Home and Garden Buzz
Published 2:57 pm Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Know your edible plants: With gathering, foraging and edible flowers being all the rage these days, it’s important to exercise caution when dealing with plants in the wild or even your own backyard.
* Never eat any part of a plant unless you’re sure that the specific part is edible. Many plants, even some commonly consumed ones, have only one edible part. For instance, did you know tomato leaves are toxic?
* If you can’t be absolutely certain you are correctly identifying a weed before eating it, pass it up. Better to find a substitute than to visit the emergency room or worse.
* Unless specifically noted for use in salads, be sure to cook weeds. Avoid picking weeds that grow in an area where animal droppings are found. Do not eat weeds found growing in areas that have been treated with pesticides or herbicides.
* Don’t pick weeds from the side of the road, where exhaust fumes from cars are readily absorbed into nearby plants.
* Unless you are a weed scientist, don’t rely on yourself. Bring an illustrated reference book, such as “Handbook of Edible Weeds,” by James Duke or “The Edible Flower Garden,” one of many edible-theme books by Rosalind Creasy.
Breeze through those chores: Cleaning can be such drudgery, but with Susan Waggoner’s time-saving tips in her new book “Classic Household Hints: Over 500 Old and New Tips for a Happier Home” you’ll no doubt perk right up for your household tasks.
Many of her golden tips are decades old: Refrigerate plastic wrap to keep it from sticking to itself when unrolled. Use an eraser to remove rubber shoe marks from the floor.
With vintage magazine ads and illustrations – Wagner’s Komb-Kleaned Sweeper “Takes the ‘Weep’ Out of Sweeping” – Waggoner celebrates domestic verities and remind us how far we’ve come.
Waggoner also offers a six-decade “cavalcade of progress” that cites such breakthroughs as patented wire hangers (1903), the Kelvinator refrigerator (1914), the gas stove (1929), Windex (1933), Tupperware (1946) and push-button garage door openers (1951). The last entry is GE’s self-cleaning oven (1963).
If you’re more interested in the 21st century, try dusting computer screens with non-static dryer sheets, and, when ironing a dress, do the bodice first and skirt last.
Herald new services
