - and up to a certain extent, one can do this also inside - even in the smallest apartment.

To start off, you need just a container with holes in the bottom, some soil, some seeds and water. I would suggest to start off with radishes and salad. When I started many years ago, I buyed some seedlings of salad and grew them on my balcony. I still do this today, even though I do have a small garden - sometimes I buy seedlings, sometimes I use own seeds. If you wish to start with seeds, I suggest to start with radishes, because they sprout fast, which is more satisfying for a beginner.

I nowadays mainly get presents that deal with gardening, so this can be a suggestions for your family, but make sure to exactly tell them, what you are searching for. The best way is a “to-buy-list” on the fridge or somewhere everyone can have a glance :-)

But now let’s take a look at where you avoid plastics:
Salad in 99% of the cases is sold in plastic bags. Rucola and similar small leaves are sold in trays or bags (of plastic). By growing your own salad (I will post articles about single types), let’s suppose you need salad for one meal a week, just to have any number, you will avoid 52 bags plus having a higher amount of nutrients in your food, because you harvest when you eat.

Many other examples of food that is easy to grow is to come … start one step at a time and you will love what you eat and feel good, because you definitely “ARE PART OF THE CHANGE”.

The German version of this blog has been posted on Plastik sparen. License: CC-BY-NC-ND

Magenta Spreen - Tree Spinach - Chenopodium Giganteum

Magenta spreeen, though it is an annual, I do count it among my perennials: seed once, let it grow and go to seed and you will have more than you can eat.

The seeds of this so called tree spinach distribute all over the place. When the plants start to grow I thin them out and, depending from what I am cooking, I use the little plants in salad, stews, soups and when I don't use them right away, I dehydrate them and afterwards put them in my blender to cut them into small pieces. Once done I mainly use the dried parts together with other dehydrated greens in soups or stews.

When I pick them, I choose those that are a bit bigger and I go through my garden beds once a week to harvest.

Lamb's quarters is a close relative to magenta spreen.

Time ago I found a video where someone was substituting part of the wheat flour with magenta spreen flour and made bread ... not sure if I like this, because the green bred looked a bit weird.

Be aware: once you have it in your garden and let it go to seeds, you won't be able to get rid of it again. The seeds survive in the soil more than one year and come up spontaneously, when they feel like doing it.