Sheltering among the graceful Pines.

Have you truly felt a Pine forest’s presence?  It is other worldly.  Not just because of it’s pungent uplifting Evergreen aroma…there is something ephemeral yet lasting to be experienced in the embrace of these trees.

Years ago, Skipper and I were trudging along the ridge above Peaceful Acres in a bitterly cold January storm, the cruel wind ripped at any exposed flesh and forced us to keep moving.  Skipper, in his collie fur coat, led the way as we instinctively went for cover into the enclosure of a Pine forest.  Almost the instant we stepped foot into the forest the howling winds seemed muted and the Pine needles in the crowns towering above stopped the freezing rain as if in it’s tracks.  It felt surreal.  The forest floor was cushioned with fallen dry conifer needles silencing our steps.  I remember feeling safe and curious all at once.

Heading out with long handled clippers, saw, axe, my truck and my dog in search of Pine bounty.

Ever since that day I began actively befriending Pine and have been fascinated by it’s plethora of wild gifts for food, medicine, shelter and beauty.  Allow me to introduce to you a giant in the plant kingdom that God has provided to empower you with it’s presence and it’s offerings.

The Scripture I have chosen to introduce you to Pine is Psalm 111:2-4

“Great are the works of the Lord, they are studied by all who delight in them. 

Splendid and majestic are His ways,  

He has made His wonders to be REMEMBERED!”  

Pine is splendid and majestic and wonderful and memorable.  Pour yourself a mug of hot Pine needle tea and let’s delight in this green friend together.

Who is Pine?

There are over 200 species of Pines, most are edible and all are useful.   All Pines are evergreens, keeping their beautiful needled greenery all year round. They are also referred to as Conifers, because they are cone bearing. The family name is Pineacea. There are softwood pines and hardwood pines.  The soft pines have needles that are found in groups of five on twigs.  Their wood is low in density.  Hard pines are more dense and have needles in groups of two or tree per bundle. White Pine, or Pinus strobis, is the tree I will be featuring in this blog, it is a soft pine and has five needles in each bundle along their twigs and they look like little brooms!

What does Pine Look Like?

Pine trees can grow to enormous heights of up to 250 feet and live up to 500 years. The branches grow around the trunk in a whorl and this can even be seen on the twigs whirling around each branch.   In a pine forest many of the lower whorls break off as a tree grows taller, perhaps due to the lack of sunshine with the shading of the crowns in a tightly packed forest.

Pine Cones – The Pine cone contains the reproductive structures. Most conifers (or cone bearing trees) have female and male pine cones on the same tree, with the female cones up higher in the tree and the male cones lower.  The armored scales of a woody female pine cone protect the ‘babies’ or the seeds inside.  These armored scales will open on warm days just long enough to fertilize the seeds and then remain closed for up to two years until the seeds are mature and ready to fly on their papery wings far away from the parent plant to begin new life.  Some species of Pine require intense heat to open up their tightly closed cones and some even wait for a forest fire to begin this process of rebirth. The heaviest cone grows on the Coulter Pine cone weighing up to 10 pounds each cone! The longest Pine cone is the Jeffrey Pine with a length of up to 2 feet.  Both of these trees grow on the west coast of North America.

Female pine cones, opened scales to drop seeds.

The male cones don’t really look like pine cones…they are not as woody as the female cones and they create an enormous amount of yellow pollen that gets released in the Spring rising in the wind in hopes to pollinate the female cones bearing the seed.

Needles – The needles of evergreen conifers are actually their leaves.  Although, Evergreens are constantly shedding their needles to the forest floor, they keep regrowing them so they are everGREEN.   Various species of Pines bundle their needles in fascicles of 2,3 or 5 needles per bundle with each bundle securely attached to the twig.  Spruce needles and Fir needles grow individually from the twig.  Their needles are easy to tell apart in that the Spruce needles are 4 sided and when you roll a Spruce needle between your fingers they spin easily.  Fir needles are 2 sided and flat and will not roll between your fingers.  Another clue is that Spruce needles tend to be sharp and pointy while Fir needles are a bit softer.  Cedar is also an evergreen conifer and it’s ‘leaves’ look rather scaley when examined.

I brewed up a jar of Spruce, Pine and Cedar needles to have a taste test. I love them all but they are distinctly different from each other. Try it!

What is Pine’s origin and history?

English merchant and warship masts were made out of Pine.  Learn how the 1720 Mast Act was like a declaration of war to the colonists.

“The pine tree is rooted in American history.  The Eastern White Pine more than any other tree species had a profound effect on the course of events in the New World beginning four centuries ago. At one time the most sought after and valuable tree in the world, it’s wood built the fledgling United States. It was the driving engine of the early American economy and the foundation of it’s trade relationships.   It’s place in American History in a tale not often told.”  This story is absolutely fascinating and one you will want to watch to learn more.  Here is the link: Eastern White Pine – The Tree Rooted in American History

By the 17th century Pine was the most sought after tree in the world.

What do You Do?

Edible 

The whole Pine is edible from the roots to the needles. However Ponderosa Pine, Australian or the Norfolk Pine, the Lodgepole Pine and the Yew Pine are toxic to humans so always be sure to know what species you are dealing with before ingesting.  Fortunately, most Pines are edible.  If you live near a Pine forest you have an endless supply of food and medicine and useful offerings as well.

Max looking over our harvest of Pine twigs and needles.

Needles – You can harvest Pine needles year round but I recently learned that green Pine needles are highest in vitamin C in the Winter so I’ve decided to collect and dry Pine as an annual Winter activity.  After drying the needles store them in glass jars, never plastic. Pine needles are most commonly ‘eaten’ as Pine needle tea infused in hot water.  These needles can be consumed fresh or dried with the latter being a more intense flavor.  Boil the water first, fill a jar with cut pine needles (to expose cell walls for best absorption) and pour the boiling water over the filled jar, cap and steep for 10 minutes or more.  (Be sure to put a metal knife or fork into the jar so the metal will conduct the heat and keep the mason jar from breaking when the boiling water is added)   Some people simmer the needles in a pot of water and that is just as viable as long as you don’t boil the water with the needles in it thus deactivating the vitamin C.  Using a sieve you can strain out the Pine infusion for a hot tea, add local honey for it’s medicinal value if you want a sweeter flavor. I like it plain.  It has a refreshing flavor and knowing how high it is in vitamin C is a huge plus.

Brewing Pine needle tea

With the Pine infused water you can make Pine syrup, Pine popsicles, Pine Jelly, Pine fruit leather… Simply follow instructions for making any of these recipes using Pine water.

I took the Pine infused tea, sweetened it a tad with local honey and froze the liquid in tree shaped silicone molds. I set the timer for 45 minutes at which point I stuck Pine twigs in each tree for a popsicle stick. Having fun with Pine.

“Balsamic Vinegar” Another one of my favorite ways to get the benefits of the minerals and vitamins found in Pine is to infuse the needles in Apple Cider Vinegar (I use Braggs, be sure it has the ‘mother’ in it).  Cap with a plastic lid and let it steep and infuse for 5,6 weeks, pour off and use this Balsamic Vinegar in salad dressing recipes.

Seeds – Pine seeds, or Pine nuts are edible but not all are tasty, the Pinon Pine are meaty and delicious and high in protein.  They are wonderful in salads, pesto, and any way you would eat a nut.  If harvesting from the wild,  just take the papery helicopter wing off first.

Pine Scones, pine nuts, pine flour ground from Pine’s cambium layer

Male Catkins

Cones – The male cones (Catkins) are purportedly edible but I have never tried them.  It is suggested that they be boiled and seasoned to make them palatable.  They are high in nutrition so it is now on my bucket list to try them this Spring.   My friend Susie Terp reports, “Last spring I collected the catkins. If you collect them early you can eat them and they’re tasty, I salted and roasted them. Later as they are close to “opening” to release the pollen if you pick them early and put them in a warm place, the heat will cause them to “open” and release the pollen. Be aware that once the catkins open they are not fit for eating, it’s like eating twigs.”

Pollen – Pine Pollen is a heavy yellow grain that profusely billows from Pine trees in the Spring.  This ‘yellow gold’  is considered a Super Food being highly valued for it’s vitamin content and hormonally rich constituents.  Natural testosterone!  Put a sack or a pillow case over a pollen laden Pine branch and shake to collect.  The pollen can be eaten in flour mixtures and batters or sprinkled in food to ‘up the nutrition’.  My friend Karon keeps her stores of Pine pollen in pint jars in the freezer for she discovered that it molds quickly if not frozen. I am so looking forward to experimenting with Pine pollen this Spring!

Pine Pollen can cause severe allergic reactions to some people but curiously, this same pollen can also be the cure.

Inner Bark – Cambium is classified as an emergency food.  The cambium is where the trees nutrients are transported up from the roots and into the leaves, it is the living part of the tree packed with digestible starches, vitamins, minerals, sugars and some fibers.  In between the outer thick protective bark and the inner wood is this thin living layer of Cambium only a few millimeters thick.   Linda Runyon suggested,  “The best time to collect Pine cambium is when the warmth hits the air, late Spring…..Truly very soft and EASY to peel out in the warm spring….Branches are very much easier then the big trunk…I actually brought bows into the cabin and warmed them up for easy peel out of the cambium, which needs heat to flow the sap”

Always honor the sustainable harvest by taking downed branches or if harvesting from a living Pine tree, remove only a small amount from under the outer bark on one side of the tree.  Never girding the tree for girding all the way around is the death of any tree.  BUT if there is a clear cutting nearby take advantage of the timber that is left behind. Keep your eyes open for bounty even in the midst of loss.

I cut a Pine bough into workable pieces to more easily strip the cambium layer. I since discovered that the best time to do this activity is in the warmth of Spring when the Cambium layer is slippery and easier to harvest.

Dehydrate the strips of Cambium for use all year.  Other trees that are generally safe to harvest cambium from are Birch, Willow, Spruce, Fir and Maple.

Cambium Inner bark can be dried and ground into a powder and used in making bread. During days of scarcity powdered Pine cambium was often mixed with oatmeal or added to wheat flour to extend stores for making bread.  It has a piney flavor and makes a fairly passable flour.  In general though when an herb is powdered it loses some of it’s power. I suggest keeping the dried cambium strips in a mason jar and then powdering into flour as needed using a food processor (vita mixer…) And always store dried things in a glass mason jar, never plastic.

My Pine Cambium Flour scones with Pinon Pine nuts. I loved them, Jason thought they tasted like a 2 x 4….

Chewing Gum…Native Americans chewed on the Pine cambium so I had the inspiration of adding the sweet Pine syrup that I had made to these strips.  I let them dry and now they are my favorite ‘chewing gum’.

Cambium Chips, season the fresh strips of cambium and fry in oil in an iron skillet. This I have not tried.  It sounds suspect but knowing how high the Pine cambium is in nutrients and calories I intend to try it AND I’ve read of people using the Pine cambium as a substitute for ‘pulled pork’.  I really can’t imagine that but I’ll try it and let you know…

As you can see, a Pine forest or just a Pine tree is an inexhaustible food source.

Medicinal

Pine is not only edible but it is highly medicinal.  Here is a short list of Pine’s many healing properties: antimicrobial, anti neuralgic, anti rheumatic, antiscorbutic, antiseptic, antibacterial, expectorant, stimulant, vermifuge, diuretic, restorative, antihypertensive….

I made a tincture with the Pine needles, bark, cambium all well chopped and to this I poured Everclear to infuse and steeped for 8 weeks. Powerful medicine.

Pine is famous for it’s respiratory system support.  Diffusing Pine essential oil will help congestion and aid in sleep as well.  My husband is just recovering from a sinus infection and diffusing Pine next to our bed has been the turning point in his healing.  A few drops of Pine essential oil in steam tent can also be a powerful healing tool.

When you can’t walk in a Pine forest the next best thing is to diffuse Pine essential oil. Young Living has a lot of evergreen oils that they distill. Lately, diffusing Pine EO at night has not only helped Jason’s congestion but my sleeplessness.

‘Pine Brothers’ cough drops can still be purchased but they are easy to make yourself. The Pine resin is antiseptic and can be put directly on a wound or mixed with olive oil to make a healing salve.  The Pine resin is also valuable for kidney and bladder health.

Adding Pine twigs to bath water will ease nervousness and ease muscle pain, you can make a Pine liniment for aching muscles as well.

I made these bath salts with: Epsom salts, sea salt, bentonite clay, baking soda, Pine needles and twigs and 10 drops of Young Living Pine essential oil. It makes me feel relaxed just thinking of the power of a bath like this! Don’t put bath salts in the tub until YOU are in it so all the goodness goes into YOU and not evaporate into air.

Pine Pollen is offensive to many with allergies and asthma but it is also the antidote if taken internally.  Here is a testimonial from my friend Karon Henick

Pine’s legendary usefulness makes it one of the most sought after trees in the world.

Pine wood – The lumber is used for construction, furniture, flooring, Pine coffins.  The wood is soft, flexible and durable and easy to work with.  When pioneers moved West, they would plant Pine on their land to use for building Pine boxes (coffins) which was much easier than the hardwoods. Rope from the inner bark.  As a firewood, it is not preferable to burn indoors because the soot that it creates in chimneys is flammable but makes great fire wood for camp fires.

Pine needles – Pine needles are considered insecticidal and throughout history were useful for stuffing mattresses and pillows to keep lice and fleas away.  Pine needles also make a great mulch particularly for plants that like acidic soil.  I put it around the bases of my blueberry bushes.  I don’t have chickens but if I did I have read that Pine needles make great bedding for barn animals. I use a plethora of nature scraps for packing material when I’m sending care packages to loved ones, Pine, Spruce or Fir needles all work great to cushion the contents and add that evergreen magical aroma!  Dye made from the needles is tan or green and reddish yellow from the cones….

Free mulch, free bedding, free aromatic crunches for a walk in a Pine forest

Pine sap – is used to make glue and caulking or boiled down to make turpentine and tar, it is even what rosin for violin bows is made out of.  I have not experimented with the sap but found this really cool blog that shows practical uses for this, yet another, Pine offering. Check it out.

Sticky riches

Beautiful/Whimsical

Pine needle baskets, wreathes, decorations made from the needles and the cones are so much fun to be creative with.  Pine trees don’t drop cones every year so when they do be sure to gather them to repurpose them into something that brings you and others joy.

Evergreen wreath made by my friend Sandi Henry – Pine cones, Milkweed seed pods, Sumac bobs, Caspian wisps…. Beauty free in nature’s stores

A Personal Pine Memory

In 1935, my grandparents, Otto and Helen Endres, started a boys camp in Northern Minnesota.  Camp Chippewa is still operating today. Camp is nestled in a magnificent Pine forest between Cass Lake and Buck Lake.  Pop as a naturalist, knew every plant and mushroom in “These Thy Woods” and avidly shared his passion for nature not only with the campers but with his grandchildren.  Pop and Ahma’s cabin, Trail’s End, was on the far end of a pristine towering Red and White Pine forest.  As a very little girl I would seek out Pop to show him my nature treasures with socks and pockets stuffed with acorns, pine cones, pebbles, and even live minnows.  Wandering along the path to Trails End far below the magnificent Pine cathedral one could smell not only the Pines but the smells wafting from Ahma’s kitchen and the smell of smoke curling out of the chimney.  Glimpses of the sparkling waters of Buck flashed blue in the distance and Ahma always filled any tree stump with her Pansies to brighten the path to her home.  Every year for Paul Bunyan Day, the campers planted Pine saplings and upon returning as a camper each Summer would check on ‘their tree’ growth.  Some of these trees are enormous today.  Our family kept up this tradition and now my own granddaughters plant Pines and Firs each summer.   I credit Pop with my love for nature and my passion to share it with others.  I am blessed to be the steward of many of Pop’s nature books now that he is no longer with us.  I think he would be amazed at how far this wild child of his has taken this passion!

This mature forest of Red and White Pines is a memory from my earliest childhood as these towering magnificent giants held the needled path to my grandparents cabin, Trail’s End on the shores of Buck Lake.  Giant friends.

Thank you for joining me as I bragged on my friend Pinus strobus.  I hope you have an ever growing delight in this stately beautiful and generous tree.  Continue your own Pine Bucket list and share with me your adventures and your stories with Pine.

“Great are the works of the Lord, they are studied by all who delight in them. 

Splendid and majestic are His ways,  

He has made His wonders to be REMEMBERED!”   Psalm 111:2-4

Wild Blessings Abound!

Holly

I’ve provided a Pine Crossword Puzzle below as a fun way to help you remember but the best way to remember is by doing.

I teach once a week on my private Wild Blessings FB group, last week was my talk on Pine. Here is a top down view of all the Pine Show -n-Tell treasures I shared in our Teaching Tuesday class. If you want to join this free class, just comment below and I’ll get back with you.

Pine Paths leading to Trails End and schnatterganzing with Ahma and Pop.

Looking up at the towering red and white Pines from Buck lake shore

Substituting wild edible plants for your favorite cookbook ingredients

Many have asked me where I find recipes for my wild menus, especially after they have enjoyed foraging, cooking and eating a delicious wild meal on our spacious front porch! I tell them that it is SIMPLE and not at all complicated. Choose a recipe from any cookbook and make it wildly yours.

Creating a wild dish is merely a matter of ADDITION and eventually with practice…SUBSTITUTION.

Eating a Wild Mexican Food Feast together after having foraged for the food and cooked it together in my kitchen. Everything was wildly delicious!

Addition & Substitution

To begin cooking with wild edible plants simply ADD something wild to your favorite recipe; it can be as simple as garnishing with edible flowers to jazz up your presentation or adding Chickweed leaves to your basil pesto for it’s nutritional value…

Learn by doing.   As you learn about each wild edible plant start looking for them in healthful locations nearby, begin harvesting them and preparing them into your menus!

As confidence is gained through personal experience you can begin SUBSTITUTING wild plants in place of the cultivated veggies.  If a recipe calls for cucumbers try using Cattail shoots instead.  Or if a recipe calls for garlic, Ramps are the perfect substitute…. It’s simple really…common sensical, just as you learned to shop for fresh produce at the grocery store you can do the same in nature and have fun in the process!

First Go Shopping

Shopping together in God’s Green Shopping Centers

Then Garble (sort, trim, quality control) your groceries to prepare or preserve for later

If this were your groceries what would you cook for dinner?

Learn with me

In my Forage to Feast events and instructional videos, I give detailed instructions on what part of each plant is edible, when is the prime harvesting time and wild tips for delicious preparation.  Preparation is the key to being wildly successful.   A plant may be edible but not palatable if it isn’t prepared well! But THAT is the topic of another blog!

I am here to help you learn from my years of trial and error and wild successes how to become a wild forager and cook!

Wild Substitutions A-B-C’s

Here is a short illustrated list of common vegetables and possible Wild Substitutions to spark your imagination!

Asparagus = Milkweed stalks (early Spring and supple, less than 10″ tall)

Just like asparagus Milkweed early Spring shoots has a tender meristematic growing tip and the lower part that connects to the root is inedible and tough. This picture shows the inedible tough part on the left (to be composted) the early Milkweed leaves on the right (only tender young tiny Milkweed leaves are edible) and in the middle is our ‘asparagus’ I prepared it al dente and poured over a Bernaise sauce for dinner.

Broccoli = Milkweed flower buds not only look like broccoli but taste like them

Milkweed Flower Bud Casserole w/ Feta Cheese

Carrots = Queen Anne’s Lace first year roots, Burdock roots

The only thing not wild in this delicious lunch is the rice and cherry tomatoes. Sweet and Sour Burdock root….be sure to dig up a first year root or the Spring of the second year root then decoct till tender.

Celery = Dandelion crowns, Thistle stalks (deprickled)

Dandelion crown (celery substitute) wild cheese casserole; Ramps for garlic and Morels for mushrooms.

Cheese = Milkweed seed pods (larger than an inch and before the seeds turn beige)

Milkweed at the ‘cheese’ stage has a sweet flavor and the consistency of a mozzarella cheese stick. Use these cheesy surprises however you would use cheese.

Chips = Queen Anne’s Lace flowers, Broadleaf Plantain ‘Kale’ Chips

Plantago major (broadleaf Plantain) fat leaves make wonderful seasoned ‘kale’ chips, season and bake till crisp.

Coffee = Dandelion Root roasted, Chicory root roasted

Cucumber = Cattail (early shoots), Borage flowers

Cattail shoots in the Spring taste exactly like CUCUMBERS!! I use them for my Greek wild food feasts as Tzatziki sauce.

Corn on the cob = Cattail (green female flower heads)

The Cattail is the Supermarket of the Swamp! The ‘Corn of the Cob’ stage is the female green flowers that when pollinated by the golden male pollen (above it) turns brown like a hot dog. I love to boil these green cobs with a portion of the stem to hold as you eat it buttered and salted like corn on the cob. It tastes like artichokes to me.

Flour = Amaranth seeds, or grinding dried edible leaves into green powder, Cattail roots, Yucca Root

Acorn flour bread, Chestnut butter, Autumn Olive Berry cream cheese dip for apples for a wild lunch.

Garlic = Ramps, Garlic Mustard

Ramps are such a delicacy, the bulbs and the green leaves taste like a sweet garlic. Make Ramp butter to freeze in molds to enjoy all year long.

Green Beans = Burdock stems, Milkweed shoots

Milkweed Early Spring Shoots Buttered and Salted

Hamburger = Burdock roots

Burdock root is a delicacy in Asia, it is called Gobo root. It can be purchased at Whole Foods or just dig it up yourself. I have used this root to make taco meat, pepperoni, hamburgers, stir fries even mushrooms…the secret is in preparation.

Jams and Jellies = Beauty Berry, Autumn Olive Berry, Blackberry…

Wild jams, jellies, fruit leathers and gummies…

Lemon = Japanese Knotweed, Sumac, Sheep Sorrel, Oxalis…

Young lemony Knotweed shoots waiting to be sliced for storage in my freezer

Lettuce = Chickweed, Violet leaves, Dandelion leaves, Wood Sorrel

Wild edible greens and flowers to make a completely wild and wonderful salad.

Mushrooms = Chicken of the Woods, Morels, Puffballs…

Noodles = Yucca flowers

Yucca flowers have an amazing texture and when boiled for a few minutes in salted water have the texture of a noodle. Last Summer at one of my wild food feasts we made Yucca Noddle Alfredo!

Okra = Milkweed pods sliced, parboiled and fried in seasoned corn flour

At our Wild BBQ we had Autumn Olive Berry BBQ sauce and breaded Milkweed seed pods (at the potato stage) as amazing OKRA! It was incredible!

Onion = Wild Alium

Wild Onions are the first things up the late Winter, early Spring. Use them like chives or dig up their white bulbs for more of an oniony flavor.

Peas = Dandelion flower buds (before they open the first time), Evening Primrose flower buds

Pickles = Milkweed shoots, Purslane shoots,

Purslane is such an amazing gift from God! Nutrient dense and high in Omega 3 Fatty Acids. This succulent makes fantastic pickles!

Potatoes = Milkweed seed pods (early, when they are about an inch long, firm and green), Jerusalem Artichoke roots

The Potato Stage – These tiny potatoes are the beginning of the Milkweed seed pod, harvest them when they are one inch long and quite firm. Any longer and they morph into the ‘cheese’ stage. Cook them whole, or slice and cook in bacon grease as hashbrowns.

Nuts = Hickory nuts, Black Walnuts, Chestnuts, Beechnuts, Butternuts, Acorns

Back from foraging in early October with Chestnut Oak acorns, White Oak acorns, Crabapples… Feeling blessed!

Soda = any wild flower or flavorful root or berry plus fermentation

Lacto bacilli a bacteria that protects Winter roots can be used to create a ferment and a fizzy soda. I like using Burdock, Ginger and Dandelion roots for this, just feed them sugar and wait.

Spinach = any number of wild edible leaves but my favorite substitutions for Spinach are: Lambsquarter, Nettle or Poke

Savory Dandelion blossom fritters on a bed of sautéed Dandelion leaves

Sugar / Syrup = Meadowsweet (sugar), wild berries (jams), tapping Sugar Maples for Maple syrup

I collect and freeze Elderberry umbels to make Elderberry syrup in the Winter.

Teas Hot or Cold = Flavorful wild leaves dried and stored to infuse, Berries or roots to decoct and sweeten..

Pine Needle tea, Birch tea, Beebalm tea, Goldenrod punch, Beauty Berry water kefir all chilled and ready for my wild food feast.

Water = tap an edible tree, Hickory, Birch, Maple to get fresh water

Boiling on the stove top….for hours. Clear Maple sap tasty like pure water with a twinge of sweetness to it. The brown liquid in the glass jug jar in front is the final boiled down syrup.

Wine = Sumac berries, Dandelion Blossoms, Elderflowers, Blackberries….so many options for making meads and wines

Wild Meads brewing: Sumac, Elderberry, Sassafras…

Follow Nature’s Wave

Follow nature’s wave with the seasons and eat fresh the wild offerings within each season.   As you get more experience with identifying, harvesting, preparing and cooking these wild green gifts begin making up your own recipes by incorporating wild edible plants into your favorite recipes.  Your family will never know! (maybe) and you will be having fun, eating healthier nutrient dense foods, and saving money.  That is a good deal!  A God deal!

So…what do YOU see?

So back to the picture I posted at the beginning of this post.  The Dandelion groceries spread on my table….  I asked what you would cook for dinner if these were your groceries.  Do you have a better idea now?

Dandelion harvest, garbled (sorted and cleaned). Roots to be roasted and powdered for coffee, leaves for salads or stir fries, crowns for celery and casseroles, flower buds for peas, blossoms for fritters or wine…. Versatile, supremely nutritious and delicious…DANDELION one of our best green gifts.

If you want to use my favorite recipes, I will be providing them in my upcoming E-Book

Wild Blessings – From Forage to Feast

In future blogs I will be helping you rediscover ways to use God’s green gifts in your wild pantry: wild seasonings, wild thickeners, wild teas, wild flours, wild fermentation and I will teach you how to preserve your wild harvest year round.

So much nutritional abundance to be discovered FREE for the knowing, the picking and the preparing.

Wild Blessings are abounding!! I am here to help you reclaim your wild heritage, knowledge that our ancestors knew and kept them alive and well.

“We look to You to give us our food, in due season,

You give to us we gather it up,

You open Your hand we are satisfied,

You send forth your Spirit and we are created and

You renew the face of the ground.”

Psalms 104 :27-30