Daffodils and tulips spread a blanket of color across my yard in the early Spring, with a promise of warm weather to follow. Within my very small space 80 tulip bulbs are planted and the hues of yellow, red, pink and purple bring a smile to my face each year.
The wet and windy weather of Utah's version of Spring destroyed the last of my tulips as their short-lived beauty fell away, last weekend. But good news follows as I harvested the stems and leaves for paper making.
You see, the tulip leaves and daffodil leaves have a fibrous content that can be cooked down, blended and turned in to a pulp additive in paper making. I sat on my front porch, last evening and cut the tulip leaves and daffodil stems into small chunks. I can only imagine that the new neighbors across the street wonder why I was "cutting greens" from my front yard for dinner.
This is a view after about 90 minutes. After all the leaves were cut, I added about 5 tablespoons of baking soda to the pot and about 4 cups of water. The baking soda helps to break down the fiber. It's the closest ingredient to soda ash, that I use. Most articles I've read call for Soda Ash, but I'm really adament about not using a chemical.
The pot was full to the brim when the leaves started cooking. The leaves cooked down for about 2 1/2 hours. I asked my husband to describe the odor/aroma from the cooked leaves. He said "there are no words".
This is the finished harvest. The cooked leaves have been ground to a pulp and will be mixed with paper pulp on Saturday. Once the paper is made, I'll post a few photos....stay tuned!
Saturday morning isn't complete until I've pulled a few sheets of paper. This morning, after two cups of coffee, I took the "harvest" mixture from the refrigerator and mixed it with paper pulp. The results were a unique shade of green, with flecks of daffodil stems and tulip leaves. 
I pulled 36 sheets of paper and made two sheets of book markers. The inclusions in the book markers are red and yellow tulip petals, and a few stems of some type of weed growing in my neglected garden. After this sheet dries, I'll cut the paper into strips to complete the book marker. The 36 sheets of paper will take about 24 hours to dry enough for me to finish them with the iron. They are slated for journal making.
