Tumblin', Tumblin' Tumbleweed Crackers

And here they are. I harvested my tumbleweed early this afternoon, hosed it off, and left it in the driveway to dry. Chad got home, and he helped me stuff it in a cooler and beat it with a rolling pin. My intent was to break it into pieces small enough to fit in my wheat grinder, but we noticed that spiny seeds were collecting in the bottom. Assuming that was the more nutritious part, we chucked all the stems into the ditch, (so we'll be sure to have a nice crop next fall) and took the seeds into the house. I'd found a cracker recipe that used equal parts ground up oatmeal and whole wheat flour and I figured, oatmeal... tumbleweed... same dif. I got out my wheat grinder, that I have never used before, read the instructions, ground some wheat, and then threw in the stickers. ( I believe I had my gardening gloves on at this point.) Then I mixed it all up, baked it, and Voila! My culinary critique? Edible, but would have been much nicer served crumbled over a SOUP. It left my mouth feeling like the desert; dry, dry, dry. Odd, but appropriate. I shared some with a few members of Chad's family. His sister, Bonnie, said, "That tastes like a tumbleweed!" I would really like to hear about how she knows THAT. Her little boys liked them. Philip even asked for more! So, the moral to this story is, as long as you have a cooler, a rolling pin, and a wheat grinder, in this desert, you will never starve. Chad wished I had made bread with it, but I think my tumbleweed-wacking days have been spent, unless, of course, any of you back East crew come for a visit and want to have a completely unique, not-soon-to-be-forgotten experience, I will get out the grinder and the gloves, and we can go to town. Or at least out to the ditch.