Dear reader,
Summer is truly here with very hot temperatures in the Bay of Plenty. We've had rain too so the plants are all flourishing. The magenta spreen is lush and huge, the amaranth is flowering as are all the wild edibles like galensoga, puha, all the dandelion family, plantain, chickweed, self heal and many more. That's how weeds survive so well they grow quickly, then reproduce abundant amounts of seed. This month I feature mallow, family name malva including many well known plants like hollyhock and hibiscus as well as cotton and cacao. Read all about mallows' amazing qualities in my latest blog.
This year I'm traveling more than ever all over the country spreading (no pun intended) the message of the wild edibles, how to identify them, value them and then use them.
It all kicks off in Nelson at the Waimarama Community gardens on Friday 5th February, 5.30pm-8.30pm. Bookings here.
Next up is a trip to Christchurch and a workshop on Saturday 13th February at Mary and Warren's property, 29 Skipton Street, Mairehau, 10-1pm. Come see what's growing
in Christchurch. For bookings and more information visit here.
Two weeks later I return to the Farmhouse Kitchen in Havelock North for a second collaborative workshop with Pauline chef at the Farmhouse Kitchen and Setha and Roddy of Setha's Seeds. In this autumn workshop we'll learn all about autumn weeds, how to infuse them in vinegar and oil and you'll hands on get to make a face cream using healing plants. Pauline is again providing a sumptuous lunch, followed by Setha and Roddy covering everything about harvesting and processing seeds. It is going to be a great day! Book your place here.
March is Sustainable Backyard month in the Bay of Plenty, where lots of activities are on offer. I'll be covering Edible Weeds from Jane and Kevin's Teacher in the Paddock Property in Papamoa on 12th March and going over to Rotorua for Sunday 20th March from Janet's mosaic and art studio. Check out all the workshops on offer here.
I was fortunate to be invited to go down the Whanganui River to stay in a private lodge just after New Year to check out the weeds. There weren't that many as the property had very long native grasses that thickly covered the cleared areas. There was lots of yellow flowered lotus which is in the clover family and edible. Further down the river though at John Coull hut (where the many canoeists overnight) there was a recent slip and I was very interested to see what plants were colonizing it. The main plant was bitter cress interestingly. Lots of other familiar weeds there and one new one called monkey musk or Mimulus guttatus, not edible but had sticky hairy leaves/stems and pretty yellow flowers. We also came across the native tree stinging nettle urtica ferox, young leaves of which are edible cooked. Medicinally the bark of tree nettle and the leaves of kawakawa, boiled together are used for internally and externally treating eczema.
