Local Superfood Spotlight: Black Raspberries

Move over goji and acai berry!  We have wild black raspberries here, and they are free, abundant, and packed with nutrition.  By now it's mid July, and it's proving to be a very bountiful berry harvest this year!  Currently, the black raspberries are in full production, growing wild along many ditches, park trails and roadways.  They line our back fenceline in huge bushes - a wild weedy patch, yet abundant in fruit.  We have have the pleasure of going out each morning for the past week to harvest huge bowls of berries for breakfast, with more than enough to stock up the freezer as well. 

Tips for harvesting:
Black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis) is related to the red raspberry (Rubus ideus), is native to North America and grows wild in many locations, including urban areas like parks, trails, river banks, ditches, and other abandoned lands.  The berries are ripe when deep dark red-black coloured, and should come off easily when plucked from the stem.  The stems and stalks are prickly with little thorns, so some careful picking is necessary in order not to get scratched.  But the slow careful picking is well worth it, as these black raspberries are amazing in luscious, rich flavour.  Here is an interesting site to tell you about the differences between red and black raspberries, as well as how to differentiate between a black raspberry and a blackberry.

Why are black raspberries a superfood?
Black raspberries (as well as blackberries and red raspberries) are extremely high in antioxidants, meaning they offer multiple health benefits including cancer-fighting properties.  The black raspberries specifically contain high levels of anthocyanins, which give them their rich, dark color. Anthocyanins work as antioxidants that help fight free radical damage in the body.  

How to use:
Eat ripe berries warm off the plant!  Feed to your kids!  Get them to help you pick.  Or freeze, dry or cook into jelly, jam, or syrup.  The black raspberry leaves can also be used for herbal tea, either hot or iced.  Steep a handful of fresh leaves (or 1-2 Tbsp dried) in 4 cups water that has just boiled for at least 10 minutes.  Sweeten with honey or maple syrup, or add fresh mint leaves to the tea blend for additional flavour.  All species of raspberry are medicinal, usually red or black raspberry is most common for women's tea (helps to regulate hormones, helps to tone uterus before labour and birthing, rich in minerals and calcium).

Local Superfood Spotlight: Mulberries

End of June, and the mulberries are ripe.  It seems there was a nice trend to plant mulberries and service berries in public areas around our town as edible landscaping some years ago, and we are now reaping the benefits.  There seem to be ripe mulberry or service berry trees on nearly every street, often the service berries are lining the boulevard all the way along.

Tips for harvesting:
The mulberry trees are generally easy to spot - distinctive lobed leaves, and the tell-tale signs of a blue-stained sidewalk or roadway below.   These trees can be quite tall, so picking by ladder might be in order to get the most benefit.  It's often easiest to gather the berries that have fallen to the ground, or climb the lower tree limbs and shake the branches to drop berries below onto a waiting ground sheet.

Why are mulberries a superfood?
Mulberries are one of our amazing nutrient-dense local superfoods.  They are full of antioxidants, high levels of vitamins (A, C, E, K), iron, protein and fibre, and also help boost the immune system. They have been found to regulate the blood sugar, and also help cleanse the blood and detoxify the body by stimulating the liver.  They are all around wonderful, tasty, and easily harvestable locally (for free!) if you take a bit of time to find them.

How to use:
We love freezing mulberries for winter smoothies, but also eat them fresh in our granola, or by the handful as we pick them.  They make a wonderful pie, jam and jelly as well.  Mulberries, when dried, are perfect for trailmixes or eating as a snack on the go.

Wild Harvest - Violet Syrup

Finally spring has fully arrived, and the first violets are in full bloom.  There were enough this week for our daughter and friend to harvest a nice basket full from our yard and a nearby field, and we made violet syrup together.  It took us about half an hour to pick the 4 cups violets we needed for this recipe.  Violet syrup is a beautiful pink colour and can be used to make delicious healthful drinks (see below).  Violets are high in Vitamin C, and are traditionally said to calm and uplift the spirits - thus also known by the common name "heartsease".  They are a gorgeous deep purple, with small heart-shaped leaves which are also edible.  To learn more about wild edibles of spring consider taking one of our Wild Edibles Workshops (April 30 and May 28) here at Little City Farm.

While we were out picking, the girls and I talked about three rules for ethical wild harvesting that are good to remember:

a) know your plants - properly identify the plant before harvesting and using (using a reputable plant ID book, or going with a knowledgeable person), know which parts to use, what time of season to harvest, and how to properly prepare the plant as some wild edibles should not be eaten raw

b) harvest respectfully, carefully and sparingly - only harvest about 1/4-1/3 of the plant collections you find so there are always enough left for other harvesters, as well as to go to seed and continue a strong plant for next season - it should basically not look like you have done any harvesting at all after you are done

c) choose plants from a safe and healthy location - avoid harvests near roadways, dog walking areas, and of course any areas where pesticides may have been sprayed

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.

Wild greens! Spring nettle quiche

Wild spring nettles are up!  Our patch in the woodland part of the yard is blooming well, and we were able to make some of our favourite nettle foods this weekend - nettle tea, nettle greens smoothie, and nettle quiche.  Nettle pairs well with so many foods, tasting a bit like a bitter dandelion or spinach.  Delicious with eggs and cheese (try our nettle-kopita recipe), but wonderful with honey in a strongly brewed herbal infusion.  It also makes a great addition to a herbal shampoo as it softens and conditions hair.

Nettle (Urtica dioica) also known as stinging nettle, is rich in iron and minerals.  Traditionally it has been used as a skin purifier, to aid rheumatism, help with allergies (hay fever), stimulate the digestive organs, to help promote milk production in nursing mothers, and so much more.

Keep in mind when harvesting that nettle stalks and stems are covered with tiny hairs that are very prickly and will sting the bare skin, thus the name "stinging" nettle.  For some foragers this is not an issue (you can gt used to the stinging over time) but as a new forager be mindful to harvest wearing gloves, long pants and closed shoes (not a great idea of walk with shorts or sandals into a tall nettle patch unless you don't mind the stinging), or very very carefully and slowly.  Once nettles are steamed, infused, or cooked the sting is completely gone.

Here is our recipe for nettle quiche:

Nettle Quiche
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk (dairy or non-dairy)
salt and pepper to taste
cheese of choice (e.g. feta, cheddar), about 1-2 cups
large handful washed fresh nettles, chopped
green onions and/or garlic greens
1 Tbsp butter, melted
one single-crust unbaked pie dough, arranged in pie pan

Whisk eggs and milk.
Add salt and pepper.
Put cheese, greens and other veggies into bottom of pie crust.
Pour egg-milk mixture on top of greens.
Pour butter onto the egg-mixture.
Bake at 400F for about 30 min.
Makes one large quiche.

Wild Smoothies! Urban Wild Kids Classes at LCF

We've had a great time with wild edibles lately!  Not only harvesting wild fall edibles for our household (more to come shortly about rosehips and goldenrod) but also hosting classes on the topic. 

For the first time this year we are including classes for children - and wild edibles is one topic that is so much fun to introduce to kids.  Our friend Jackie has been here to facilitate the "kids urban wild" series, and did a nice job of explaining simple methods for properly identifying, safely harvesting, and using wild edibles that are all around us.   The way she introduced the tastes of wild foods to the kids in the workshop was to make "wild smoothies".  First we all talked about the plant and how to identify it, then we walked around the yard collecting samples of the plant (so fun to see kids with little baskets traipsing around the yard picking wild greens), and tasted the leaves raw, then added them in the blender with smoothie ingredients to make delicious healthful wild blends.  The plants we included in our wild smoothies were common plants that are not easily over-harvested because they grow wild everywhere around us: dandelion, wood sorrel, lamb's quarter, and wild lettuce.  These can be added a small handful at a time, to taste (depending on how "green" you like your smoothie).

Wild Green Smoothie Base Recipe
1 banana
1 cup hemp milk (or nut milk of your choice)
1 Tbsp chia seeds or hemp seeds
1-2 Tbsp nut butter (hemp butter, almond butter, etc)
1 handful wild greens (dandelion is the most bitter, wood sorrel is lemon tasting, lamb's quarter like spinach)
3-4 ice cubes

Blend well!  Add more hemp milk to thin drink if it's too thick.  Add more banana if the flavour is too bitter.
Experiment with combinations of wild greens (nettle, fennel, dandelion, wild lettuce, wood sorrel, etc).
You can combine all manner of garden greens (chard, spinach, kale, pea shoots) with the wild greens to soften the bitter flavours.  Enjoy!

Service berry season & pie recipe

The service berries are ready!  Service berries (aka. June berries, or Saskatoon berries) are small trees or large shrubs, with delicious edible sweet berries that almost have a taste similar to wild blueberries.  It's looking like an amazing year for these berries so far, as all the trees that line boulevards in our neighbourhood are loaded with berries.  We have been so pleased for discover the service berry over the past years, as we wild forage around the city.  It seems to be a common tree to be planted by the city as part of their landscaping design, and we counted 30 service berry trees lining the sidewalk of one street not far from our house.  These trees eventually get too big to fully harvest without using ladders, and the birds do love the berries too (so they take the higher ones which works out just fine).  However, on our daily walks around town (now always with extra bags and containers along, just in case we need to harvest something) my daughter and I have been able to gather small handfuls from various trees we pass - enough to make a batch of mini pies, a few dozen muffins, and put away some berries in the freezer for winter.

Service Berry Pie with Butter Crust

Best Butter Crust
1 1/2 cups spelt or kamut flour (or wheat, or combination)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup chilled organic butter (or coconut oil)
3-4 Tbsp ice water

Mix flour, salt and butter with hands to form small pea-sized bits.
Add water one Tbsp at a time, mixing just until dough comes together.  Do not overmix.
Chill for at least 30 min, then roll out dough using extra flour on table top.
Makes 1 large pie.

Service Berry Filling
4-6 cups service berries (or mix of berries)
2 Tbsp arrowroot
a few Tbsp water
cinnamon
maple syrup

Mix filling, add to unbaked pie shell.  Bake at 350F oven for about 30 min.

In the garden today

What's coming up in your garden?  Here are a few snapshots of the greens I've seen around here, just starting to peek out of the soil - chives, garlic greens, onions, nettle, dandelion, kale, sorrel, rhubarb, budding currents and gooseberries, herbs like bergamot, lemonbalm, catnip and peppermint for tea making, and of course the forsythias, lilacs and willows nearly in bloom...

Wild edible spring flowers - wild violets!

There have been lots of spring showers (and snow, and sleet) lately - but the spring flowers have finally arrived.  We've been picking lots of wild edibles to add to our salad mixes from the greenhouse - dandelion greens, fresh nettles, wild garlic, and these delicate violets. 

Here is a great article from the website of renowned herbalist Susun Weed about the medicinal and health benefits of eating wild violets.  The flowers and young greens are edible, and are a great blood purifier for a spring body detox.  They stimulate the immune system and the lymph glands to help the body get rid of toxins.  Wild violets are loaded with minerals, vitamins A and C, and add beautiful bold colour into salads.

We'll be hosting one more Wild Spring Edibles Workshop here on May 16 for those who are interested in learning more about gleaning the nutrient-dense delicious wild foods that are all around us! 

Practical Herbalist Series * Starts in June!

4-PART PRACTICAL HERBALIST SERIES
 
Cost: $200 ($140/workshops plus $60/materials)  - Pre-registration required

TO REGISTER go to our website here.

An exciting unique 4-part series, that includes 12 hours of instruction and hands-on learning, plus some "home" assignments between sessions.  Workshops will be held on 4 Saturday mornings, from June to September.  This series is led by Karin Kliewer (Master Herbalist) at Little City Farm in Kitchener.

AT THE END OF THIS SERIES YOU WILL HAVE GAINED:

• confidence and knowledge of growing and using basic medicinal herbs at home
• a well-stocked pantry of simple effective herbal home remedies you have made
• hands-on experience making 10+ herbal products (e.g. oils, salves, poultices, liniments, decoctions, tinctures, cough syrups, etc)
• familiarity with 20+ medicinal herbs (see list of “focus herbs” for each session below)
• guidelines for herbal dosages, basic herbal first aid for home use
• general understanding of plant identification and ethical wild harvesting
• hands-on experience harvesting, storing, drying and using medicinal herbs including leaves, blossoms, roots, berries, seeds and bark
• basic understanding of herbal gardening, herbal propagation, planting and seed saving
• simple outline for starting your own medicinal herb garden at home
• knowledge of where to source quality herbs and herbal product-making supplies
• a collection of herbal recipes, hand-outs and other useful resources
• a network of other community members interested in natural herbal healing

Please see below for more details on topics we will cover in each session

This Practical Herbalist Series is limited to 10 participants.  One goal of this series is to create a continuous small-group shared learning environment, so priority will be given to participants who can commit to taking all 4 sessions. For questions, or registration please contact Karin at: info@littlecityfarm.ca / or 519-575-9174.

PRACTICAL HERBALIST SERIES DATES & DETAILS:

 

Session 1: Spring Leaves - Sat, June 14 from 9-12 noon
In this session you will learn: how to properly identify and harvest herbs; ethical wild harvesting; basic herb gardening (planting and propagating herbs); 10 medicinal herb teas to grow at home; drying & storing herbs; general guidelines for using herbal leaves, flowers, roots, berries, seeds and bark; setting up your herbal home medicinal making space; and making herbal infusions.  Our focus herbs will be red raspberry leaf, lemon balm, peppermint and nettle.

Session 2: Summer Blossoms - Sat, July 12 from 9-12 noon

In this session you will learn: guidelines for using herbal remedies externally; making herbal medicinal oils, salves, poultices and liniments; basic herbal first aid.  Our focus herbs will be calendula, lavender, red clover, marsh mallow, comfrey and plantain.

Session 3: Fall Harvest - Sat, Aug 9 from 9-12 noon

In this session you will learn: herbs for radiant hair and skin care; herbal baths for children; making herbal shampoos, face creams, scrubs, and facial cleansers. Our focus herbs will be rosemary, chamomile, yarrow, witch hazel and rose.

              

Session 4: Winter Roots - Sat, Sept 13 from 9-12 noon

In this session you will learn: herb seed saving; guidelines for using herbal remedies internally; general herbal dosage information for children and adults; herbal winter remedies for colds and flu; making herbal decoctions, tinctures, cough syrups and lozenges.  Our focus herbs will be sage, elderberry, rosehip, slippery elm, fennel and echinacea.

Mulberries and urban fruit foraging

Our mulberry tree is finally producing - we have both a male and female tree in our yard, both planted not by us but by birds dropping seeds.  It's one of the nice surprises we got when we started tending our overgrown part of the yard (former driveway) that was behind our strawbale house addition after the building project was done. The male doesn't produce fruit, but the female tree is loaded with berries this year.  This tree is already high enough that the top branches need to be harvested by ladder, but luckily the low branches droop down and many higher berries fall to the ground when ripe.  There is certainly more than enough for us to gather.

It reminds us of the many forgotten fruit trees, berries and other wild edibles all around our city, left over from old orchards or planted in parks, boulevards or yards.  Just in walking distance right in our own neighbourhood, the service berries lining the boulevard of the next street over are in full swing with delicious berries just low enough to reach when you walk by on the sidewalk; there are several large mulberries in a park nearby; wild grapes and raspberries are growing all along the old railway line; and an old apple orchard with 4 well-producing trees is behind an older factory.  This is not even considering all the fruit trees that may be forgotten in yards where homeowners no longer tend them.  Our cities are full of food, and we could be much more organized in planting, tending and harvesting it.  In many cities there are urban harvesting groups that are banding together to collect these delicious resources - Not Far From the Tree in Toronto is a wonderful example.

This Moment

{This moment} - This moment - an end of week ritual, no words, just a special photo to remember, savour, enjoy. 

Berrying

Wild berries are ripening and abundant everywhere here in the city!  We've been feasting on black raspberries, currants, service berries, and mulberries, and try to keep a few harvest containers in our bike trailer at all times just in case we come across a patch of edible berries along our travels.  It feels so rewarding to wild harvest the berries that are often overlooked and forgotten.  The wild grapes are coming in volume too...and early  tomorrow morning we are going for the annual blueberry picking at a favourite nearby organic blueberry farm.  We love berry season in this house - our hands, faces, knees and shirts become stained with the delicious dark sweet juice, smells of rich jam-making fill the house, many berries go into the freezer for enjoyment over the cold months, and of course handfuls upon handfuls go straight into our mouths still warm from the sun! 

Here's a simple recipe that we created for using both blueberry (or any berries) and rhubarb.  We use the Pumona's pectin (a low sugar pectin) so you can reduce the amount of sweetener and still get a perfect result.   The jam tastes like pure blueberries even though it requires minimal amounts - the rhubarb blends well with the berries and helps to stretch the volume of jam you get.  You can use fresh or frozen berries and rhubarb.


Wild Berry-Rhubarb Jam

4 cups chopped rhubarb (make sure you have some pink stalks so you get a richer colour of jam)
1/2 cup water
2-3 cups blueberries or other berries (mulberries, blackberries, service berries)
1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
4 cups sugar
2 tsp calcium water (this comes in powder form with the Pumona's pectin)
4 1/2 tsp Pumona's pectin

1. Bring rhubarb and water to a boil, and simmer 5 minutes or until thickened. 
2. Add berries and sugar, and heat to dissolve sugar. 
3. Blend with a submersible blender until jam has desired consistency.
4. Add calcium water and pectin as directed on Pumona's instructions.
5. Bring jam to a hard boil for at least 1 minute.
6. Ladle hot jam into hot, clean and sterilized mason jars. 
7. Follow regular jam processing instructions (add hot lids and rings, process 5 minutes once canner returns to a rolling boil).

Makes 7 1/2-8 cups jam.

The healing ways of violets

Now that spring has fully arrived, it's time for the harvest of various early season wild herbs such as dandelion, young burdock root, stinging nettle, comfrey, motherwort, and this week's favourite around here, violets.  Violets are beautiful, abundant, fragrant and healing.  Their long list of healing properties has been part of medicinal folklore for centuries, to aid in skin conditions, liver cleanses, inflammation, even cancer prevention.  They can be eaten fresh in salads, taken as a tonic/infusion or preserved as a tincture.  One of the common names for violet is "heartsease", which speaks to it's calming and grounding influence when taken during times of stress and anxiety.    Harvest flowers in the mid morning, after all dew has evaporated and before the hotter sun of afternoon wilts the flowers.  Use immediately to gain the most potent medicinal value of these gentle flowers.

These past days - herb harvesting, first strawberries!

The humid warm weather and long damp rainy days has led to our earliest strawberries ever!  We've been enjoying them all week already - though our strawberry patches are small, planted as a kind of perennial permaculture-style edible groundcover under our fruit trees, they are abundant this year.  The apples on our old erab apple tree are also quickly ripening, and I shared the first red cherry off our tree with our daughter this morning.  We've also been eating garlic scapes, sorrel, spinach, lettuce greens, wild grape leaves (mmm), and fresh bunching onions from the garden.  Peas are shooting up, wee baby carrots are slivering their way through the soil, and of course copious amounts of wonderful rhubarb has made it's way into crisps, crumbles and cordials.  The herb harvest has begun for this season - including raspberry leaves, nettle, red clover, dandelion root, parsley, chives, oregano, mints, lemon balm, yarrow, feverfew, sage...It's amazing that it's only early June, we've barely planted the seedlings into the ground, and already so much abundance is all around us. It's been a busy stretch as we've reworked our entire garden, adding new raised beds, new mulch for paths, keyhole beds, and redigging and organizing the herb sections!  Whew!

Natural plant dyes workshop - rhubarb leaves

Thanks again to our friend Erin who came by to lead her fabulous workshop on using natural plants as dyes!  Erin first led this workshop last year during our Spotlight Festival tour, and had rave reviews. It was great to have her back!  This time she brought samples of various dyes she's been trying out on wool (using raw, spun and knitted pieces), including a gorgeous red from Brazilwood, blue from purple cabbage, creamy yellow from dandelions (flowers, leaves and roots), green from black-eyed susan flowers, and light brown from black walnut hulls. 

Erin talked about the process of dyeing, including using mordants, fixatives, and modifiers; plants that can be used (many that are available by wildharvesting, or easy to grow in our own gardens), and the many many variables in the dyeing process - everything from length in the dye bath, to quality of water used (rain water vs. tap water), to containers used for dyeing (aluminum pots, copper pots), quality and quantity of plants used, texture of the fibre, mordants, etc.  She advised keeping records if you wish to come up with a similar dye a second time, or better yet, dyeing all materials for one project in one batch so the colour is mostly consistent.  Here are the basic steps - the list looks quite involved, but really this is a simple process that just has many small steps.  For our workshop we used 100% wool (starting with white colour), alum as our mordant, washing soda as our assist, and rhubarb leaves as our dye agent:

1) weigh the fibre in grams (e.g. wool, silk, linen, hemp, etc) - in our case it was 100% wool yarn
2) choose a mordant and measure out appropriate weight in grams (e.g. we used alum) - the weight of the wool divided by 12 = weight of alum
3) choose an assist and measure out in grams (e.g. we used washing soda/soda ash/sodium carbonate, which can be found in the laundry section of the grocery store) - the weight of the wool divided by 37 = weight of assist
4) record this recipe in a record book if you wish to get similar results next time
5) add mordant and assist to the pot of boiling water (we used a stainless steel pot, not copper as this acts as a mordant and will change the final colour)
6) add wool to the pot of boiling water
7) add dye agent to the pot of boiling water (we used rhubarb leaves, as many as we could fit into the pot - other dye agents could be measured out more accurately in grams - usually using 100-200% more weight than the fibre to get a strong enough intensity)
8) choose a modifier - optional - by adding a modifier you will again create variations in the dye colour (e.g. vinegar brings the shades into the red spectrum; washing soda brings the shades into the blue spectrum; iron darkens the shade)
9) vegetable fibres like linen, hemp or cotton have cellulose so need tannic acid to help break down fibres so colour will take (e.g. use black tea or oak leaves added to the dye bath)
10) choose a fixative like salt to help colour to last
11) let fibre steep in dye bath for desired length of time (overnight, or longer)
12) strain, cool, then rinse and hang dry or spin dry (in salad spinner, or laundry spin cycle for larger pieces)