Spring comes on fast and furious. One minute (or month), it seems, I am scratching seeds into half-thawed ground and the next I am watching Red Russian kale and arugula flower and spinach go to seed.
I have watched crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, lilacs, forget-me-nots and dandelions bloom, and now am into rhododendrons, lupines, alliums, columbines and irises. The bees are happy at work, while ants are partying on my peonies.
I’ve been relishing my time in the garden with a different rhythm, since COVID-19 interrupted life as we knew it. I sleep later, work during off hours when the kids are outside, and stay up at night watching videos about growing things. I drink coffee in the morning, but often forget to eat until later in the day when my hangry panic sets in. Thankfully, we are moving out of months of buying greens at the store into eating our own home-grown.
This is the salad I wolf down in the afternoon these days:
Before
Get yer greens salad
Ingredients
Large bowl of greens (mine included kale, arugula, spinach and spicy mesclun greens today. Sometimes, I’ll add dandelion leaves. And my kids prefer romaine mixed with the darker wilder greens.)
Radishes, if you have them
A few green onions or chives
Herbs, if you have them (parsley, dill, cilantro or basil)
Dressing
Large heaping tablespoon of grainy mustard
Large heaping spoon of tahini
A couple of tablespoons of hemp seeds
Splash of apple cider vinegar (mine is infused with dandelion flowers)
Splash of flax seed oil
Tablespoon of nutritional yeast
Splash of maple syrup or fresh local honey
Chopped garlic, if you have some (we’ve run out of last year’s garlic, so I used a sprinkle of garlic, hot pepper salt flakes instead)
Directions
Wash greens thoroughly and chop or cut with scissors into bite sized pieces; Dry in salad spinner.
Whisk dressing ingredients in a large bowl, adding more or less tahini depending on how thick you want it.
Add greens, radishes and onions to the bowl with salad dressing and toss vigorously or massage with your hands.
Add extras if you like. Try chickpeas, roasted yams, pumpkin seeds, toasted sesame seeds, smoked tofu, grated carrots or ginger, or red peppers.
Resist the temptation to eat the whole bowl if you offered to make lunch for your partner. Enjoy ’til the next ravenous feast!
After: empty plate, full belly, dirty garden jeans and happy dog at my feet
Could a food chain that whispers of global vulnerability make me reconsider the value of my yard as part of my personal supply chain? I cultivate weeds better than anything. My yard is a festival of dandelions.
There is nothing to be gained by declaring war on this. But everything to be gained by researching all the medicinal and nutritional benefits of dandelion and declaring it my most successful garden crop ever. So, with a nudge of encouragement from Natalie Rousseau, whose plant ally for early spring in her 13 Moons course was dandelion, I cooked up a dandelion saute, as the evening’s serve of greens.
It tasted… so… weedy.
The seven year old sniffed and said, “No.” Husband’s verdict: “not for the permanent recipe collection.”
I went to instagram to announce this state of affairs.
And was encouraged by friends not to give up.
So I did some more research. They are SO GOOD FOR YOU. My coffee-to-wine IV line slash coping technique has short term effectiveness, (upping and downing me as required), but I’m not in love with the long term consequences (like looking haggard. I embrace witchiness but I’m not ready to be a hag just yet.) The promise of clear skin alone convinced me to keep trying – if not to disguise or balance the taste of dandelion, then to acquire.
Two weeks into my experiments with dandelion (and with even more available in my yard, yay abundance!) it’s some combination of all of the above.
Susun Weed has taught that information in wild food is healing to our cells, it nourishes them with fewer glitches, it returns us to a state of health that aligns with an older Earth, because the receptor sites for minerals in our cells, are primed for the nutrients found in wild food.
the optimum nutrition is the nutrition from the wild plants. ~ susun weed
Dandelion is a member of the Asteraceae (daisy) family, a spring tonic and blood purifier. Dandelion leaves and roots relieve chronic stagnation in the liver, while the flowers can relieve a stagnant depressed spirit.
“It grows almost anywhere: wild in fields, lining trails, in suburban yards, breaking through cracks in city sidewalks. Its constant presence is a reminder of its persistence to live as long as it can under any condition.” ~ Christine Buckley, Plant Magic
It was actually imported to North America as a spring green and boasts the scientific name Taraxacum officinale, meaning the official remedy. Like, for everything.
Its strengths are as a tonic, diuretic, alterative, antirheumatic, bitter, cholagogic, hepatic, exhilarant, mild laxative and nutritive.
Dandelion – Are tap-rooted biennial or perennial herbaceous plants, native to temperate areas of the world. Dandelions are thought to have evolved about thirty million years ago in Eurasia, they have been used by humans as food and herb for much of recorded history. Dandelions are one of the first plants to bloom in the spring and therefore are a very important source of nectar and pollen early in the season. Its tap-root will bring up nutrients for shallower-rooting plants, and add minerals and nitrogen to the soil. Dandelions are even said to emit ethylene gas which helps fruit ripen.
Christine Buckley, in her new (and highly recommended) book Plant Magic includes dandelion in her herbal arsenal – she makes vodka tincture with the flowers and takes that jar of liquid sunshine as deep winter medicine, confessing it is her favourite plant for being “scrappy, fierce, life giving and cheery.”
Buckley recommends to use the roots for sluggish digestion – dandelion will not just kick your digestive system into high gear, it also improves bile production in the liver, so you can digest fats and eliminate toxins from your body with more ease. This will reduce inflammation in the body, make your skin look better, help your metabolism and allow the liver to cleanse the blood.
It’s high in mineral content and inulin, a type of fibre, which is an excellent prebiotic.
Are you sold yet?
The leaves are great spring salads – waking up our systems. It’s a tonic, so that means you can take it, every day, and little by little, you will improve.
“It is the ultimate preventative medicine,” says Buckley. And high in potassium, too.
So long as the leaves are green, they’re edible. They become progressively bitter, so start with tender spring leaves. It also is packed with vitamins A, E, K, b6, B1 and C. Temper the bitterness with other ingredients (like plaintain leaves, garden herbs, seeds, nuts, shaved cheese, dried fruit.)
So, with that data fomenting in my brain, my community of wild advisors offered tips on incorporating this super food into my diet.
Christine Buckley’s must-have new book, Plant Magic
Holly Joseph recommends: “The roots are nice and hot right now. Add to a stir fry, they taste so good! Brush them off under the hose. They are long and thin right now. And taste pretty peppery. I just cut it up right from the garden and put it right into my stir fry. Made it kind of spicy!”
Asta Kovanen’s advice: “My tip is to cut wild greens in slowly. Add them in small percentages to your regular veg and then your palate can adjust without major assault.”
Leala Selina Martin said: “I often will juice them as the larger they are the more bitter. They are so good for you though!”
Sarinda Hoilett advised: “It’s all in the balance of flavours. Macadamia nuts (although gift from heaven) are expensive and hard to find…you can substitute cashews or even avocado and try for a creamy citrus blend to balance the bitter 🍃, And mix them with other greens or drop a few in a sweet smoothie.”
Dandelion Cream Salad
20 dandelion leaves, finely chopped, main stem rmoved
1/2 cup macadamia nuts
1/4 cup diced red bell pepper
1/4 cup coconut water
3 tbs lemon juice
1 tsp Celtic salt
Massage chopped dandelion leaves well with salt to break down the fibre. Let sit for at least 5 minutes. Blend nuts with coconut water and lemon to cream. Mix well to coat dandelions with cream and add red bell pepper. This salad is a wonderful way to get the great nutrition of dandelion with a reduction of the bitterness.
After great success with Natalie’s dandelion cordial, making Christine Buckley’s winter rescue tincture (as I call it the “dandy brandy”) is next on my list.
1 ½ cups dandelion flower blossoms
1 cup honey
1 cup brandy
Put the flowers in a glass pint jar. Dissolve the honey in the brandy by stirring or whisking vigorously together. Pour the brandy and honey over the flowers, label and store in a cool dark place for 6 weeks. Bottle your tincture but don’t hide it away so well that you forget about it by winter.
Pemberton-based clinical herbalist, Evelyn Coggins,advised, after reading this post: “I love to hear this topic of wild medicine/wild food being shared as miraculous, magical news… because it is all that. A weed is just a plant that hasn’t learned to grow in rows. The bitter principal of dandelion is tricky. We like sweet, salty and to some degree sour but bitter rarely. Maybe we are cautious because the toxic constituents in plants are most often present as alkaloids and alkaloids are bitter. It must have been a real learning curve to distinguish between toxic and beneficial bitters. The beneficial bitters aid digestion and many traditional aperitifs employ plant based bitters. Gin and tonic is a good example. Gin is prepared from juniper berries and they are bitter. Bitters act on the bitter receptors on the tongue and start a chain reaction that leads to the increased flow of bile into the digestive tract and all the nutritional value that ensues from there. It is not surprising that the liver leaps into action with bitters since poisons must be metabolized and hopefully rendered harmless by this organ. I agree that one must start slowly when turning to bitter plants but the journey is so worth it.”
I’ve been a client of Evelyn’s and can’t recommend her highly enough.
Now, more than ever, is a time to treat nature as an ally, not a servant/slave, and to behave with honour, humility, curiousity and gratitude.
Just because you use the derisive word weed doesn’t mean this plant has no value.
Finally, leave some for the pollinators. They matter in this lovely web, perhaps more than anyone. Not to mention, the roots reach deep into the soil to bring up nutrients, so they’re working healing magic on the Earth, not just our bodies.
Thanks to Tanina Williams, who first introduced me to the idea of making dandelion jelly, for sharing this video:
As discussed in my last post I think we owe vegans in particular an enormous debt of gratitude. These deadly viruses originate with wild animals in captivity caged inhumanely alongside domesticated animals for human consumption in markets mainly in China, but also it has been reported Indonesia and Thailand. What will happen in future and how and if this will be monitored is another matter.
Vegans are against the use of any animal product for consumption and their choices are truly admirable. We have so many ethical food producers here and ethical and sustainable hunting practices yet unfortunately there will always be people who abuse a shared trust. Also, whenever we purchase packaged meat in the grocery store and are not connected with the hunting of the meat ourselves or the raising of the meat ourselves or by people we know in our own community (shout out to those very important and hard-working people in Pemberton now and how grateful I am to you) then we honestly cannot say for sure that the meat was raised ethically.
So if you find this all too much to process (pun not intended) then you can just go vegan. And if that is too much to process then you can at least go partially vegan. I find vegan eating particularly easy at breakfast and lunch. Oatmeal and oat milk (yay – oat milk has 4g of protein per cup!), toast with peanut butter, etc.
For lunch I like to serve bean dips and veggies and even a light lentil soup. I just tweaked a bean dip I found online that in its original posted form was bland and blah. This one is zippy and fluffy and very delish. Please enjoy and thank you again to the vegan community.
White Bean Dip with Pemberton Garlic and Parsley:
Ingredients:
15 grams of small white cannellini beans
**Method for dried beans: Soak a bag or two of dried cannellini beans overnight. In the AM, drain water and put beans in slow cooker and add water until beans are covered by two inches. Cook on low 8 hours. When tender, put 15 gram portions of beans in containers and freeze for future use.
2 cloves Pemberton garlic
4 dashes hot sauce (I like the Cholula brand from Mexico)
1/3-1/2 cup pure olive oil
3 tbs fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup Pemberton-grown parsley
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp paprika
Method: Blend all ingredients together in Cuisinart. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Serve with sliced cucumbers, celery, carrots or sweet peppers.
I’m not sure about you, but I was feeling a bit left out of the club!
Since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic many people have either been laid off (hopefully just temporarily) or have had to close their businesses to control the spread. I am one of the lucky ones in that my 40-hour work week has remained, with only some minor changes to my schedule. However, it did mean that while everyone else was discovering the joys of breadmaking, i.e. different starters and best methods, albeit when flour and yeast were available, I was stuck in front of my computer screen!
A little Pinterest research later I found a No-Knead Bread recipe that claimed it was “crazy easy”! And it was! Four ingredients, mix them up, leave them overnight to do their thing and then the next day make it into a ball, stick it in a dutch oven, cook it for 45 minutes and ta da – homemade artisan bread!
But one thing still peeved me. The flavour was great, the texture was wonderful, the making of the recipe had been a success, so what was the problem? Well have you tried toasting the middle slice of a round loaf without having to cut it in half first or without trying to toast both ends so that you end up burning the middle and setting the fire alarm off? No? Me neither!
So the next time I made the bread, when it came to shaping it into a ball I tried to make it an oblong instead and used my lasagna dish to cook it in. The result was better but the slices were still not toaster friendly.
And then I came across this No-Knead Bread hack. Instead of shaping into a ball, flatten it a little, then fold it in 3 and stick it in a [greased] traditional loaf pan.
So far it looks like it may have worked. 🙂 It looks like a normal loaf and should fit in my toaster no problem and will be easier to cut as it won’t be wider than my bread knife. This could turn out to be a complete success and it may be one thing I don’t have to buy at the grocery store anymore. (Sorry Pemberton Valley Supermarket). Of course, the proof (no bread pun intended) will be in the eating!
Ingredients
(Makes 1 loaf)
3cupsall purpose flour
1teaspoonsalt
1/2teaspoonyeast
1.5cupswarm water
Directions
In a bowl, stir the flour, salt, yeast and water until combined. Cover with plastic wrap and rest at room temperature for 8-24 hours.
Turn dough out onto a well floured surface.
Sprinkle a little more flour over the top of the dough and knead the dough just two or three times until the flour is incorporated and the dough is no longer bubble-gum sticky.
Flatten into a Rectangle – Use your fingertips to gently flatten into a rough rectangle. If the dough is sticking to the counter, sprinkle a little flour underneath. Try not to use too much flour, though, or else you’ll have trouble getting the dough to stick to itself once you shape it.
Place the shaped loaf into a greased bread pan and let it rise until it’s just starting to crest over the rim of the pan.
Turn on the oven to 450° to pre-heat about 20 minutes before baking.
Just before baking, rub a little flour into the surface of the loaf and cut a slash or two with a serrated knife.
Bake the loaf for 45-50 minutes, turning them once halfway through so they bake evenly. The loaf should be golden-red with a few toasted brown spots. Shake out of the pan and tap the bottom with your knuckle – if it sounds hollow, it’s done! If you’re not sure, check the internal temperature. Bread is done when the centre registers 190°.
Cool before slicing (and slathering with butter!).
How is everyone doing? I have been thinking about so many of our assumptions lately. That the tourists will come. That Whistler Blackcomb will open. That our kids will be in school. That I can get on a plane and fly to Italy. That I can ride the ferry. That I can go to the store and purchase what I need.
Our supply chains:
I read a locally published book about a decade ago called The Cucumber Tree – a memoir by a man growing up in Vancouver in the 1940s and 1950s. He recalled evenings with his family; dinner was always at home. Never would they go out for dinner or even out to other people’s homes for dinner parties. Dinner was prepared and eaten at home, every night.
We just have assumptions that we can go out for dinner and that we will be able to travel. And this is a new assumption. It has only been since I was growing up that going out with the family was a thing. And to recall, it only occurred on a special occasion. I do not remember too much of it going on but if we did eat out, it was to a family-run pizza restaurant in my neighbourhood in Vancouver. We have so many lifestyle assumptions under fire right now.
Back when my parents were growing up food supply chains were different and going back further your family and your home was a big part of the supply chain. You ate what you grew. You preserved what you could for the winter.
Here in Pemberton yes, we are very lucky to have farmers and so we would assume that we will always have access to good healthy food. Yet…
Many articles are being written lately about growing a “Victory Garden” and that if you can you should be more food secure within your own backyard. It is time to get cracking. If we are not gardeners then this would be the time to start. If you don’t grow anything then maybe this year grow one thing – one thing that you aren’t going to be reliant on anyone else for. If you live in a townhouse or condo in town, can you grow your own herbs? Sprouts? Micro greens? If you have a yard but simply don’t garden, start with one, two, or three items that will sustain you. I would lean towards items that are hardy like chard, kale and spinach. Fresh herbs – parsley, cilantro, dill, basil, chives – make a meal.
A Note on Veganism:
I am thinking vegans and vegetarians are pretty pissed off at the world, with Covid-19 originating from the filthy Wuhan, China wet markets and the disgusting treatment of wild animals caged for human consumption there. I think we owe vegans and vegetarians enormous respect, and I think they have every right to be angry. Maybe this is that time to pursue veganism or vegetarianism, or to pursue this way of eating as best we can.
I read all the Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder when I was a kid. My favourite was Farmer Boy and how the Wilder family grew all their own food, spun their own yarn from the merino sheep they raised, and were successful in their efforts. Do you think there were any vegans back then? When the supply chain began and ended with you and your family throughout the year, where did alternative eating come in? Something to chew on. Respect the planet, have knowledge of where your food comes from, and if you can, raise it, grow it, hunt it yourself.
What would you eat if you had to grow, raise or hunt it yourself?
A meal from my own yard, by a minimal gardener (who may become a proper gardener this year):
Sautéed garlic scapes (sautéed in hazelnut oil, which I would have to learn how to make)
Spinach salad garnished with cilantro, dried saskatoons, and toasted hazelnuts, with a dressing of hazelnut oil and minced garlic
Fruit salad of chopped apples, cherries, plums, and apple-pears
Barbequed deer steaks (hunted locally by my spouse)
If I were to get serious about my victory garden I would plant spuds, beans, hardy greens and romaine lettuce. I am considering a small backyard chicken coop. It would be a lot of work, but individual food security is a worthy goal. I consider weeding back-breaking labour after about 15 minutes of crawling around in the dirt, mosquitoes buzzing in my ears, and the relentless Pemberton sun beating down on me. Again, I salute the farmers. We are lucky to live among them, now more than ever.
You know when you go on a tropical vacation in the winter and at your destination, the locals are wearing hats, long sleeves and pants. You strip down, head to the beach only to get sunburn and heatstroke? Eventually, after a week, you get used to it. Upon return, that first blast of cold at the airport feels like the Arctic, yet people are wearing shorts!
Plants experience the same affect, perhaps even more because it happens gradually at a cellular level. The more robust the cell walls become, the hardier the plant.
Every living thing has preferred conditions. Plants are grouped into zones to help guide gardeners to choose plants that will survive in their climate. It is based on the worst weather extremes for the area: Coldest temperature, number of frost free days and exposure. It’s good to know your zone before you waste your time and money on something that won’t thrive. Zones can be pushed higher by starting plants indoors, protecting them with cloth, overhangs, windbreaks, a south facing wall and greenhouses. Global warming is also changing things and most areas will be up-zoned in the near future.
Microclimates exist in all zones. Sunny south facing protected areas can be a full zone or more higher than a cold, windy, shady frost pocket. Understanding your microclimates on your property can determine whether you will succeed or not. It’s something you need to constantly pay attention to, and even make notes, if you have to. The smallest changes can make a big difference.
Slowly, plants need to adapt from one environment to the other. Our intervention is called “hardening off”. Plants started indoors are used to the warm cosy, calm and diffused light. If you put those out right away they will most likely get shocked by cold nights, wind, pounding rain and scorching sun. The trick is to, over the course of several days, slowly leave them out in their new environment a little more each day, paying attention to extremes in which case you will have to leave them indoors or add extra protection.
When buying plants in the spring it’s good to ask the grower to what extent they’ve been hardened off, if at all. You may have to do it yourself. Something few consider. Many tropical plants in Florida, grown for export as houseplants are raised under shade cloth, not because they don’t tolerate sun, but because they will eventually live in someone’s living room. It works both ways.
When to plant your starts or seeds outside is also tricky. Seed packages are only a rough guideline as they can’t possibly know everyone’s circumstances. Even experienced gardeners can’t rely on calendar dates, as every year is different. It’s part intuition, part trial and error and partly luck. Those in tune with nature will know when to plant something by biological clues related to the weather, like when the crocuses sprout, the ice on the lake melts, you see the first Robin or the forsythia blooms. This study is called Phenology and is the most accurate method. The even more in tune will take biodynamic guidance into account such as moon cycles, the almanac and spiritual doctrines to plan schedules, making things even more complicated to organize.
Regardless, all good farmers are aware of the weather and check the forecast constantly.
Starting some things early can be as detrimental as starting them late. A root-bound start can suffer and be stunted. A plant left too long indoors on a windowsill can get leggy and fall over searching for the sun. It’s good to know how many days it takes a particular variety to mature. Transplanting earlier may serve no benefit.
Most plants will survive marginal temps above freezing. Few do anything and stay in a state of statice between 1-6 degrees celsius. Some tender annuals such as basil will perish at a damp 1-2 degrees. Transplanting on a windy day is terrible as it knocks them over, and sucks the moisture from the plants and soil, through transpiration. Some things that have a short lifespan may need successive planting to stagger the harvest. Cool loving crops may only work in spring and fall. and will quickly bolt in the summer. Late maturing species may need to be brought indoors to finish off or to spend their dormancy. Hardening off is also required to adapt in this case , now humidity and introducing pests indoors becomes a concern. Plants are fickle, you need to get to know them personally.
There are obviously so many factors to consider: The bottom line is that you have to treat all your plants like dependents and provide the best care for them from the elements as possible. You have to guide them through life, like children, until they are strong enough to go at it with little intervention. You can never assume anything, be complacent or lazy. What if it was your infant out there? How would you care for it?
Hi everyone, and thank you for visiting this website and thank you as ever to Lisa for running it. It is a lot of fun to contribute to – now more than ever. I see at the Pemberton Supermarket that there are store-packaged containers of yeast! The usual small amount of yeast that the store stocks in jars is apparently not enough for everyone (including myself) making bread these days. I think it is wonderful. I have been making my own bread for years. A warning however – do not buy large quantities of yeast at a place like Costco, in bulk. Yeast loses its power after a while, so buy it in small jars (after this Covid crisis is over). Bread takes patience and time and it is very disappointing when your bread doesn’t rise due to outdated yeast!
This is the recipe I have tweaked over the years. I meant to post it last June but I scrolled down today and noticed that either the recipe got bumped off or I didn’t actually post it like I meant to! Sorry about that. This bread is especially good for toast in the am. There was a butter shortage last week when I got to the Pemberton Supermarket so I bought what was left – organic butter at $10.00 per pound – yikes! We were rationing it at that price. Thank you to the Pemberton Supermarket which during regular times is well stocked, clean, friendly, and bright, but during this crisis is doing a wonderful job supplying our community.
Delicious Fibre-full Spelt Bread (yield: 2 loaves)
Ingredients:
7 cups whole grain spelt flour
(I used the Everland brand this time but Bob’s Red Mill works well too. I have recently had all my Anita’s brand sprouted spelt flour go rancid on me recently even being kept in the freezer so I am not going to use it or recommend it for the time being.)
4 tsp instant dry yeast
1 tbs table salt
1 cup ground chia seed (MUST be ground first)
1.5 cups slow old-fashioned oats
3 ¼ cup water
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1 cup oat bran
Method:
Put 4 cups flour into stand mixer, and add: yeast, salt, oats, chia. Mix well with dough hook.
In saucepan place water and butter, over low heat. When butter has melted remove from heat and add to mixer, with mixer on low speed.
When flour and water mixture are well incorporated, add oat bran and 3 cups of flour slowly.
Increase speed to medium. When dough is elastic and well mixed (10 minutes), remove dough and place in a large buttered mixing bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in oven with oven light on for 1 hour.
After one hour, remove dough and divide in half. Take each half and roll into a cylinder. Place each cylinder into a greased loaf pan. You will have two loaves.
Place loaf pans into oven with oven light on for 1 hour.
Remove pans from oven after one hour and then turn on oven to 375C.
Bake loaves for 30-32 minutes. Cool on rack. Enjoy!
One of the few businesses that has and will continue to thrive throughout the Covid crisis is the garden and small farming sector. The sudden interest in our food security, sustainability and living off the land is at a level I have never seen before. This is great. It is something that anyone involved in small farming has been advocating and working towards for a long time. I have seen the progression from the early farmers market days, trying to convince consumers what organic meant and that local was best, to the vibrant markets we have now. It’s been a slow and steady growth, business-wise. Something is different now – maybe self-isolation has give folks time to think about what’s really important in the game of life, how vulnerable and dependent on the system we are.
I would never discourage anyone to garden. Even a few patio planters, home landscaping or a herb garden can bring anyone joy. Warning, it can be addictive. There’s always more to learn. It’s grounding and healthy for body and mind. Do it.
What I’m seeing as the result of the pandemic, is a mad rush to become self sufficient in a very short period of time. People are “panic buying” chickens, livestock, incubators, fencing, potting soil, seeds and any garden supplies as if it were toilet paper. As a side hobby, gardening is awesome, but the reality is you will most likely spend more on retail supplies and work hard for a small harvest. You will have successes and even more failures. You will enjoy the fruits of your labour so much it will seem worth it. Unfortunately, it won’t make you self-sufficient right away. Sorry.
I’m not quite there yet, myself and that’s after 27 years of homesteading, with 5 years of schooling and lots of related work and business experience. My first veggie garden was in 1994. It was a lot of work. I had mediocre results. There was no Google. I winged it. I decided I would try to live off what I grew. I lost 50 lbs, before I gave in to groceries and meat. Not advisable as a weight loss diet.
I don’t like bursting people’s bubbles, because I have always said I live in one myself. I have learned mostly through trial and error, and it pains me to see others about to make the same mistakes I made through naivete and inexperience. I have the need to explain to those new to this way of life that it’s just not a short term process that can be accomplished in a season. For most small business plans, they say you shouldn’t see a return on your investment for 2 -3 yrs. For small farms change that to decades. Available land, infrastructure, supplies, labour and overhead will eat into any profits. If you plant a fruit tree you might not see a reasonable harvest for 8-10 years. Soil needs to be built up over several years. You need a rough plan, expect slow incremental growth and lots of long term commitment.
It’s all possible with patience, capital, sweat equity and a good team.
Study it as much as you want, it’s endless. The reality is you will inevitably learn from your mistakes and Mother Nature will always throw you a curveball or two.
My advice is to start small with realistic goals and low expectations. Think about by whom and how everything will be maintained, especially if you plan to return to your regular work in the future. Don’t “put the cart before the horse” by buying livestock before you have fencing and shelters or plants before your beds are prepped. Be patient. Timing is everything. Ask questions. Don’t overspend on fancy tools and gadgets from Lee Valley, exotic plants, and pricey greenhouses. Do a few things well instead of trying everything. Be efficient. Think about how you can work with nature in the simplest ways. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Enjoy, it’s a long ride.
‘It is the heart that always sees, before the head can see.‘ – Thomas Carlyle
The hawthorn trees are budding in the garden and will probably flower in May, well before we are able to safely move around our community once again. In its way, hawthorn is the perfect metaphor for our time.
In the Celtic Tree Oracle, the hawthorn card advises restraint, waiting, keeping to oneself and focusing on mental rather than physical activity.
Hawthorns will vigorously defend their space. Who hasn’t run afoul of one of these trees? If you push forward too quickly with reckless disregard for the fearsome spines lining the branches, some of which can be an inch long, they will pierce your skin to produce a deep, ragged tear before you can stop and extricate yourself. My entire family has lost flesh and blood to local hawthorn.
Conversely hawthorns can also be generous with their gentle medicine. Across time, extracts of hawthorn have been used as medicine for the human heart. Just like every member of this community, hawthorn can be hard-hearted if its personal space has been invaded and soft-hearted if treated with respect.
We are heartsick or broken-hearted these days. We wake expectantly to the possibilities of the day only to remember with sinking hearts that the enemy is still within our gates and our lives are irrevocably altered.
The neuroendocrine and electromagnetic functions of the heart are well documented but only in literature and legend is the heart widely accepted as an organ of perception and communication.
“We evaluate everything emotionally as we perceive it. We think about it after. “
– Doc Childre
Perceptions of the heart drive the tears, panic and anxiety that are never far from our waking hours and often stalk the vivid dreams of our nights as well.
According to Chinese traditionalists, the heart stores the shen. The notion of shen is roughly equivalent to the spirit. If the heart is sick, the spirit becomes homeless to wander the body without focus. Its energy is scattered and every organ system is affected.
Practitioners of Western medicine have long observed that depression can be symptomatic of heart problems. When the heart is made healthy again, the depression dissipates. In both philosophies then, medicine for the heart is medicine for the entire physical body and the spirit.
I vividly recall one of my teachers saying years ago that everyone over the age of 50 years should be taking hawthorn. This one statement permanently etched in my brain the tonic and remedial properties of hawthorn tea.
Medicine for our hearts can be easily made from hawthorn. Leaves, flowers and berries contain significant levels of oligomeric proanthocyanidins (OPC’s) – the good stuff in brightly colored fruits and vegetables that may protect the heart and cardiovascular system. Happily for our purposes, these small condensed tannins are readily soluble in hot water.
If you are lucky enough to have access to a hawthorn tree, you can harvest the leaves and flowers in spring and the berries in late summer to extract those OPC’s either into a tea or a decoction that will help you to take heart in these trying times.
When harvesting hawthorn, I learned early on to form a clear intention, approach the tree slowly and listen for permission. I have been taught since childhood to never take without asking and to ask only for what I can use.
You can prepare a tea from fresh or dried plant matter. Simply chop or grind the leaves and/or flowers and soak in hot water that has just come off the boil. For dry herb try 1 teaspoon to 1 cup water and for fresh try 1 tablespoon to 1 cup water. Steep for at least 15 minutes with a towel over the teacup or pot to keep it hot.
For berries make a decoction by bringing 3 tablespoon fresh or 1 tablespoon dried to a slow simmer in 3 cups water for 20-30 minutes. Bubbles should be barely breaking the surface in the pot.
Strain your preparations into a cup and add any flavorings you want, such as honey, lemon or cinnamon. Teas should not be prepared and refrigerated for more than 36 hours as they may start to ferment.
As for what you should be doing in this time, I suggest you set aside your thoughts and words to follow the perceptions of your heart for it knows the path that is right for you.
Let’s talk about the cost of a dozen eggs. What I see in our area is that most farmers sell a dozen eggs for $5. A few farmers sell for $6 or $7, not many. In the grocery store prices range from $3 to $8.
I have been selling eggs for $6 and most people feel comfortable paying that price. Here’s the thing, I do not make any money off selling eggs. I basically sell eggs for the People. The People love farm, fresh eggs! That’s why I do it. I even try not to use eggs in my home so that I have more to sell. It is not because I’m being greedy and want to make more money but because I need to sell them all to break even. Yes. you heard that right! If I sell the majority of the eggs I collect, I break even but only with the cost of feed.
I have been using an app called “Count My Eggs” for the last 40 days. I can input how many chickens I have, how many eggs I collect each day, my expenses, and my sales. The app tells me that I have collected over 500 eggs (chicken and duck) and sold over 450 eggs. It shows me that I have spent $2 more on feed in last 40 days than I’ve made in sales. I lose money. Having said this, I do have eggs in the incubator and if I had sold them I would have made a tiny bit more on egg sales. Had I sold those 3 dozen eggs I would have made about $0.45/day of income. Yep, raking in the big bucks!!
I have the same feed expenses all year but chickens don’t lay all year. The math is about $6.64/day for about 40 laying hens and a few roosters all year round regardless of how many eggs they lay/day. In the winter they hardly lay and I use a light the coop during the winter to try and encourage laying (so a bit of hydro). The chickens take a lot of laying breaks throughout the year (if it’s too hot, or too cold, if they’re molting, if they’re stressed out, if there isn’t enough daylight, a hundred reasons!). No eggs, no income…but they keep on eating. There will be a bit of a flux in income for the next month or so selling day-old chicks but it won’t even begin to cover what I’ve spent feeding hens that aren’t laying.
Keeping chickens takes a lot of time, every day. I am not compensated for the hours spent feeding and watering, cleaning coops and water jugs, collecting and washing eggs, or building fences. Also anything extra, like sawdust or wood pellets for the floor and nesting boxes, replacment feeders, or the cost of fencing materials when needed is money out of my pocket.
Raising chickens is not a money maker, it is a passion project (like most farming is). I love being able to provide folks with eggs from happy, healthy, free-range chickens but I do so at a great cost to my bank account.
Please remember how hard I work every day, all year to provide people with eggs and please keep this article in mind when you are asked to pay a bit more for a dozen eggs. I do it all for you!
3 tbs lemon juice
One of the few businesses that has and will continue to thrive throughout the Covid crisis is the garden and small farming sector. The sudden interest in our food security, sustainability and living off the land is at a level I have never seen before. This is great. It is something that anyone involved in small farming has been advocating and working towards for a long time. I have seen the progression from the early farmers market days, trying to convince consumers what organic meant and that local was best, to the vibrant markets we have now. It’s been a slow and steady growth, business-wise. Something is different now – maybe self-isolation has give folks time to think about what’s really important in the game of life, how vulnerable and dependent on the system we are.
Traced Elements 