In about a week or so, one of my favourite, highly anticipated natural events of the summer starts to occur. The milkweed comes into bloom. The flowers of Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) are exquisite, delicate things that are a delight to the eye and the nose. In an umbrella-like cluster, they have five backward-pointing petals on top of which are set pale purple/pinkish cups or hoods, each with an upcurved horn in the centre. To stand in a large patch of blooming milkweed on a hot summer’s day, breathing in the sweet, candy-like scent, closing your eyes and surrendering to the moment, is to be transported to a dreamy, swoony kind of place. I highly recommend it. If you’re not into dreamy and swoony that’s ok. Milkweed pleases the palate just as much as the sniffer. With at least four different edible parts throughout the growing season, milkweed gives generously to the cooking pot for many months. Right now it’s all about the unopened flower buds.* Gather one or two flower clusters per plant, leaving enough for other creatures, for the plant to produce yummy pods that you can come back and harvest later, and of course enough to go to seed so milkweed can continue to thrive. (It’s a highly noxious weed or precious species depending on whether you are talking to a farmer or a monarch butterfly loving conservationist. It’s a native plant, common and widespread, from which I harvest somewhat freely but conscientiously, carefully observing my harvest patches for overall health, signs of stress or declining population.) If you don’t want to get your fingers coated in the sticky, white latex, wear gloves. I don’t bother, because then I have to deal with sticky gloves. I’ll wash my hands far sooner than the gloves. Once home, set the flowerbuds in a bowl of cold water to remove dust, dirt or critters. Now you have options. Steamed or boiled until tender they can be eaten as is, lightly seasoned or added to stir-fries, pasta dishes and the like. I’ve pickled them in the past, using the 3 Foragers’ recipe for Milkweed Flowerbud Capers. Very yum. For the two plant walks I gave last week I opted for a quick and easy finger food that I knew was sure to please. I made milkweed fritters. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add your milkweed flowerbuds. When water then returns to a boil start your timer for 5 minutes. When the timer goes off remove the milkweed into a bowl of icy cold water to stop the cooking process. Drain and gently press out excess water. Spread on a clean towel to dry. Then prepare your batter. I cheated and purchased a pre-made, organic, gluten-free batter mix that called for a cup of mix, one egg and club soda. It was easy. I like easy. So use your grandma’s favourite from scratch batter recipe, or cheat like me and buy something pre-made; I’m sure a pancake or tempura batter would work great. If anyone questions it, just tell them it’s how you roll. But be prepared to get funny looks if ‘that’s how I roll’ is no longer in the popular lexicon. I think I might be beyond the age to know about those kinds of things and can’t be trusted as a source of contemporary slang. YOLO! In a pot or wok, heat a good quality, high-heat oil to 375F. Dip your flowerbuds in the batter. If you harvested them with a bit of stem, it makes for easy handling. Into the oil they go! Deep fry until golden brown, remove with a slotted spot and allow to drain on, well if you’re like me and think paper towels are the devil, then use recycled, plain newsprint that comes as packaging for things, that you can then compost. Just do what feels right! The important thing is, now you have crunchy, fluffy, tasty milkweed flowerbud fritters to impress your friends with! Dust with salt and pepper and serve forthwith.
*Not all milkweed species are edible and some are toxic. Stick with the Common Milkweed, Asclepias syriaca. “I never had any other desire so strong, and so like covetousness, as that… I might be master at last of a small house and a large garden, with very moderate conveniences joined to them, and there dedicate the remainder of my life to the culture of them and the study of nature.”~Abraham Crowley I’m a city girl with a country heart. I have dreams of living on a smallholding on the edge of a quiet village, where I can step out my back door that leads directly into my kitchen garden and the loudest sounds come from the birds, the wind in the trees and the chirrup of frogs and crickets. The reality is, when I step out my door I walk down three flights of steps to the asphalt of the parking lot of the building I live in and the sound of traffic is louder than the birds and wind in the trees. What’s a Laura Ingalls Wilder loving girl to do? Weep into her bonnet? Never! No, instead I’m working on creating a hybrid life, with the best of both worlds. I take advantage of big city amenities and live out the country life my heart longs for, in the midst of hustle and bustle. The biggest and most exciting addition to my country-in-the-city life is access to a 1/2 acre of land which will be the growing site of the Wild Garden. As part of an amazing opportunity offered through the Just Food Start-Up Farm Program, I can live out my rural dreams in an urban environment. I’m thrilled to have a piece of land that I can steward for a long time. My goal is to implement a permaculture design for the site that will improve soil fertility, increase biodiversity, establish at-risk native plants, harvest and conserve water, produce exceptional medicinal and wild, edible plants, and of course look beautiful! I have a looooong way to go and a lot of work to do to accomplish those things, but I’ll take it one step at a time, working with nature and observing the land. This was the site in early spring. Overgrown with grasses, goldenrod, shrubs and small trees, the land hasn’t been touched in at least 30 years. Looking north, the back of the site faces a beautiful ravine with a small creek. To the East is a thin wood line with poplars, willows, spruce, pine and fir. The site was cleared and disced multiple times. The soil in the front half is heavy clay and wet, wet wet! My plan was to start at the front and work my way back, but one look and I had to adjust that. The soil at the back is in much better shape. It still has lots of clay but is mixed with sand and is much better drained. Most of the work done this year will happen in this half. The goal is to work towards a mostly no-till site, but I have to say I am grateful to have use of a walk-behind rototiller while I’m getting the garden established. The main crop going in this year is oats. As a cover crop, oats will add organic matter to the soil, improving soil condition, (hopefully) suppress weeds, retain moisture and reduce erosion. Oats are a wonderful medicinal plant as well, used as a nourishing infusion rich in minerals to support the nervous system. I’ve also planted smaller amounts of red clover and alfalfa, both nitrogen-fixing cover crops with medicinal uses as well. Later this season I hope to lay out permanent raised beds on contour, but because I had plant starts that desperately needed to get into the ground, I’ve been planting things in one area rather haphazardly. It’s not ideal, but the plants aren’t complaining. I’m still working out the permaculture design on paper, but have a good idea of what I want the large elements to be and where I want them to go. No doubt this will change over time as I get to know the land more intimately and learn from my mistakes.
From a glance, it doesn’t look like much is going on, but I’m happy to report that the oats, alfalfa and clover are up and so far there are 36 different kinds of plants in the ground. This is just the beginning of a long and exciting journey; a journey that I’m thrilled to be on! Spruce trips are the tender, growth on spruce trees. Around here, they appear in mid-May. Take a look at your nearest spruce tree and you’ll notice vibrant, lime green shoots at the ends and along the sides of the branches. A closer look reveals these tips are soft and succulent. Take a nibble and if you have a particularly tasty tree you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the bright, zesty, lemony flavour. I look forward to spruce tips and their citrusy flavour every spring. I’ve made syrup with them, infused them into salt and chopped them finely to add to salads. Some people pickle them. This year my favourite thing to do is blend them to use as a dip, dressing and sauce for fish. Here’s what I do. Gather a few handfuls of spruce tips and chop finely. (A note on harvesting spruce tips: See the first picture of spruce tips at the top of the post? Notice how there are three tips growing at the end of the branch? The centre tip is the growing tip, or the apical meristem. Don’t harvest those growing tips of spruces, because that stunts the growth of the tree, something we want to avoid. You can harvest the side tips, but not the centre, apical meristem, k? Awesome! Also, be sure to taste test each new tree you gather from. Some tips are more bitter or astringent than others. Go for the really juicy, tart, lemony ones for the best results.) Once you’ve chopped your spruce tips up, add them to a blender or food processor with a good quality oil (I used EVOO). Salt and pepper to taste, maybe some garlic if you like, though I didn’t use any. Next, add a splash of good quality vinegar. I used some dandelion infused, organic apple cider vinegar and included a couple of spoonfuls of the dandelion flowers. Whir it all up, till it is well blended and smooth. Now go forth and explore a whole new world of taste sensations! I served this to folks on my last walk with endive leaves and the hearts of Romaine lettuce. The mildly bitter endive and sweet Romaine hearts married well with the zesty, acidic dip. It also is delicious as a salad dressing or served with fish. I think it would go great with chicken. Basically, use this in any savoury dish where you would use lemon. Play around and experiment!
But hurry. Most of the spruce tips around here are already too mature and tough to harvest and the window is quickly closing on the ones that are still at the right stage. Don’t worry if you miss them this year though. They’ll be back again next spring and I’m already looking forward to it! I’ve written before about my favourite place in the city. The Billings Estate is a real gem tucked in between a residential area, the Transitway, busy Riverside Drive and apartment complexes. It’s a quiet, peaceful place that I love to wander through. I especially love the demonstration, medicinal herb garden on the site. Many members of the Billings family were well-known for their interest in natural history and botany. In 1863 Braddish Billings II founded the the Ottawa Natural History Society which eventually became the Ottawa Field Naturalists Club (I highly recommend a membership and taking advantage of their wonderful events!) His mother Lamira was largely responsible for instilling this love of plants and nature in her children. Lamira herself was an excellent and highly regarded healer. People would go to her for remedies after treatment from a doctor failed to bring about the desired cure, as evidenced in this excerpt from a letter written in 1848, “Mrs. Graham’s girl has just been telling what great benefit her sister Mrs. Johnson derived from some herb medicine you prepared for her she being in somewhat similar circumstances with Mrs. Graham and the Doctor’s Medicines failing to give her any relief her family are very anxious she should if possible try the same remedy relying on your kindness to send some to her or if you please the receipt by which we could prepare some for her ourselves…” If you tour the estate be sure to check out copies of Lamira’s herbal ‘receipts’ inside the house. They are fascinating and some day I hope to recreate a few. This is her recipe for cholera, which was reportedly successful at saving many lives from the disease: one ounce of cayeene powder, two [oz] of prickly ash two [oz] of american valerian two [oz] of bayberry… Wet these up together with scalding water and secure them in a linen bag. Loosely put in three quarts of water and simmer for half hour then strain the tea add more water to make three quarts… My apartment is directly across from the estate on the other side of the river, as the crow flies. I can’t see if for the trees, but sometimes as I’m looking out the window, I imagine Lamira, perhaps with her son or daughter, gathering plants along the river. I wonder what she would think if she knew that, all these long years later, another woman gathers plants in the same places, with the desire to nourish and heal? Some day I hope to have enough herbal wisdom to be well-regarded by my community as Lamira was and I like to think that I can literally follow her footsteps and tread the same paths she walked to gather healing plants. The plant walk on Saturday will be held outside on the grounds of the Billings Estate. We will tour the medicinal herb garden and discuss some of the herbs Lamira Billings would have used, as well as search the weedy corners for other yummy, edible plants. The Billings Estate is such a treasure and I look forward to sharing my love of it and the plants growing there on Saturday! Register for this plant walk here. The lilacs are blooming in my neck of the woods, their heady scent filling the air. I love gathering big bouquets to bring home, so my apartment is filled with the perfume. Did you know that lilac flowers are also edible? You can garnish a salad with them, or decorate your baked goods with the delicate blossoms. For a real treat, I recommend making lilac water. Gather a few bunches of flowers and place them in a pitcher (doesn’t hurt to check for creepy crawlies and kindly ask them to depart!) Cover with cool water and let steep for an hour or two. Strain, chill and serve up a floral scented delight! Enjoy as is, or add a touch of honey or perhaps a squeeze of lemon juice. The season on lilacs is short, so find a lilac bush near you and drink in it’s sweet perfume!
Ottawa Magazine has a nice story on my most recent plant walk. It was a lot of fun. I could have stayed all day talking about plants! As it was, we only had time to talk about just a handful of the dozens of plants growing in the area.
There is another plant walk happening tonight from 6-8pm and there are a few spots still available. Details here. And there’s another one coming up on the 25th. It’s prime foraging season folks and a great time to come out and meet the weeds! Below is an article I had published in the most recent newsletter put out by the Ottawa Herb Society. If you don’t yet know about the OHS I highly recommend visiting their Facebook pageand/or becoming a member. With bimonthly meetings and the quarterly newspaper, this a wonderful group of herbal elders and all-round plant enthusiasts gathering and sharing herbal lore. I’m so excited to see the herbal community growing in the Ottawa area! The article covers material from a class I took at an herbal conference last fall with a wonderful herbalist that I really admire and respect. The class was an in depth look at wildcrafting and I came away from it so inspired and more determined than ever to be an advocate for responsible harvesting practices. I think Nicole’s system of determining the impact of harvesting is brilliant and it is now what I teach on all my walks and to my students. I hope you enjoy it! “Wildcrafting is Stewardship” ~Howie Brounstein After two years of dreaming about attending the Herbal Resurgence Rendezvous(formerly known as the Traditions in Western Herbalism conference), I decided to make that dream become reality and last September I attended the event in its third year, held in Mormon Lake, Arizona. What I love about the Herbal Resurgence is the inclusive, grassroots, folk approach to herbalism that makes it accessible to the clinical practitioner and backyard herbwife alike. Each day was packed with exciting and engaging classes and it was difficult to choose which to attend. I went on a plant walk with jim mcdonald, learned How To Sit With a Plant from Paul Bergner, gained valuable insights on Treating Chronic Illness with Katja Swift and furiously took notes on Greek Medicine for the Herbalist with Matthew Wood. One of my favorite classes was with Texas herbalist and director of the Wildflower School of Botanical Medicine, Nicole Telkes. Nicole presented a class on Weedcrafting: Redefining Wildcrafting for the Next Generation of Wild Foragers. Being an avid wildcrafter and forager myself, I was keen to hear what she had to say on the subject. Nicole began by asserting that herbalists and wildcrafters have a responsibility to protect and be advocates for ecology and the environment. She explained that often people are drawn to the romance of gathering plants from remote wild spaces, but the reality is, the wild cannot sustain such harvesting without a radical alteration of the habits of wildcrafters. She seeks to make peace with the herbalist’s desire to connect with and harvest wild plants and still be sustainable and conscious in that practice of collecting. To that end, she suggests a new term, ‘weedcrafting’, which she defines as, “the harvesting of plant material from wild and waste spaces that helps support the native ecosystem and promotes diversity. Weedcrafting is a type of wild gardening that looks at the ecology of a place as well as the species of interest and takes into account that the earth cannot sustain unconscious foraging in our wildlands…” She defines ‘weedcrafters’ as people, “who want to reclaim these feral spaces and steward the land. We pick up trash, spread dandelion seeds, clear out overly enthusiastic plants to use as medicine to bring more diversity back to an area…We protect weedy nooks as we would any wildland, because it is feral land and can be found in any city or suburb, just waiting to be freed. Weedcrafting is recreating our wildlands and growing beauty wherever we may be.” Nicole shared her concern with the increasing trend and popularity of wildcrafting and foraging, where there are now apps for your smartphone, such as the electronic field guide Leafsnap, that can turn anyone with a little bit of technology into thinking they’re a plant expert. Without a strong foundation and understanding of the ethics of wildcrafting, this can be deeply problematic. Another concern Nicole raised is the trend towards using inaccessible, rare, at risk or exotic plants that often come from far away and tend to be marketed as miracle panaceas that will change the consumer’s life. And while conservation organisations such as the United Plant Savers do valuable work in preserving at risk species, they fall short of addressing plant populations at the local level. As a response to these issues, Nicole shared a number of suggestions and recommendations. She encouraged us to disconnect from technology whenever possible, saying that to learn about plants we need to physically sit with them and observe their behaviour in nature, over time, in all seasons. We need to connect with the earth, and especially with our own bioregion. We need to think like wild gardeners and tend to the wild and weedy places, giving back to our ecosystems and working to restore degraded land. When determining whether to harvest or not, conventional guidelines can be too simplistic and often don’t reflect the reality of a particular locale. Thus it is important to observe an ecosystem and get to know it over time. Then it is possible to address what might be out of balance, or to identify a particularly weedy plant that may be crowding out native species. Some questions to ask when assessing plants in an ecosystem include: Are they native or nonnative? Do they have a tendency to take over? Do these plants have a history of use? Can you grow them? Do you need to harvest the plant? What is the plant’s life cycle and what parts would you harvest? Who can you ask that lives in your area and may know more about the plant? To further help determine what to harvest, Nicole shared her guidelines based on the level of impact the harvesting would have on a wild stand. She stressed that this is not about what percentage to take, but rather about making informed decisions based on one’s knowledge and understanding of a bioregional ecosystem. She outlined 6 levels of impact, level 1 having the least impact and level 6 the greatest. Level 1 Plant material that needs to be rescued from destruction or has been blown off by a storm or some other unseen force Level 2 Weedy, invasive, non-natives Level 3 Weedy natives and non-weedy, non-natives Level 4 Non-weedy natives Level 5 Native, less common, at risk (from over harvesting or habitat destruction), ones to learn to propagate Level 6 NO PICKS! Endemic plants, plants that can’t be propagated, federally endangered and rare, sensitive native plants Nicole then asked us to write down a list of 10 common, weedy plants that grow in our particular bioregion, the plants that seem to grow everywhere, like the cracks in sidewalks, and they keep showing up in your garden, no matter how much you weed them. She also asked us to create a second list of lesser known plants, unique, or only found in our bioregion, in a small area. The first list are the plants to harvest, teach about and share with others. The second list is of the plants that we keep to ourselves and only teach when appropriate. These are plants to be careful with, to protect and propagate if possible. All the plants on each list are the ones to learn about as much as we can.
Nicole concluded her inspiring and insightful class saying that she believes plant medicine should be accessible for the people. By reconnecting to the not-so-wild spaces, being conscious of our impact when harvesting, observing ecosystems over time and living a bioregional lifestyle, we too can become weedcrafters and wild gardeners who support native plant populations, increase biodiversity and restore balance to the land! Personally, I am looking forward to implementing these guidelines in my own practice as a wildcrafter striving to recreate the wildlands where I live and growing beauty wherever I am. I’ve had a few questions about my plant walks, so I thought I would answer them here.When and where are your plant walks? Walks generally run between April and November. (I’m planning to organise a couple of winter walks too. Winter is one of my favourite seasons, not so much for harvesting, but for identifying plants. It’s a chance to encounter the plants in a very unique way that I find quite beautiful and insightful.) All walks take place on Wednesday evenings or Saturday afternoons and last for two hours. I’ve chosen a handful of locations in different areas of the city that I am familiar with, which are easily accessible by transit or bicycle and have parking. Because I live in Old Ottawa South, many of the locations tend to be in that area. If folks have suggestions for other potential locations and I can get there by bus or bike, I’d love to hear about them! The dates, times and most of the locations can all be found here and you should also see an Upcoming Events listing on the sidebar to the right. What happens on a walk? On the walks I talk about the edible, medicinal and other uses of wild plants. I discuss ways to identify the plants, what parts to use and how and when to harvest them. I cover different methods of preparation. I have to warn you, my love of the plant world is an extension of the passionate environmentalist in me, so I spend A LOT of time talking about ethical, regenerative foraging practices! I talk about native vs. invasive plants, poisonous plants, and how to stay safe, especially in an urban environment. After a walk, you should have enough information to identify a couple of common, abundant plants and how to use them for free food and medicine. At the end of the walks I always have a wild snack and drink for people to try, made from the plants talked about on that walk. It could spruce tip soda or sumac lemonade served with garlic mustard pesto and crackers or puffball cutlets! How much are your walks? If you want to attend only one walk, the fee is $20. If you bring a friend or sign up for more than one walk, each walk is $15 each. If you choose to attend more than one walk, I am asking that you sign up for all the walks in advance to take advantage of the discount. The nice thing about attending more than one walk is that repetition is a great way to learn and seeing the same plants often and at different stages of growth and maturity helps with identification. It’s also a good way to learn the progression of different plants that are available at different times of the year. Some things are only available in the early spring, some plants don’t appear until it really heats up in the summer. I am also offering exchanges and work trades. Want to spend a couple of hours helping me harvest calendula in my garden? Do you have web design skills? Can you create a beautiful poster for a Wild Garden event? Do you have some garden veg to trade? I’ll take a massage! If you want to help out in the garden or have a skill or service to trade, let’s talk! How do I sign up/pay for your walks? Here on the website. I am asking for online registration for a couple of reasons. Last year when I just did a handful of walks, as a hobby in my spare time, registration happened by email and people paid when they arrived at the walk. Keeping track of email registration is time consuming, so I’m hoping to streamline the process by having it all happen online. Ideally, it will be as easy as possible for both you and I. I’m still figuring out how that will look, so if you have feedback to share, I’d be happy to hear it. The other problem I encountered last year was that I had quite a few ‘no shows’ on every walk. I prefer to limit my walks to smaller groups; it’s easier on my voice, has less impact on the environment we’re passing through and it means better quality for you! As a result though, sometimes I had a waiting list. Having ‘no shows’ meant lost revenue for me and a lost opportunity to people on the waiting list. I didn’t mind the lost revenue last year because the walks were something I did for fun, outside of my day job. Now, my hope is to have educational plant walks become part of how I craft a sustainable livelihood for myself. As a business I am now also responsible for increased fees on just about everything, including insurance. Now, ‘no shows’ matter. If it is at all possible, I would prefer people to pay in advance. If you would rather not pay online, there is a ‘pay by cheque’ option. That’s cool too! If you really want/need to pay the day of, that is still an option, but I would ask, if you do register and choose that option, out of respect for others who might be on a waiting list, please do try to make it out. For all of the above reasons I am asking for 48hrs cancellation notice for a full refund, less transaction fees. Oh, and I will still accept email registration if necessary, although the less of that I have to do, the better. I should also mention that if registration is too low, I will cancel a walk and do my best to ensure you get that information 24hrs in advance. All walks will proceed in light rain, but will be cancelled on short notice in the event of a downpour or thunderstorm. Registrants will receive a full refund in this case, or have the option to apply their registration to another walk.What if I show up for a walk or am running late and can’t find you or get lost?Call my cell phone! I will make sure all participants have the number so they can call if they need help with directions. So I think that covers most of the questions I have received. If you have any others, or if you have feedback and suggestions, let me know. For anyone who is interested in getting a sense of what a plant walk is like, I am doing a free walk this Saturday, May 4th as part of the Jane’s Walk weekend. You can get the details for that here. |
About Amber"My passion is sharing the wisdom of plants with others. I love to see the transformation that occurs when people realise how surrounded we all are by nutritious, edible and medicinal plants, even in urban environments."
DisclaimerThe information on this website is for educational purposes only and is not intended to treat, diagnose or prescribe.
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March 2018
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