Farming Painting I created a few years ago...

Edible Winter Wonderlands Project

Through the Cowichan Green Community, a Food Security and Environmental issues non-profit organization in Duncan, 7 of us set up six community demonstration gardens in the James Alexander Neighborhood.

We asked the James Alexander Neighborhood group for advice on what the 6 gardens should look like. Also we held an event for the residents of the neighborhood to choose the specific locations of the gardens.

With a focus on perennial ecologically based gardens we planted edible trees, berry bushes and medicinal plants beside a parking lot at Spotsplex, a local sports center. We also pruned the large hazelnut trees at M'akola First Nations housing to increase the nut production, created wheel chair accessible annual vegetable garden beds at Caulfeild (a residence for people working with disabilities), established a garden specifically for growing food for the Warmland kitchen (a homeless shelter), created a single family demonstration garden on a private lot, and built a forest garden for the Alexander Elementary school.

We tried to establish a boulevard garden, yet we did not manage to get permission from the government within the short period of time that the grant was available to us. There are many successful edible boulevard Gardens in Victoria, so I hope it becomes legal in Duncan as well.

The amazing thing about this four month period is that now the Alexander neighborhood has edible and medicinal perennial garden beds that will provide them with free food for years to come. The gardens created a feeling of community, safety and purpose within the neighborhood. Now it is up to the residents to care for the gardens and we hope they maintain the gifts we have created with them.

Phenology

Spring is here. I have been watching the plant world and paying attention to the subtle changes around me. Within the last month I have noticed small stinging nettles (about 1 inch tall), snow drop flowers, indian plum buds, pussy willow buds come to fruition as well as the first crocus.

I have a phenology chart in a binder, which i refer to every time I notice a bud awaken on a plant, a flower open in the wild, or a small plant start to grow that was dormant/self seeded during the winter. Phenology is the practice of recording the first signs of all life around us, (including animal life) during the seasons. Wikipedia defines it as "the study of periodic plant and animal life cycle events and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate". I start a new chart every spring, but I also record when I see the first thimble berries in the summer and the first hawthorn berries in the fall.

This art has been practiced for longer than I can imagine. Farmers have paid attention to the subtle signs in nature in order to decide what crops to plant when. Each micro climate is different, but after a farmer has been on their land for long enough, as the natural signals reveal themselves they know what to seed indoors and what to plant in the ground.

Also environmentalists are using phenology to study the effects of climate change on a specific bioregion. For example, by tracking what time of year the salmonberry flowers bloom, on a yearly bases for a decade, we will know if the arrival of spring is coming noticeably earlier. Therefor we will know to what degree our planet is warming up.

I fell in love with phenology because it is a simple, beautiful practice, which connects me with the land. I believe that it allows us to have an understanding of our weather system. It also teaches me about the micro climates on the land i live on and therefor helps me understand where I want to develop a garden.

It is a fascinating tool, which is so enjoyable! I encourage you to start a phenology chart now if you are interested. Because the magic of life is just starting to bloom.

Imbolc

Today is Imbolc!
We've come to the lighter side of winter.
In two weeks we'll have 10 hours of light a day!

Soon it will be Fenruary 14th when there's enough sunlight to start planting lots of seeds in the Greenhouse. In a few weeks we can plant Arugula, Mustards, kale, chard, hardy lettuces, hardy mesclun mix, greenhouse radishes, peas in pots/gutters to transplant outside later on.....

In Celebration of Imbolc we followed the tradition of running around outside, making loud funny noises and telling the trees that it is time to wake up. We all had sticks and banged the trees, telling them to come back to life, because we made it through the darker side of winter!

If you know anything else about this tradition, let me know. This is the first time that I have learnt about it.

Cotton Wood Buds

Late winter is the time when cottonwood buds are ripe and sticky on the trees. It is also the time of cold windy storms that blow Cottonwood branches to the ground. On walks along roadways and stream sides I have been watching and feeling the branches. Looking for large, sticky buds that smell and taste like bitter honey.

I took some moments of my life to harvest the buds off of a huge fallen branch on the side of a quiet street which i live on. I would not of harvested buds close to a highway, or even a busy road. But I am not worried about car pollution when harvesting from a quiet roadside.

After collecting the buds I brought them home and weighed them. Then placed them in a mason jar covered them in 75percent rum. I used a 1:2 ratio. Therefor place 1 part fresh cottonwood buds (grams) in a jar with 2 parts ml of 75%alchohal.

I used a higher percentage alcohol than usual because the buds are very resinous and difficult to break down. Usually I choose to cut up the plants I'm placing in a tincture as finely as possible, but not this time. Because the resin is very sticky and is hard to wash off of knives and cuttingboards. This tincture will last a very long time because of the high alchohal as well as the high resin.

As well as for an excuse to go outside and experience the crispness of winter, I made this tincture to treat a cold. Poplar buds help release soothing mucus, so therefor it is very useful for a painfully soar throat, soar lungs that need an expectorant and the odour of the buds reduce the likelihood of the bugs in your system continuing to thrive and create a second cold.

Enjoy the sweet stickiness of the black cotton wood buds!

Outdoor Branch Shelters

Today we went and visited a wildfoods man in the Cowichan Valley. Usually when I see him we talk about edible and medicinal plants, including the ayurvedic qualities of the plants, but not this time....

He has been creating sleeping shelters outdoors, that are warm and dry enough to sleep in even through the heavy rains and snowfalls of vancouver island. He has been sleeping in his shelter every night since fall.

This idea came to him when he realized that we are influenced to eat and experience the food which we see when we wake up. If we live indoors we eat stored food because we connect with it before we see living plants. By creating outdoor living spaces we wake up outside, are directly connected to nature and are inspired to eat fresh wild plants. The best food to start the day with.

Today we made a shelter for plants to grow within. We took curved douglas fir branches and connected them together with wire to form a semi circle. Then we connected the semi circle to another, forming the outline of a quarter orange peel. We added a curved middle beam, which we attached with wire to the center of the two larger branches to form the basic structure of the sleeping shelter.
We harvested willow and hardhack branches from the surrounding environment and wove them in branch by branch. Until the shape of a quarter orange peel manifested in front of us.

This shelter was created to help plants grow. By placing the shelter in a south facing open area, it will contain a warm micro climate. The air within the shelter will warm up and allow plants to grow earlier in the year than they would otherwise. It would be useful to place this shelter over a stinging nettle patch, where bamboo shoots break through the ground or any tasty treat you are waiting to see the first signs of this season.

Suspended Cold Infusion

(Dried Mallow Root)

This weekend at the herbalism class I am taking on Saltspring Island I learned the importance of suspended cold infusions.

When making a cup of tea by pouring hot water over a dried herb (using a teabag is an example) and letting it steep for 10 minutes I am making a hot infusion. I am infusing a dried herb into hot water. This method works to extract many different medicinal compounds, but does not extract mucilaginous plants very well.

Mallow and Comfrey are both examples of plants that contain mucilage and grow within our bioregion. The mucilage that is released soothes a soar throat and a digestive tract at a time of painful inflammation.

A suspended cold infusion is made by soaking a dried herb in room temperature water overnight, in a small cotton poach. In the morning the mucilage is squeezed out and drunk, as is.
The ratio of herb to water is 1:20, for example 50 grams of coarsly ground herb to 500ml of water. This infusion will last about 1 day in refrigeration.

Owl Time

Here's an image which I created this year which symbolizes the end of a cycle. The winter, moon time. When space is made for introspection, darkness, reflection, quietness and self truth.
(Yes I know, this owl is not a plant, continue reading...)

In the winter there are many food and medicine plants in the wild and gardens. This late fall/early winter i have harvested licorice root, dandelion root and leaves, usnea, oregon grape root, a few cotton wood buds (i have always found more in february), and cattail roots.

From our garden we are still harvesting kale, mustard (in the greenhouse), bit of chard, carrots, beets after the heavy snow.

Fall Dandelion Root Tincture

Before the snow came i went on a dandelion hunt. Fall is the time to harvest roots for medicine, so i decided it was time to make a Taraxacum Offinalis (dandelion) tincture for the year. In this season the energy and sugars of the plant are returned to roots to store until spring. Therefor the roots are potent.

With a bucket and a gardener's fork I walked around the garden in the backyard. First I noticed that many Taraxacums were growing in the pathways of the garden, and knew that the owners of the property would weed them in the spring. Therefor I harvested them. Then I walked around the garden loosing the earth with my fork and collected about 10 percent of the dandelions I could find. Leaving the rest to propagate, fix nutrients into the soil and for animals to eat.

As i harvested the roots I only took what I was prepared to process into a tincture. I sang a gratitude song throughout the harvest. That is my way to show appreciation and give back to the plant spirits. Harvesting to me is a meditation. A time to breath deeply, connect with the season and feel in balanced with my place in the cycle of existence.

Once I had harvested a small bucket of roots I went back into my cozy little trailer and cut them up an finely as i could with an average knife and cutting board. The outside of plant's roots are resistant to breaking down in liquid, unlike the inner parts of the root. Therefor the finer the roots is chopped, the easier the medicine of the dandelion will break down in alcohol.

I used the simplest method of tincture making I know that day. I placed the cut up taraxacum root in a mason jar and covered it with 40 percent vodka. Now it lives on my alter. I shake it and other tinctures whenever they cross my mind. Ideally twice a day.

Soon I will strain the tincture through a strainer or cheesecloth and the tincture will last at least two years without refrigeration. Why did i make a dandelion tincture? First it allowed me to breath the crisp air of fall and give me a sense of wholeness within my connection with the larger world.

Also, i consider dandelion to be a medicinal allie. The roots are bitter and are therefor used to cleanse the blood and liver as well as aid with the secretion of bile for digestion. The roots act as a laxative to help constipation. A small bite of a fresh dandelion root will help someone who is having a serious allergic reaction until medical help/an epipen is available. The fresh spring leaves are used to cleanse the urinary system and fill the body with fresh nutrients.

By making a tincture the medicine is available in a convenient form. Easy to take for a busy person. I'm looking forward to the day when I'll have Taraxacum officinalis in my apothecary, waiting to help myself or a member in my community.

Spring Nettles!

Nettles symbolise spring. They are one of the first wild winter dormant plants to pop up at the beginning of the year. I harvested nettles for first time this year today. It is incredible to see the difference in our bioregion, compared to Victoria's. Nettles were large enough to harvest at least a week ago in Victoria. At OUR Ecovillage we are farther north as well as living on Baldy Mountain.

My Neighbours have a beautiful property, part forest part field. They were giving me a tour of their land and commented on the nettles taking over their grassy areas. It is difficult for them because the nettles kept on coming back and their sheep will not eat them.
I passed onto them that goats love to eat nettles if they are chopped down in the summer and sit in the sun in a few days. Once the sting disappears the goats go wild for the fresh, tasty, nutritious nettles! I suggested they try the same with the sheep, once the nettles grow tall and before they go to seed.

We got into a fantastic conversation about eating nettles. How they are like mother's milk, because they provide so many of the nutrients that our bodies need. With bags in our hands we walked around the property and harvested. If you are respectful of the nettles (Urtica Dioca) you can harvest with bare hands. And they do not sting. It is an amazing process to harvest them simply with scissors. You can always use gloves, if you want.

They are a plant of abundance. When you harvest the top third leaves and stalk of a nettle plant, it grows back two heads instead of one. There for you can harvest from every plant you see (As long as it is at last 3 inches tall). By harvesting responsibly and giving time for the plant to grow before reharvesting you are increasing the amount of nettles available for other people and animals to eat.

We brought the nettles to the kitchen and rinsed them in a bowl. I am careful not to touch them as i tossed them around under the tap. Then i placed the young nettles in a pot with a small amount of water and steamed them for about eight minutes, until they looked like steamed spinach. We put butter on them today, but they taste best on their own.

Mmmmm! I would rather eat nettles than anything else in the world!
Thankyou nettles for your abundance and your wild connection to the new growth of spring....