Lil Urban Farm

Day: May 28, 2025

  • The cocoon hatched! It’s a Cecropia moth—largest moth in America!

    The cocoon hatched! It’s a Cecropia moth—largest moth in America!

    The cocoon I found a few weeks back finally hatched! It is a Cecropia moth, which happens to be the largest moth in America!

    I’ve never seen a more beautiful moth! And I was even more stunned to find three more in an unexpected place!

    When handling wildlife, esp moths and butterflies, do your best not to handle them too much because you don’t want to cause harm. In most cases here, I tried to let it climb onto me so that I wasn’t grabbing it and so I could avoid touching it.

    If you’d like to see the video where I found the cocoon and gave a tutorial on the DollarTree bug container, CLICK HERE.

  • Strawberry Salad with Peas and Pea Shoots

    Strawberry Salad with Peas and Pea Shoots

    Try this delicious sweet and tangy strawberry salad with peas and peashoots from the garden. I made a strawberry dressing made from leftover strawberry tops. It’s my new go-to salad for this spring.

    Did you know you can eat peashoots? Pea shoots are the top 2 inches of the pea vines, and they grow more soft and tender. They taste similar to the peas they grow and are a fun addition to any salad.

    Many folks also sprout pea shoots as micro greens because they’re a delicious add-on to salads and sandwiches. But I think they are perfect in this salad.

    Lil Urban Farm's Recipe for a Strawberry Salad with Peas, Pea Shoots, Red Onion, Cucumber, and Feta or Goat Cheese

    Strawberry Salad with Peas and Pea Shoots

    TIME:

    10 min

    |

    MAKES:

    1 salad

    HARVEST:

    Strawberries, spring greens, cucumbers, peas, pea shoots, red onion

    INGREDIENTS
    2 handfuls of Spring Greens
    Red onion, sliced
    Cucumber, sliced
    Peas, sliced in half
    Pea shoots
    Strawberries, sliced
    Goat cheese or Feta cheese, crumbled
    Strawberry Dressing:
    Handful of discarded strawberry tops
    1/2 cup red wine vinegar
    1/2 cup avocado oil (or other vegetable oil)
    1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning (I make my own)
    2 Tbsp. honey or sugar
    1 Tbsp. mayonnaise

    DIRECTIONS:

    1. Starting a few days ahead of time, take discarded strawberry tops and add them to a jar. Cover with red wine vinegar and allow to infuse a few days.
    2. When you are ready to make a salad, wash and chop your vegetables.
    3. Add spring greens to a bowl first and then top with cucumber slices, red onion, peas, pea shoots, strawberries, and goat cheese or feta cheese sprinkled on top.
    4. For the dressing, start by straining the strawberries out of the vinegar into a jar for making your dressing.
    5. Use 1/2 cup of the infused vinegar with 1/2 cup oil and the remaining dressing ingredients, and shake well. If the dressing is too tart for your liking, add another 1/4 cup oil.
    6. Use the dressing on your salad and enjoy!