Julia's Edible Weeds

Summer green smoothie

I wanted to share some amazing new things I’ve learned about water, hydration and fascia. We know that water can be a liquid, or a vapour or solid as ice. Did you know though, there is a fourth phase of water that has largely been over-looked? This fourth phase is a gel, an electric plasma which conducts electrical impulses transferring information through the fascia around the body. What is fascia? Fascia is the inner webbing surrounding everything within us, that holds us all together. It’s not our skin that is doing this. We are made up of tiny little bags of water inside our body that are rubbing up against each other. This friction creates an electrical charge that changes the water in the spaces around the cells into a gel. It turns out we are liquid fluid plasma entities with stick like bones inside of us to help us walk on land. I found this to be a very different perspective from seeing our human bodies as muscles hanging on bones.

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Perennial Stinging nettle (Urtical dioica) in a pot

 With spring in the air nature is waking up.  I love seeing dormant plants emerging with fresh new growth.  My patch of stinging nettle is in a large square pot so it can’t spread. If it is not respected and brushed lightly it will cause itchy, irritated skin.  ‘Urtica’ comes from latin meaning to burn. An antidote usually grows nearby such as dock or plantain – rub the leaves on the affected area. But if you grasp nettle firmly as the saying goes, the hypodermic nettle needles cannot impart their histamine. Such protection is a sign that the plant is rich and nutritious.  Red admiral butterfly caterpillars who eat the leaves in summer know this.

Many other people around the world know this too and avidly wait for it in spring, when it’s a good time to do an internal spring clean. There are two common varieties:

Urtica urens – annual stinging nettle or dwarf nettle is common in gardens, under trees and waste places, preferring light soils growing up to 60cm tall on a single stem that can branch out, and has short stinging bristles on the stems and serrated leaves. It has clusters of tiny flowers where the leaf meets the stem. I’ve been using this nettle all winter, as a plant grew in the greenhouse and produced a lot of leaves. Read more

Daisies and Dove’s food geranium flowers. Beautiful wild flowers flourishing in spring.

Spring heralds the start of a new growing season, a fresh start

with plants waking up and producing colourful flowers or soft new leaves that renew our sense of wonder.  Inspired to offer something a little different and fresh I’m going to share some poetry. I’m noticing that there is an upsurge in people wanting to know about edible weeds and I sense this comes for some from a desire to reconnect with the wilder, freer side of ourselves. Nicolette Sowder has expressed this in the following: Read more

Yacon tuber with cut slices

Have you come across yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius) yet? It is a juicy, crunchy, sweet tasting underground tuber, also known as Sunroot, Yacón Strawberry, Apple of the Earth, Arocona, Jacon, Jiquima, Sweet Fruit Root, Underground pear or Peruvian Ground apple.  It originates from the South American countries of Colombia, Bolivia and Ecuador. It has been grown in the Peruvian Andes since the time of the Incas. It grows like its relative Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus)

Clockwise from top left yams, kumara, yacon, jerusalem artichokes and Lima beans I harvested.

– both are herbaceous perennials with mini yellow sunflower type flowers in late summer or early autumn. However, Yacon is far less invasive  and it doesn’t cause upset stomachs like Jerusalem artichokes which are ‘farty’ plants.(try pickling them in a salt brine to counteract this).

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This month I’m offering a book review of an amazing book called “The new wild”. I delved into it and found it a mind stretch because of Fred Pearce’s concepts of how nature works to always find balance. My flatmate Linda became interested to read the book and she was equally enthralled. I asked her if she’d write a book review and she was kind enough to write the following article.

The New Wild book cover

THE NEW WILD. by Fred Pearce 245 pages Published 2015 by Beacon Press USA

“Pragmatic conservation has to begin with undogmatic, realistic ecology, which shows that alien-invasive plants and animals almost always increase biodiversity – and therefore nature’s general health and robustness”.  Fred Pearce’s ‘new wild’ suggests a matching ‘new conservation’ “.  The words of Stewart Brand, author of Whole Earth Discipline.

I couldn’t put a precis of this book, better than Mr Brand.  But my experience reading this book blew a few fuses.  I, like many other PC conservation minded peeps of my generation, donated to Greenpeace and spent weekends on community native planting initiatives.  I’ve signed petitions to save various stands of native trees (and will do so again).  I’ve trapped and poisoned rats and stoats to save native birdlife.

This book is written in investigative journalistic style and a page turner.  A huge amount of evidence for the benefits of ‘invasive species’ is backed by 26 pages of footnotes and references.  This man has done his research!

I was gobsmacked to read how resilient our planet and her flora and fauna are.  Contrary to the messages of our ‘fragile ecosystem/s’ perpetrated by well-meaning conservationists.

Nature includes us, human beings. We are not separate from nature, we are but another interdependent species, though we have been educated to think we are ‘more intelligent’ than Nature. That’s a joke!  We ARE an expression of nature’s intelligence.

I’ve come away from this book, only to promise I will read it again soon. My trust in Life and all expressions of Life, is renewed. Yes, we owe it to ourselves and to Life itself, to live sustainably, that’s still true for me. AND Nature’s patent ability to recover even from nuclear catastrophe, is heartening.

The New Wild is a challenging and inspiring read.

Linda Light. July 2022

Arrowroot stems

I recently discovered a valuable plant in the garden I didn’t know I had. It’s Queensland arrowroot Canna edulis but it actually comes from South American and in Peru it is known as Achira where it was domesticated 5000 years ago.

I acquired the plant at a crop swap some years ago and we was told it was tapioca. I planted it in the back corner of the garden and forgot about it.  I did notice it sent up very tall stems 2-3m tall with big banana like leaves over time and this year one stem had a bright red flower which looked like canna flowers. The plants have formed a dense patch of rhizomes.

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Choko fruit on the vine

Rampant growing vine.

Choko Sechium edule. Is this highly underrated prolific producer of fruit on rampant vines a weed, a fruit or a vegetable?  Choko vines grow rapidly, scrambling and covering their support. I watched with curiosity as long searching tendrils appeared over the fence from the neighbour. Now the top of the fence is completely covered, the grape vine has disappeared and they’re on up the tree. Choko also known as Chayote or Mirliton (in the UK) belong in the gourd family Cucurbitaceae along with pumpkins and squash. Other names are vegetable pear or mango squash. The name choko we use in New Zealand originated with the Cantonese market gardeners who introduced them here in the 19^th Century. Their country of origin is Central America and now they’re found all over the world.

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Oxtongue plant going up to seed

Oxtongue, or bristly oxtongue Helminthotheca echioides (formerly Picris echioides) commands respect. I got to know several of these plants when I lived at the farm on Belk Road South that popped up in my potted plant area.  When I really studied their form I found them very beautiful. I really love Oxtongue hence all the photos.

I have had them in my urban garden but they’re not about at the moment. Their leaves, stalks and seed heads are all rough and prickly, hence the association with the rough tongue of an ox or cow.  If you’ve been licked by a cow you’ll know what I mean.

Close up of bristles with swollen bases

Oxtongue grows in a rosette form

Butterfly on an oxtongue flower. I thought this was a moth but it was out in the daytime and fits a butterfly description not a moth.

Like their cousin dandelion in the Asteraceae family, they grow in a rosette radiating from the centre. The prickles are actually barbed bristles swollen at the base to stop animals eating them. But I know they’re protecting some good nutrition and I’ve been adding the leaves and flower heads to smoothies. When oxtongue goes to flower it sends up a stiff, strong stalk that’s branched and bristly. When I brush past, it feels like it’s combing my clothes and trying to stick to them. A taproot supports the tall stalk, and the pretty flowers are yellow, but orangy yellow as a bud. Flowering is from January through March.

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Have you tried adding edible flowers to your dishes since my last article? This month I’ll introduce a few more edible flowers.

It’s exciting to learn that flowers we love to grow in our gardens turn out to be delicacies in our food and drinks as well as visually pleasing.  And it turns out our ancestors often chose flowers for their aroma and flavour over their beauty.

Chamomile flower tea

Chamomile is a miniature daisy-like flower with a yellow centre and a mild apple flavour. It is used to make herbal infusions for promoting relaxation and sleep.  Pick the flowers when fully mature and the yellow centre sticks up and the white petals are pointing downwards. Chamomile likes well drained soils with lots of sun.

Cornflowers are bright blue with a clove like flavour and frilly texture. Their striking appearance and mild flavour add colour and taste to salads.  They are also used in herbal teas to improve digestion, detoxify the liver, and for their antibiotic

Cornflowers

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Winter cress leaves

Chlorophyll is something we take for granted but it’s abundant all around us giving plants their green colour. It is an essential component of photosynthesis allowing plants to absorb energy from light. Then when we eat green leaves we get the benefit of that energy and vitality and it’s the closest, freshest way to eat sunlight.  Isn’t that so amazing!

Did you know that blood and chlorophyll molecules are identical except that in the centre of a chlorophyll cell you’ll find magnesium while in our blood it’s iron (hence red blood).  We are closer to plants than we think!!  Chlorophyll helps cleanse all the cells of the body, fights infection, helps to build the immune system and replenish red blood cells, and detoxifies the liver and digestive system.  An impressive list!

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