Spring greens
Contents:
1. On spring greens
2. Some mineral-rich spring greens
3. Spring greens recipes
4. Shop updates
1. On spring greens
Spring makes its way across the northern hemisphere right now, and I love thinking about leaves unfurling, traveling further north as they go. Here in Southern California, our spring starts early, in what other people consider mid-winter. When the rains start, the greens start growing, and while other people are still knee-deep in snow we have nettles and chickweed and cleavers coming up all over the place.
Regardless of *when* they come up, though, I get really excited about spring greens. I was driving back home from the dump yesterday (glamorous life!) and stopped to check one of my nettle patches, and they're all tender and perfect. There will be nettle soup for dinner tonight. Being aware of, and a part of the cycles of nature is such an integral part of the life I choose to live-- one where I feel like a part of my ecosystem instead of an outside observer. And eating young tender greens in the spring is something that connects us, both to where we are, but also to the cycles inside our bodies too.
Spring greens are rich in minerals and nutrients, and they're usually slightly bitter, slightly salty. They come straight out of the earth, gathering all of that winter energy that's been buried for months, and they shoot up, bright and young and vibrant.
Imagine with me for a minute, that we live in a time where we *can't* get salad greens at the local grocery store, shipped in from Chile in the middle of the winter. Imagine that you've spent months hovering around the wood stove eating pies (DREAM LIFE, RYTE?) and heavy wintery foods to keep the meat on your bones from freezing off. And then, after months of stillness, a leaf. A simple green leaf that tastes of everything fresh in the world. *That* is the feeling that's captured in eating spring greens, regardless of whether it's your actual reality or not. After that long winter, the minerals and nutrients in the vegetables are like a drink of much needed fresh-food nourishment for your body. The bitterness stimulates your digestive processes, and helps your liver to break down foods better (and absorb more nutrients) and get everything moving.
Deeper than that though, after a winter of spending time indoors, sitting a lot more, resting, replenishing, drawing energy in from the world around you, that first unfurling of spring starts out there in the world and it triggers something inside us too: how exciting is it to go outside and see the first blooms of the year? How exciting is it to see green reemerging on tree branches? How does that excitement feel inside your body, too? Like a little spark? A wiggle? A tickle of brightness? The brightness of greens is something that spreads that spark, helps to move all of that energy that you've been storing, gives it an impetus and a push and ignites you to move forwards into the world, like a leaf unfurling from a branch.
Below I've listed some of my favourites that are quite easy to find in most places.
2. Some mineral-rich spring greens
<< Note, this is not a plant ID guide. Please please make sure you've identified your plants correctly. If nervous about it, there are some great beginners foraging books like Stalking the Wild Asparagus or some foragers' websites like Hunger and Thirst orHunter Angler Gardener Cook
where you can learn more.>>
Urtica spp (dioica, urens, whatever). Nettles:
Nettles are an incredibly mineral-rich spring green that are a delicious addition to various foods (quiches, soups, pastas). They are also a brilliant alterative, strengthening the body by enhancing the metabolic functions of the organs that 'process', notably the kidneys and liver. They are so high in minerals that they also make a fantastic 'adrenal tonic', building up the energy levels of a worn-out body over time.
A common way of ingesting nettles is to make an infusion of the dried leaf, steeping 1oz leaf per quart of boiling water, for at least 4 hours, and then straining to drink. I, personally, love nettle soup and try to make it as much as I possibly can while they're growing in the spring.
A note for the constitutionally dry: nettles can be extremely drying, if you tend towards dryness already. I remedy that by having a giant dollop of cream in my nettle soup, or adding marshmallow to my infusions.
Found in: Nettle seed + Seaweed salt
Read more: Ryan Drum's article here
Equisetum spp. (arvense, hyemale, whatever). Horsetail:
Horsetail is INCREDIBLY rich in silica-- that ingredient that makes up a lot of our hair, nails and connective tissue. Silica is necessary for healthy skin, healthy teeth, healthy cartilage.
You can pay a small fortune at the health food store for silica supplements, or, gather some horsetail and make an infusion...
I like to make a tincture of horsetail, and I usually just buy dried to use in infusions, because by that point I've run out of my spring harvest. According to Ryan Drum, the silica in horsetail is actually insoluble in low pH ranges, which makes it not that effective (for silica purposes) in vinegar, but he suggests making a honey with it. Here's his recipe:
"To successfully extract available silica from horsetail, live young actively growing stems are used to prepare a thick syrup; in them, silica is still in solution waiting to be deposited as structural plates. Silica tends to be insoluble at pH below 7.2-7.4. The pH of honey is 7.4-7.8. Quickly cut-up soft green stems and place in very warm (100-110oF) honey, 1 part horsetail to 3 parts warm honey and keep at circa 100oF for several days, stirring several times daily. The high honey sugar content will burst equisetum cells and preserve the contents from microbial growth"
I do, however, add horsetail to vinegar recipes anyway, because as far as I see it, plants are more than their constituents, and the minerals and all over strengthening, healing energy of horsetail is something I want in mineral tonics.
Found in: Busted Joint Ointment, Busted Joint Elixir
Read more: Kiva's article here
Galium aparine. Cleavers:
A top notch alterative useful in dry, scaly, flaky skin conditions like psoriasis, eczema, eruptions and such. Cleavers is a gentle but very powerful lymphatic, helping in the eliminative aspect of the lymphatic system (that is, processing toxins). With an affinity for the urinary tract, cleavers is also really useful with things like UTIs.
Found in: Unfurling + Green
Read more: here
Violet:
Soothing, mucilaginous and rich in vitamins and minerals, violets are an incredibly useful, sweet and nourishing herb. For people who find nettles too drying, try violet. It's got almost as many minerals, but is moistening and soothing where nettles is drying. Violet is also a gentle and useful lymphatic, acting on a congested and backed up lymphatic system gently. It's also anti-inflammatory and slightly pain-relieving. Being super constitutionally dry, and also prone to stagnation, I *live* for violets in the spring. They don't grow here and I rely on charity mailings from friends from afar *stares at the screen with big puppy eyes*. Violet, infused in oil and massaged in topically is one of my favourite things ever, especially in the late winter when everything is feeling sluggish and dried out and stuck. And infused in oil for swollen pre-menstrual breasts its a life-saver!
Found in: lymphatic massage oil
Read more: jim's article here
Dandelion:
A lovely spring bitter, dandelion stimulates bile production and helps with the digestive processes. It is also diuretic and incredibly high in potassium. The leaves are really tasty (albeit bitter) when young, and you can use the roots as a coffee substitute (roast them first). Both leaf and root have an effect on the digestion and liver, but the root moreso-- they don't have the diuretic effects that the leaf does, and the action is much more strongly directed to the liver. It's often strange, at first, getting used to eating bitter greens, because it's been eliminated somewhat from our western palate. But you get used to it, really fast, and then you start to crave it. Bitter is *essential* to our well-being and our digestive processes and adding a small handful of bitter greens to your salad, or a sautee is such an easy way to get more bitter in our diet.
Found in: Acorn + Roots: morning brew
Read more: here, here
Chickweed:
Anti-inflammatory, soothing, healing and delicious, lots of people make chickweed salves for skin healing in the spring. Susun Weed talks about using chickweed to dissolve ovarian cysts, and its cooling, soothing, anti-inflammatory properties can be applied to a number of internal things, like urinary tract infections, systemic inflammation, gut irritation etc. Chickweed infusion is deeply, deeply nourishing and it often feels like your body is just SOAKING IT UP, like a sponge. Moistening, nutrient dense, healing, chickweed is really tasty on its own, or in salads.
I used chickweed last year when I was in Berlin, late at night, making my herbal infusion for the next day, and the jar exploded all over my [naked] legs. It was blistering quickly, as skin is apt to do when covered in boiling water, and it was so late, in a foreign country, so I did the only thing I *could* do at the time, and make a chickweed infusion in a bowl, chilled it, dipped paper towels in it, and slept with the chickweed paper towels covering the burns. The next day I woke up and all blistering was gone, there was redness. I did the chickweed compress again and by the next day it was all gone. That amount of healing, soothing, cooling and nurturing, imagine that being done to your insides! Thats chickweed. Little magical powerhouse!
Read more: Here's a brilliant chickweed monograph from Rosalee.
*many thanks to Rosalee for basically providing her entire website for me to link here*
3. Spring greens recipes
Spring Vinegar: a wild greens-infused tonic.
This was a recipe that I used in the Salt + Water surprise box, and included in the surprise box artwork. I have a few of them here if you're interested, but the recipe is really easy, and right here, and I recommend giving it a try :).
1 cup chopped dandelion leaves*
1 cup dandelion blossoms*
1/2 cup chopped burdock root*
1/2 cup dulse seaweed
1 cup nettle leaves, roughly chopped*
1 cup violet leaves, roughly chopped*
*try to use fresh plant matter if you can-- it'll make the vinegar much more vibrant. But if not you can use dried. There's no set-in-stone rules here.
1 1/2 quarts raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar
Put all of the ingredients into a jar and cover with the vinegar. Leave in a cool, dark place for a few weeks, shaking occasionally. Strain and bottle. Use in salads, or add to your drinking water.
Cleavers ice cubes.
I can't remember who I learned about this from, and I wish I could so that I could credit them. I want to say Paul Bergner in one of his CD sets but I can't say for sure.
Cleavers grows in such profusion around here that it's really easy to gather an absolute ton of it. After you've gathered it, you can run it through a juicer (if you have a juicer), or add a bit of water and blitz in a blender then strain. And you're left with this vibrant, gorgeous green juice that's positively buzzing with spring life. If you freeze this juice in an ice cube tray then you'll have a daily dose of cleavers for the next weeks or months, depending on how much you gather. A cleavers ice cube in a glass of sparkling water is, admittedly a little odd but quite pleasant with a squirt of lemon juice.
Nettle soup:
3 tb butter
3 tb olive oil
2 quarts chicken stock (or veggie stock)
1 carrot (chopped)
1 onion (chopped)
2 stalks celery (chopped)
3 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 medium sized potato (a russet will do nicely) (chopped into inch-sized chunks, not-peeled)
A giant bowl's (prob 3/4 a gallon jar) worth of fresh, clean, nettle leaves picked from the stem.
salt
pepper
1 tsp dried thyme (or herbes de provence)
In a big, heavy saucepan, melt the butter and oil over medium heat, then add the onion, celery and carrot. Throw in the dried thyme/ herbes de provence, and a teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes or so until the onion is translucent. Add the potato and the garlic and cook another 2 minutes, then add the chicken stock.
Bring to boil then reduce to simmer for 15 minutes until the potatoes are soft.
Throw in the nettles and cook for another few minutes, until the nettles are all wilted.
Remove from the heat and run through a blender (or use a stick blender) until creamy and smooth. Serve with a dollop of yogurt or creme fraiche.
Other spring greens recipes:
Violet honey butter (ohmygoodness)
The why of spring nettle pie
Stinging nettle chips
Nettled eggs
Dock in yogurt
Dandelion bloody mary