Sunday, March 28, 2010

Spring Again in the Galilee

First the flowers! Yellow daisies and white daisies. The white ones are called Seviyon Avivi.






These are called "lashon hapara", Ox Tongue, after the prickly leaves. Shoots and pre-bloom flower clusters are edible (though heavily infested, so I've never cooked them up)

These are mallow blooms. Later they close up and have edible seed pods, called "pita aravit" by local kids happily chewing on them. The blossoms are good against coughs, so gather in the spring and dry them for winter use. Leaves are edible, young ones tender enough for use in salads. Roots are also very good against coughs.

It was windy when I was shooting these pics on the hillside, so I didn't get the focus I wanted. This is an olive tree branch with the newer green growth against the older (olive green) growth.

These are wild peas, once again not the focus I was looking for. Not edible, indeed poisonous.
If you look carefully, in the foreground is an oat grass stalk with full green oats on it. The wild oats are not yet sewing their seed.
Wild wheat grass is also growing all over the place.
 Here is what the hillside looks like at a glance of riotous color and greenery. Catch it now before it all dries!

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