Dear reader,

Greetings everyone!
It is a lovely warm April day as I write these words. We've had a long, hot summer here in the Bay of Plenty, so cooler nights and cool winds bring relief. And we've had rain which has jolted the seeds waiting to germinate of Chickweed Stellaria media, Nipplewort Lapsana communis, Miners lettuce Claytonia perfoliata and the seeds I strew about like dill Anethum graveolans and Mizuna. Lately I've had fun foraging for Rose hips Rosa rugosa which I'll infuse in oil as face oil and in my creams. It is great in tea for Vitamin C or made into syrup as a winter tonic. I've also foraged for water cress and Yarrow Archillea millifolium. Another fun foraging morning was finding woodear mushrooms Auricularia auricula-judae that swell up on dead native tree trunks after rain. I dried them for later use in soup or for frying with vegetables.

Workshops coming up:

Sunday 12th May: 85 Monteith South Road, Aranga near Dargaville. See more here

Sunday 19th May: 289 Chadwick Road, Tauranga. To book go here

Tauranga Herb Society workshop

The Tauranga Herb Society gathering at my home in March. I led everyone on an edible weed walk around my garden and then we had a shared meal.

The lovely group at the last workshop

These 'wild weed' fans were the latest to attend a workshop here at my place. We had a great time. Next workshop here Sunday 19th May. Tell your friends and book here.

Can the food you eat grow new brain cells?

I am right back into sprouting seeds for beneficial nutrition especially red clover and radish but there are lots of others equally beneficial like fenugreek in the photo above. There is an excellent article on the website called Herbs are Special. Habits to avoid and foods to boost brain regeneration are listed as well as the scientist Sandrine Thuret presenting her TED talk explaining how we can grow new brain cells by our lifestyle and food choices: Watch here

Rewild the world

I have just read an email I regularly get from the Guardian journalist and environmentalist George Monbiot. Normally I don't read them as they seem all doom and gloom. This email got my attention because it was entitled Rewild the World - monbiot.com. Anything to do with wildness calls to me. Monbiot writes ' Natural climate solutions draw carbon from the air through the restoration of living systems. They could help to solve two existential problems at once: climate breakdown and ecological breakdown. Their likely contribution is enormous – bigger than almost anyone guessed a few years ago – and it is still scarcely explored'. I really love this idea. Sometimes it takes us a long time to come to simple solutions that were right in front of us. Nature really does know best in my opinion. Monbiot along with three others has created a new movement and an interesting website Natural Climate Solutions. Check it out.

Feathery Fennel Article

My latest blog is about Fennel, an amazing plant that grows so easily. Sweet fennel has lovely fat swollen stems above ground level which are delicious chopped finely in salad. I use the feathery leaves in smoothies, salads and the seeds in tea, my muesli and dukkah spice (recipe below) . It really is a versatile plant as well as the flowers attracting a diversity of pollinating insects. Read here.

Dukkah spice recipe

½ cup pine nuts, hazelnuts or walnuts

1 cup toasted almonds

1 tbsp coriander seeds, 1 tbsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp caraway seeds, 1 tsp fennel seeds

2 tbsp sesame seeds, 1 tsp dried thyme or mixed dried herbs

½ tsp sea salt

Put all the ingredients in a fry pan and on medium heat toast, stirring for about ten minutes. Don’t allow to burn. Allow to cool then place in a food processor and pulse carefully to break everything down but not form a paste. It should be chunky and light. Store in a dry jar.
Enjoy!

Goldenrod attracts insects

Goldenrod Solidago species. There are 100 to 120 species of Goldenrod which is in the Asteraceae family of plants - the same as dandelions and daisies. It flowered at its peak in March in my garden in NZ. It is a mass of yellow flowers that attract very many pollinating insects from wasps to bees to flies as in the photo below. It is a perennial plant that dies down over winter and comes up again next spring. However, it can spread rapidly and invade a bed so make sure you grow it where it can expand or where it is contained. My garden bed has a concrete edge and that helps keep it in one place but it is slowly taking over.

The bright, bold goldenrod with insects all over it.

Ceiba Silk Floss Tree - Auckland Botanic Gardens

I have recently been to the Auckland Botanic Gardens and saw this tree called Ceiba specioza. Isnt it amazing with big, bold pink flowers which is unusual at this time of year. We have one flowering in Tauranga on Cameron Road right outside the Regional Council Office. There is another one in the grounds at Massey University. Those are the three trees I know of. Has anyone seen any others?
Also in the Botanic Garden Herb Garden I saw this interesting signboard listing some of the herbs mentioned by Shakespeare in his plays. Thirty-five herbs are mentioned in his works but he mentions them many times, further evidence of his knowledge of plants in his environment.

Salad creation

This photo shows a recent salad creation using love-lies-bleeding flowers Amaranthus caudatus as decoration along with oxeye daisy flowers Leucanthemum vulgare
Love-lies-bleeding leaves and flowers are edible. See the amazing plant growing in my wicking bed below.

Chickweed returns

Tiny chickweed Stellaria media seedlings that are self sown in this container. I haven't had any chickweed during the heat of summer but it is back! It grows in such lovely groups or clumps supporting itself as the stems are fairly weak. One can cut a handful and it regrows.

Chickweed is an amazing plant for winter greens and so health giving. I contains 15-20% protein, is rich in iron, calcium, chormium, cobalt, molybdenum, magnesium, manganese, silicon, zinc and Vitamin C 150-350mg per 100gm leaves. It has soft, delicate leaves and is very pleasant to eat. The flower is white in a star shape with 6 divided petals, that look like 12 individual petals.

Upcoming Permaculture Design Course I graduated from through Plenty Permaculture

Organic Certificate at Toi Ohomai, Tauranga

This course is run by Ruth McLean, highly knowledgeable and experienced in organic growing. A new course starts in July for the New Zealand Certificate in Organic Primary Production (Level 4), strand in Crop Production
To find out more information go here.

I've had so much fun putting this newsletter together that I can't stop adding things, so better send it off. Till next time,
Many green blessings to you from
Julia