Honeyvine Homestead and Botanicals

02/15/2026

🌼Happy Sunday morning, neighbors!

I think Spring is just about here in NE Oklahoma. The green outside is slowly taking away the brown of winter. Spring ephemerals are popping out of the ground, or in some cases they are already at harvestable height. I’ve been hearing Spring birdcall for a week or so. The temps are warming over all, not just a warm front for a few days. I’m sure we will have some more cold (This is Oklahoma!), but the back of Winter has been broken, and I am thankful.

Here are some edible and/or medicinal spring plants to start watching for and harvesting for food or medicine in the coming weeks (Zone 7b):

🌱Henbit
🌱Purple Deadnettle
🌱Cleavers
🌱Chickweed
🌱Wild Violet
🌱Wild Pansy
🌱Wild Geranium
🌱Wild Onions & Garlic
🌱Clover
🌱Dandelion

When we pay attention to nature, the date on a calender (March 21) becomes less important in telling us the season. 🌿

*Notes in photo captions.

02/13/2026

Wonderful information and inspiration on the first greens of the year below.

I can feel my body and spirit coming out of hibernation mode along with the spring ephemerals. It’s as if I am stretching after a long, deep, restful sleep. My eyes are opening to a new green season along with the rest of nature. So glad!

Those of you who still have months to go, the “back has been broken” on winter for you as well. Things are stirring under the frozen earth.

Happy pre-Spring to all!♥️

02/13/2026

I know myself and Ashley at Restoration Farms love to forage for invasives! There is absolutely no worry of over-harvesting with invasive plants. In our area you can forage all of these invasive plants* to your heart’s content, and would actually be helping our ecosystem! These plants all provide food or medicine.

🍄Mullein
🍄Japanese Knotweed
🍄Japanese honeysuckle (take vines to make wreathes as well!)
🍄Garlic Mustard
🍄Mimosa/albizia
🍄Chicory
🍄Queen Anne’s Lace
🍄Teasel
🍄Mock strawberry (a useful Ayurvedic herb!)
🍄Mexican Tea
🍄Autumn Olive
🍄Ground Ivy
🍄St. John’s Wort (common)
🍄Eastern Red Cedar** (actually a Juniper)
🍄Prickly Lettuce
🍄Ground Ivy
🍄Purple Loostrife
🍄White Mulberry (leaves and berries)
🍄Watercress
🍄Muskthistle and other invasive thistles
🍄Perrila Mint / Beefsteak Plant/ Shiso
🍄Multiflora Rose
🍄Sheep’s Sorrel
🍄Pink Lady’s Thumb
🍄Sweet Clover (yellow or white)
🍄Wild Oats

Do note that there are often native alternatives to these plants that you do *not* want to over-harvest (like our beautiful Coral Honeysuckle or Shrubby St. John’s Wort). A plant app like Picture This can help you narrow down what you are looking at, but I recommend a field guide like Sam Thayer’s Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Eastern and Central America, or to learn directly from a wildcrafting expert like Ashley Clouse at Restoration Farms, who does plant walks and classes around the state.

❓❓What would you add to the list? If you’re in a different state, what invasives could you forage in your area that would actually help your ecosystem?❓❓

*OKinvasives.org
**Eastern Red Cedar is native, however, because of the changes man has made to our ecosystem the trees are now considered a nuisance and act as an invasive even though technically, natives can not invade, be invasive.

♥️My words are intended for educational purposes only.

02/13/2026

Yes! I love to forage invasive plants for food and medicine! A post coming up on that in a few…

02/13/2026

If you’re still buying countertop cleaner, why? It couldn’t be easier to make your own safe and effective cleaner from home.

Supplies Needed:
👉White or Apple Cider Vinegar
Choose Additions:
👉Cloves
👉Orange Peels
👉Lemon Peels
👉Pine Needles
👉Juniper or Juniper Berries
👉Rosemary
👉Lemon Balm

Process:
👉Toss any combination of the herbs and spices above into your vinegar of choice, using as much as you like. More herbs/spices will create a more potent cleaner. Herbs and spices should be as fresh as possible (even if dried).
👉I highly recommend clove, citrus, and/or pine or juniper/cedar as powerhouses.
👉Allow the herbs and spices to mascerate for 2-4 weeks (more time is fine), then strain the solids through a fine mesh strainer.

To use:
For everyday cleaning of cabinets and countertops, dilute the cleaner concentrate, usinf 1 part cleaner concentrate to 3 parts water (so for a 12 oz spray bottle that means 3 oz cleaner and 9 ounces water, 1:3). For extra greasy messes or in the bathroom use the cleaner at full strength, 1:1.

We keep our cleaner in a 2-gallon drink dispenser in our mud room. When we need to refill our spray bottle we just open the spigot!

02/13/2026

73% less wildlife than when I was born 50 years ago. It’s astounding to think about. And depressing. But we must save what we still have and there are simple things we can all do to help. ♥️

Per the World Wildlife Fund's 2024 Living Planet Report, there's been a 73% global decrease in wildlife populations since 1970.

How you can help:
🌿 Plant native species for your region
🌿 Remove invasive species
🌿 Encourage biodiversity in your yard
🌿 Leave the leaves
🌿 Minimize "garden cleanup", especially before low temperatures in your area reach 50*F in spring
🌿 Avoid insecticides, embrace the bugs
🌿 Spread awareness
🌿 Leave seed heads intact through winter

02/13/2026

When my chicken bone broth is this colorful, I know it’s the good stuff.

19 quarts canned today, using only bones and veggie pieces that would have otherwise been thrown away, sea salt, and pepper. I figure that’s around $60 I just saved my family.

If you haven’t stepped into canning yet but you’ve been thinking about it, go for it! Get yourself a big pot from Walmart (or better yet, thrift one or find an old lady getting rid of her canning stuff!), a few dozen jars of various sizes, a canning tool set, and go for it!

I’m a rebel canner that waterbath cans everything (like most of the rest of the world does), so those tools are all I ever really need to can. [But you do you. There are lots of things you can waterbath can while still following the rules of the canning organizations.]

Have fun. Get a big pot. Go for it!

02/12/2026

Someone explain to me why this 2-week old head of lettuce I just found in my fridge still looks and feels almost completely fresh (just a bit of browning on bottom)? Wait, no, don’t tell me. 😩

02/12/2026

Have you heard of Teosinte? It’s the ancient wild relative of corn. I was sent a free packet of this ancient grain by Mary’s Heirloom Seeds with my recent order and I think I’m going to give it a go!

These plants don’t produce edible ears for humans, but my chickens will gobble up the grains, and I’m assuming they will like the leaves as well, like they do many grasses.

I’m planning to grow corn for the first time this year, and Teosinte can help pollinate the corn ears, as it’s that closely related. Farmers in Mexico will allow Teosinte to grow around the edges of their corn fields because it helps pollinate the corn. Pretty cool!

Teosinte is said to grow 10 feet tall. I love me some giant plants (thinking fondly of my giant ragweed islands). It will be so fun to feel small standing among such large plants.

Are you planning to grow something unusual or new to you this year? I’d seriously love to hear about it!

https://www.nativeseeds.org/pages/teosinte

https://maize.teacherfriendlyguide.org/index.php/what-is-maize/what-is-teosinte