Wild Dandelion Greens Pesto

Dandelion season is upon us!

One of our favourite wild plants, dandelion is readily available (growing nearly everywhere) and generally not at risk of being overharvested.  It's a great wild plant to start with if you are new to foraging for wild edibles, as all parts of it are edible (root, leaf and flower), it's highly nutritious, versatile and delicious.  The common dandelion is easy to identify.  Just make sure not to harvest in sprayed areas or near roadways so that the plants you pick are not toxic.

We love the dandelion flower blossoms in salads, baked goods (they make great additions to cookies and muffins), and dandelion drinks such as dandelion-lemonade, or dandelion blossom shrub (a mixed drink made with the blossoms first infused in organic raw apple cider vinegar).  Use only the yellow parts of the blossom, and cut away the green stems as these will impart bitter flavours (also stay away from the milky white sap in the stem - it has been traditionally used for curing warts, but is not desireable for eating).

Dandelion roots make a wonderful hot beverage.  Mix them with raw cacao nibs, cinnamon, vanilla, and your choice of milk, and you have yourself a delicious warming dandelion mocha chai.  Roots are best dug when they are young in the spring, but once the flower buds start to form leave the roots in the ground.  Roots are then also harvested in the fall, after the flowers die back.

Dandelion greens are amazing additions to smoothies, egg dishes, soups, salads (the young leaves are not quite so bitter), steamed greens, infused as medicinal tea, and - our absolute favourite for the greens - wild pesto.  We make pestos of all sorts, eating our "medicine" is always a nice way to go so that medicinal healing herbs and foods become commonplace in our kitchens and everyday table.  Any wild edible green will do for pesto (for example, we love including chickweed, dandelion greens, nettle tops, purslane, wild garlic, wood sorrel).  As well, culinary herbs such as garden sorrel, basils, mints, fennel, oregano, parsley, chives, garlic greens and scapes, and other leafy greens such as spinach or kale.  Feel free to substitute according to your taste and what is seasonally available, using this basic recipe below:

Wild Greens Dandelion Pesto

Ingredients:
2 cups sunflower seeds or hemp seeds (or nuts if you prefer)
1/4 cup olive oil (or more to taste)
2 tsp sea salt
1 large handful dandelion greens, freshly picked (or other wild green edibles)
1 large handful sorrel leaves, freshly picked (or add 1 Tbsp lemon juice in it's place)
fresh oregano, chives and parsley - a few sprigs each
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
water as needed (to get the consistency you like for your pesto)

Method:
1) Place all ingredients into a food processor and blend well.
2) Add more olive oil or water to get a smooth consistency.
3) Add more salt, to taste.
4) Serve with wholegrain or glutenfree crackers, mixed into grain dishes, blended into pasta, as a dip for fresh veggies, or in a grilled cheese sandwich.  Pesto is so versatile!

Wild Violet Syrup Making - a spring ritual

Making violet syrup with wild flowers is our favourite spring ritual.  We've been doing this for a few years now, usually in mid to end of April when the violets are in full bloom and ready to be picked.  They are abundant, so there is no great worry about overharvesting, though care should still be taken when wildharvesting so that we leave enough to be enjoyed in another year. 

Here is our recipe for Wild Violet Syrup!  When it's made with sugar the syrup turns a bright light pink colour - but honey does not give it this colour (though the honey version is much healthier and also just as delicious).   We serve our syrup with sparkling water as a refreshing floral spring tonic.

How to make Violet Syrup
You will need:
4 cups fresh violet flowers (not washed)
4 cups water that has just boiled
2-4 cups sugar (or honey)
8 Tbsp lemon juice

1) Place fresh violet flowers into a glass jar or measuring cup.  Cover with water that has just boiled, and place a lid or plate on top.  Steep this infusion for 24 hours (covered).

2) After 24 hours, strain the infusion.  Compost flowers, reserve the infused water.

3) Put infusion into a stainless steel pot, add sugar and lemon and bring to a boil.  Then turn down heat and simmer until sugar (or honey) is dissolved and syrup starts to thicken.  Stir constantly until syrup coats the back of the wooden spoon.  This can take from 15-30 min depending on how thick you want your syrup to be.

4) Bottle in glass jars, cap and store in the fridge.  Keeps 3 months in fridge.

5) To use:  add about 1/4 cup syrup to a glass, top with sparkling water and add fruit or ice cubes.  This is a delicious sweet and refreshing tonic to lighten your heart and put a spring in your step.

Herbal Hair Care workshop

As part of our herbal workshop series we recently had a class on herbal hair care - making herbal shampoos, rinses, and conditioning oils using simple herbs like peppermint, sage, lavender, chamomile, calendula, nettle, thyme, yarrow, rosemary, rose petals and evening primrose, harvested from the garden at Little City Farm.

We started the class by talking about what to avoid in any commercial cosmetics (organic/natural or not) such as phthalates, formeldahyde, parabens, SLS, fragrances and more.  The Environmental Working Group offers loads of useful information on their SkinDeep Database, and David Suzuki Foundation offers information about DIY projects to make at home (see Queen of Green).

Here is the shampoo we made:

Simple Herbal Shampoo
Ingredients:
4 cups water
1 cup dried herbs (e.g. sage-nettle for dark hair, calendula-chamomile for light hair)
2 tsp sea salt

1 cup castille soap (unscented)
4 Tbsp witch hazel

20-40 drops pure essential oil (e.g. lavender, ylang, rose, peppermint combo)

1) Bring water to a boil in a small pot.  Take off the heat and add herbs and sea salt. 
2) Stir to combine and dissolve salt.  Let herbs steep until water has cooled (or overnight for stronger infusion).

3) When tea has cooled, strain out the herbs. 
4) Add 1 cup castille soap and 4 Tbsp witch hazel and stir gently to combine.
5) Now add choice of pure essential oils (be aware some essential oils should be used with caution if you are pregnant or have other medical conditions).

6) Store your finished shampoo in a reused plastic bottle, or mason jar.  Label with ingredients and date.  Keeps for about 1 year. 
7) To use: put small amount of shampoo on your hand, then lather over hair and rinse off.  Follow with an apple cider vinegar rinse (optional) once a month or as needed.

Herbal Apple Cider Vinegar Hair Rinse
This simple hair rinse is very effective at rinsing off any build-up and residue on hair.  Use about once a month or it can be drying on hair.  Only use apple cider vinegar, not other types of vinegar.

1) Fill mason jar about 1/3-1/2 full with dried herbs (your choice for your hair - e.g. nettle, mint, sage, thyme, lavender, calendula).
2) Fill mason jar with apple cider vinegar, covering herbs completely and leaving about 1/2 inch headspace at top of your jar.  Cap jar tightly.
3) Set jar on a plate, and let jar steep in a sunny window for about 2-4 weeks (or longer) to infuse the vinegar with the herbs.  Shake jar every few days to fully combine the herbs and avoid them from clumping together.
4) When done steeping, strain the vinegar and compost herbs.  Pour vinegar back into the jar, and store either in fridge (for longer storage) or bathroom cupboard.  Label and date the jar.
5) To use: this rinse can be used after shampooing hair, as a conditioner.  It should only be used about once a month.  Fill a cup 3/4 full with warm water, and add 1/4 apple cider vinegar rinse.  Pour slowly over hair.  Rinse out after 10 minutes, or leave on hair without rinsing (if you don't mind the apple cider vinegar smell).

Local Superfood Spotlight: Purslane

We love wild foods here, currently harvesting the last dandelion greens, lambs quarters, plantain, and loads of wild grape leaves.  Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) is another wild food that is abundant, but many people are not so familiar with.  It grows wild on the edges of our garden and once it arrives it is plentiful (though not entirely invasive as it's easy enough to pull up by the shallow roots).  But it is delicious (like a rich spinach or chard) and needs to be used - plus, the health benefits of this local superfood are abundant:  it is rich in fibre, vitamins and minerals, and contains a huge amount of omega-3 (some say more than any other leafy plant!).  It is good for our skin, urinary and digestive systems. It also has a perfect combination between antioxidants, omega 3 fatty acids, potassium, calcium, magnesium and carotene.  

A friend shared her purslane lemonade suggestion with us.  Since we love making herbal lemonades, and herbal-rich smoothies, this made a great addition to our summer drink selections.  Here is our variation on the purslane elixir.  If you can't find wild purslane it can also be grown indoors or in a greenhouse/garden bed as a microgreen. 

Purslane Elixir

You will need:
1-2 lemons
honey or maple syrup to taste
large handful fresh purslane
2 cups water
2-4 ice cubes

1) Put 2 cups water into blended.  Add juice of lemons and handful purslane, and ice.  Blend on high until smooth (about 1 minute).
2) Strain drink for lemonade consistency, or don't strain and drink as a rich green smoothie.  
3) Sweeten to taste.

Rose Water - with local organic roses

We got a bouquet of lovely deeply scented roses from our local organic fruit & flower buying club (check out The Good Peach if you live in our area!).  We don't usually buy cut flowers, for many reasons - they are expensive, they are usually not organic and fair traded, and we grow many flowers in our own garden to supply summer bouquets. 

However, these roses were gorgeous and from a local organic farm, so to have them in vases around the house during a birthday week was a treat.  But once the blooms were open it seemed a shame to simply compost these blossoms, which were still incredibly vibrant in colour and scent.  I separated all the petals and dried them on old window screens.  Then steeped them in witch hazel to make a rose water, to be used as rose water toner or added into a facial lotion.   After only a day the witch hazel was already glowing with a vibrant deep pink colour.  Simple, lovely, great way to quickly preserve roses before they neared their end.

I large bouquet (12 roses) made 1 full litre of rose water.

Rose water is a beneficial facial cleanse and skin toner that has been used for centuries.  Rose water has anti-inflammatory properties, aids in healing skin irritations, eczema, dermatitis, hydrates dry skin and also tones oily skin, helps reduce the signs of aging on the skin, and so much more.  It also helps with gently healing cuts, scrapes, scars and scratches.  It's cooling on a hot day as a facial mist and leaves you feeling refreshed.  Rose water is so simple to make and great for any skin type.

Making Rose Water

You will need:
1 litre mason jar, lid and ring
1 dozen fresh roses
witch hazel (1 litre)

1) Separate rose petals from the stalks (ideally when flower blooms have just opened).  Let wilt or dry slightly. 
2) Gently pack into clean mason jar, cover with witch hazel by about 1-2 inches.
3) Shake jar gently to infuse and distribute.  Add more witch hazel as needed to cover petals.
4) Let stand on kitchen counter (out of direct sunlight) for at least 2 weeks.  Shake jar every few days.
5) When infused, strain witch hazel and compost flowers.
6) Store in dark glass bottle with mister top (to use as rose water).  Or add rose water to lotions.
7) Keeps indefinitely.  Label your jars FOR EXTERNAL USE ONLY.

Blueberry picking!

We are so fortunate to have a no-spray (nearly organic) u-pick blueberry farm nearby!  It's an annual family outing and adventure for us to go picking, usually not just on one day but many throughout the late July to August. We love to have our freezer stocked with frozen blueberries for winter smoothies and baking, as well as dried for handfuls added to trailmixes, granolas - or, our latest favourite way to preserve fruit, as fruit leather!  Here is a quick oven or dehydrator method for making blueberry fruit leather.

Blueberry Fruit Leather - easy oven or dehydrator method

You will need:

• 1 lb fresh or frozen blueberries (or other fruit - apricots, cherries, peaches, etc)
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp honey (optional)

Method:

 

1) Preheat oven to 170F (or prepare dehydrator sheets).

2) Prepare baking sheet (or dehydrator sheet) with parchment. 

3) Place ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.  Add a little water as necessary to help blend.

4) Pour blended juice onto prepared baking sheet or dehydrator screen.

5) Spread out evening, but leave a margin around the edges of the pan/sheet.

6) Bake 6-7 hours in oven (aprox the same in dehydrator) until juice is not sticky anymore.

7) Cut into sheets or strips, roll up in the parchment paper into snack sized portions.

8) Store in glass mason jars.  Enjoy!

Practical Herbalist series - session 1

The first of this season's 4-part Practical Herbalist workshop series brought 14 eager participants to us today.  Over the course of 4 months (June-Sept) we are meeting one Saturday morning per month as a group. 

The goals are to provide hands-on practical experience in herbal medicine making, including harvesting and using leaves, berries, flowers, roots, bark, seeds (each as they come into their prime in the Little City Farm garden); wild-harvesting plants with the emphasis on local nutrient-dense "superfood" wild plants to be used as both food and medicine; and also helping each participant to develop a deeper relationship to medicinal plants while learning in the simpler tradition (i.e. building a relationship with plants that is hands-on, locally focused, creating simple remedies made by hand together). 

There is "homework" to be done each month between get-togethers, so that participants have the chance to practice what was talked about during the session; and also herb journals/or herbariums to work on - we will be covering 22 locally available plants so the hope is that each participant will have a good working knowledge of how to best prepare these plants for use, and how to use safely and effectively in their home for first aid and general minor ailments. 

It's a lot to pack into four short sessions, but with the month time between each workshop the participants can work as extensively as they are interested or able, to further their knowledge as we go along.  My role is facilitator and guide, helping as they develop their own personal path for herbalism.  I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with such a wonderful and interesting group of participants in this way over the summer.

Today we worked with peppermint, lemon balm, nettle, red raspberry leaf, and plantain (Plantago major)- harvesting and processing these plants to make a plantain solar-infused oil; and a solar-infused sun tea (equal parts nettle, red rasp leaf, peppermint and lemon balm).  We also made a delicious nutrient-dense green smoothie with plantain, mint and lemon balm.  I especially love using locally wild-harvested herbs as food, (i.e. free "food as medicine").  Plantain is high in B vitamins, protein, Vit C and Vit K, and fatty acids.

Plantain Nutrient-Dense Green Smoothie
(adapted from a recipe by Rosemary Gladstar)

You will need:
2 cups pineapple or pear juice, organic and/or fresh
1 large handfuls of fresh plantain leaves *
small handful fresh peppermint leaves (a few sprigs)
small handful fresh lemon balm leaves (a few sprigs)
1 banana
3-4 icecubes
water to adjust consistency

* fresh plantain can be interchanged with other fresh nutrient-rich herbs like red clover, or red raspberry leaf

Method:
1) Blend everything in a blender until smooth.  Stir to mix in the foam which will form on top (delicious!).
2) Drink iced, immediately.
3) Very refreshing on a hot day!
4) Serves 6-8 people.