alligatorob
Respected Member
You are probably right, I don't eat a lot of crickets.
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If I ate meat I definitely like the idea of crickets better than larger animals. As LaMa points out, it is better for the environment. If I were to go that route though I would rather learn about what insects are edible in the garden and then just eat them in a more natural way than a big production sort of way. However since being vegetarian works for me, i'll stick to my beans and legumes 
No crickets in Ireland, Petal! I thought they were everywhere! Just goes to show, the virtue of being an island, I guess. (Another example - there's no houseflies in New Zealand - or is it no blowflies? One or the other.)
I like your garden-foraging approach, Liza - are there weeds you can forage instead? At my home I have weed-foraging possibilities of fennel, nettles, marshmallows (the plant, @Petal001 ! which was once-upon-a-time used to make the sweet, though I haven't tried) and hoarhound. I have made lozenges with the hoarhound, though not lately.
Either way, it sounds a lovely place to live! And good that there's humane treatment on the farms round about, too.
My wobbly nearly three-month maintenance (holding the line) continues, which is good enough, though not brilliant - I was wobbly at morning exercise too, though, which isn't so good. I just lost the rhythm of it all, for some reason.
On the non-scale side of things:
I think there might be some slight diminution in waist measurement, which was heartening, though it's not as clear or definite as the scales. Still not close to 35 inches, though.
I still haven't made it to a swimming pool, and time's running out! (ie to be in and wet before the end of the month.)
There are only four Reisens Deadly Caramels left in the bag - did I say "end of March"? Oh dear.
I thought they were everywhere! Just goes to show, the virtue of being an island, I guess. (Another example - there's no houseflies in New Zealand - or is it no blowflies? One or the other.)I like your garden-foraging approach, Liza - are there weeds you can forage instead?
At my home I have weed-foraging possibilities of fennel, nettles, marshmallows (the plant, @Petal001 ! which was once-upon-a-time used to make the sweet, though I haven't tried) and hoarhound. I have made lozenges with the hoarhound, though not lately.Is that "pretty rural" as in fairly rural, but not very, or "pretty rural" as in scenic and rural?
Either way, it sounds a lovely place to live! And good that there's humane treatment on the farms round about, too.My wobbly nearly three-month maintenance (holding the line) continues, which is good enough, though not brilliant - I was wobbly at morning exercise too, though, which isn't so good. I just lost the rhythm of it all, for some reason.
On the non-scale side of things:
I think there might be some slight diminution in waist measurement, which was heartening, though it's not as clear or definite as the scales. Still not close to 35 inches, though.
I still haven't made it to a swimming pool, and time's running out! (ie to be in and wet before the end of the month.)
There are only four Reisens Deadly Caramels left in the bag - did I say "end of March"? Oh dear.
alligatorob
Respected Member
I like that idea! Grazing bugs from the garden sounds interesting, and better than insecticides. Not sure it will catch on though.
Didn't know that about no crickets in Ireland, did St Patrick run them out with the snakes? I actually like cricket sounds at night, and they are not the worst of the garden pests. Wish it would get warm enough for the crickets again.
alligatorob
Respected Member
Yeah, other than the consistency and taste they are great. Think I will follow the Petal example from now on.
We had some crickets for Christmas dinner this year, mostly a novelty for the grandkids. I ate a couple, and so did the grandkids, but the dogs got most of them. The dogs seemed to like them better than the humans. I tried to figure out the calories in a cricket for my log but wasn't successful, so I just added a few extra calories to the turkey.
I think we have most of those around here maybe. I am trying to learn more about edible 'weeds' (when we find out the benefits of a plant does it cease being called a weed?)I have trouble trusting my ability to identify things properly though!I like your garden-foraging approach, Liza - are there weeds you can forage instead?
My fears tend to be more about possible council weed-spraying, and stray dogs urinating. The nettles and the marshmallows are both safe, and so is the hoarhound, but I am very careful about the fennel. I like your philosophical pondering:
Feral olive - Natural Resources Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges
Not eating foraged foods right now, though, but enjoying being inventive with gifts from friends and friends' mothers' gardens. Recently: finding new ways to eat large radishes. Today: the attempt to pickle green peppercorns.
Sadly, no, is my observation. Though the weeds-with-benefits tend to be plants whose benefits were known but are now forgotten or overlooked, in evidence of which I offer this:
Feral olive - Natural Resources Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges
Not eating foraged foods right now, though, but enjoying being inventive with gifts from friends and friends' mothers' gardens. Recently: finding new ways to eat large radishes. Today: the attempt to pickle green peppercorns.
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To me it's a weed if it grows somewhere you didn't plant and don't want it. Otherwise you're just cool enough to have native plants in your garden
When you say "always a thing here" do you mean you had it in your childhood? I love the whole idea of being able to eat what grows freely and easily. (Part of the reason I'm so fond of silver beet.) I wouldn't have expected it in a green veg, but nettles seem to be (quick internet search) high in calcium.
My mom uses nettles in all kinds of soups during spring. I think historically they were simply one of the earliest fresh spring greens after a long winter eating mostly tubers, cabbage, and onions. Not to mention young nettles are a lot less bitter than most wild herbs.
What a lovely childhood to have had! And to still have the soup, if you're with your family during spring.
I had to look these up!
I like the sound of the berries best - I expect they'll also be a North American berry that I don't know? Blackberries - an introduced berry, run wild - were a frequently foraged fruit in my childhood (prickly!) but I don't live in that area now, and where I do know of them growing now, they tend to have been sprayed with weed-killer.
And I like the sound of the hickory nuts, but I think I've never eaten one, unless under a different name? (Now I'm off to look them up, as well.
)Back from looking them up - no, I don't think I've ever eaten one, unless it was in mixed nuts without shells, and I thought it was an odd walnut or pecan. Your foraging expeditions sound wonderful!