Milk Thistle Salad!

Milk Thistle seeds are famous as a liver tonic and Milk Thistle flowers are famous as a tea for new mothers, but did you know that young Milk Thistle leaves are fabulous in a salad?

You do need gloves and clippers to collect them, and a good set of kitchen shears to remove the prickles along the leaves edge. They look absolutely dashing in a salad of mostly dark or pale greens. They have mild yet robust sweet nutty flavor, and if picked in the morning and then kept slightly moist and refrigerated until served for lunch or dinner, they are delightfully crisp. 

Yes, they are a bit of work, but in the early spring, most anything from the garden, the fields, or the forest is welcome. Please be careful to not gather where anyone may be spraying pesticide or there is a chance of industrial pollution.

My photo from 4.7.2004, moist riparian alder woods along Mill Creek in Hoopa CA. I can still smell those woods across the years and miles.  

Individual milk thistle plants can grow to be 4 - 5 feet tall and wide, with leaves nearly 3 feet long, when they are really happy.  And it is sometimes found in large stands.  I can take full sun to deep shade.  Pictured is a baby growing in deep shade, about  a foot a cross, max and only a few inches tall. 

If you have any questions or tips you would like to share, please feel free to leave them in the comments section.  All comments are moderated, and right now I seem to be locked out of admin for my own blog.  But at least I can post, which I had been locked out of for a while.

Text and photo copyright 2018, Harvest McCampbell, all rights reserved.  May be used in print based, audio, or video media with written permission only.  harvest95546 @ yahoo.com

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Ox Eye Daisy, Cheerful, Useful, and Instructive!

The ox eye daisy is a common field and roadside wild flower here in the Pacific North West.  It also makes a lovely carefree addition to garden borders, where it attracts beneficial insects and offers nectar to our very important pollinators.  

It is reported as being a European immigrant and sometimes as invasive.  However, just because a plant that is considered an alien naturalizes itself into a niche in the environment, does not mean it should be considered invasive or even unwanted.  

Before considering a plant invasive, ask yourself a few questions:

1.  Does it provide pollen and nectar or other food to important pollinators or native animals?

2. Does it provide ecosystem benefits; such as stabilizing slopes, slowing erosion, building top soil, providing animal habitat, or reducing human and domestic animal impacts to the land?

3.  Does it increase or decrease the genetic diversity of an area?

4.  Is it useful to people for food, medicine, or utility and does it grow where they can access it?

5.  Is it crowding out rare or endangered plants or animals?

Let’s apply these questions to our ox eye daisies:

1. Yes it provides nectar to pollinators and pollen to beneficial insects, as well as seeds to birds later in the season.

 2. Yes, it provides ecosystem benefits, in that it is often found growing on disturbed slopes, where it helps stabilize the soil and reduces erosion.

3. Simply by its presence it increases the genetic diversity by one, the insects and birds that depend on it may also help increase the genetic diversity of the area.

4. Yes, it is useful to people as food, medicine (see links below), and for attracting pollinators and beneficial insects to the garden and to foraging areas.

5.  Probably not, but if so, and someone is committed to tending the threatened native plants, the ox eye daisies should be weeded out with as little physical and chemical disruption to the area as possible.

 

When we really stop to think about it, many of the plants that are targeted with eradication as aliens or invasive may be better off ignored, or even embraced, used, and celebrated.  The eradication activities are often more harmful to the environment than the plants that are removed. In addition, unfortunately, known endemic plants are often targeted as 'invasive,' by people who have not done their research and make unfounded assumptions.  For more words of caution regarding being overly quick to judge and destroy plants that are considered alien, as well as a discussion about who profits from their eradication, please see:  http://www.jlhudsonseeds.net/NativesVsExotics.htm

Many plants that were once considered alien and invasive have turned out to be indigenous.  We owe this knowledge to the botanical archaeology conducted on fire pits and midden mounds, as well as cores taken on lake bed sediments.  There is no definitive list of all the plants that were here in North America before contact.  However, a truly invasive plant is often easy to recognize. A truly invasive plant quickly crowds out other plants and reduces diversity, over a season or over a number of years.  And it does it, right before your eyes.  Plants that quickly colonize soil that has been bared for any reason, such as mud or landslides, floods, or fires; even plants those plants that form near monocultures on hillsides or meadows are not necessarily invasive or alien plants.  Be sure to do your homework before you undertake or participate in any plant eradication efforts.

 

Back to our cheerful ox eyes, I’ve never done more than taste these daisies, so I am not an expert on their use or identification.  Not all daisies are edible, and some are actually insecticidal and may be toxic to people too.  Always be very sure of your identification of any unfamiliar plant, and study up on the toxic and poisonous plants in your area, so you know what to be cautions of.

Here are some links to more information on edible, medicinal, and historic uses of ox eye daisies:

Ox eye daisy, raw edible plant 

Ox eye daisy tempura recipe 

Medicinal and historical uses 

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Comments, questions, tips are always welcome.  If you find typos or broken links please leave a comment and I will fix it up as soon as I can!

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If you are interested in herbs and haven’t read my books yet, your local librarian or bookstore if they can order them for you!   More information can be found here:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/429832.Harvest_McCampbell

 

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Updated 10.30.15

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Copyright 2014, 2015; all rights reserved.  Republishing by permission only.  Sharing on the other hand is most welcome.

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Purslane

Omega 3 has been in the news a lot lately. You may have read about how it helps our health in many ways. Omega 3 is reported to improve brain function; reduce the incidence of inflammation, migraines, and heart attacks; lower blood pressure; and improve immune function.  That is a tall order for a single nutrient; but the reports all seem to have the research to back up their claims. While salmon and other cold water fish are the main dietary source of Omega 3; you can also grow your own right out in the garden.

Purslane is a rich source of Omega 3.  This is great news for those who don’t like fish and don’t want to take supplements. This easy to grow vegetable is also high in potassium and vitamin A and it has less than 30 calories a cup! This tasty and nutritious little plant has been used for food and health nearly all over the world since ancient times.

While many writers indicate that purslane first originated in northern Africa, the middle-east, or Asia; archeological evidence indicates purslane was also used for food right here in the United States as early as 3500 BC. Purslane has been used as a green vegetable and for its soothing properties everywhere it is found. This annual succulent produces tender tasty leaves, especially when it is young. These leaves range in size from about a nickel in the wild varieties up to a quarter in the domesticated types. They can be washed and tossed into salads, mixed vegetable dishes, soups, and casseroles. They have a pleasant tangy taste, reminiscent of French sorrel.  Some people like them enough to steam up a batch and serve it as a side dish.

The domesticated purslanes can also be used in stir fries and tempuras. Purslane dipped in batter and deep fried is a real treat. (Of course, deep frying pretty much negates the health benefits; but once in a while it can’t be too bad.) The larger leaved varieties are also easier to use for salads and cooking. Tiny little leaves and veggies are still the rage, but I honestly prefer something a little easier to work with. Bigger is sometimes better.

‘Tall Green’ or ‘Giant Purslane’ sport leaves up to two inches long, while ‘Golden’ has slightly smaller leaves at an inch and a half. Those pale greens and chartreuses are back in style. If you follow the trends, Golden Purslane will fit right in. Its leaves are even tangier than the darker green varieties, so there are more reasons to grow it than color alone. Whichever type of purslane you decide to grow, they are all fast and easy.

Purslane thrives in hot weather. It can be started any time from late spring, through the summer, and into the beginning of fall. Purslane’s tiny seeds take from ten to twenty days to germinate. Unlike many seeds, which we tuck into the soil, these guys need to be exposed to light. The easiest way to make sure they have what they need is to start them in six packs. Use moist, screened potting soil or seed starting medium. The fine texture is helpful because the tiny seeds are more likely to stay on the soil surface than they would be with courser medium. Sprinkle a few tiny seeds in each six pack cell, and place in a plastic bag in dappled shade until you have small seedlings. Check them every day, and if the soil starts to dry out, take the six pack out of the bag and place it in a shallow dish of water. The soil should easily soak the water up through the six pack drainage holes. This bottom watering will help keep the seeds in place on the soils surface. After draining for a few hours, don’t forget to tuck them back in their bag.

Once your plants are a half an inch or so high, you can remove them from the plastic bag. As soon as they reach two or three inches it is time to plant them out in the garden. They don’t need any extraordinary care. Water them frequently for the first week or two after you plant them out.  Once they are established they will happily stand some neglect.

You can begin picking leaves within a few weeks of planting them in the garden. Just pinch off as many as you want to use. Your plants will continue producing tender leaves for about fifty days, during which time the cultivated varieties will grow from 12 – 24 inches high. Pinch out any of the tiny flowers and seed pods that begin to form to prolong leaf production. Once the plants are bound and determined to flower you will need to decide if you want to pull them or let them set seed. Purslane can self sow; each plant is capable of producing thousands of seeds. It can become a weed under certain circumstances.

No-till, intensive, and well mulched gardens are unlikely to be infested with unwanted purslane. In fact, this year I have no purslane volunteers even though I have had it in my garden for many years. Between the mulch and the shade of other plants the seeds didn’t have the light they needed to grow. For the first time ever, I had to purchase some seeds and start them myself. If you till your garden and maintain exposed soil, purslane will happily colonize your walkways and any open space in your rows. Tilling can bring long dormant seeds to the surface, exposing the seeds to the light they need to grow.   

As a weed, purslane is really not that bad. There is no danger of it crowding out our native plants. It dies off with the first good frost, it prefers disturbed soil, and the seeds can’t take the shade of other plants. It can be weedy in the garden, but it is seldom seen where the soil has not been disturbed. Purslane is easy to pull or hoe, makes great compost, chickens and other livestock like it, and heck, we all ready know it’s nutritious and tasty. 

If you garden like I do, you will either need to purchase new seed each year, or save your own.  The seed capsules have pointed green covers over them that turn straw colored as the seed ripens. Once the seed has ripened the covers easily flick off and the seed can be shaken on to a paper plate or pie pan. Allow the seed to cure in the open air (in doors, away from dew and summer showers) for a few weeks before storing in a zip lock bag or other small container. The seed is tiny so take precautions against it being spilled. If it falls in the carpet you will never find it.  

Purslane starts are sometimes offered for sale through local nurseries and farmers markets. Seeds maybe available at well stocked seed counters, but you are more likely to find them through specialty seed catalogs. If you can’t find the varieties you want to try locally or in your favorite catalog, High Mowing Organic Seeds offers the ‘Tall Green’ and ‘Golden’ varieties: http://www.HighMowingSeeds.com  (802) 472-6174.






Published by The Hoopa People Newspaper 7/07.  Copyright Harvest McCampbell, all rights reserved.


Sources: 
Omega 3: http://2bnthewild.com/plants/H186.htm
Archeological evidence: http://ourworld.cs.com/Aoyuelac/Renee/Paper.pdf
Nutritional information:  http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/cgi-bin/list_nut_edit.pl
Photo Credit: Harvest McCampbell 7/07