Is it “foraging” if it’s my own yard?

Is it considered “foraging” if I’m wandering about my own yard gathering this and that? If so, it’s what I like to call “pajama foraging” and this week’s edition of ‘Cooking from Scratch for One’.

In the morning, while still in my pj’s, I like to put on my slippers and take a steaming cup of tea, let the dogs out, and wander up to the chicken coop to let the hens out as well. Then, on the way back to the house for more tea, sometimes with an egg or two, I pick various greens, herbs, fruits, vegetables and edible flowers that I see, sometimes hiding in the oddest places, like the perpetual spinach that has sown itself under the electric meter. Later on when I’m hungry I make myself a foraged meal for lunch from the bits I’ve foraged in my pajamas. Here’s today’s repast.

A Roly-poly zucchini self-seeded itself under a rose by my garden path.

I harvested two small squash.

I have ever-bearing strawberries planted in, what else? A strawberry pot by my front porch.

I gathered a handful of strawberries.

A hen was in a nest box when I opened the coop.

Before I left she laid an egg.

My pajama foraging haul. Strawberries, zucchinis, egg, spinach, sorrel, chard, basil, savory, lemon thyme (plus, not in the photo, green onion, calendula, & nasturtium).

I hollowed out the bigger of the two squash and chopped its innards with the smaller squash and the chard stem. I rough chopped some of the greens and herbs.

I sautéed the greens and chopped squash in bacon fat while heating the oven to 400 degrees F. I put the hollowed out zucchini in the oven to bake while I sautéed the greens.

I prepped the blossoms for topping the dish.

After slightly sautéing the greens and herbs and baking the hollow squash a bit, I cracked the egg into the hollowed, partially cooked, squash and put the semi-sautéed greens around it in a little ceramic baking dish with a few splashes of water from the kettle and put it all back into the oven to cook for approximately 20 minutes. While still warm out of the oven I sprinkled it liberally with the herbal flower confetti, sea salt and freshly grated pepper.

I took my lunch, while still dressed in my foraging pajamas, out to the scene of the forage to eat.

It was delicious and just the right amount of food for one.