Redbud pickles, young bamboo shoots with seaweeds, and omelette with swiss chard and sweet mini peppers

Here are some nature-inspired, spontaneous, and delicious green witch projects that took place in Danville, KY, this early spring. They were made possible by Virginia, her family and friends. Thank you all.

Redbud pickles (Photo by bodhilens)

Virginia let me pick blossoms on her old and gorgeous redbud trees in her yard. I just rinsed the blossoms with water, air-dry them, and pickled them in apple cider vinegar and a table spoonful of raw honey for a couple of hours. We poured a few spoonfuls from the jar over mixed commercial and wild greens (lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, and chickweed) and sprinkled a little salt and pepper. The salad was so tasty and refreshing that I ate two bowlfuls. 

Young bamboo shoots with "wakame" seaweeds (Photo by bodhilens)

Virginia's friend Fox let us dig a bagful of young bamboo shoots on her farm. Bodhilens planted a few shoots in our yard, and I cooked this traditional Japanese dish with the rest. It was such a rare treat that I had not eaten for ages. My mother was proud of me for making it from scratch. It is a lot of work peeling and boiling the finger-size cores of the bamboo shoots, but it is worth the effort for this seasonal delicacy.

Ginger-flavored omelette with swiss chard and sweet mini peppers (Photo by bodhilens)

Virginia's daughter Margaret shared with us very fresh farm eggs laid by her "girls" in her yard. I stir-fried swiss chard from Fox's garden and sweet mini peppers from Kroger with grated ginger in extra virgin canola oil, beat the eggs and poured in the pan, and seasoned the omelette with salt and pepper.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the chickweed in the salad also came from Margaret's yard. I gave the girls a bunch of chickweed in return for their eggs, and they went crazy over it and seemed to really love it. The common name of the plant totally made sense to me. Chickweed is ranked #3 on Top 10 Edible Plants in Your Yard and is actually very nutritious and healing to both humans and animals. Next time you think about weeding chickweed, think about tossing it in salad, soup, and feed. 

Dandelion and violet flower honeys and vinegars

Dandelion and violet flower honeys (Photo by bodhilens)

Dandelion and violet flower vinegars (Photo by bodhilens)

Paying attention to wild plants gives me a sense of abundance, and learning about them makes me appreciate their uniqueness and beauty. Many of them are actually nutritious and/or medicinal. I do not see them as unwanted and invasive "weeds" anymore, but instead I am always amazed by their vitality. I am even grateful for their generosity when I keep harvesting them to make herbal infusions, vinegars, tinctures, and honeys, and they keep coming back. I have just made small jars of dandelion and violet flower honeys and vinegars, and look forward to using them in teas, salads, and sweets.

Directions:

1. Select a glass jar that is a right size for the amount of your harvest.

(Ideally, fill a jar with flowers and honey to the top. I filled mine over a few days because I could only harvest a soup-bowl-full of flowers a day from my yard. Also, use a plastic lid or a parchment paper liner under a metal lid for vinegars.)

2. Pick flowers and rinse them with water to clean any dirt and small insects off.

(I usually just pour tap water in the bowl of flowers, stir for a minute, and scoop the flowers out in a strainer to drain.)

3. Air-dry flowers on a clean cloth.

(If flowers are dirt-free and/or you want to keep pollen, skip #2 and let small insects escape at #3.)

4. Sterilize the jar.

(I usually place a jar and a lid in a bowl and pour boiling water over them, carefully take them out on a clean cloth, and air-dry them.)

5. Put flowers in the sterilized jar and pour honey (preferably organic raw honey) or apple cider vinegar in. Use a clean chopstick to stir and make sure all flowers are mixed well with honey or vinegar.

6. Keep herbal honeys and vinegars in a dark place. Check everyday for a week or so and top off honey or vinegar to keep flowers mixed well with honey or vinegar. Enjoy consuming herbal honeys in 2-4 weeks, herbal vinegars in 4-6 weeks.

Here are some nice videos of Susan Weed making violet flower honey and dandelion flower vinegar. She explains that the medicinal properties of honey are "soothing and dissolving," and violet flower adds to the effects. Therefore, violet flower honey helps to heal bruises, minor burns, and sore throat. She also explains that vinegar extracts vitamins and minerals out of plants, and dandelion flower vinegar is especially good for digestion.

Last year I made and consumed quite a bit of dandelion leaf and root vinegar. It is even more nutritious and medicinal than the flower vinegar, and all the minerals extracted from the plant makes apple cider vinegar tastes mellower, which makes it perfect for salad dressing. The flower vinegar is prettier, though.