Spring Harvests

I haven’t had much time to blog lately as I’ve been so busy putting in the garden and harvesting spring herbs. Here’s what I’ve been up to this week. As most herbalists know, nettle can be used as a tender green vegetable. Nettle pesto, nettle soup, nettle stirfry, sauteed nettle, and a more decadent treat….

The lasagna went over very well in my house. The trick is to steam the nettles then SQUEEZE the water out of them fairly well before combining with ricotta cheese.  Seen here: gluten-free lasagna noodles, home-made tomato sauce, nettle mixed with ricotta, and a little organic mozzarella on top. Total prep & cook time under 1 hour!

For more info about nettles, see my blog post all about them here and here.

I also made a litre of an amazingly potent Cleavers tincture. Cleavers are a very humble yet incredibly powerful little healer.

Cleavers can be a real gem for those who suffer from recurrent glandular and bladder infections. Cleavers has been used in western herbalism as a gentle, non-toxic yet very powerful mover of cellular waste. It’s usually found in immune and skin herbal formulas. For more info on how to make your own fresh plant tinctures, see my post from last summer here.

I’ve been enjoying watching the first calendulas open and adding them to my salads. Once there are enough calendula’s open and sunny, I’ll harvest them to make an oil and a tincture.

I loving adding Oregon Grape flowers (Mahonia aquifolium) to my salads. One of my absolute favourite tastes of spring! If you haven’t nibbled on these yet, I highly recommend you try them.

And I just planted Ashawagandha starts. I’ve never grown this herb before –  I’m very eager to get to know it more intimately.

Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) is an herb commonly used in Ayurvedic medicine, and is known as an adaptogenic herb. Adaptogens help the strengthen your resistance to stress while also increasing energy.

What have you been harvesting?

Okay, back to the field!