Wild Harvest - Wild Nutrition

I am in the middle of my holiday weekend – foraging for all our vegetables and I have noticed something quite interesting already….I just wanted to write this down as I am feeling/going through it (if you know what I mean!).

Some of you might be able to relate to this – or perhaps even all of you, so here goes…you know how after you eat a meal (even a big, satisfying one) and then you just want something sweet to go along with that?

Sometimes that need to have something sweet to top things off, so to speak, can drive you crazy – it did me. And it wasn’t necessarily something big…just a date or a fig (I have long since given up sugar and chocolate) but the ‘need’ to have it was there.

Well…I have noticed this before, but thought it was merely a coincidence but now I am certain it is not; When I eat a meal with lots of wild harvested vegetables such as today…the cravings for something sweet vanish.

It was a few hours later after my breakfast, of our own goose eggs, our own cheese, with our own milk, wild harvested nettle, dandelion and wild garlic – all made into a lovely omlette – that I realized I craved nothing….

For hours and hours afterwards I felt pleasantly ‘satisfied’ is the only word I can use here. And it was a marked difference to how I normally feel after eating any meal. Actually I did not even think about food for a few hours (and that in itself is strange for me!).

Of course, I have been mulling this over in my mind to see what my intuition would say about it and relate how I am feeling to my body, my digestion and the food I have been eating. There are quite a few interesting threads to follow here and I plan on looking at them all. But in the meantime....

This might have something to do with the amount of nutrients (would be very high) contained in the wild harvested vegetables….perhaps throughout the many generations of cultivation we have not done ourselves any favours with regards to retaining the plants as nature intended….

It has certainly given me food for thought and my weekend is not over yet! LOL

To keep some of the spring wild garlic for longer periods of time...I gathered about 500g of wild garlic, washed and chopped it into a food processor. Then added in about 500ml olive oil and 1 tablespoon sea salt. This was blended for a few minutes to mix thoroughly and then poured into sterilized Kilner jars.

I topped up each jar with a layer of oil and am hoping to use it over the coming months for just about everything! LOL

April

Wild Garlic in olive oil - ready for the winter months...

Return of Life - In the Garden

At the end of this week there is a feast - Imbolc - one of our most wonderful celebrations and in many ways the beginning of the season for us. It is the signal of the Celtic spring and a festival of ewe's milk apparently.

It appears to have had it's origins in the return of lambing, milk and the early rites of spring - so, naturally to follow on from that the best foods to enjoy this coming weekend would be lamb, sheeps and goat's cheese and early spring vegetables.

Right now I am busy planning our menu for each day - making this the most fun time of my entire fast! LOL. We are all looking forward to moving on from this fast and can't wait to eat and shift into this next phase.

One of the most important aspects of this time of year has to do with the return of life - both inside and outside of our bodies. As with the earth, our guts' should also be coming back from it's semi-dormant state with gut bacteria flourishing.

Spiritually this is a time of awakening - animals are bred and expecting baby goats and lambs, the earth is expecting new growth and is busy sending up the first shoots towards the lightening sky. The days are growing longer and we can get going with our kitchen gardens.

There is not a better time of year to plan and contemplate life as it swirls around us. Perhaps in ancient times after the long dark days of winter have shortened with the promise of spring to come - such a re-awakening as this needed it's own special day.

Then again - it's a few weeks since Solstice and Yule Season - it's about time for another celebration....cakes and cookies (all sugar free!) are on the agenda this week. I will keep you posted on my progress.

April

Oregano in the garden

Bean Burgers

Yesterday was what we refer to in our house as a 'big eating day' or a day with a big meal of several courses and dessert. This is as opposed to a fast day, cleanse day, small eating day or festival! All of which are very different from each other and have their own significant meanings, rituals and celebrations.

For our big eating day, which usually follows our 10 day Master Cleanses - by way of a little celebration - we decided to have a mung bean burger feast with sheeps' cheese, roasted root vegetables, jasmine rice stir-fry with fresh greens/herbs from the garden and peach ice cream for dessert. 

Those of you who have my 1st recipe book The Way to Heal - Body, Mind & Soul, would be familiar with this recipe that has been loved by my family for a few years now. These are the absolute best bean burgers that you can possibly make and are preferred here over lamb burgers.

To make the bean burgers the main ingredient (mung beans) must first be sprouted over 2 or more days, I find them ideal after about 48 hours or so. Then once the beans are ready these are ground together with fresh greens such as spinach or yesterday I used baby rocket leaves from my garden and garlic.

Soaking Mung Beans

We then add grated carrot, chopped onion, leeks and broccoli to this burger base mixing it thoroughly and then frying it in hot sunflower oil. (And no, they do not fall apart) These are lovely with a piece of mature goat's cheese, homemade mayo and fresh naan bread right out of the oven. 

Needless to say, yesterday was a lovely meal for us - the culmination of days and weeks spent cleansing, cleaning and detoxing. I can only imagine how lovely next week will be with the harvest feast (Lughnasdh) just around the corner! 

Mung Bean Mixture - with rocket and garlic

Voila - bean burgers! 

Have a lovely day,

April