The soil in my garden is heavy clay. I’ve actually made clay cups from the soil. Fired them and all. And every thing I’ve ever read about beets (Beta vulgaris, the one breed for the root, — the other B. vulgaris is chard, bred for the leaves) says that they don’t like heavy clay soil. I just want to say to all those researchers and distributors of their literature: in my heavy clay soil, beets are one of the best plants I’ve grown. I consisently get amazing beets from most areas of the garden. The worst results are from raised beds, with the loose, well-drained soil that all the literature says beets require. The one time we did have success in a raised bed was when we grew it in the one that the cucurbits hate, the one with lots of heavy clay mixed in.
Quite honestly I ate beets grown in heavy clay today, and maybe they are really typing this post. Cooked in a solar over. So good.
In the latest episode FeralKevin cooks up a gourmet, slow food, and wild foraged edible. Others call it a weed. It’s the wild artichoke,– a giant, super tenacious plant that grows in the most marginal areas around here. Delicious! You can also subscribe to the podcast (Itunes), Miro, or RSS feeds by visiting http://feralkevin.blip.tv/.
I like to change my headers like the seasons change. I’m not the same all year, so don’t I want my site to be either. The current header was taken by Tina Curiel. I look at this picture and still can’t believe I was there and experienced that view, but there’s the proof in front of me. A historic sight!
As far as Earth 2100, I thought it was going be a longer clip that was used, and I was disappointed with the show. Artistically, I thought it was a confused cop-out, describing the present and calling it the future. But at least it’s trying.
Been way too busy with work, spring is the best, but it’s a crazy busy time of year for me. The latest thing I foraged, and I wish it would have gotten on video, was a wild artichoke. The artichoke thistle grows all over out here, in very marginal areas, and people hate it as a weed. The local parks, who are otherwise cool as park people go, even poison the soil and creek by spraying herbicides on it. Right now there is a huge crop potentially, I haven’t checked but a few small patches personally. But they’ve been a huge hit with kids and adults alike. They are straight up- no difference in taste whatsoever — a regular artichoke! The only thing is that instead of being a little “pokey” like an artichoke the inedible parts are f***ing razor sharp!
Anyway, I went up into the hills again today and it was amazingly beautiful! Crazy storm clouds. Incredible. I saw lots of yarrow and mugwort, and I found a bay tree with tons of baby fruit. The wild oats have mostly fallen never to be found on the ground, at least by humans. I saw brodiaea flowers, beautiful, but pale in quantity to what I’ve heard they once were — thick as grass. I only saw a few scattered here and there. I found a hazelnut tree (Corylus californica). Hopelessly in the shade, longing for a wetter, healthier time. More hazelnuts please. Thought about taking a cutting and bringing it to the garden. Give it more sun, and enough water. Nature misses us terribly.
I have a huge crop of wild oats standing in the open space around me. Does anybody have any idea what to do with them? The husk seems mighty.
I recently learned from Green Deane that some East Coast natives used to grind the nuts of Prunus species (there, the Chickasaw plum) with the fruit, and some how chemically render the cyanide style poison harmless. For those non botanists, what I’m talking about is all stone fruits, peaches, plums, nectarines, and almonds, all have quasi edible seeds (or pits.) All of them contain a type of poison in them, the almond being the one that has the least of it, and the only one currently eaten by most of the world. But all of them are otherwise very similar to almonds.
But as I learned, some East Coast natives used some processing to make the seeds safe to eat. They used the Chickasaw plum, which is similar if not the same species as many of our wild plums. This would be a major boon for real local food sustainability. Here, in the Bay Area, wild plums are the most abundant and easy to obtain wild food. They are also, in our climate, one of the few tree species that actually come up from seedlings like weeds. Also, in less disturbed or less populated areas here we have Islay, Prunus illicifolia, which is larger and tastier as far as I can tell. And more drought tolerant. And evergreen.
This is the best drink ever! And it’s the most beautiful green color I have ever seen. Nettles are very high in chlorophyll, way more than even kale and spinach. They are very much like a superfood. Have you ever had that feeling after too many days camping or on vacation that you just need something fresh and green, a nice salad perhaps, fresh cucumbers or whatever? You know the feeling, the something fresh and green craving. STINGING NETTLE JUICE is the ultimate drink for that time.
What you need to make Stinging Nettle Juice at home (Anastasia of the Ringing Cedars style)
5 or more gallon bucket with drainage
potting soil to fill the bucket
nettle seeds or cuttings from your local patch
water
scissors
a blender
a strainer
a wine glass
fertilizer that comes from YOU (urine, saliva or other bodily fluid, dirt from feet, toenails, hair, spent leaves, something you spit out — something from YOU!)
of course, don’t overdo any of the above, be a reasonable gardener.
Nettles don’t like a lot of heat, and won’t grow if its really cold, but they are very hardy survivors. Cut the nettle before it goes to flower, otherwise it becomes gritty and inedible. Eventually it’ll be done for the year and will need to rest. They prefer shade in many areas, a little morning light helps them to be more vigorous. I’m sure there’s a way to grow them in nearly every climate type on the planet.
In this bucket I could have planted lettuce, let’s say, but this balcony spot just doesn’t get enough light to grow lettuce. And if it did, I would harvest the lettuce and then I would have to plant more seeds, and make sure that this is timed right, and wait for them to get roots enough to really grow. And with lettuce you have painstakingly thin oftentimes. Lettuce isn’t very cold hardy. With nettles, you plant it one time, the only maintenance is pruning, which is when you are harvesting, and when it regrows after a dormant cycle, it can grow an inch a day. And it’s way more nutritious than lettuce. And thus the argument for perennials (nettles) versus annuals (lettuce).
DISCLAIMER: I have never eaten these flowers or fruit in quantity. And besides, FeralKevin Presents is decidedly for entertainment only. Go to Plants For A Future (pfaf.org) to start your research.
And today upon posting this video, I went for an urban hike, and noticed two different hedges of Prunus laurocerasus. Megahedges providing complete privacy for the very large residencies. They had been pruned, though, as to not bear any fruit. After the “fall” or perhaps I should say after the “rise” of sanity, this will not be the case. They will spill out over the sidewalk and into the street, covered with fruit. Some of the fruit might be too bitter for us, but not for the birds. The robins especially seem to go crazy for them here.
