Sunday – where we hit the books . . .and the wetlands
Sunday May 21, 2017
After a beautiful spring night complete with chatty spring peepers and booming thunderclaps, we met Sunday morning in the Rebel Roots greenhouse. Building on some of our conversations from the harvest yesterday, Alexis spent some time talking about stewardship and harvesting ethics – ev
Study Sunday! Hanging out in the greenhouse making plant journals
erything from knowing the local by-laws on land to which plant parts that when harvested have the biggest impact (roots and barks).
We had a great discussion on some of the big 4 edibles to know about while in North America – because they are abundant across most of the continent and have edible parts in each season! Cat tails, pines, oaks and Grasses. With everything from edible seeds or flowers to edible roots or inner barks – these plants alone could be quite the culinary adventure!
Dressing our plantain and nettle chips before dehydrating!
Taking a minute to stretch our legs and harvest some Stinging Nettle (grasp the nettle!) – we mixed up a tamari and nutritional yeast dressing to coat those tasty greens. After laying the seasoned leaves on baking trays – we dehydrated them in a conventional oven at 170F for about 2 hours – checking every 15 min. The oven door was propped slightly open during cooking to allow steam to escape – this process is also an easy breeze for those that own dehydrators 🙂
After putting our snack in the oven – we headed back to the impromptu greenhouse library to get down to some plant journal business!
Flower fritters frying away before being dipped in maple syrup and eaten happily!
From colourful drawings to black and white itemized lists, everyone had their own unique journals on the go – using mind`s eye imaging and great published resources – we all got a little Sunday down time.
Breaking for a late lunch, we munched on our crispy nettle and plantain chips, and even fried up some tasty Dandelion fritters! Coated in a light tempura style batter – fresh dandelion flowers and some maple syrup garnish – the tastiest desserts!
Talking wild leek stewardship ethics
Headed to the wetland and mixed hardwood forest for the afternoon, we had a great lesson in stewardship as we transplanted and propagated Wild Leeks before harvesting a few leaves (only one each from two-leaved plants). Past beautiful Maidenhair ferns and the shape shifter Blue Cohosh, we headed to the wetland where the abundant and delicious Cattails were. From their starchy rhizomes to sweet tender shoots and novocaine like jelly – they truly are as Euell Gibbons stated `The Supermarket of the Swamps`.
`Til next time!
Wetland – home of the Cat tail – Typha “Supermarket of the Swamps“
