Do you want to be a Saffron Roads Roadie?

 Do you like trying out new products?  Saffron Road is assembling their first-ever group of insiders to help shape the future of Saffron Road. If you’re curious, opinionated (in the best way), and love globally inspired food, this is your crew. Join here->  https://www.saffronroad.com/pages/roadies 

So far the Vegetable Pad Thai has been my family's favorite. We do not do a lot of premade meals, but if i'm not home in the evening to cook, it's nice to have quick options that everyone likes. 

Kroger often has these on sale, so if you've been curious about them watch for those sales! The Roadie program sent me a $10 coupon to sample their products. Kroger had them on sale for $3.49, plus a $1off digital coupon and i was able to get 4 meals for free!  My local stores do not have a big variety of the vegetarian flavors, but we have been able to try the Pad Thai and the Vegetable Biryani. 

You can also check out their full selection on Amazon. Have you tried Saffron Road before? Which flavor is your favorite?

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Homegrown and foraged; Mushroom and Asparagus Udon.

Earlier this week i received some Japanese Udon to review. So i put together a quick meal using freshly foraged morels, ramps, wild garlic, homegrown shiitakes, asparagus, onion and chives over  Japanese Udon noodles. 

This isn't an official recipe, just a thrown together quick meal. i sautéed the onion, mushrooms until well cooked, then added the veggies. Cooked a few minutes more until the asparagus was bright green and tender crisp.  Broth was made with shiitake dashi , tamari and mirin, reduced and then poured over the noodles. i topped it with toasted sesame seeds and chives. It was pretty tasty!  i might come back and update with better instructions, i'm currently just trying to add a few back blogs and try to get back in the habit of blogging. 

Plugging my amazon referral links because times are tough. 🫣 #vinereviewer #ad #referral #commision #gardentotable

Homegrown and foraged. Second week of April.

 

The weather here has been so dry, i have only found a handful of small morels this year.  i really haven't seen much of anything, but was really excited to  find these pheasant back/dryads saddle while hiking. They are super young and tender. Still not my favorite, but it's not bad.  Asparagus is slowing coming, we're getting like 1 shoot per day. We should have enough for a meal by the end of May.  i picked a few herbs and wild edibles for tea and to add to our salad. Chickweed, raspberry leaf, lemon balm, peppermint, purple dead nettle, violets and columbine flowers. i love this time of year. #earthprovides

 #homegrownandforaged

Morel Season coming in early.

The weather has been odd this spring and the morels are appearing a little earlier than usual here. Typically i wouldn't even start looking until the second week of April, but i saw that folks were starting to find them in the area, so decided to check my spot. i only found a few and they were still pretty small.  Normally i would leave them to get bigger, but it's so dry out i went ahead and picked them before they shriveled.                 

i often read that Morels can often be found around dying elm trees and in old apple orchards.  i find all of mine at the base of Tulip Poplars.  It makes hunting quite a challenge.                                                 

Over the years we had a few different honey holes on our property, but the forest is always changing and they are getting harder and harder to find. As the trees that feed them die and decompose, the mycelium spreads and shifts its focus when it's current food source is exhausted.  

These were found in a Poplar grove, on a rather steep bank. i've picked 7 this week, and left a few to keep growing . i'm usually finding morels into May, so i'm hoping if we get a good rain i'll find a few more.  

First week of April, 2026, homegrown and foraged.

First week of April, 2026

 First week of April  2026. Homegrown and foraged. Ramps are up! i finally have a small patch established on my land.  Shiitakes are from plugged logs and Kenan spotted the oysters when we were driving back roads. My hens are still laying well and the dandelions and violets are starting to bloom. Both are edible and can be used to make tea, jelly and syrup etc, but these are the first foods for the bees so i didn't harvest much.