Poke Salad

I have some trees with purple berries that just arose out of the ground behind the eating area window this year? Well, I have finally discovered what they are.........the freeze has finally gotten to them though.

A sweet little lady came to pick up a quilt Saturday morning, headed for Mississippi to visit her family for Thanksgiving. She was standing in the kitchen area and looked out and all of a sudden said, "Judy, you've got poke salad growing out there, don't you?" I'm like, do I? I have no idea what it is, the birds (especially my hummingbirds) just liked the trees and I've been wondering what it is. She says, I believe it is poke salad.

Okay, so what is poke salad I wonder? And then by Sunday I can't even remember what she called it, but it was an unusual name and not what you would think of as a plant. All of a sudden it hit me this morning and I looked it up on the internet..........yes, it is poke salad, or also known as "poke salit".

And, you guessed it, the berries are sometimes considered poisonous to humans (no, I did not eat any), but not to birds. Many people gather the leaves and cook them with lard and these trees can grow much larger than mine.

Well, just thought you might like to know about my little trees! And the birds have taken a few berries and scattered them on the white chairs on the porch so I have some cleaning to do now. The berries have also been used as dye...........maybe I could dye some fabric and call the color poke salad purple.

Have a beautiful Thanksgiving this week. We are so blest and have so much to be thankful for in this wonderful country of ours!!