May Harvest Totals

Asterisk Denotes Foraged Item

• Chamomile: 9 g
• *Dandelion Greens: 394 g
• *Dandelion Petals: 120 g
• Douglas Fir Cones: 120 g
• Green Garlic: 12 g
• Lemon Balm: 7 g
• Lettuce (Volunteer): 6 g
• *Lilac Flowers: 482 g
• Mint (Mojito): 8 g
• Mixed Greens: 145 g
• Pansies: 3 g
• Pea Shoots: 10 g
• Rhubarb: 151 g
• Sage: 1 g
• Strawberries: 11 g
• Tarragon: 2 g
• Thyme: 1 g
• *Wild Lettuce: 180 g

Total: 1.662 kg

This month was an interesting one for me, because usually the bulk of what I harvest in May is wild Asparagus, and this time for some reason I never made it out to my spot to gather any.  Initially the smaller harvest total was a bit discouraging, because ideally I'd like my self sufficiency to increase over time.  However, when I looked at last year's harvest total and subtracted what was asparagus, I found that this year I'd quadrupled my non-asparagus harvest!  The other thing that amazed me was that last year my "May" totals were actually April and May combined.  This year we were able to gather enough earlier that I tallied everything up for March and April's harvest so this year is already bringing in a more plentiful and diverse harvest.

One of the most interesting new things added to my spring harvest totals are these Douglas fir cones (pictured below).  I picked these while they were still green, and they have the most beautiful aroma.  I'd seen a few people posting on Instagram that they were using them for flavouring, so I decided to blend them up into a flavoured sugar.  They have the most beautiful aroma and a bright citrus/crabapple taste with forest notes that is really hard to describe.  I'm imagining making Christmas cookies this winter from sugar flavoured with a Christmas tree!  I also think these would make an incredible sorbet flavour too so I'm hoping to get out before they mature too much and gather some more to experiment with.

What are you harvesting these days?  Leave me a note in the comments and I'd love to hear how this spring of gardening and/or foraging is going for you!

Foraging with the Roo Apron

A little while ago, Roo Apron gave me one of their aprons to review.  I've been posting a little bit about my experience with it on Instagram, and now it is time to do a full review here!

I've used the apron quite a bit in the garden, but I wanted to showcase how useful it has been as I gathered all the things I needed for the wreaths and garlands and other things I've been making to get ready for the A Forager's Home Shop to open.  

For most of my wreaths I've been gathering common things found along the roadsides.  They are a real reflection of my neighbourhood at this time of year.  Pine and fir cones, dry grass, Russian Olive (a beautiful silvery tree that has rather invasively established itself in this area), and some sunflowers from a stand along the roadside that someone probably planted at one point and is now self sustaining.  

The Roo has a huge front pouch, and many other pockets in the top.  The bottom of the main pouch is closed only by a fold, so when you undo the clips your bounty can just slide out the bottom into whatever container you want.  So easy.  It also adjusts perfectly, and easily to your body.  I was a bit nervous about this part because typically aprons are made for people with longer torsos than me and I usually have to tie the neck strap up, and/or fold over the waist to make it work, but this easily adjusted to me without doing anything like that.

A nice note greeted me on receiving my Roo Apron!

One of the other great things I found is that when you are on your way home from foraging, you can just leave everything in, take the apron off, plop it on the seat of your car and everything stays put.  

It's also nice to have a durable, conveniently located pocked to stash your shears or knife in when you are roadside foraging instead of just walking with a sharp implement in your hand.  I already feel like I look weird enough to passersby as I'm on these foraging walks, and I don't need to add to the picture by keeping my knife out!

This apron has been a really useful tool for me, and it's something I am going to be using for a long time in the future.  

Flower Foraging and How to Make a Salve for Bumps and Burns

Something I have been expanding on in my foraging repertoire this year is the amount of flowers (edible or medicinal) that I collect.  I have been reading a lot about the benefits of flowers like yarrow, red clover, arnica, and even daisies, and have been making a point of taking bunches home whenever we walk around the block.  It is surprising how many useful flowers grow on the roadside in my neighbourhood!

Some might argue that you might want to avoid roadside foraging because of the pollution from passing cars.  I agree that it is not exactly ideal, but my street is fairly quiet, so I'm comfortable with it.  I also feel like this alienates a lot of people who might want to try foraging but who live in urban environments.  I think as long as you know that there are some potential downsides you can decide if you are comfortable with them or not.

One of my main reasons for foraging more flowers this year was that I wanted to try to make a few medicinal items for my pantry.  My first attempt came out really well, so I thought I'd share it with you!  I read that daisies and dandelions are really good flowers for aches, pains, bumps, bruises, bug bites, and burns so I decided to go with them.  Also they are really common flowers, so that helped make this doable! Apparently arnica is also really amazing for this purpose, but I didn't find any until after I made this one.  I have since located and picked some, and it is infusing in oil as I type!  

The dandelions infused in olive oil over a few weeks, the daisies I quick infused with coconut oil on the stovetop (I chose this method because I was out of time, and also because I only had solid coconut oil and I needed to melt it.  The other ingredients were beeswax from a local apiary, and some lavender essential oil.  This is one I have had for quite a while that I just bought at the store.  Something therapeutic grade would be better for this purpose, but I didn't want to spend any extra until I knew if this would work!

The verdict is - it's awesome!  I tried this out as a massage oil for a sore back, on bug bites, on sunburn, and I feel comfortable recommending it as something worth making.  Now, if you need medical attention for your condition, this is not going to replace pharmaceutical drugs or anything.  It's not going to cure you of anything, but it will help alleviate some minor symptoms and it's worth having in the medicine cabinet.

One important thing to note is that this is not recommended for open wounds.  I am going to be trying another salve with yarrow (featured in many of these photos) that will be more suited for something like that.  I am also going to be making a cough syrup with the red clover I gathered, so stick around if you like homemade herbal remedies!

Eating Foraged Food - Lilac Ice Cream

So for some of us gathering lilacs can be either a wild, urban, or backyard foraging project.  In my area they are finished, but I think in some places - in Canada at least - they are still blooming.  If I am too late feel free to try this with other edible flowers.  I am going to be collecting some wild rose as soon as possible and trying this recipe again.  Where I live, it seems like everyone has lilacs in their backyards, but the plant has also naturalized to some extent and you can find the purple blossoms of syringa vulgaris dotting the ditches along roadsides.  Their fragrance is sweet, but their beauty is fleeting.  I think the blossoms only last for a couple weeks in their full glory. 

Our friends have the most lilacs I have ever seen in one yard and they grow so many varieties.  I almost missed out, but before all the blossoms were gone they sent us home with three shopping bags full of them!  I posted earlier about some of the things I made with them, but I felt this ice cream deserved its own special post. 

I had a dream to make some lilac ice cream.  I am not sure where I got the idea, but it was probably when I realized I had way more lilacs than I knew what to do with and I started madly googling what I could do with them.  I have been experimenting with my own ice cream recipes for quite a while, but with limited success.  It is so hard to get the consistency right!  I read up on message boards, checked other recipes, and troubleshooted until finally I stumbled upon David Lebovitz's recipe for vanilla bean ice cream.  I had seen a few specific recipes for lilac ice cream, but they didn't look like they would solve my problems so I gave this one a try, but instead of infusing the milk with a vanilla bean, I used about a cup of lilac blossoms. 

Finally!  Success at last!

I think I have found my new go-to ice cream recipe.  My next plan is to try some other flavours.  I won't post the recipe since it isn't mine and the only alteration I made was very small, but I seriously recommend trying this one if you are looking for a good basic ice cream recipe.  It is so important to have good ingredients though.  I am grateful to have access to good milk and cream in our local supermarkets, and gorgeous backyard hen eggs from a neighbour.  That seriously makes all the difference.  Don't skimp on the quality when it comes to eggs and dairy - you'll notice right away!

Do you have a favourite ice cream recipe or flavour?  Let me know in the comments!

Springtime is for Lilacs

In my area I am just about to be able to harvest a few things from my garden, but until then I am making do with other people's abundance.  Upon learning that a friend had copious amounts of gorgeous lilacs I asked if I could have some to experiment with as lilacs are in fact edible.

There are several things I have been working on in my experiments - some of which really deserve a blog post of their own, but here are a few things you can do with your lilacs:

• Lilac sugar
• Lilac syrup
• Lilac jelly
• Lilac ice cream
• Dried lilacs
• Candied lilacs
• Lilac meringues

Some of these are as simple as cramming some (dry) lilac blossoms in a jar with some sugar and some - like the ice cream - are more complicated.  In other news I have found my most favourite ice cream recipe and will be sharing that in the days to come!  Stay tuned!

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LILAC SUGAR HEARTS

1. Remove lilac blossoms from stems.  The stems are not poisonous, but get do not have a nice taste so you don't want that in your sugar.
2. Put large heap of lilac blossoms in mortar and grind with pestle into a juicy pulp.
3. Add white sugar until mixture is a damp consistency.
4. Press damp lilac sugar into molds and wait a few days until completely dry before removing.

I'm not totally sure where I will use these, but aren't they adorable!