Wise Woman Herbal Ezine
May 2004
Volume 4 Number 5

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What's Inside Weed Wanderings this Month...

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Empower Yourself...

Simple Spring Salad
by Marie Summerwood

Dinner should be ready in about 10 minutes. Let's go into the backyard and pick a salad. Yes, in ten minutes, and yes, this early in the year! I t may look like everything's just beginning, but you can actually pick a most delicious salad for several people depending on your weed population and your garden flowers.

For many of these plants, the tiny leaves early in the season are the tastiest ones. Take several baskets or bags and some scissors, we'll keep the piles all separate until we take them inside. That way it's easier to see if we've harvested anything by mistake.

We'll pick some wild greens and some early garden plant leaves. You can easily supplement your own lettuce with wild greens or go completely wild.

photos by Justine Smythe 2004As soon as we step outside we of course see the most famous of weeds, Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale). Although you can eat them all season, dandelion leaves are at their most delicious before the plant flowers for the first time. They make a tasty salad green.

Snip a few leaves here and there or hold all the leaves of a plant upright and cut the whole bunch. Cut a lot of dandelion, making sure it is indeed dandelion by checking the back midrib of the leaf. It should be hairless; if it's not, you may have cut some chicory leaves.

Chicory is actually a wonderful cooked green and can be used for salad if the leaves aren't too bitter. And if some dandelion are already flowering, pick some of the flowers. They are actually many flowers in each seeming blossom; you can pull them apart and sprinkle photos by Justine Smythe 2004your salad with flecks of yellow gold.

Next is Chickweed (Stellaria media), a common garden weed that offers generous abundance in the salad department. Identify by its bright green mouse-ear shaped leaf and tiny white asterisk-like flowers. Chickweed grows out across the garden spidering out, shedding its many many seeds.

Its name chickweed comes from the traditional use of collecting the plant and letting the (many and copious) seeds fall to the bottom, then saving them to feed chickens during the winter. The taste of the fresh leaves flowers and stems is delightful any time of year but especially welcome in the spring.

photos by Justine Smythe 2004
Violet (Viola odorata) will certainly attract our attention this time of year with her exquisite flowers of several shades of purple and white. The flowers are sweet like candy. My almost 7 year old friend next door says they are one of his favorite breakfast foods.

Believe it or not, these beautiful spring flowers are not true flowers in that they do not set seed. Violet's true flowers are green, bloom in late summer under the leaves and are pretty invisible. The leaf of this plant is also quite delicious most of the year through. In the spring it's mild tasting and filled with Vitamin C when fresh.


photos by Justine Smythe 2004 Early in the spring Catnip (Nepeta cataria) plants are sending up small green leaves. My big catnip plant has become a yoga mat for my cat. Especially in the sunshine when the plant oils evaporate slightly and exude that irresistible catnip aroma, she lies all over the plant, rubbing her face in it and purring. Luckily I have other catnip plants that I can graze on. The leaves this early in the spring are quite delicious in salad, or in pesto.

Just watch out for the salad that contains freshly snipped catnip leaves; it could become an object of interest for any felines around. And while we're at it, let's not overlook the marvelous mint family.

Peppermint (Mentha piperita) and spearmint (Mentha cardiaca) are among those that can be used in a wild salad. The leaves add a lively taste, particularly chopped very small. And speaking of the mint family, some freshly minced leaves of oregano, thyme, basil, rosemary or lavender can add wonderful excitement to a salad if they are up in your garden.

photos by Justine Smythe 2004Yellow dock leaves (Rumex crispus only , not rumex obtussifolia) is a wonderful spring green, raw or cooked. Choose the longish wavy leaf of crispus, not the broader one of obtussivolia. It's quite delicioius, with a slightly sour taste, is in the same family as sorrel. Yellow dock is used widely as a spring tonic along with dandelion, because they both encourage healthy flows in the liver and gall bladder.

Plantain (Plantago major) is tender early in the spring if it is up in your yard. Leaves are mild tasting, contain Vitamin C and add good bulk to the salad. Not much taste. not unpleasant.

Garlic mustard (Alliaria officinalis), a member of the mustard family, is incredibly successful at reseeding itself. So eat this one quite freely, please! The sharply-toothed leaves are round or heart shaped. They are low to the ground with 2 or 3 leaves and usually grow in patches.

photos by Justine Smythe 2004The first wave of garlic mustard comes through in April and May. The second wave comes through later in the summer and the spring plants come from those seeds.Garlic mustard is a delicious wild green. It has a light garlic flavor and is quite tasty in salad.

I must add that garlic mustard is so successful at reseeding that in some areas it is considered a huge nuisance; it tends to take over habitats and in many places extreme measures are regularly taken to control its expansion. If it is about to flower or is actually flowering, you can pinch the top off; that will limit its expansion.

I believe a public information and training campaign might help to control this amazinglly invasive though very useful food weed. If everyone managed their own salad patch and if we all helped to manage the public areas, by eating it, this plant might learn its place in the dance of the world.

photos by Justine Smythe 2004Cronewort (Artemisia vulgaris) is a common perennial weed that is only just beginning its leaf growth in the spring. About 2-4" in height is good for eating this plant raw in salad. After it reaches 6-8" or so in height, it's just too bitter. Even so, it still offers slight bitter background, a must for every wild salad. Cut the leaves in tiny pieces and don't use too much to start. The leaves and roots of plants up to 10" in height can be used to make a very delicious vinegar rich in minerals.

Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca), is also quite a bitter leaf, though not so much early in the season. Cut small for salad. The young spring leaves of motherwort make a surprisingly fabulous vinegar. This plant's botannical name means lion-heart, and is in the mint family.

photos by Justine Smythe 2004Ox-eye daisy leaves (Leucanthemum vulgaris) are a familiar, friendly early summer flower, the traditional daisy with white petals and a yellow middle. Early in the season the leaves are strinkingly sweet and provide an interesting contrast to the other tastes of bitter and salty.

Other possibilities in the spring are young growth of last year's plants, including chives, turnip greens, kale, collards and arugula, garlic shoots, onion shoots.

The next time you look out the window at your lawn and garden, you can choose to see a bunch of unwanted greens, or you can see dinner. Remember, the best revenge against weeds is to eat them. As we say in the wild, Sauvage Appetit!!

Disclaimer: THESE ARE SAFE, WELL-KNOWN GARDEN WEEDS. ALWAYS USE CARE WHEN PICKING PLANTS THAT ARE NEW TO YOU. ASK SOMEONE WHO REALLY KNOWS, AND CONSULT GOOD BOOKS. PLEASE TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR IDENTIFYING ANY PLANTS MENTIONED. THE AUTHOR AND PUBLISHER CANNOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR INDIVIDUAL ACTIONS BY READERS.

Marie Summerwood has been working with wild plants since 1983. She also taught natural foods cooking in the Syracuse area for 10 years. She teaches and writes about using wild plants for food and medicine.

You Can Dress Them Up!
Recipes for you:

A few words about eating wild greens. I cut them small as their taste is usually stronger than lettuce. If lettuce or spinach is part of the salad, make it small as well. Roll the leaves together like a cigar and cut into strips, like linguine. Or tear if you must.

It is quite critical to find the right dressing for the greens I eat. I find that with wild greens, a dressing containing more oil tastes best, and the greens seem to digest better. Olive is my favorite and, as a mono-unsaturated oil, is the reported best for daily consumption. Use extra virgin olive oil, the first pressing of the olives, for the most taste. Greek olive oil is the highest quality, and of course the most expensive, but Italian oil is also very delicious. Read labels carefully. The large letters will say "Packed In Italy" buit the small print will say the oil is actually a blend of oils from Tunisia, Morocco and Spain. Sad to say, these are the lowest quality oils.

Lastly, I usually eat part of my salad, saving the rest for later, after the oil and vinegar have "cooked" the greens. I know others who have this strange practice as well.

LIGHT LEMON GARLIC DRESSING
Combine
1/4 c lemon juice
1/4 c good quality olive oil
2-3 TB tamari or soy sauce
2 cloves freshly & finely crushed garlic
3/4 c water.

SESAME DRESSING
Whisk together
1/3 c freshly roasted* sesame tahini
2 1/2 TB lemon juice
1 TB tamari
1/2 c water

*use a cast iron or other heavy skillet over low or medium low heat , pour in tahini and stir very attentively until it thickens, becomes fragrant and slightly darker in color. Be careful not to burn yourself, it gets quite hot.


SAUERKRAUT DRESSING
2 TB olive oil (or organic bacon fat if you eat it)
1 medium onion
8 -10 oz. sauerkraut, including juice (unpasteurized if possible)
1/2 tsp dill seed OR add 1 TB fresh chopped dillweed after cooking

Cut onion into thin crescents. Heat oil and saute onion until translucent. Add the rest of the ingredients including liquid. Simmer covered if you want it hot, or blend cold kraut with the onion, that's good too. Plus, if your kraut is uncooked, you get more healthy additions to your gut flora. Blend until smooth or leave chunks. Use on crackers or bread with cheese and mustard, as a sauce on greens, vegs, on meat dishes, etc, or as a marinade

Marie Summerwood, Wise Woman Center cook, has been a lover of food and nourishment for many years. She taught macrobiotic cooking for 10 years, then found cooking with weeds (at Weed's) to be a natural next step. Cooking in the Wise Woman Tradition uses any food, any technique needed for the right nourishment of the moment. It is a sacred recognition of the cycles of our lives, and the will to bring to it what will best nourish. Marie recognizes that one of the deepest spirals of life begins in the kitchen. Read about Marie's love for her magnificent cooking at the Wise Woman Center. Learn more about her fabulous CD Women's Sacred Chants.
Read some other articles by Marie.

Marie teaches sometimes, at the Wise Woman Center, in Woodstock NY.

 


MEMORIES FROM THE LOST PINES

Women's Sacred Chants with Marie Summerwood

audio CD for $15

 

These chants were written in Bastrop Texas at a workshop called "Chantwriting for Goddesswomen". Marie Summerwood, musical artist and teacher of women's sacred music, led the day during which each of the 14 women present wrote her own chant.

see MEMORIES FROM THE LOST PINES in our Bookshop

read more about Marie Summerwood

 


Elements of Herbalism: Harvesting - 2 CD set

Elements of Herbalism: Harvesting - 2 CD set

Susun Weed lecture

Elements of Herbalism: Harvesting (Green Nations '08) Ethical wildcrafting and harvesting instructions for all plant parts, including leaves, roots, flowers, seeds, and bark of all annuals, bienneials, and perrenials.
2 CD set
(CD1/54 min & CD2/65 min)

PRICE: $22.50 plus shipping

Order Elements of Herbalism CD: Harvesting in our Bookshop

 


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INDEX | HEALING WISE | CHILDBEARING & MOTHERING | YOUR INTUITIVE DREAMS
WISE WOMAN WISDOM | ANTI-CANCER LIFESTYLE | MENOPAUSAL YEARS | FEATURED LINKS