Celebrate Spring and Spring Greens!
Hello Friends!
It’s time for wild food!! The first nettles and garlic mustards of the year are up here and I love to put them in my eggs for a spring tonic wake up call!
Eating wild greens is good for everything (but be certain of your identification). All wild greens are vitamin and mineral rich (to various degrees) and provide excellent sources of calcium.
Dandelion - a beautiful tonic for the spring. Perfect time of year to harvest the root for a dandelion root vinegar. Good for the liver, moves the lymph, supports the blood.
Garlic mustard - Wild brassicas are even more healthful than their cultivated counterparts. Make sure you know what you’re foraging! Very garlicky.
Stinging Nettles - the red stalk means “I’m going to influence your blood”. Getting *stung* is great for arthritis! Eating fresh young cooked nettles, well cooked, and drinking infusion from dried (older, larger) nettles in the spring is a great spring tonic…builds the blood, high in iron.
Onion Grass - wild spring onions, great as tender young greens. Sulfur smell = immune strength!
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Directions for the recipe pictured above:
Sauté onions (or onion grass!) and garlic if you like, or even simply the tiny young wild nettles and the whole garlic mustard greens in some water and olive oil, butter or ghee…cook until soft, about ten minutes or so.
Crack an egg over them, and drop more wild mustard leaves atop the egg whites.
When cooked to your desired texture, add salt and pepper if desired, and enjoy! I had it with sauerkraut and flax seed bread topped with goat cheese on the side!
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I’d like to take a moment to remember a dear man, my friend Paul Tappenden, a prolific artist and master herbalist, who passed into spirit last October. He was an insatiable forager and inspired countless young herbalists. His book has helped many to identify and safely utilize the herbs local to Nyack, NY. Thank you for sharing your gifts with the world, Paul! Rest in power 🙏
Want to go on a Weed Walk with me?
Here are some learning opportunities coming up in May!
Sunday, May 1, 2022, from 2-4pm EST
In-person in Oakland, NJ, and on Zoom.
Accessible Herbal Medicine the Wisewoman Way
$45 / Register here: Closer to the Heart Yoga (click on "Workshops")
One of the most common ways of healing self, family and friends is with homemade herbal medicines called “meals.” There is medicine all around us. Our kitchens, including our spice racks, can be an abundant source of effective medicine for us, and safer than what we find in the pharmacy. Open your mind and your senses to the broader possibilities for creating healing feasts in your own kitchen.Common herbs, foods, and condiments such as basil, garlic, salt, onions, carrots, dark leafy greens, honey, vinegar, and so much more provide remedies for a vast variety of conditions. Mint plants, so rich in antioxidants and helpful for digestion, can help keep us well and in tip-top shape, which is to say, in mint condition! Many healing spice plants are in the mint family, such as basil, sage, rosemary, and lavender.
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Tuesday, May 3, 2022, 5pm
A Beltane Ritual at Flower Power in Piermont, NY
Herbal Aphrodisiacs for Goddesses and Gods
Admission $40 - REGISTRATION LINK COMING SOON
Please reach out to my assistant Christiana for more info and to sign up!
Let’s celebrate ourselves this Beltane!
The Star Goddess says:
“Let all acts of love and pleasure be my rituals”.
Whether you are flying solo, partnered, and/or whomever your preferences are; come enjoy a fun and spicy exploration of herbal recipes and tastings for enhancing sensual bliss and opening your heart to love.
We will explore herbs such as roses, orange blossoms, damiana, and of course, chocolate! Sexy meals, scintillating scents, sensual wines and seductive smokes; all based on a strong foundation of self-respect, will be included in our explorations.
Together we will craft a fabulous passion honey!
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Sunday, May 22, 2022, from 2-4pm
(Exact location TBA - near Warwick, NY)
Weed Walk with Robin Rose Bennett
$35 adults, children under 12 free, and 12-18 or students are $17
Sign up here or email my assistant Christiana for scholarships and sliding scale options!
Come delight in the discovery that wild food and herbal medicine is all around us wherever we live. Enjoy an uplifting and sensory educational experience identifying, sniffing, and tasting the wild local plants that are often dismissed as mere weeds. The plants you likely spend hours pulling out of your garden may become your new best friends when you discover that plantain stops the itch of a mosquito bite, dandelion leaves strengthen kidneys and ease blood pressure, and violets are rich in salicylic acid and can reduce headache pain! Nature is a marvelous teacher and ally and Robin Rose has been leading people on “weed walks” for 30 years. This will be a relaxing stroll through lawn and gardens and fun for all ages.