For most gardeners, spring planning is just about done. Seeds have been purchased and started. Snow comes, soon melts, spring’s official beginning is around the corner, and birds have begun their mating songs.
Years ago I attended an herb class at a local herb farm. The owner prepared a beautiful glass urn of sun tea. The urn was filled with a variety of flowers, violets, johnny jump-ups, roses, lavender, herb blossoms, and more. This tea was refreshing. I was impressed and have not forgotten this experience.
Recently, I came across a new book from Rosalind Creasy,The Edible Flower Garden. Her cover and photography hooked my curiosity as the subject of edible flowers is limited. Rosalind is a well-known author and respected organic gardener. It is a stunning work with gorgeous photography that highlights the beauty of flowers and shows off culinary delights using flowers in a variety of ways. She has researched claims of edibles and addresses some of which are myths, such as stock. History shows it may have been eaten in times of famine but no other time. Therefore, stock is not on her list.
Edible Flowers Idea
I use blossoms in quiches. Small amounts of wild strawberry flowers when in bloom, rose petals, lavender. So many wild and common flowers are edible like the violet leaves pictured above. In my wild food classes, we used echinacea and dandelion blossoms, squash blossoms, and nasturtiums, for example. It all created a lovely palette for the eye in recipes as well as provided a variety of tastes. They inspire our creative juices, fill our senses with texture, color, and form. They are the stuff of poetry and stories. Yet in my travels, I have found folks a bit leery of using flowers in food.
4 Tips To Remember About Edible Flowers
Flowers should never be used as food from stores. Store-bought flowers often come into our country from overseas and are chemically treated.
Organic gardens, whether traditional landscapes or vegetable-based, do not have that concern. If you do not have a garden but a neighbor does, please ask questions. Make sure they are organic.
If you have planters and need to give your plants extra food to maintain growth, please read labels carefully.
Always check with a reliable source before picking or tasting anything you are not familiar with. For example, most mushrooms are poisonous. Pokeberry flowers and berries are not edible. Daffodils are not edible.
What I like: Rosalind gives the reader an encyclopedia of flowers that are edible. Pictures are crisp and help to easily identify a flower accompanied by how to grow and how to prepare sections. She then provides us with photographs and recipes that are simply elegant. She rounds out her book with appendixes on planting and maintenance, pest and disease control. She has suggestions for nontoxic management if pests show up. Lastly, she has a well-organized section on seed sources.
I recently spoke to a library about the benefits of herb teas. The dried flowers contained in the herb blends were a hit. Folks who love to garden often have no idea that many common plants are edible. And that some of these flowers and plants contribute nourishment. Nourishment, provided from a variety of plant constituents, such as vitamins A, B, C, and calcium, all support our biology.
For those of you who are curious about edible flowers I highly recommend this book.
Brambles, a thorny understory woody shrub that can take over land untended and challenge those of us who attempt to carve a space to plant, live and keep a yard in some semblance of order. Michael Pollan reminds us in his book, “Second Nature” “nothing (in nature) sits still well maybe for just a brief moment.” I think of the brambles that insist on filling in any space unused and once in the yard can be cut back but rarely are they gone for good. Brambles are also a wild life habitat providing refuge for many species.
Ideas to Serve Raspberries
This is a good thing as the berries are one of my favorite summertime treats.
Dry some of the berries I harvest for winter use.
Freeze them.
Serve as a breakfast treat on a cold winters morning when the chill reminds me that spring is far away.
If you have brambles at the edges of your property you can easily distinguish the red raspberry from the blackberry: look at the underside of the leaves. Red raspberry leaves have a silver green underside whereas blackberries do not.
Raspberry Berry Details
Name: Red Raspberry: Rubus idaeus (Rosaceae family) Parts Used: leaves and fruit, perennial Varieties: Rubus idaeus is considered the cultivated variety; Rubus strigosus is considered the wild variety. Where found: temperate climates as these berries need a period of cold in order to flower
Elderberry: Sambucus nigra, also known as the European Elder
What is Elderberry?
Elderberry is a fruit that comes from the elderberry bush, a flowering plant in the Adoxaceae family. The bush produces clusters of small, blue-black berries that are used for food and medicinal purposes.
Where Does Elderberry Come From?
Elderberry bushes are native to Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. Some common varieties include European elderberry (Sambucus nigra), American elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), and Blue elderberry (Sambucus caerulea). The berries have been harvested from the wild for centuries. Today elderberries are also commercially grown on farms for fruit production.
Where Does Elderberry Grow?
Elderberry bushes thrive in damp, fertile soils across temperate regions. They are commonly found growing along streams, ditches, and the edges of farms and forests. Elderberry will grow best in USDA Hardiness Zones 3-10. The plants tolerate partial shade but produce best in full sun locations.
What Does Elderberry Look Like?
Elderberry bushes can grow up to 10 feet tall. The leaves are opposite, compound and have 5-11 leaflets with toothed edges. The flowers are small with five white petals. The berries grow in drooping clusters, ripening from green to deep purple-black in late summer. Each berry is about 1/4 inch in diameter.
What is Elderberry Good For?
Elderberries have long been used for food and folk medicine. The berries are rich in vitamin C and antioxidants. They are often processed into jams, jellies, syrups, candies and cordials. Elderberry is also believed to have anti-viral and immune-boosting properties that may help fight colds and flu. More research is still needed.
Is Elderberry Safe to Eat?
Properly cooked elderberries are safe to eat. However, raw or unripe berries can contain a cyanide-producing toxic compound and should not be consumed. Elderberries should always be cooked thoroughly before eating. The seeds and stems also contain traces of cyanide and should be removed.
Where Can I Buy Elderberry?
Elderberries can be purchased fresh, dried, frozen, or processed into a variety of products. Look for elderberries, elderberry syrups and extracts at natural food stores and online. When buying pre-made products, read the labels carefully and choose reputable brands. Elderberry bushes and plants are also available from nurseries to grow your own berries.
You can figure out the difference between Elderberry vs Pokeweed by looking at a few of the visible characteristics of each which I’ll detail here.
A student of mine recently brought in a branch with purple berries. I am familiar with Pokeweed but not elderberry in the wild. It is so important to double and triple check plant ID’s when in the woods. If you are not sure, please don’t eat them and be careful with children too.
What do Elderberries look like?
Elderberry
Elderberry: Sambucus nigra I have included pictures of an elderberry look alike, Pokeweed, Phytolacca americana. Though the flowers are different, the purple berry and red stems can be easily confused with elderberry. The berries of pokeweed are NOT edible and can cause a very bad stomach ache and should not be eaten be children. The young shoots in early spring, 6” tall or less can be eaten as a pot herb. Foraged greens like pokeweed need to be boiled two or three times to make the green palatable. Pokeweed is typically shorter than elderberry, easily bent and can be invasive. I always recommend folks to check 3-5 field guides when identifying a plant and to check with someone who can verify the plant before consuming.
What is Pokeweed?
Pokeweed
Pokeweed, Phytolacca americana, is easily found in our forests and wooded areas is the most common of the plants that look like elderberry. It too likes to hang out at the forest edges. The berries have shorter stems, are closely attached to the main stem and again are not edible. They are used however to make a natural dye. Naturopathic physicians use the root of pokeweed in their practices. Because it is potent you will not find poke root easily in most health food stores.
The flowers of both elderberry and pokeweed are white in the early spring but are very different. Here is a photo of the elderberry flower to your left and pokeweed on your right.
Elderberry flower
Pokeweed Flower
Two plants that look alike can easy be mixed up. Spring is a good time to test your knowledge of identifying these two flowering shrubs, small trees.
In the meantime, consider elderberry for your home medicine chest. Amazon has a wide assortment of options for both adults and kids.
In this episode of Cloud 9 Online’s MediMindful Moment Podcast, co-hosts Judith Dreyer, Jeff Nelder, and Henry Edinger interview Nigel Palmer, the Director, and Curriculum Developer for Sustainable Regenerative Gardening at The Institute Of Sustainable Nutrition. Nigel talks about his expertise in traditional gardening and why the garden is a quintessential mindfulness place.
Episode Highlights:
Nigel shares a little background about his work and his career, as an author. (1:18)
Nigel shares a couple of mindfulness tips in the garden and mindfulness tips in life. (24:59)
Key Quotes:
“It’s a lovely time to watch the clouds go by, to see the rustle of the wind in the trees. Or notice some birds that are going through their antics on the side of the lawn. Gardening is a quintessential mindless mindfulness exercise.” – Nigel Palmer
“We’re all in the flow of the universe, you can either participate or not. And we all make decisions as to how we spend our time, and what we do with our time. And we can either ignore the flow of the universe, we can go against the flow of the universe, or we could be part of it.” – Nigel Palmer
“You don’t need an amazing skill set. You don’t need all this infrastructure or these ideas, but what you need to do is go out into the garden and put your toes in there and put a seed in, it won’t grow unless you plant it, right? So, once you start planting these things, all of these things unravel.” – Nigel Palmer
In this episode of Cloud 9 Online’s MediMindful Moment Podcast, co-hosts Judith Dreyer, Jeff Nelder, and Henry Edinger interview Craig Floyd, Farm Manager of the Giving Garden at Coogan Farm, part of the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center. Tenth-generation farmer Craig Floyd talks about connecting people to nature through working in the soil and utilizing regenerative gardening practices.
Episode Highlights:
Judith shares that Craig is not only the Farm Manager but also the Master Gardener, and the planner along with hundreds of volunteers that provide organic food to the New London county food banks. (00:48)
What is Coogan Farm, and what do Craig’s people do at the farm? (1:18)
Craig shares that 100% of what they grow is donated to help feed the 32,000 food-insecure people in London County. (1:47)
Craig mentions that as of today, they have donated over 65,000 pounds of food. (2:11)
Jeff proceeds with the mindful moment exercise. (4:17)
Craig shares that they normally have 300 to 400 volunteers. (7:12)
Craig mentions that a lot of different people with special needs come and benefit in so many ways because they are interacting with the soil, and microbiology in the soil. (7:26)
Craig shares a story about two veterans that came into his garden. (7:48)
Henry mentions that Craig is helping people to live a mindful life. (8:42)
How is Craig feeling today? (9:08)
What does Craig feel when he’s at the farm? (9:22)
Craig mentions that he received an email from Hunts Brook Farm, and they wanted to donate 300 heads of lettuce, to the Gemma Moran Food Bank in London. (9:44)
Craig mentions that there are local farmers who have extra harvests and donate it to the food insecure. (11:21)
Craig shares that there are a lot of positive results, from neighbor to neighbor, and farm to farm that people don’t know. (11:48)
What role does mindfulness have to play in farming and gardening? (12:14)
Jeff mentions that Craig presented at TED Talk. (12:25)
Craig shares the feeling of being able to provide food to those standing in line at the mobile food pantry. (13:27)
What would Craig think if more people in the world could take dedicated time each day to be with Mother Nature and breathe? (13:58)
Craig shares another story about a young man that came in a parachute harness. (14:29)
Craig mentions that nature heals people. (19:29)
Key Quotes:
“This is not your normal garden. This is a regenerative no-till, no-spray garden, and the food is 80% better than anything you’ve ever put your mouth on nutritionally. So it’s really good, especially for those people that are in need.” – Craig Floyd
“To be out there in that field with people, on a hot and sweaty day, watching the dragonflies, harvesting lettuce, and taking it to the food bank and seeing the smiles on everybody’s faces. Knowing that somebody was going to get some good lettuce today.” – Craig Floyd
“You become one with Mother Nature. People don’t understand the strength of the garden, and what the garden can do for us. Whether you’re just a 73-year-old, 10th generation farmer, or whether you’re a young teenager, with special needs, unable to verbally communicate, what a garden does for us to be in the garden, and to be growing and knowing that we’re going to give somebody a meal.” – Craig Floyd
“You need to get outside and volunteer in a garden or just put some parsley in the ground or something. Do something with the soil. You know, we are 90% better bacterial cells, what do you think the soil is? I mean, we are the soil. It just does so much good for us. You’ve got to get out in nature, people. Take your shoes off. Just enjoy it.” – Craig Floyd
For most gardeners, spring planning is just about done. Seeds have been purchased and started. Snow comes, soon melts, spring’s official beginning is around the corner, and birds have begun their mating songs.
Judith Dreyer, MS, BSN, Writer, Speaker, and Workshop Presenter, Master Gardener.
