Welcome to Monday. This week is St. Patrick's Day, and as I have some Irish roots, I did indeed aim to think green for this week's #mondayhealthbasics blog post. My week got off to a roaring start with a thoughtful gift from one of my sisters, a book from boreal herbalist wunderkind Beverley Gray called The Boreal Herbal: Wild Food and Medicine Plants of the North – a Guide to Harvesting, Preserving and Preparing. Oh the joy. Oh the possibilities!
Leafing through the book last night, I zoned in on the Stinging Nettle, or Urtica dioica. Yes yes yes, the same plant that gives you the very intense zing-like needling you would experience were you to chance upon a patch without knowing it. This perennial plant runs wild in almost every nook and cranny of this planet where there are wetter areas or where the soil has been disturbed. It loves rich damp soil. And seeing as spring seems to be just around the corner, it will be one of the first wild plants that will pop up for early harvesting.
Read moreNot sure what it's like where you are today, but the snow showed up this morning here in our part of the world. At school drop off this morning, had a chance for a quick visit and chat with a few parents and we got to talking hot chocolate. And coffee. And tea. And all things warming. And I thought well it's high time we figure out a way to make some yummy hot chocolate that can impart some superpowers in the process. (*not documented nor measured superpowers yet. The lab results haven't come in yet...) Enter: THE SUPER CHARGED HOT CHOCOLATE.
Read moreHere, for you my harvest-loving friend, is a compendium of how I managed to stash the summer treats for winter eats. May you eat like a queen or king all fall and winter long, what with this bounty within arms reach here in Alberta. And continue on with your Putting Up the Harvest Efforts! The season has only just begun. Go deal hunting at your favourite local farmers market; pick up a few bags of locally grown produce while out at the grocery store; by supporting local and stashing for the winter months, you are contributing to the local economy, packing in the local bounty, vitamins and minerals, and supporting a smaller scale producer and inadvertently upping the nutritional ante of your meals, nutrients-wise. Bon appetit! And share this page with ones you think may need some harvesting-kick-in-the-pants. Now, GO PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD!
Read moreToday is the last instalment of putting up the harvest for 2015. I have enjoyed this challenge of coming up with new ways to keep the freshness going into the winter months, tried new things, revisited old favourites, and so I thought to end this stretch of food-prep that I would go back to one of the first things I ever did as a homesteader-wannabe: canning. I haven't talked about canning this month at all because truth be told, I don't do it much anymore. I find it is quite a bit of extra work, my stove top is not the best one rated for water bath canning; it isn't as forgiving an art as say, fermenting. But it is a practical way to be able to put up a big amount of one thing like zucchini into relish, or peaches into canned jewels, or tomatoes into salsa. And crab apples into crab apple butter.
Read moreHarvest season is well underway, and this next chunk of time is perhaps one of the busiest for most farmers. It is also one of my favourite times in the harvest, as it is when the good big cabbages start rolling in, and all other longer season vegetables and fruits start to show up at farmers' markets and stalls, as well as grocery stores. The humble cabbage is, in my opinion, one of the best vegetables out there. It is prized for its ability to ward off scurvy (meaning VITAMIN C rich it be), high in fibre which can mean many things from improving your visits to the bathroom to assisting in lowering cholesterol and facilitating the exit of excess hormones. It is high in glucosinolates which have been shown to be protective against cancers, and they have anti-inflammatory properties to boot. Cabbages are especially good and helpful for stomachs and intestinal linings, so if you have one or both of these, I'd say eating cabbage is a good bet for you.
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