March

Strolling out into a beautiful spring morning with actual heat in the sun gives such a lift. Pin pricks of green on the trees and daffodils in bloom. You can feel Winter at last being shaken off. I am sure we have yet to feel more of its icy blast but its strongest force has passed. 

March is the perfect time for tonifing and cleansing your liver. Simply cutting down on sugars and fats will do this. Then replace these with fresh green leaves and as much wild energy as you can. A sure fire way way of setting rid of all that winter sluggishness and preparing for the comming summer.

Spring Soup

Things are beginning to burst through. Bulbs, leaves, flowers all beginning to surface. Soon there will be a faint green mist on the trees and slowly that mist will turn into the summer mantel. Natures rhythm never fails to impress. March will bring the first signs of abundance by way of Nettles and Wild Garlic. 

This simple Spring soup is a fantastically tasty way of including that vibrant green energy in our diet.

What you will need.

4 floury potatoes cut into cubes,

Butter or oil for frying

Two handfuls of Wild Spring Greens (Chickweed, Nettles, Ground Alder, Wild Garlic)

2 medium sized Onions

Pint and a half of veg stock.

Melt butter in a frying pan. Fry onions until nice and opaque then add the spuds. Add the stock and allow to cook for 30 to 40 mins.

Throw in about two hand full’s of greens at the very end, stir through and let cook for a further 2 or 3 minutes. Just be careful at this stage as the greens can go from wilted to soggy very quickly so do keep an eye.

A Deep Breath, A Step Forward

Take a walk to the nearest green area. Garden, park, path by canal or river, wasteland whichever or wherever you can see a little wilderness. Slowdown, sit down take a breath. See how many  plants and animals you can spot and name there, even the tiniest ones, the ones you bearly see. Or the ones you see all the time and have never taken in.

nybg:

Air plants in kitchen funnels! Thrifty, planty fun! Also, in all seriousness, this is a great, lightweight way of hanging your tillandsias in a window. Want your own, and some know how on caring for them? Stop into Shop in the Garden like Mike did the next time you’re here for a visit! Thanks for the great idea Mike! ~AR

origamike-plants:

Now I have three little alien-clawed tillandsias! Their new home is a collapsible silicone funnel from Kitchen a la Mode (hi, Ben!).

Back to Nature

Without us how would the world fare. Would it take long for the wilderness to take over towns, cities, shops, factories ,homes. Would a state of natural equilibrium  be reached without our polluting interfering ways. Would all the plastic trappings of life become engulfed by the forrest and swallowed up into her belly, where it is digested back down to a petroleum state.

 

“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.”

— Jane Jacobs (via stoweboyd)

Field Notes From A Hidden City

urbangreens:

Australian Vertical Gardens Create an Artful Outdoor Retreat

Ground Elder, Spinach and Feta, Gram Flour Pancakes.

Completely forgot that today is Pancake Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday as it was called. So in celebration I decided to make pancakes from Gram Flour as there is a bit of a wheat intolerance going on at home at the moment and it is the only flour I had in stock. It also used up the last of the Ground Elder I picked up yesterday and bits and bobs in the fridge.

For the filling, I fried off a small onion until it had nicely softened then added a handful of Ground Elder and a handful of Spinach plus  pinchs of ground cumin seeds,coriander seeds and sea salt and fry for a further five to six minutes. Crumble in a little feta at the end then set this to one side.

For the pancake mix all you need is gram flour and water. I made it with 140g flour and 160floz water and the pancakes were thinish and crispish. With gram flour you may need  to experiment a little to get the right balance or of course use any other flour you like. When mixed together I left the mixture sit for about ten minutes and meanwhile heated a pan with about a teaspoon of olive oil. Then just pour mixture in small batches onto the pan. 

When the Pancake has cooked on one side ( about two and a half minutes or so on medium heat) flip it over and place filling on top. And then when the other side has cooked fold in two and pop in a warmed oven to await the rest of the feast.

Ground Elder

I have been keeping an eye on the Ground Elder, in a little park up the road, over the Winter months. It has survived even the harshest of frosts. We have not had, thus far, heavy snow fall so I cant comment on its survival through that weather extreme. But it does seem to be a tough little survivor of a plant, and its vivid greenness is refreshing relief against the Winter depths. 

Flavor wise it always surprises me , how it can vary depending on the  time of the year and even where it comes from. I picked a hand full yesterday and found it to be less aromatic and much woodier and nuttier than leaves I have tasted later in March or April. I included it in some Quinoa burgers I made last night and will be adding it to pancakes later today. I also love it with mashed potato and I think the flavor works very well with fish.

Herbal wise it has been used for millennia, and its common name Gout weed indicates what for. It has a cleansing action and works on elimination in the body. also a good source of vitamins A and C.

nybg:

A terrarium inside of an aquarium! So gorgeous, though I am a bit afraid of what might happen if the spider makes a run for it. To learn more about how terrariums work, check out this amazing Wardian case that has only been watered once in 53 years. ~AR

wallacegardens:

The “Island Vessel Vivarium” is a terrarium inside an aquarium. Designed by artist Alberto J. Almarza, show-cased at the Geek Arts / Green Innovators Festival in April 2010. Glass blower: Pittsburgh Glass Center.

“As a passionate nature lover, there is nothing more gratifying than observing this active and thriving little ecosystem as if seen through a magnifying glass.” ~Almarza

Living ingredients include moss, violets, a spider, and a centipede for the terrarium, and for the aquarium: Java moss, banana plant, barnacles, ghost shrimp, and zebra danios.