Mugwort, and sumac, and grapes, oh my!

Blessings Darlings!

Wednesday I FINALLY made my monthly trip to the DC suburbs.  I have business to do there early in the month, and I try to combine a lot of things in the trip.  However, it's VERY hard to drive there without a car ... so the trip had to be delayed from Monday when I intended to go until Wednesday, when my car cooperated.  Car needed an offering of a new starter before it was going ANY where.  Or, as we say around here, "O Entropy!  Dread sister of Death".

Yes, we are Shakespeare sluts.

Drive thru' the heavy fog to drop the Spawn off of work.  He reminds me he works 'till 4, not 5, that day.  Crap.  Okay. I start the long drive - I'm not just hitting the DC 'burbs today, I'm on a mission.  Therefore I'm going all the way to ... Annapolis! 

The drive and getting the business-related part of the day done took less time than usual.  Head east to Annapolis.  I was searching for dried or (even better) fresh elderberries to use for a tincture to treat colds and flu.  None were to be found in either my area's store nor in Frederick (a mere 30 miles away), so I was driving 110 miles to search for them.  Finally found them in a little place in Annapolis, after checking 3 other places.  VICTORY WAS MINE!

Back into the car, heading west.  Hungry. Raided grocery store between Annapolis and DC, and ate in the parking lot of a minor league baseball team for peace and quiet.  Well, what did I spy with my little eye? Wild grapes!  So after I ate I grabbed a plastic bag and harvested.

First the grapes.
Then both the fuzzy and less fuzzy seed bunches of staghorn sumac.
Then ... holy cow, that's MUGWORT!  Squee!

I didn't harvests the acorns, nor the vines from the grapes, nor the poke berries.  Instead, I headed back to Frederick to hit the Costco, then out home to pick up the Spawn. 

Elderberry tincture is kind of started.  I ran out of vodka, so can't make a full batch.  And I might want to make some with ginger added.  I'm not sure if I will use brandy and make a mugwort tincture or dry it, for that matter.  Probably dry it, so it can be used any way I want to later.

All in all, a busy but productive day, making for a happy Fern who is still singing show tunes.  It was HARD to not buy the 6 CD set of Rodgers and Hammerstein movies at Costco....

Frondly, Fern