Passing on traditional skills like foraging, cooking from scratch and living well on less
It’s only February but we’re impatiently waiting to start foraging wild foods again. This time of year, when there’s still snow blanketing our Minnesota landscape, I’m already making mental lists of what wild edible foods will be emerging soon and what we want to look for. Here are our favorite wild foods that we forage […]
Dock seeds are prolific everywhere you look right now, so this is a great time to gather them and make dock seed flour. If you haven’t ever cooked with dock seeds, they’re an easy and healthy source of wild flour to forage. Dock grows as an invasive weed all over the world. You can often […]
We try to use nettles a lot around here since they’re so healthy, so tasty and grow so plentifully all around us. One of the kids’ favorite ways to enjoy nettles are in smoothies. Yes, really! You probably know how healthy stinging nettles are for you, but most folks don’t realize you can use them […]
The first month of summer is past now and I thought I’d do a little update on what we foraged in June this year. This might not include everything, but these were the major foods. Asparagus The wild asparagus season wrapped up here in Minnesota around the second week of June. All total, we harvested […]
The world of essential oils has become increasingly complicated since the rise of multi-level marketing EO companies in the past couple of decades. I started using essential oils regularly about 15 years ago, when a trusted friend in a natural parenting forum posted about how wonderful lavender oil was for healing wounds. It really was […]
Just because your yard is partially shaded doesn’t mean you can’t grow your own herbs this summer. Plenty of herbs actually prefer partial or dappled shade, especially in warmer climates. You often hear that herbs are sun-lovers, but its surprising how happy many herbs are in shade. In our zone 4 Minnesota garden, we […]
Daryl and I have been faithfully checking our elder patches for the past few weeks and he brought home a bag of our first elderberry bounty for the year this week. This particular clump of elders is bordering a nursing home that has given us permission to pick their pears and elderberries. He harvested them […]
My elderberry book is now available in a paperback edition! We heard from many people who wanted a physical copy of the book, especially to make use of it while foraging and for the cookbook section. I worked over the past couple of months to create the best possible paperback version, with black and […]
I was excited to hear about Rosalee De La Foret’s new book, Alchemy of Herbs*, as the author is part of the Learning Herbs site that I have followed for years. I highly enjoy their blog posts and newsletter for kids about the benefits of plants that you can find in the wild. Our family […]
Mint is one of those workhorses of the garden. Once you plant it, your hardest job is keeping it from overtaking everything else in the yard and figuring out what to do with it all. It grows easily in most of the country and robustly returns to even the coldest gardens every spring, where it […]
Motherwort is a commonly found plant that is excellent for treating heart issues, menstrual problems, menopause symptoms, stress and anxiety, among other issues. It has been historically used extensively in China, Europe and North America, and still offers exceptional benefits for a whole range of issues today. Motherwort, whose latin name is Leonurus cardiaca, is […]
Here’s a wonderful video where famous herbalists such as Rosemary Gladstar, Susun Weed and Matthew Wood teach why they love nettles, how to harvest it and use them, their many health benefits and more. The video begins and ends with herbalists David Hoffmann and Isla Burgess talking about why nettles are their favorite plants. During […]
With our world and our foods are becoming increasingly contaminated, it’s more important than ever to regularly consume foods that help provide extra nutrients and protect our health. Wild edibles can be some of the best foods to help do this. Some of the most commonly foraged foods are also the types of plants that […]