First Sights of GREEN! A blessing for the Kitchen & our Guts
There are a lot of options when our Wild Spring Greens start spouting come spring. First of all we could spray them and fight with them all season. This seems to be the general rule of thumb when dealing with the weeds that come up in our gardens, lawns and home-scapes. But what if we shifted our mindset to realize that we can’t beat them with chemicals. The plant that we sprayed on the first round, second, and sometimes… eeek… third comes back again and again. Year after year. They won’t and they don’t stop.
Many of these nuisance plants are perennials. Let’s start by understanding what a perennial is. Perennials grow back every single year from their root system. This root system can be shallow or more commonly, very deep. When a root of a perennial is dug up any piece that is left in the ground will start new growth. This is the cycle of insanity you are going through when working to rid your garden or farm scape of perennial weeds. Spraying these weeds is the way we have devised to work with controlling them. However, doesn’t it seem quite allopathic? We spray the symptoms of the plant. But digging into it’s root is where change will occur.
Wild Spring Greens- Dandelions are FOOD!
I get very excited when dandelions come up out of the ground. I see food in their tender young leaves. As well as the promise of food for bees. The dandelion is the 1st flower that comes in the springtime. That being said, they are the first source of food for our bees. Food for us and food for our main pollinators. Doesn’t this create a beautiful circle of sustainability? Dandelions aren’t the only first bloomers of spring. There are many Wild Spring Greens growing tender leaves that create beautiful and delicious meals. We start to see yellow dock, kosha, salsify, stinging nettles, clover and other plants that show us Spring is here. Each of these herbs, unfortunately better known now as weeds, are perennials.
I saw a book titled, “If you can’t beat them. Eat them!” I absolutely love this catch phrase. We simply cannot beat these weeds by spraying them with chemicals. And since we cannot beat them but we all know exactly what they are… Why not eat them?! Why not realize they’re incredibly potent medicine. Wild Spring Greens are highly nutrient dense foods. And bring them into the kitchen? I sort of get the feeling from talking with a lot of my customers that we don’t know what to do with them once or in the kitchen. As your herbalist I would like to help solve this problem.
Recipes with Spring Greens
There are many recipes that I use in the kitchen. Each recipe contains at least ONE of these spring greens! We make smoothies, salads, pesto, tea And of course the vitamin vinegars. Each of these recipes are incredibly simple and highly nutritious. It is part of my mission to better understand how we can replace tablet multivitamins with these plants. You’ve heard me say many times before that nettles are considered a survival food. They contain every nutrient we need to survive. Including amino acids, or better known as proteins. They have fatty acids, or plant based fats. As well as all of the water soluble nutrients like vitamin A, C, and B vitamins. As well as the fat soluble E, and K. Nettles also contain a high amount of minerals and trace minerals that are essential to vital wellness.
REPLACE your tablets!
Many of us take multivitamins on a daily basis. We have been told a fabrication that our food does not contain the high amount of nutrients that we need. In some cases this could be considered true. However we have a plethora of highly nutrient dense plants that come out of the ground without any work needed on our part. Except to pick it! I have Created some recipes for you all that are made from our weedy friends of the garden. Each of the recipes has a plant profile as well as 1 or 2 recipes to go with it.
This is a part of my mission as your herbalist. To introduce you to these wild weedy friends. Help you to understand and realize how simply they are implemented into our lives. As a result I can see a huge decrease in the amount of chemicals that we put into our Earth every year. As well as a healthier population of humans and pollinators. I see a stronger connection from human to nature through recognizing how our plants are there for us as we can be there for them. This vision is strong and you are all a part of it.
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What a blessing it is to be your herbalist. I look forward to growing these ideas with you. While providing simple application techniques that you can use every day. I wish you vital health in your own capacity.
Green, nature made blessings to you all.
