All About Nettles

  

 

 

Last weekend we ventured out to Marin for our All About Nettles class.  The weather was amazing, a perfect day to experience Lady Nettle in all her glory.  We hiked out to our favorite foraging spot and sat in a circle to discuss identification, how and when to harvest, nutrients, medicinal uses, energetic influences, preserving, recipes, companion plants and cultivation.  Then we visited the many different nettle communities to pay our respects and harvest this nourishing plant ally. Along the way students also gathered young fiddle head ferns to sauté for their evening meal and fresh cleavers to juice as a tonic for allergies and eczema. 

 

 

The week of a nettle harvest is always special, filled with fresh sparkling juiced nettles, delicious nettle soup, nettle quiche or frittata, green smoothies, then bundles and bundles of nettle leaves hanging in the kitchen to dry.  This year our preservation method of choice is to dry and powder as many of the leaves as possible and freeze them in small bags to use through out the year as our own local, deep green super food (in place of spirulina and chlorella). 

 



 

Herbalist Michael Moore says in his book Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West…"Nettle powder is something  that you can gather yourself in places that you trust, and you can add it to smoothies and salad dressings, put it in your bread, add it to tea, home beer, and so forth.  It is green food your body recognizes, and can help build blood, tissue, and self-empowerment.” 

Definitely our number one go to herb for extra nutrition and nourishment when we are stressed or depleted, an easily absorbable form of iron, vegetable protein, spring cleansing and so much more.  Thank you lovely nettles!

 

 *pictures taken by Amelia Avila

Fermenting Addiction and Best Ginger Beer Ever!



 

 

 

 

Our latest fermenting class, Crazy About Kraut, was a success.  And now I am hearing from students who are addicted to kraut, beet kvass and fermenting in general.  It really is so easy and rewarding to make your own homemade ferments.  Our favorite sauerkraut recipe includes green cabbage, fresh burdock root, ginger root, fresh turmeric root, and daikon radish- yum and super good for you!

In our home we have recently been making loads of ginger beer which is a wild fermentation.  Our most current batch is turmeric root beer (an idea I borrowed from a student- thanks Amy!). The end product turns out a hundred times better than any store bought ginger beer and you can experiment with any roots or herbs you might want to add.  Tweaking the recipe each time is the fun part.  I am interested in trying elderberry/ginger beer- for immunity, hawthorn/ginger beer- as a heart tonic, astragalus/schizandra/ginger beer- for adaptogen benefits...the possibilities are as broad as your imagination. 

Basic Ginger Beer

Ingredients:
Fresh organic ginger root
Organic sugar
Raw honey
Filtered h2o
(we also add a bit of sarsaparilla root for that root beer taste)

-Per liter: 1/3c organic cane sugar and 1/3c raw local honey.
-Boil grated ginger (2-3" root per liter) with the water and sugar for about 15 minutes or until it has reached desired spiciness.
-Let cool, add the honey and strain into bottles or mason jars and add about 1/4-1/2c of the previous batch as a starter.  If this is your first batch, go here to learn how to make your own ginger bug. 
-Leave them at room temp for 2-3 days until they are very carbonated (check after 24 hours) and then put into smaller bottles and refrigerate.  Enjoy!

*Make sure to check the bottles or jars each day, you may need to open the lids to let out a bit of pressure or you can use an airlock lid.  If you are worried about the bottles exploding (which should not happen if you are checking them!) you can put them aside in a Rubbermaid bin with a lid.

Happy fermenting!

Preserving With Instant Gratification

As we're moving into the summer season, the fruit is ripening and our preserving marathon begins. However this year, I recognize we don't really have whole days to commit to canning so I am starting out with small batches here and there.  It feels more sustainable this way and also more enjoyable.  Last weekend we stripped our apricot tree and canned the delicious sun ripened fruit (leaving the firmer fruit to ripen indoors saving it from the deer!). My favorite method of canning is the raw pack method; so simple and fast.  My neighbor brought over a beautiful bag of pluots from her tree last night. Here's how I canned them using the raw pack method.  

Set a large canning pot 3/4 full of water on the stove to boil. Wash and sterilize jars, I use quart jars and sterilize them in the oven at 250 degrees for 10 minutes.  Wash fruit and cut the flesh off the pit.  Pack jars tightly with fruit. You can add 1/2 tsp. of vitamin C powder or add a squeeze of lemon to prevent fruit from browning.  

Pour boiling water over fruit leaving 1/2 inch head space.  Some people like to use a sugar or honey syrup but I prefer plain fruit. Screw on canning lids and place into hot water bath making sure water level is an inch above jars. There are different canning times depending on the type of fruit. I can pluots for 20 minutes and in general I like to refer to the fruit canning chart in The Encyclopedia of Country Living.  

I love using this method because we are able to preserve alot of fruit in a short time.  There is no added sweetener yet the fruit becomes almost caramelized during the canning process leaving it sweeter than in it's raw state.  It's wonderfully convenient to pull out a quart of home grown plums. apricots, apples or peaches and whip up a  pie, crisp, or galette by simply spooning out the fruit into a pie shell or making a quick crumb topping. This is also amazing over waffles and pancakes, yogurt, or vanilla ice cream- Haagan Daz of course! 
Have fun preserving and happy summer!

Top picture from tinysorganic.com