oak town

oakland visits....
takara sake factory with bianca


cooking with alex

Dont try this at home

Backyard Remedies doesnt condone this kind of wild crafting for everyday use, just the special occasions. Neilio is shooting madrone berries out of the tree. We're gonna make holiday garlands from them (we'll put up the pics when they are finished). He also shot a bald face hornets nest out of another tree because someone wanted to save for decorations -- too bad we all took off running as the angry hornets hit the ground -- apparently not as empty as we thought.

still in peril

the backup computer i was using got fried by dog urine and is totally corroded and now in the trash. things arent looking good for technology this month. computer is now in the mail being fixed, new battery on order and if all works out we will back in business next week with more picture of mushrooms than anyone will ever want to look at. This is a bumper crop year for boletes and many other edibles. yum. love to everyone who looks at this blog, amy

Technical Difficulties

So, theherbalguggle is experiencing technical difficulties.
a) i hurt my arm again. the right arm again. i sprained it doing nothing, moving a trampoline to be precise. i use it too much and it hurts, i type too much and it hurts, i lift these huge mutha le crusset pans and well, that's the worst.
b) serious computer problems ranging from bad battery to water in the battery compartment to computer not charging with goood battery...compounded by the fact there is no mac store around for many many many miles.
c) cant find cord to camera to upload new pictures.
d) sorry to have to take technical difficulties out on faithful readers/viewers. hope to rectify the situation soon. in the mean time please enjoy this reenactment of a much better story for how i could have hurt my arm:

*note this is only a reenactment, do not try this at home.

Sarah Andrews Does Impersonations

An Amy Rouse Freshman Year of Guilford College Impression: glasses, furry hat, ridiculous coat....


"Friends always seem to come and go in my life, you make them, you break them, and some feel like they could last for ever. But do friendships really last forever or is that just something people say?"

a classic recitation featuring an oversized bedazzled american flag dr. suess hat, chuck taylors and a snoop dog cameo.
courier new, 14pt, 1.5 spacing. nuf said.

Someone who can't take anymore laughter...

full load

A visit to Hillsborough, NC and Will's Wild Herbs. We spent the afternoon with our dear friend and teacher, Will, and his son Stan grilling up sausages in the Exchange Park.




We had a back seat full with Stan, Amy Doggie, Creasy Doggie and Will battling it out for room with licking and paws.

nc & va trips with mom & dad

mom & dad at a va covered bridge. we visited roanoke and blacksburg and drove around the country side finding old farm houses, covered bridges, chicken of the woods mushrooms, and really bad food.


atlantic ocean: sound side.


crabing for blue crabs


creasy doggie sits outside a window sill lined with paintings we did of her


neilios poison ivy collection

al, neil, quinny over looking lake winnepasauke



another toothed polypore


in 700 chinook trail kitchen: amy & quinn

Fall in NH

Did i mentioned we hit the reishi jack pot?

Sara rouse accompanied us into big pines after a nice rain to look for these late summer fruiting bodies.



This species grows on dead hemlocks; large molasses cookie looking organs.
It is such a grotesquely riveting site to happen upon in the forest, its hard to stop staring.
Its another polypore mushroom that's highly revered in Japan for its immune stimulating properties, used in a plethora of ailments from Lupus to Cancer this is serious medicine.




A double extract is currently being concocted by Backyard Remedies and will be availble this winter.

NH -- hats and pictionary.

neil amy pete: the fall hat collection.





sara and pete during a heated game of pictionary

squib's baby shower

my sisters and the ngs.

the ngs and the mamas.

susan and her mound of presents -- remind me to have more babies, this is serious loot.

chapel hill

ms. kitty visits the hill.


neil stokes the wood oven for tandoori chicken.

The Order Of the Pheonix

The 5th Annual Harry Potter Party was held at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry aka The Rouse House last week. Check out these characters:

Stevo as The Black Family House Elf Kreacher


The Potter brat and Beletrix Lestrange, His most faithful



Fountain of Magical Brethren, Luna Lovegood, Arabella Figg, Cybil Trelawny, Nymphadora Tonks, and Lily Potter with The Boy Who Lived.


The Rouse Sisters
Hogwarts High Inquisitor: Delorus Umbridge, The Dirgable Plum wearing Luna Lovegood, and the Voldemort loving Beletrix Lestrange


Hogwart Great Hall


Jordan's Fireball




Mundungus makes a move on Figgy, that crooked cauldron seller



Charlie Weasley, famed dragon fighter from Romania, Remus Lupin occasional werewolf and Mundungus Fletcher aka Dung.

Sayonara Peugeot

You may have burned sustainable fuel, but you gasped your last breath on the way into the Johnson-Rockers wedding. When the gear shift snapped off in our hands on that last corner, we knew, if only in our hearts, that the time had come to part ways.


Fortunately we got a great tow truck driver who seems to know all the bio-diesel folks and tow them regularly. He even came up with a plan for how the three of us could live for the rest of our lives splitting one year of the Carolina Football coach's salary; great guy that tow truck man.


Bye Bye Peug, hello fossil fuels.

Jack & Mary's Beautiful Wedding

Snipes Farm



Juggling Johnson Family


Carolina Lisette & Me




The Cutting of the Cup Cakes




Jack, Rett, Neil