Recipes, Books, Chat, and Links to more information.

Greens & Beans Soup
This soup is easy, quick, infinitely variable, satisfying, and totally delicious.

2 cups cooked , 1 pkg frozen, or 1 can beans (field peas, crowder, navy, black, kidney, pinto). Washing slimy liquid off of canned beans is a matter of preference. It's flavorful and delicious, but makes the soup look cloudy.
1 can whole kernel corn, with juice
1 can diced tomatoes (seasoned or plain)
1 can broth, chicken, beef, fish or other prepared stock
3 cups fresh chopped sow thistle, or 1 cup blanched (chopped)
1/2 to 1 lb. diced chicken, turkey, ham, shrimp or fish (optional)
1 large onion, diced
3 cups water
Salt, pepper and seasonings to taste.

Place all in a pot and simmer, covered, 20 minutes or more. You can add potatoes, onion, carrots, celery as desired. You can substitute the sow thistle with any other cookable green (collards, mustard, trimmed spiny thistle leaves, etc). You can add cooked rice, millet or barley near the end, or serve thickened as a stew over any grain.

Pickles
Don't have time to make home made pickles? Oh, yes you do! Instead of throwing away the juice from store-bought pickles, keep the juice and add boiled eggs, sliced cucumbers, thistle stalks, day lilly buds, baby okra, whatever you want to pickle. You can mix and match, and there's enough vinegar and seasonings in the left over juice to pickle at least two new batches of pickles. If not, add a little extra vinegar.

Links
Here are some interesting on-line pages about thistles, with botanical information, history, cultivation, medicinal properties and lots more. The pictures will help you more carefully identify thistles all over the world.

Medicinal info on all thistles:
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/t/thistl11.html
http://www.geocities.com/plantlore/T/thistles.htm
Thistle History:
http://www.wssa.net/subpages/weed/larrymitich/thistles1.html
Sketch and info on Sow Thistle:
http://www.arthurleej.com/a-sowthistle.html
http://www.magdalin.com/herbal/plants_pages/t/thistle_sow.htm
Sketch and info on Down or Cotton Thistle:
http://www.magdalin.com/herbal/plants_pages/t/thistle_cotton.htm
Sketch and info on Greater Sow Thistle:
http://www.magdalin.com/herbal/plants_pages/t/thistle_tree.htm
http://web.odu.edu/webroot/instr/sci/plant.nsf/pages/thistles
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/t/thistl11.html
Pictures and info on Nodding Thistle: http://www.klines.org/joanne/Archive/Plant_Pages/plant_pages_16.html
Pictures and info on Bull, Yellow, Purple, Spiny Thistle:
http://home.steuber.com/sarah/flwrs/Families/Asteraceae_2.html
http://plantsdatabase.com/go/2737/
Pictures and info on Variegated, Milk, Nodding thistles:
http://www.trc.govt.nz/HTMLDOCS/infopestp/20-Thistles/20-Thistles_1.html
Pictures and info on Globe Thistle:
http://www.provencebeyond.com/flora/thistleglobe.html
Picture of Meadow Thistle:
http://www.ulstermuseum.org.uk/flora/default.htm?item=4496

Milk Thistle is a known liver regeneration herb. View three books that are available on-line:

Milk Thistle: The Liver Herb
by Christopher Hobbs

Milk Thistle: A Remarkable Flavonoid Antioxidant and Liver Protectant
by Woodland Publishing Staff

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