Super foods And Organic Gardening.

[Runningtrails]

Great thread! I started collecting native and healthy berries in a special "wine and pie" garden last year. I have baby goji berries that I grew from seed. I have the normal raspberries, strawberries, lots of wild blackberries, rhubarb, black elderberries, black mulberries, gooseberries, currants, 'Haskap" honeyberries, serviceberries, and lavender. I have seeds planted to grow sea buckthorn and thimbleberries.

This year I grew chichiquelites and ground cherries too. These two are annuals, going from seed to berry in one season. I got a LOT of fruit from those two, more than I could use and made some great pies and jam!

My two currant babies have dissappeared. I sure hope they come back in the spring! The sea buckthorn is not up yet, having just planted the berries a couple of weeks ago, but I have great hopes for them and some spare seed in case these don't take. I really want the sea buckthorn for my soap! I think it needs winter stratification, though, so I might plant some seeds in the garden next week and winter sow some.

I also have some jewelweed seeds (I. capensis) that I collected from the wild about a month ago. I plan to scatter those where I want them to grow this coming week. I have lots of impatiens glandulifera. The dried seeds taste like walnuts and are great in baking! Do anyone know if it has the same 'poison ivy cure' properties as I. capensis? I want the I.capensis for my soap too.

That garden so desperately needs a fall cleanup but is sitting under the snow at the moment. I'm hoping to get to it next week. The raspberry babies need to be dug up and replanted in the row and the annual plants need to be pulled and composted. We have both been so sick here for the past couple of weeks. It's hard to get outside and get anything done!

[rainbowgardener]

RE the rosewater - I love the stuff! There are a number of Indian recipes involving rosewater and saffron.

One is galub jamun (sometimes spelled gulab jamun). Combine sugar,water, cardamom and simmer until it is a thin syrup. Add saffron and rose water (or rose extract).

In the meantime, combine instant non-fat milk powder, bisquick, melted butter or Ghee, milk into a stiff dough. Form the dough into walnut sized balls and bake. Once baked, pour slightly cooled syrup over them in a shallow serving dish or bowl.

Recipe is in Vegetarian Epicure cookbook or available on-line. They are WONDERFUL. One of my favorite company desserts. People don't really recognize what the rosewater & saffron flavor is, but they love it.

[applestar]

I also have some jewelweed seeds (I. capensis) that I collected from the wild about a month ago.

I did that too two years ago. I wanted some jewelweed, and when I saw some flowering above a drainage reservoir, memorized that location and went back for the seeds later on. The plant was hanging over the water so I told the kids to stay back while I leaned from the concrete bridge to gather the seeds. As I was leaning, I heard rustling sounds and little hands grasp the back of my shirt and my pantwaist from behind. My kids decided they wanted to make sure I wasn't going to fall in.

I was only able to get a handful -- maybe 7 seeds, and I didn't do anything more than to scatter them in a location I thought was best suited. But they all grew last year, and this spring, the area was absolutely CARPETED with jewelweed seedlings. So make sure you scatter them where you really want them.

[Runningtrails]

I hope mine grow that well! I want a lot of it for soap making.
I'm glad you didn't fall in!

[Sage Hermit]

This week end I am giving a lecture on Super Foods at a Wellness Center in MN. In a few days I plan on sharing more about herbs and sprouts.

Would love to hear more if anyone is still interested in this subject to give me ideas for topics during the lecture.I have invited people in my community to come at 11 - 1 and I will Go over the definition of a super food have some samples to try for free, Show how to sprout, what to buy, recipes, health benefits nutritional values, what to avoid, herbal remedies, How much and when to eat, pass out brochure for super food, tea making, juicing, growing, square foot gardening? etc.

Read something interesting. I read that the carcinogens you eat when charbroiling meat is decreased by 80% when marinaded in rosemary and thyme. Also Hamburgers covered in rosemary is good to eat. Perhaps the combination of the rosemary and thyme and olive oil creates a Super Hamburger in more ways than one.
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A study was done on beet juice and it turns out it strengthen physical stamina. Good for moving hay bails, or hiking or kyaking.


Beet Greens: Nutrients & Proteins Chart
[img]https://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa267/adaba/beet.jpg[/img][img]https://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa267/adaba/beetP.jpg[/img]

Alert!!: Do not drink Beet juice with other Sodium (Na). It has plenty.

[Sage Hermit]

Here is a [url=https://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2333/2]Mung Bean Sprout[/url]. I was looking for some saturated fats as someone raised a good point about eating fats and oils.
[img]https://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa267/adaba/aaa-1.jpg[/img]

A good oil with hi saturated fat is [url=https://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fats-and-oils/7963/2]Coconut Oil[/url].

[img]https://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa267/adaba/ssaa.jpg[/img]

Also contains trans fats.

Memo: make me coconut bread pls, thx.

[Sage Hermit]

Ant Spasmodic Herbs:
Angelica/ Anise/ Basil/ Bay/ Bergamot/ black pepper/ chamomile/champhor/Carawa/Cardamom/Catnip/Cedarwood/Citronella/ Clary Sage/ Coriander/ Cumin/ Cypress/ Dill/ Eucalyptus/ Fennel/ Ginger/ Helicrysum +/Hyssop



After I formed this brief list I went and ate some basil! I want to make some soup. Will be making other lists here soon. Hope you don't mind.

[soil]

True, which is why I have started giving some weeds some prime time spots in my beds (which really freaks some folks out)...

you wont believe the faces I see on people when I show them my lambs quarters bed, my stinging nettle patch, my dandelion bed, my purslane area( my favorite) and my other eatable weed dedicated areas. it gets even better when you grab some and eat it too.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Oh yes I would...



HG

[Sage Hermit]

[img]https://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa267/adaba/22.jpg[/img]


[img]https://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa267/adaba/11.jpg[/img]
Lemons
Carrot
Cuccumber
Broccoli
Apples
Ginger
Beets & Beet Greens
Sweet Red Pepper
Garlic
Celery
[img]https://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa267/adaba/33.jpg[/img]
Juice A Sweet Red Pepper/Beets/Beet Greens/Apple/Lemon

Juice B Basil/Parsley/Cilantro/Mint/Celery/Cucumber/Green Bell Pepper/Cabbage/Broccoli

[applestar]

Wow! look at the COLOR on those! just SCREAMS nutrition!
what kind of juicer do you have? did you mention it when we had that discussion once before?

I don't have a decent juicer, but when I make smoothies, I typically add raw local honey, sometimes bee pollen, flaxseed oil, sometimes raw nuts.

How do they taste?

[soil]

we do beet apple ginger carrot and it is delicious and extremely good for you. the scraps from the juicer make perfect worm food too.

[Sage Hermit]

Its incredibly nutritious. Got a run of the mill juicer that has been working overtime since middle of last year. The left over pulp does make good worm food but it also makes good on salads and what not. To be honest I don't remember discussing juice at all yet.

A friend of mine makes smoothies too. I will have to share some smoothie masterpieces with you. Smoothies are a good way to sneak in your vitamin mix/ algae/ sea weed/ etc. My friend is a fan of almond butter.


SH

[F0od]

Awesome posts HG, I share your love for natives, and I admire your passion. In the fall I was out on my front lawn (it's a lawn on its own accord ><) picking lambs quarter leaves to finish off stir fry with, after eating some raw of course. We probably had 5-6 5 foot tall plants that grew on their own accord. We have a lot of London rocket mustard, and cheese weed growing around the yard as well that we love to eat. And Various natives we've planted that have yet to deliver the goods.

With a simple walk around the neighborhood there are wild currants, acorns, mesquite pods(need to do mesquite harvest this year!!!), hackberries (do not crunch the seeds!), sunflowers, Jerusalem artichokes(so I'm told, yet to identify them), yucca flowers, prickly pair fruits, agave, ocotillo flowers, and roots that make a tea I've yet to try, and probably 2 handfuls I can't remember. Most natives around here don't give up their bounty easily, or in large quantities

This is going to be our third year of trying to teach ourselves to garden with little to no experience hehe. We grow annuals(when they choose to grow), and more standard fruit trees in our back yard, but you gotta love those easy to grow natives, and unruly weeds