Frost on the Nettles

 

The other day I went out to the garden first thing in the morning to offer thanks to the nettle patch where I had harvested a small basket of the tender young nettle tops. I steamed them for dinner that evening and relished in the potent nutrition and medicine they offer. Although the thermometer on my porch had not yet fallen to freezing, the leaves were coated with frost.

All week I've been foraging other spring greens for my daily salads, reducing the amount of lettuce and other purchased greens needed. I love this time of year, when the spring pulls green from the earth and I can connect with the garden and land around it by searching out food.

My ancestors, no doubt, foraged a good deal, looking forward to fresh greens after a winter of preserved and stored foods -- salt-preserved meats, fermented vegetables, and possible root vegetables that had not gone bad. Foraging not only connects me to the garden, then, but also to my ancestors  

At present I'm foraging henbit (there is lots and lots of it out there), wild garlic, dandelion greens, a bit of wild lettuce, tiny violet leaves, and some of the herbs, such as catnip, spearmint, fennel, young horseradish leaves, and monarda. The chickweed, my favorite weed, is not yet robust enough to make up much of my salad. I look forward to that day, though. The flavors of these plants range from strong to mild. Henbit has a slightly minty flavor, more earthy than peppermint and other "true" mints to which it is related. It's pleasant enough, but I've never found it tasty enough to pick much of it. However, it is growing on me.

As the spring moves into summer, the composition of my forage will change. Violet flowers and a few other blooms will add spark to the salad. Oxalis and lambs quarters will come in abundance, perhaps I'll even search out garlic mustard. I will continue to harvest nettles to steam for dinner, as well as freeze for later.

When the garden greens start growing, I may slow down my foraging -- but maybe not. Foraged greens tend to be more nutritious than those I plant in the garden or buy in the store. They tend to be a bit more bitter (good for the digestion) and stronger-flavored than the cultivated varieties, indicating their potency as food.

I feel stronger and healthier with my salad bowl full of foraged foods. I feel stronger in my connection to the earth; stronger in my connection to ancestors.

Lots of "weeds" are edible. If you decide to try foraging for yourself, make sure you have a positive identification, and don't harvest from some place where herbicides, insecticides, or chemical fertilizers have been applied. Foraging along busy roads also is not a good idea because of the noxious fumes vehicles emit.

It is an opportunity to look at the job of weeding the garden as "harvesting" good nutritious food. It changes the atmosphere of that chore.

Happy foraging.