DECEMBER 2014
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Green Blessings ...
with Susun Weed

Winter Air / Weed Walk

The moon is waning, its fullness giving way to darkness. It is the beginning of December, nights are still lengthening here in the Northern Hemisphere as we approach winter solstice, the longest night.

It is time to go back to our roots, to get into our roots, to dig deeply into our selves. In areas not yet covered with snow, these are the last days to dig roots, before the ground freezes solid. And the last chances of the year to make wild salads, too. So follow me and let's see what there is to eat outside. Our weed walk commences here.

It is time to snuggle in and put down the electronic device and read a book or a magazine. In addition to books, I read lots of periodicals.  Since our work weekend Saturday was windy and rainy, we chose to stay inside, telling stories and cutting the year's harvest of dried stinging nettle into small pieces ready for making infusion. After lunch, we looked at periodicals focused on herbs. And I have listed them for you in a special supplement.

There is a special openness to the winter air. A special clarity to winter sounds. And a special joy in the green blessings of winter.



Weed Walk

Only the hardiest greens are to be found in early December in the Catskills. Days are too short to fuel growth, but they hunker down and toughen up, and enjoy the sun that there is. It is always wise to harvest with care and respect for the plant's needs as well as for your human needs, and especially so in the short winter days when plants can't replenish themselves. No need to pick enough to make an entire wild salad. Even adding a few wild leaves to ordinary lettuce counts as wild.


Dandelion (Taraxacum off.)
Did I say hunker down? Well, I obviously wasn't referring to dandelion, who continues to bloom right up until she is "covered in a mantle of white." Dandelion flowers in my salad certainly raise my spirits and give my liver lots to smile about as well.


Bedstraw (Galium mollugo)
This prolific roadside plant is most known for its use in making sweet-smelling mattresses. The tender tips are a great winter salad green. It is also known as wild madder and false baby's breath, the first because of its reddish-orange roots, the latter for its beautiful clusters of delicate white flowers. Cleavers is another plant in the bedstraw family, so closely related to wild madder.


Sheep Sorrel (Rumex acetosella)
Tart and tangy sheep sorrel is always ready to add lots of vitamin C to our salads, ensuring a healthy winter and freedom from colds and the flu. Look for sheep sorrel in rocky, sunny places.


Yellow Dock (Rumex crispus) (Rumex obtusifolia)
The leaves of curly dock, R. crispus, the most edible of the yellow docks, are still green. They taste mighty good in winter salads, especially when dressed with yellow dock seed vinegar and olive oil. The leaves of broad dock, R. obtusifolia, are green too, but you probably wouldn't like them in salads. (Bitter!!)


Creeping Jenny (Glechoma hederacea)
This is toughest of all the mint sisters. When the lemon balm and catnip have dropped all their leaves, creeping jenny, aka ground ivy, stays green. Since she loves to grow in gardens and in lawns, it is rare to find a spot without this nutritious wild salad green.


Garlic Mustard (Alliaria off.)
Like all mustard family plants, garlic mustard thrives in the cold. Considered a problematic invasive in many places, it is easy to find open woodland edges where nothing but garlic mustard is growing. Help yourself, please. You may be helping a native plant to find its place in the sun by cutting down on the amount of garlic mustard. (Note the plantain leaf and wild carrot leaf in this photo. They are lovely in winter salads, too.)



NEW Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way


Author: Susun S. Weed.
The best book on menopause is now better. Completely revised with 100 new pages. All the remedies women know and trust plus hundreds of new ones. New sections on thyroid health, fibromyalgia, hairy problems, male menopause, and herbs for women taking hormones. Recommended by Susan Love MD and Christiane Northrup MD. Introduction by Juliette de Bairacli Levy. 304 pages, index, illustrations. Retails for $19.95
Order
at: www.wisewomanbookshop.com
For excerpts visit: www.menopause-metamorphosis.com

  

 

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