Spring Fling with Nettles

I grow nettles in the "flower" bed up against my home. I have been asked on many occasions: "What person in their right mind would plant nettles in any flower bed and the bed right up against the house?" The answer is obvious to me; I am not in my right mind and who wouldn't plant nettles so close to the house? They are oh so close when I need them for soups. stews, stir fries, pesto, tinctures, medicinal infusions, etc.

Now here is the double edged sword with this situation: they are close at hand but these 'lil buggers like to run and take over the world just like mints. They create this under soil runner that, well, just runs, and runs, and runs spiraling out of control. I spend the spring pulling the renegade nettles out of the rest of the flower bed in front of my home. When I planted them, 5 years ago, I politely asked them to stay in their space on the side of the house. I even dug down into the soil and planted sandstone pieces to deter them from running. They out smarted me.

As aggravating as this can be, I do have a steady supply of spring nettles that I do not feel guilty about pulling. I snip the leaves to eat and plant the runners along the yard's edge hoping for yet more nettles to eat and make medicine with.

My bowl of nettle tops and leaves.

A close up of 2 nettle tops ready for dinner.

Nettles in the pan, a gentle saute' in butter is all that is needed.

The stems that I gently cooked first;  why waste the nutrients?

Cooked nettles waiting for me to consciously devour them.

The finished salad with nettles scattered across the top.

I have made mention of my Spring difficulties around food. All winter I graciously and gratefully eat local cabbage, root veggies, and squash. I save my frozen local summer veggies to tide me over when I can no longer stand the thought of a root veggie and cabbage slaw. Yes, it does happen. (My winter leftovers are waiting to be made into sauerkraut when I can dig enough wild leeks to enhance this kraut batch.) 

I yearn for local food: asparagus, greens, fiddle heads, peas, strawberries...

To survive until the local food is bountiful once again, I buy food from California. There, I confessed. The above salad is Romaine lettuce, celery, carrots, and juicy red peppers from California. I also buy non-local fruits: mango, banana, kiwi, citrus, and canned organic pineapple. I am desperate for neatly gift packaged sunshine to tide me over to the local food scene. A ripe mango has a serious amount of sun waiting to burst out of its skin. I bow my head in gratitude to the people, the trees, and the soil that brings me these gems to keep me happy.

I plopped the above salad down in front of my kids, minus the nettles of course. They would have flipped had I expected them to eat Nettles! (They did each have a small spoonful that they chucked into their mouths and barely chewed before swallowing. Someday they will appreciate the things I have exposed them to...) Here was my salad response:

"Finally, a real salad. No more nasty cabbage - root veggie slaw! Yay!"

Poor kids, they suffer so.

"Wow, Mom broke down and bought something that didn't grow within 20 miles of our home."

When do they learn to not harass the person keeping them in food?

Tip for the day: Get outside. Snip some nettles. Hey, dig some wild leeks and saute' them together, ever so gently. Enjoy the taste sensation, the local wild food, and the spring nourishment for your body. Oh yeah, don't bother sharing with the kids!

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Longing for the Wild Ones: Nature's Medicine!

Every year I find myself in this same space: longing for the wild foods of spring.  Above I am digging leeks on 4/16/13 and the field of leeks and box of leeks pictures are from 2014. I am anxiously waiting for the leeks to pop their 'lil green heads up again this year.

The return of the leeks means many things to me:

• spring IS here,
• summer will follow sooner than the wait from winter to spring (so grateful for this!),
• more wild foods and flowers will be popping out of the ground daily, and
• my body is in sync with nature!

Wild leeks are nature's medicine. (Who am I kidding? All wild plants are nature's medicine!)  They have similar healing qualities of garlic: immune boosting, good for blood pressure, a blood and spring tonic, cold and flu remedy, and the leaf and bulb juice is good for ear aches and infections. 

Wild foods are the gifts that our bodies need after a long cold winter. They provide green food, vitamin C (and so many more vitamins and minerals), stimulation of the liver to open and cleanse the heaviness of winter out of our digestive tract and ultimately our body cells, and vital life force energy to up our internal level of vibrancy.

Soon to look for:

Violet leaves and flowers

Violets are rich in vitamin C, a much needed vitamin after a long winter. Vitamin C helps in the spring detox and the upward movement of life force energy. Violets are rich in enzymes, chlorophyll, vitamin A, carotenes, rutin (helps maintain blood vessel strength and integrity), and many more nutrients. 

Young Nettles

Nettles are, by far, my favorite plant (and I love all the plants!). It is one herb I would add to every herbal healing blend for its nutritive properties. Nettles nourishes each and every body cell, helps to build strong bones, nourishes the glandular system, aid the reproductive tract (pms, migraines, prostate, libido builder), great for allergies and asthma, and just about any and every ailment I can think of. This is because of nettles high nutritional value; when the body is nourished the body heals!

Young Dandelion

Um, Um Yum... dandelion greens and think liver. Dandelion is a bitter tonic for the liver helping with digestion and helping with the spring cleanse out of winter heaviness in our cells and life force energy. Dandelion is very high in nutrients (again, good for cellular health and build bones), is a mild laxative, and is good for skin conditions to name but a few of dandelion's virtues. Spring brings us this flower and the leaves to eat at just the time our body needs it. Nature is so wise!

Sorrels: Sheep and Wood sorrels

Sorrels are from the genus Oxalis. Oxalis means "sour" and is named due to its high oxalic acid content.   Oxalic acid is considered "toxic" when consumed in large quantities because oxalic inhibits the absorption of calcium.  Oxalic acid is not considered a problem when consumed moderately and with a varied diet. Many domesticated vegetables, including spinach and broccoli, also contain oxalic.  People who are challenged by gout, rheumatism, and gallbladder and kidney stones should avoid it.

Sorrel is rich in vitamin C (the sour and vitamin C again contributes to the spring cleanse of winter's stagnation in the body).  Traditionally it has been used to treat scurvy, fevers, urinary infections, mouth sores, nausea, and sore throats.

If you have never been one to grass your front lawn or the fields and woods near your home... I encourage you to find a good guide book with pictures, descriptions, and healing information and get foraging. 

Remember the forager's ethical principle: take only what you need and make certain to leave plenty of plants so they can reproduce and repopulate the area you are wild harvesting from. If you take all the plants you are creating a micro-extinction in that area.

De-Mystifying Detox Diets

Information on detox diets, detoxing the body, and all the lingo and hoop-la around this issue tends to be confusing as well as misconstrued; depending on who is sharing the information. But seriously, is that not the case with anything? Everything?

The biggest confusion, in my eyes, lies in the modern medicine vs. traditional - holistic healing's views around detoxing.

Teaching people the power of supporting their body's detox process is teaching them to take their healing into their own hands; creating an independence from the health care industry. Which please, do not be misled. Our country predominantly has a disease care system. It is a system that flourishes if your disease symptoms are only suppressed not healed. This means you are a patient, a customer, in this system for life; dependent on the health care professionals and their prescription drugs.

Understanding detox efforts in healing requires a quick look at human biology. Our bodies are built for detoxing. We are detoxing every minute of every day. Your liver is the main organ of detox; constantly filtering your blood and eliminating the "toxins" via the colon. Your colon, obviously, is an organ of detox as it eliminates solid wastes and the products of metabolic breakdown (liver) from the body. Your kidneys keep themselves busy filtering the blood and eliminating waste products down through the ureters, into your bladder, and out through the urethra.

Your lungs eliminate waste, toxins, through your breath. Your skin eliminates waste through the process of sweating. Your lymphatic system moves fluids around your body and helps to eliminate waste, toxins, as well.

Gratefully borrowed from: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/273241902367567074/

So what does "detox dieting" do for all these bodily processes?

The medical profession, our health care system, debunks detox diets from many angles and for many reasons. For example: Detox is a term used by medical personnel to label the process of cleansing drugs or alcohol from a person's system that has been imbibing in excess and/or for long periods of time. For western medicine trained professional to think about detox in different terms means stepping into a realm they were not trained in, natural healing, and thinking from a space that most western medical training scoffs at and actually teaches practitioners is quackery. This is not the important thing here; so let us not focus on it any longer. (For a little history lesson, scroll down to "suppression and decline:" http://www.mygenerationsclinic.com/about-naturopathic-medicine.htm. Another history lesson: http://www.healingmountainpublishing.com/articles/NPmedicine.html )

Instead, lets us focus on what natural, holistic detox is! It is simply assisting and supporting your body in what it does every minute of everyday: detoxes itself and heals itself. When a natural healer (Naturopathic Physician, Herbalist, Holistic Nutrition Professional, etc.) prescribes a detox plan, the detox foods and herbs are simply to nourish and support the organs that do the detox work in the body. 

The misconception lies in that people think these herbs and foods are doing something detox special... like scrubbing dirt from the body. These foods and herbs are not a dust buster, vacuum cleaner, or scrubbing bubbles of any type. They are simply foods (herbs are whole foods too!) that are high in nutrients that build cellular health and support healthy body organs. If your body organs are well nourished from whole food eating; they do their jobs better. This is truly simple nutritional physiology. The body is beautiful; poetry in motion in every way.

Now, I will admit, any opportunity some people and corporations have to market and profit from an idea, they will. If there are profits to be made, someone(s) will create scams to go along with it. This happens with everything around health. Let me give you several examples of the recent over marketing of reasonably healthy concepts but the concepts get taken to an extreme or used out of context for someone's profit:

• kale being made into every marketable food possible. I am not against kale chips but seriously... they are now the national health food?
• coconut in everything... we need to eat it, drink it in milk and water form, slather it on our bodies, etc.
• blueberries as the amazing superfood... do NOT go a day without eating them or your health will be in jeopardy.
• quinoa... we just cannot survive, nutritionally speaking without it. What did we do for 100s of years without this powerhouse of food from the Andes Mountains?
• any food, spice, or herb that is shown to up the metabolic rate and it is quickly slapped into capsule forms and sold as the latest "get skinny quickly" scheme.

My point? Plenty of health claims out there for all sorts of supposed healing products.

The wise thing to do is use your common sense in these situations. Products, especially expensive and exclusive products, are not needed!

Human beings have been supporting and assisting their organs of detox from time beginning. The natural cycles of life support this detox action: wild leeks and dandelion greens in the spring open our winter congested digestive tract and get things moving. The liver is stimulated more than it has been all winter, from these traditional spring foods, and aids in moving shit out of the body, literally and figuratively! Traditionally what did people do in the spring? Why they reveled in the wild leeks and dandelion greens, waiting anxiously and happily for their arrival in the spring. Time to dig wild leeks, time to gather dandelion greens and guess what... you are naturally, with the cycles of life, supporting your organs of detox.

Next in the seasonal flow of plants comes stinging nettles; another fine green plant that supports the body's natural detox systems and contributes amazing nutritional support to each and every body cell.

We can follow the seasonal appearance and growth of plants all growing season to discover the very plants people have traditionally used for supporting their organs of detox. In the winter, non-growing seasons, people prepared for this. Roots, barks, leaves, and berries of medicinal plants were gathered and dried for the long winter months. These foods were used when needed to support detox: when ill health symptoms arise or true microbial sicknesses.

Have you ever been constipated for 3 or 4 days in a row? How about a week or more? Remember how you felt? The colon is an organ of detox. Supporting detox (in just one example) is supporting colon health. Who wouldn't want this? Sure beats chronic constipation and the yucky, whole body feelings of ill health that result. Use this "constipated" thought process for all your pathways of detox: sweating, urinating, exhaling respiratory waste, lymphatic movement, and bile production and release into the small intestine. All of these detox mechanisms work more smoothly and efficiently when we support whole body detox.

Detox is not a hoax. Your body is doing it in every second of your life! How it is presented, promoted, and sold for profit may be what can get a bit shaky. Your body has always detoxed and will continue to do so until your life force energy is finished in your physical body. That is life and death here on this planet.

I am, right now whipping up a pot of nettle, peppermint, and rosemary tea. All of these herbs support circulation, cell nourishment, and ultimately detoxification. Simple 'lil pot 'O tea!  

Cream of Spinach Soup:

This was an easy pot of soup to whip up last eve. Then I let it sit in the refrigerator for the next day's dinner; all the flavors meld together better this way.  All veggies came from the Kent Family Farm and the milk is from local, loved, and well cared for goats.

1. Saute' a medium purple onion.
2. Add a medium potato and carrot or two to this saute'. Cook them just long enough to slightly soften but still have some crispness. They will cook a bit more when you re-heat the soup the next day so you do not want to create mushy veggies.
3. Clean up spinach and steam in a tiny bit of water. I had about a pound of fresh, local spinach  and it only takes a few minutes to steam it gently.
4. Put spinach and 2 1/2 to 3 cups milk into your blender.
5. Add a clove or two of garlic.
6. Blend well and pour back into the steam pot. Add the saute' veggies.
7. Add any herbs you like the taste of (rosemary, parsley, oregano, basil, thyme, curry mix, etc.) or not!
8. Voila' a pot of soup that is loaded with whole foods for detoxing!

A 100% whole food diet IS a detox diet.

You are always supporting your organs of detox, your each and every body cell, when you eat 100% nourishing whole foods. 

It really is that easy!  

BUT...If you have lived less than a whole food diet...   

Join me for my Liver-Colon Detox Nourishment online class 

    We start our liver healing journey with all new class materials June 1st, 2016. 

Class materials are yours for life.

REGISTER HERE: 

Weeds, To Eat or Not To Eat!

www.HandsOnHealthHH.com

Holistic Hugs & Peaceful Blessings!

Paula M. Youmell, RN, MS, CHC

Holistic Health, Nutrition & Fitness Counselor      

(315) 265-0961

"Just lift the corner of the clouds and the sun is 

ALWAYS shining!"          Eli Schechter

Spring Nettles poking out of my home garden plot,  Spring 2014

Weeds to one person are another person's medicine!

I love spring for the wonderful green plants shooting out of the earth around my home, in the woods and fields.  These plants remind me of the ever changing and newness of life, the bounty of good food right outside our doors, and the nutritional value and healing properties of what many people consider weeds.  I personally await the spring's wild leeks, dandelion greens, first nettle shoots, plantain leaves, rhubarb shoots, and so many more spring edibles.

These spring edibles awaken our taste buds, livers, digestive tracts, and each and every body cell.  The incredible amount of nutrients in the plants adds to our nutritional stores and cleans our winter blood, liver, and digestive tracts.

What a relief to move away from my beloved winter root veggies (beets!) and begin incorporating our natural spring foods.

For more thoughts on the whole food-ness of herbs (weeds) click here.

  Dandelion greens and flowers; good for liver health!

Fun Food Focus

Spring Greens Soup

I gather several kinds of spring greens: dandelion, plantain, lambs quarters, nettles, mustard greens, sorrel, violets... the list goes on.  (Learn to identify them, pick and enjoy!)

I gently wash them, throw them in my blender with some raw goat's milk and wild leek shoots and leaves.  Blend into a puree and warm gently.

You can also saute' the wild leek, ever so gently, then toss in the green and saute' for 1-2 minutes before blending.

Easy greens to start with are dandelion, plantain, nettles and violets.

Another idea:  mix them in a salad with local, mixed baby greens - they should be available soon!  Dress with raw - apple cider vinegar, organic - extra virgin olive oil and a few dried spices.  Yummy!

This picture taken today, 5-16-14.  The nettles are getting larger!

Bonus information:  Check out Martin's Farm Stand website, you can pre-order your fresh, local, seasonal produce, on-line!  Cutting edge - local food access!

http://martinsfarmstand.locallygrown.net/welcome

Wild Leeks & Wild Child!

My youngest buddy, eating his morning, local eggs with wild leeks! His body is being infused with the nourishing goodness of wild foods.

• Wild foods have their genetics intact, non- GMO!  This is a huge boost in your personal cell nourishment arena.
• Wild foods are grown in soil that generally has not been disturbed by agricultural chemicals: pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, synthetic fertilizers, on & on & on... if chemicals are in the soil, they are in every cell of your food (despite the "just wash it off" campaign of Big Ag.) Support local farmers who opt to not use chemicals.
• The soil, in the wild, is naturally composting, year after year.  This continual composting cycle keeps the soil's nutrients high.  Foods grown in this soil, well, are naturally high in minerals.

There is so much more to be said for food being grown in its natural environment, living and growing the way it would without human intervention.  Growing food naturally, even when we cultivate it, raises the nourishment level by leaps and bounds.

Looking for local food, raised naturally?  Don't want to grow it yourself OR forage in the woods?  Get on this website and find a local farmer. who will love you up with good food and you can support their desire to produce good food. It's a win-win relationship!

Want to help others enjoy well raised, local food?  The healthier people we have in our communities, the healthier our communities will be. It takes a community to raise a community!

The gift of good food is the best gift you can give. (in my opinion!)

I have pasted GardenShare's request for CSA Bonus Bucks support below.

Eat well, share good food, love people.  Paula

CSA Bonus Bucks Needs Your Help!

Hello Friends,

GardenShare's CSA Bonus Bucks offers low-income families an opportunity to join the CSA of their choice with a $100 discount.

This year we've been overwhelmed with requests, and do not have the funding to cover five families who came in just as we had spent the final funds for the year. Some of these families have enjoyed this program for several years.

CSA Bonus Bucks works double duty by helping low income families enjoy great, healthy, local food, while at the same time, supporting our local farmers with additional business.

Any donation will help. Simply follow this link.

If you prefer, you can still send a check to 

GardenShare, PO Box 516, Canton, NY 13617

Breakfast of Champions

No - No you people of the 70's and 80's (myself included), it is not Wheaties!

So what is this concoction on the plate and in the bowl?

• Local, pasture raised eggs fried to the perfect, "still liquid" yolk state,
• Wild leeks chopped and placed on top, and
• Local, pasture-raised, goat milk cheese, slightly melted, on top...  and in the bowl?
• Kraut made from Kent Family Farm's root veggies, cabbage, and burdock with added: fresh wild leeks from around the corner and up the hill; then I added dandelion greens, nettle tops*, and chives from the front yard.

Yummy, cell nourishing way to start the day!

*The nettle tops were raw, chopped very finely.  Yes, nettles will leave the characteristic "sting" on the tongue and back of the throat... but it is very mild, barely noticeable!

Stinging nettles have been used for urtication. Urtication means flailing the affected joints with nettles for the relief of arthritis and like conditions.  So eating raw is a 'lil self tongue and throat therapy!  Who would want arthritis of throat and tongue?