APRIL

April
Nettles, Burdock, Wild Leeks, Chickweed, Yellow Dock

Psalm 104:27, 28 These all wait for You, that You may give them their food in due season.
What You give them, they gather in, You open Your hand, they are filled with good.

   The first spring thunderstorm brings a sudden green to the lawns and fields as the lightening gives the earth a shot of nitrogen. Thunderstorms are wonderful for charging up nature’s battery, bringing about a surge in plant activity.

    Overnight tiny Dandelion greens emerge in the hotspots as the buds on the trees swell and quicken with new life. The power of birth, resurrection, and new life is on every side and my spirit rejoices.

    Some years begin earlier than others; usually early in April I might find a good handful of tender salad herbs, but not too much else for the cookpot just yet. Some of the earliest plants appearing now besides the Garlic Mustard which is in its prime are Motherwort and Catnip. Neither are edible, but both can be used medicinally.

By mid-April the earth has brought forth the Stinging Nettles, and truly the table has now been set. By the time the Nettles are of good-eatin’ size, the Dandelions have gotten big enough for harvest as well. The Burdock is poking its head out of the ground, just enough for me to locate the mineral-laden roots. Watercress, Garlic Mustard and Wintercress are all in their prime season. Yellow Dock is also harvestable, and the Wild Leeks are gracing the hillsides.

    The trees haven’t even budded out yet, I’ve barely put my first garden peas and lettuce seeds down, not a single flower is in bloom besides the hardy crocuses, and I’m already enjoying a feast from God’s gardens.

    By the end of April, after a few more thunderstorms and some warm 70 or 80 degree days, the next wave of plant activity comes on the stage and the choices and variety of edible plants increases exponentially. From this point on, there is no end to the bounty and reckless abundance available to anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear. The Violets are singing purple in the woodlands, the Morels are popping out under last year’s leaves, Chickweed is creeping through the gardens, Wild Asparagus rising up on the fencerows, all just waiting for someone to come along, basket in hand…………

Nettles (Urtica Diocia)
Stinging nettles are one of my all-time favorite wild foods. I consider them one of nature’s superfoods easily rivaling the costly Super Bluegreen Algae and other green wonders common on the market these days. Nettles score high in every category in a nutritional profile, making them a supreme tonic herb.

    I harvest Nettles in abundance every spring in April and May when they are tender enough to eat. Later in the summer they get a gravelly texture to them, making them unpleasant to eat, but perfect for tea.   Thus they have a relatively short season for the table, so enjoy them while they last!

babynettles

The best time to harvest Nettles is when they are about 6 inches tall, while they still have a purple hue to them. But even after they get taller the top few inches can be snipped off and put in the basket. It’s pretty easy to find generous patches of Nettles, especially around farms. Field guide

They just love the manure-rich soil around the cow barns! In fact, a thriving patch of Nettles is a great indication of rich, fertile soil and can be a savvy gardener's best friend!

When I go out shopping for Nettles, I bring a big basket, gloves, and a pair of scissors. I like to grab a Nettle with a gloved hand, snip it with my scissors and toss it in the basket. They tend to cook down quite a bit so I harvest plenty. A gallon of fresh Nettles yields about 3 cups cooked.
	Once I get back to the kitchen, I simply dump them into a large pot, bring them to a gentle boil and simmer them 10-15 minutes to get them nice and tender. Steaming them just doesn’t seem to get them tender enough unless you steam them for a very long time. The sting completely disappears when Nettles are cooked and I am able to bring in large amounts with minimal handling this way. Once cooked they can be stored in the fridge or even frozen for winter use.

I save every drop of the precious liquid they’ve been cooked in. The old-timers call this the pot-liquor and recognized its value as well. I pour it into mason jars and use it as a soupstock or just drink it hot or cold as a tonic tea. In fact, I drink Nettles tea all year long as a mainstay in my diet, rather than taking expensive vitamin supplements, with very good results! The tea is very pleasant and easy to drink, especially when combined with mint. I always serve it as a beverage at my spring wild food workshops. It’s also very good as a hot, salty broth with a little bullion added to it.
Here are a couple of recipes for the Nettles "pot liquor":
Nettles-Mint Tea
Nettles Cocktail

The cooked Nettles are a perfect spinach substitute. Any recipe calling for cooked spinach will be greatly enhanced by Nettles. Nettles are always the main course at my spring workshops and play a starring role, with much applause from the partakers.
Here are some of my favorite Nettles recipes:
Nettles Ricotta Pie
Nettles Spanakopita
Nettles Yogurt Tonic

Here’s some links to some more good Nettles recipes:
Mariquita Farm
Harmony Valley Farm

Here's a couple of links you may want to check out for more information:
The CONE Initiative
Commitment-Jim Meuninck
The Lowly Nettle: Springtime Superfood
101 Uses for Stinging Nettle

Burdock (Arctium Lappa)

    Burdock roots are another of my favorite wild foods and are always included in my workshops, both spring and fall. They are actually gaining in popularity in the gourmet circles, being grown and marketed as Japanese Gobo Root and fetching $4-$6 a pound!

    Burdock root contains impressive levels of nutrients, especially the minerals and trace minerals. It is used medicinally as a tonic for the entire body to help detoxify and provide safe, long-term nourishment and support for a variety of chronic conditions.

Here are some links to some information about Burdock as a medicine:
Viable Herbal: About Burdock Root
Manataka® American Indian Council

I find that Burdock is an energy food, noticeably increasing my overall energy when I am eating it or drinking the tonic, thus acting as a gentle but powerful stimulant without all the jitters and side-effects of caffeine.

    Burdock arrives on the scene around the same time as Nettles.   It is also fond of farms and barnyards but can be found growing in any disturbed soils. You can look for last year’s burrs as a marker. I prefer to dig them out of gardens or oft-plowed fields as really compacted ground makes for some mighty hard digging. I have friends who don’t mind one bit when I come to dig the Burdock out of their gardens in the spring. Most folks consider it a nuisance, you see.

    Burdock is a biennial, meaning it grows a large rosette the first year, over winters, and then re-emerges in the second year when it produces a flower stalk to make its burry-seed progeny. When it first comes up in the spring it is impossible to tell whether a plant is a first or second year Burdock, so I just dig them all up. The first-year root will be no bigger in diameter than a carrot and kind of whitish skinned. Second-year roots will be much thicker and have a woody, textured bark on them. Burdock roots are easily 2 or 3 feet long, penetrating deep into the earth to draw up their rich treasuries of minerals. I rarely get a whole root, they often break off or get cut with the shovel.   I usually try to dig up a good quantity as they are rather labor intensive, so I want to end up with a good supply for the work I put into them.

To help with Burdock identification, here’s a great little video on Burdock identification: Wildman Steve Brill: Burdock TV and here are some great photos on the different stages of growth: Wildman Steve Brill: Burdock Field Guide

Back at home I rinse the mud off of them outdoors, then bring them in for a good scrubbing. I use a stiff vegetable brush to clean them up.
   To prep the roots for cooking, they can be thinly sliced into rounds, or sliced on the diagonal for a prettier effect. Some people prefer to grate them using a cheese grater or food processor, or shaving them with a vegetable peeler. They might also be cut into short lengths or matchsticks.

    Burdock tends to be a bit chewy or fibrous and so many recipes use some kind of tenderizing agent to try to soften it. I’ve seen recipes using salt, vinegar or baking soda and I’ve tried them all:

Method One:
1. Soak sliced roots in water with a Tbsp of vinegar per pint of water for 15 minutes.
2. Drain.
3. Cover with water, bring to a boil and gently simmer for 20-30 minutes to tenderize.
4. Drain, saving the precious cooking liquid.
5. Spread roots on a towel to dry excess water. (This is so the oil in a stir-fry won’t pop and spit).

Method Two:
1. Simmer in water with 1 tsp baking soda per pint of water for 15 minutes.
Note: This method gets the Burdock root nice and tender but only use if you plan to cook and serve the root immediately. If allowed to sit for several hours it turns the roots an interesting but unappetizing blue-green color.

Method Three:
1. Soak Burdock in a salt water solution for 30 minutes (2 tsp per pint water)
2. Drain.
3. Simmer in water to cover for 20 minutes.

Parboiling is key to tenderizing Burdock root. Sautéing it without preparing it properly will actually make it tougher and less appealing.

As with Nettles, I always save the cooking liquid and drink it as a tonic tea. I like to have dried Burdock root on hand throughout the year to make tea with whenever I’m feeling a little burned-out, rundown or fatigued. It’s a good energizer and restorative herb. My favorite tea combination for Burdock is a mix of Burdock, Astragalus, Ginger and Ginseng. It’s possible to even make a soda out of Burdock! In fact, in England Burdock Soda and Burdock Beer are products on the market!
Burdock seems to take the stage in stir-frys, and most Burdock recipes tend to have an exotic Asian flavor to them. It also seems to be perfectly suited to rice, so performs well with fried rice recipes. Macrobiotic people love Burdock and their cookbooks are a good source for recipes as well.

Here are some of my Burdock recipes:
Burdock-n-Wild Rice
Wild Burdock Pilaf
Burdock Carrot Slaw
Braised Burdock Root
Venison Roast with Wild Roots & Onions
Restoration Root Tea

Here are some links to some other Burdock recipes:
Whole Health: Whole Cooking
Burdock Pickles
Moscow Food Co-op
Sweet Sister Burdock
Conscious Choice: Burdock

Here’s a great little cooking demo video on making Kinpira Goba by Wildman Steve Brill:
Wildman Steve Brill: Kinpira Gobo

Wild Leeks (Allium Tricoccum)

Around mid-April I take my baskets and shovel to a south-facing wooded hillside by a lake nearby where gardens of Allium tricoccum flourish year after year. I have seen hillsides near the Mississippi River that were so densely carpeted you could take bucketfuls out and hardly notice. But more usually these Wild Leeks grow in lush patches scattered across the hillside, already 8-10 inches tall before the first ephemeral flowers are gracing the woodland.

Wild Leeks are known by many different names according to the folk culture where they grow. In Appalachia they are known as Ramps, here in my neck of the woods they are sold on the market as Bear Garlic. In England they call them Ramsons. I just call ‘em Wild Leeks, as do most field guides.

Wild Leeks are a market quality wild food and much sought after.
Ramp season is much celebrated in Applachia with springtime Ramp festivals being a local phenomenon.

I take a large basket with me since I have to drive a ways out of town to get them. I try to just dig around the edges of each patch, leaving it sustainable for years to come. Wild Leeks spread by division underground so they tend to be closely packed together. One shovelful often yields 12-20 single scallions. It doesn’t take long at all to fill my basket.

At home I trim off the rootlets at the tip of each scallion and then rub off the outer onion layer that is loosely protecting the bulb. I don’t wash them with water until I am ready to use them as they tend to bruise easily, and don’t keep as well. I keep a good supply in the fridge ready to use wherever a recipe calls for onions. I use the entire plant, greens and all, chopped and sautéed in my recipes.

Wild Leek season lasts about a month or so, from mid-April to mid-to-late-May. At some point the understory of the woods gets very overgrown, the Wild Leeks go to seed and shrivel up and disappear with the rest of the ephemerals until next year.

    Wild Leeks are perfect companions for the spring delicacies like Morels, Wild Asparagus, Nettles, Fiddleheads and more. They are truly a forager’s delight.

     If you are fortunate to have an exceedingly abundant supply, it’s possible to preserve them for winter by sautéing them in butter or olive oil and freezing. I have also dehydrated them in the past. The leaves were excellent added to soups but the white bulbs tended to be a little woody-textured when reconstituted. Here's a few interesting links for more information about Wild Leeks:
Earthy Delights: Wild Ramps
Oregon State University: Ramps
Minnesota Out-of-Doors: The Exotic Wild Leek
Foodfinder: Ramp Salt

Here's some links to some recipes using Wild Leeks:
Earthy Delights: Early Spring Wild Harvest Recipes
Southern US Cuisine: Ramps and Wild Leeks
Mountain Breeze: Ramp Recipes

This webpage gives a nutritional profile for Wild Leeks:
Harvest Fields: Leeks-Allium Tricoccum

Chickweed (Stellaria Media)

     Chickweed is one of the sweetest, gentlest herbs I know, completely harmless without a hint of bitter and yet it is a powerful healer.

     Chickweed is a creeping, mat-like plant, rarely achieving any height unless it is in especially rich soil. It grows anywhere but seems to love gardens, landscaped areas and barnyards the best. If left to grow uninhibitedly, it can form dense gardens, in less suitable places it can be spindly and tedious to collect. I look for the rich patches where I can quickly fill a basket.

For a virtual herb walk with Chickweed click here.

Chickweed is very mild-tasting as wild foods go, and is also very tender in texture, making it a super salad green. I do occasionally cook it if I have large amounts but it really shines as a raw, fresh, living green.

    Chickweed is used in a lot of herbal weight-loss formulas because of its high amounts of saponins. Saponins are highly touted for dissolving fat cells and lowering the cholesterol, among other things. Chickweed also supplies huge amounts of nutrients to compensate for reduced calories when dieting.

    When I bring a harvest of Chickweed into my kitchen, I sort through it by picking the lush end-growth and larger leaves, otherwise Chickweed can be kind of stemmy in texture. However if I’m blending it into dips or dressings I toss in the stems and all.

      Chickweed is excellent as a base for a wild salad, meaning it provides the bulk of the green in place of lettuce. I especially like to mix it half-and-half with grated carrots and then add smaller amounts of stronger tasting greens or other salad items like olives, nuts, avocados, or whatever. It is also a great choice of green in rice or bean salads. I often use it in place of parsley in recipes, freshly chopped. Chickweed also excels in salad dressings and dips, and as a substitute for lettuce greens in sandwiches.

Here's some Chickweed recipes from my kitchen:
Spring Salad
Creamy Chickweed Dressing
Chickweed Egg Salad
Lemony Chickweed Feta Salad

Besides being a wonderful food plant, Chickweed is well-known in the herb circles for it’s healing charms. It makes an excellent salve, useful for all manner of skin ailments. It is also used as a poultice for dissolving skin tumors because of its high saponin content. I have also used it many times as a safe eyewash for conjunctivitis and other goopy eye problems. I have even used it on newborn babies, as it is a very safe, gentle, mild herb.

Here are some webpages that expound a bit more on the medicinal value of Chickweed:
Chickweed products on the market
Evenstar Herbs: Herbal Spotlight: Chickweed

And finally, here’s a recipe for Chickweed wine (who would’a thunk it?)
Jack Keller's Winemaking: Chickweed Wine

Yellow Dock

I harvest the leaves as a wild green until the flower stalk begins to emerge sometime in May. It’s possible to harvest all you need from one plant in places where it thrives. This green is very easy to harvest and to prepare, not nearly as labor-intensive or time-consuming as some wild foods can be.   You might run into some warnings about the oxalic acid content of the leaves making it questionably safe. I think that eaten in moderation it is fine, just like spinach which also has oxalic acid.

    Here's a couple of links to a nutritional profile of Yellow Dock:
Wild Edible Plant Nutrition   (scroll down to Dock, Curly Rumex crispus)
Indian Spring Herbs: Yellow Dock

    The leaves tend to be rather tough and leathery in texture when raw, but when cooked they melt into a soft, slippery pot-herb. I like to add a handful of Yellow Dock greens to my spring tonic soups, but the best use of them is in Sorrel recipes.

Here's a couple of recipes for Yellow Dock (Wild Sorrel)from my kitchen:
Wild Sorrel Potato Soup
Wild Sorrel Frittata

Yellow Dock Seed Crackers

The leaves are a wonderful source of iron, but the greater stores are in the root. Yellow Dock has a long fleshy, taproot that when sliced open reveals a rich yellow-orange color, hence the name Yellow Dock. The root is rich in minerals, as are all roots more or less, but it is particularly laden with iron, making this an herb par excellance for anemia and other depleted conditions of the blood. The iron is easily assimilated by the body, unlike many factory iron supplements that can cause unwanted side effects.

Some of Yellow Dock's other medicinal features can be found in these links:
Kroeger Herbs: Yellow Dock
BlueBoy Herbs: Yellow Dock

    The problem with Yellow Dock root is that it is extremely bitter and therefore not edible, so in order to use it as a medicine that you could convince someone to take, it must be tinctured or made into a syrup.

    It is possible to use the seeds as a wild flour or grain after a tedious process of winnowing and grinding. I have personally never tried this, but would love to experiment some day……….The seeds are touted as a very good source of iron as well, and some drink a tea infusion of the seeds for this purpose.

Here’s a couple of sites that shows a number of yellow dock products on the market today:
Shopping for Yellow Dock products
Tao Herb Farm: Yellow Dock

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