Nettle Pesto

Put all ingredients in a food processor and process on high until creamy, making sure all the nettles are incorporated. That's it! What an incredible taste! Not only is it good on the traditional pasta, but the pesto makes a wonderful spread on toast or crackers. Also good as a dip. It freezes well. (Click here to read more about nettles!)

Wild Greens Quiche

Immune Boosting Roots Herb Potage

Cook burdock and dandelion roots with water. Cook 15-20 minutes over medium heat or until tender. You can pour off this water to make the soup less bitter, adding 2 1/2 cups fresh water. However, you will be pouring out the nutrients as well, so you might want to retain this nutrient-rich water and enjoy the bitter taste. Add remaining ingredients with the exception of miso and garlic. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 1 1/2 hours, Add miso and garlic right before serving. This soup has an exceptional taste that improves with age and is strengthening to the immune system and all our systems and cells. For variety, try adding beans, cabbage, beets and other root vegetables. 8-10 servings.

Pickled Dandelion Flower Buds - mmm mmm!

Dandelion flower buds – tightly closed…not ones that have simply closed up for the night, but ones that have not yet opened.
Garlic – chopped
Onion – chopped
Ginger – chopped
(amounts depending on the size of jar)
Tamari or Soy Sauce
Apple Cider Vinegar

Put about a half inch of garlic, onions and ginger on the bottom of the jar. Fill with dandelion buds about a third of the way up. Add another half inch of garlic, onions and ginger. Add another third of dandelion buds. More garlic, onions, ginger, then fill jar with dandelion buds.

Pour 1 part tamari or soy sauce to 3 parts apple cider vinegar into the jar. Cover with a plastic lid or put a bit of waxed paper between dandelions and metal lid so the vinegar will not rust your lid shut!

Let it sit for 3 weeks on your counter. No need to ever refrigerate your pickled buds. Use as a condiment like any pickle, mix into tuna, egg, green or potato salad, and enjoy straight from the jar!

Kim Chee

5 pounds napa cabbage - chopped
5 Tablespoon salt (1 T. per pound)

Toss together in glass, ceramic or pottery bowl and let sit on the counter overnight.

In the morning, add to the mix:

5 cloves chopped garlic per pound of cabbage
Chopped ginger, green onions and cayenne to taste. Add 6 Tbsp. Whey

Pack in a gallon glass jar and cover with a lid. Leave a little room for bubbling.

Let sit on counter for 2-3 days, then refrigerate and enjoy!

Fermented foods are a boon to our immune and digestive systems! Your Kim Chee will keep in the fridge for weeks.

To learn more, sign up for my Cheese and Cultured Butters workshop and the Botanical Primer!

Vinegar extracts the vitamins and minerals from plants as well as the essential oils and flavors. The acidic nature of vinegar releases the iron and calcium and makes them easy for our bodies to take them into our cells. Pregnant mamas, women during menses and menopause, growing teens, those dealing with health issues such as iron deficiencies, arthritis and bone loss are nourished by the liberal use of plant vinegars.

• Drizzle your vinegars on: Cold noodle salads, stir fry, fruit, spinach and/or field green salads, cooked greens.
• Marinate seafood, pork, chicken, beets and other vegetables. Makes an ideal marinade!
• Mix with ketchup, mustard, brown sugar or molasses, chopped onions and garlic for a delicious homemade BBQ sauce.
• Combine with olive oil for dipping crusty bread!
• Cool a fever or hot flash by dabbing the vinegar on your pulse points, forehead, back of the neck and knees.

To make your herbal vinegar:

Finely chop edible wild and garden plants of your choice. Pack the plant material tightly into a pint jar. Fill completely with apple cider vinegar. Add a layer of waxed paper between the jar and lid (if metal lid) to keep the lid from rusting. Let the mix stand on your counter for 3 weeks to a month. Strain and enjoy!

Suggested combinations:
• Comfrey leaf, peppermint and red clover.
• Garlic, onion, oregano, thyme and parsley.
• Nettles, yellow dock leaf or root, dandelion leaf and root.
• Blueberries and raspberries
• Wild raspberry leaves and wild currant leaves
• Chives, dill, and basil
• Wild or garden violet leaves and flowers, oxeye daisy flowers and leaves, pineapple weed
• Chickweed, lambsquarters and nasturtium flowers
• Motherwort and Mugwort
• Lavender flowers

To learn more about vinegars and wild plants, join the Botanical Primer group! Also, read D.C. Jarvis's book Folk Medicine.

Place 1/2 pound of crushed inner bark into 1 gallon of lukewarm water and let infuse overnight. In the morning, heat slowly to a simmer. Simmer 1 hour. Strain the bark from the dye solution. Let cool. Use only pruned or fallen branches; do not strip bark from the standing tree trunk. This invites insects and parasites which can debilitate and possibly kill the tree. Wool dyed without mordant in birch bark solution turns light brown in color. Of course, the more bark you use and the longer the wool is steeped, the richer the color will be.

Dying The Wool

1) Weigh dry wool. You'll use about 1-cup dye solution per 1/2 lb. dry wool.

2) Soak the wool overnight in room temperature water with a few drops of liquid soap.

3) Using the biggest pot you have for a large quantity of wool, a smaller pot for a lesser quantity. Fill with water and leave enough room for wool and dye solution.

4) Heat water to 120 degrees F. Add strained dye solution. Use more for a richer color, less for a paler shade. Continued experimentation with wool dying will help you to determine the desired ratio of dye to wool.

5) Mix solution thoroughly. Add wetted wrung out fiber. Cover and slowly bring temperature up to 190-200 degrees F. This should take 3/4 to 1 hour. You can stir occasionally, but not too often as too much stirring encourages felting. When solution is to temperature, let simmer 1/2 hour. Do not boil as this also encourages felting.

6) Turn off heat, let sit overnight to cool naturally. This is best to solidify the bonding of the color and fiber.

7) Fill a clean bucket of container with water that is the same temperature as the water in the dye pot and 1/3 to 1/2 cup white vinegar. Add wool and soak 10 minutes. Remove fiber gently and roll in a towel to squeeze out excess water, or, put in your washer on spin cycle only (no water). This method removes more water and the fiber dries quicker.

8) Spread out unspun fiber to dry or already spun yarn can be hung over a chair or curtain rod to dry.

Undyed wool may be found in yarn or craft stores carrying natural fibers. Consider contacting your local spinning quild or even sheep farmer for wool straight from the sheep. For more information about dying wool, Weaving Spinning Dying by Rachel Brown, published by Alfred A. Knopf (NY 1978), is an excellent resource.