Hi Folks,
I know it’s been awhile since I’ve sent out a written post but I felt it time to give you a reminder. As we talked about often, I recommend that you begin to gather and cultivate wild edible and medicinal plants. These plants are considered weeds to most folks who don’t know the medicinal nor nutritional value in these plants, and instead of trying to rid our gardens of them I suggest that you fill your gardens with them. After all they can usually withstand harsh environments and nutrient poor soils, needing little care in their cultivation. Yet many of these plants are as high in nutritional value and in some cases have more nutritional value than do our cultivated food crops.
As many of you know, Dave has been experimenting with making amaranth bread, and found that what I told him is very true. Eat a slice of amaranth bread and you will kill your appetite and food cravings for several hours such is the nutritional value of amaranth, not to mention how easy it is to cultivate and the staggering yield it gives for a small patch of garden. Dave made up some acorn bread during last broadcast session and the same thing happened in that no one felt like eating anything else for hours.
We are now in the time of the year that you should be collecting seeds, berries, roots, and tubers and transplanting them into gardens or storing them for next spring planting. However, as caretakers and healers of the Earth, it is important to leave plenty for the animals that need them for food and also spread the seeds over larger areas near the harvested plants so that more will be available next season. By doing so you will have a great harvest next growing season that will increase year after year, until the end of days.
I would also strongly suggest that you grab your field guides and wild edible plant guides and find out what plants are found in your area and subsequently learn to identify them, collect them, prepare them, and eat them once or more a week so that you and your family become familiar with not only the taste but the preparation process. This is also a great way of getting the whole family involved in not only the identification but also the preparation and consumption of these wild plants that are usually ignored or eradicated by most folks. Learn, gather, prepare, eat, plant, and harvest next year, or grow them in a small greenhouse through the winter months in an indoor garden. Again, just a reminder to gather and learn for the future, for knowledge is our only salvation in what lies ahead.
In Medicine & Walk Strong,
Tom