The Commonwealth of Common Weeds March 23, 2012

Because I love chickweed (and am stuck inside right now due to a much needed rain), I googled it, and was aghast at the links I could have followed dedicated to eradicating and killing the poor thing.   So, I thought I would lovingly write about it, and it’s sweet companions of spring.  Here I present, with fondness and adoration~

Chickweed, Violets and Dandelions

  

So happy together - Chickweed with Dandelion and Violets in foreground~

Chickweed (Stellaria)

A bed of chickweed for the taking~

Yep, the hens love it and so do we.  Raw it is refreshingly sweet and delicious, cooked – you got it, tastes like spinach.  It survives the winter and blankets the land with white flowers in the spring.  Invasive for sure, but its roots are shallow so very easy and satisfying to pull out if needed.

Chickweed is an excellent source of vitamins  B  and C as well as iron, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, zinc, manganese, sodium, copper, and silica.

Medicinally, it is a mild diuretic, without depleting the body of minerals and is great for skin care.  It is a main ingredient in the salve I make every year because of its soothing, anti-inflammatory abilities.

Grab it out of your yard and get it into your kitchen!

Violets (Viola)

Too sweet to eat? I think not~

With its blue, purple, yellow and white flowers and sweet, heart shaped leaves – who wouldn’t find pleasure in using the leaf and petals of this little beauty in their salad?  The leaves could also be used cooked – as a thickener, since they are so mucilaginous.  I read that it makes a great jelly too.

Medicinally it contains a cocktail of properties to fight diseases of the respiratory system.  Gargling with an infusion of the flowers may help soothe a sore throat and a decoction of the root applied externally, can be used for sore joints.

Dandelion (Taraxacum officianale)

Dandy!

Ok, come on- it is certainly one of the best potherbs, the loveliest and most delicate of the wild crafted wines and my favorite Biodynamic prep.

Really, all parts of the dandelion are edible and have medicinal  uses.  Young leaves, before the flowers emerge, can be eaten raw or steamed – then, there is always dried or roasted roots and fermented or frittered flowers.  All worth your while, tho at times, not so much for the taste but rather because it is a super strong liver tonic and diuretic.

As the biodynamic preparation 506, it gives the soil a certain quality, enhancing its ability to supply the substances a plant needs. It even is said to increase a plants sensitivity to help it  attract beneficial things from a wider area outside our planet ;).

If you can’t beat ’em… eat ’em 🙂

Snow Cap and Night Velvet March 8, 2012

Those names sound like some fancy, hard liquor drinks to order the next time you are in an upscale joint but really, it is just a few shiitake mushroom strains.  We added another 50 logs to our garden this week.   The trees had been cut by loggers (boo hiss) a few months back and the tops, left behind – the timing was right and the only good thing to come out of that mess.   You need to get the spawn into the logs when the moisture content of the tree is still high so, fairly soon after it has been felled is great.  These new logs are inoculated with a mix of warm and cool season varieties.  The process was much easier this time around because we got a tool which required little more than thumb pressure to insert the sawdust spawn.  No bruising ever again.  In order of process  – Qik did the drilling (diamond pattern – every 6″ with 2″ between each row) , I inserted the sawdust spawn and Marcus sealed the holes with wax from our bees.  It took a leisurely 10 or so hours from collecting the logs to bringing them full of spawn back into the woods.   See my previous ‘Have Fungi’ blog for more info on how to grow these delectables.