Cell - A - Brating Spring Foraging

                                               Clockwise from top:                                                   Dandelion greens, Wild Violet, White Pine, Wild Leek shoots.

It is April 23rd (Happy Earth Day yesterday!) and I am patiently awaiting Dandelion greens, Wild Violet leaves & flowers, and Wild Leeks. I am heading out soon, with my yogurt quart container bucket and trowel, to see if the mighty Spring Leeks have popped up big enough to dig.

It has been a long winter and a hard won Spring for us Waaaay Northern New Yorkers. Today is day 3 of sunshine and no snow floating down. The ground is finally bare, save for a few pockets of the "white stuff" here and there, on the northern sides of trees, hills, etc. 

*After a long winter of heavy foods, our bodies long for light and fresh. Our body cells crave the nourishment from the Wild Ones in our lawns. 

The 4 plants surrounding Mother Earth (image above):

Dandelion is a liver lover. She helps to promote bile flow from the liver into your gall bladder and on into the small intestine. This bile helps digest food, keeps you regular, helps balance gut microbial health, and so - so much more. Bile is a good thing. Dandelions are a good thing too. This Spring: enjoy the greens raw or saute' very-very lightly, eat the yellow flowers, and learn about the root for harvesting and use in fall and winter (Shhhh, forget I said that naughty word).  Dandelion is loaded with chlorophyll and beta-carotenes. 

Wild Violets are Springs gift of flavor, color, and Vitamin C. Our bodies love vitamin C after a long, dark, cold winter. This is why I love citrus fruit by the time February rolls around. No, citrus is not local, but sometimes a girl has got to do things to survive. Vitamin C is a scrub brush for the body, a bit of Spring cleaning for you cells to perk things up, get firey Spring into Summer metabolism revving, and boost the immune system after the cold, dark days.  Feel free to eat the greens and flowers in salads. See below for *sustainable harvest info. Always leave plenty for reseeding and regrowth year after year.

I just read a blog post on Wild Violets and how they are the bad ass weeds of your lawn. (From the post: One of the most difficult weeds to control in the lawn is wild violet.  This native plant may look cute and dainty, especially in the spring when it produces pretty purple flowers. But in reality it is an aggressive weed with an unusual flowering quirk that results in thick mats of leaves that can choke out your lawn.) Yes, I was and am laughing quite loudly. An aggressive weed?! Look out folk, the violets are coming to get you! Seriously people, violets (and dandelions) are pretty color in the sea of green. Who wants a perfectly groomed, institutional like lawn. Nothing like some wild flowers to break up the never ending grass AND violets only grow to a low height... no mowing needed where violets take over. Seems like a win win to me: color, food, no mowing required. 

White Pine: Placed here because I Love White Pines. They are a Tree of Wisdom. Pines are evergreen, like I need to tell you that. Their green-ness all winter long keeps the landscape colorful and is the hope of the Spring green to come. Their needles are high in Vitamin C.  Harvesting to make winter tea (be gentle when you make tea, keep it covered while steeping. See link above.) is a dose of Vitamin C. 

Wild Leeks: I will keep this info quick & simple. I love Leeks. There is much info on Leeks here on my blog, just do a search (Dandelion as well).  These Spring beauties are a gift to digestion, the intestines, the liver, cellular health, and life in general. Eat raw, saute' very gently, add to soups and stews (I add Leeks after the soup or stew is made and the heat is turned off). Just enjoy them, bad breath and all.

Please do so with extreme consciousness of only harvesting what you need for right now's meal. Do not ever over pick - over dig the Leek patch. Go to a different patch for your next meal. I really freak when I see people harvest huge pails of Leeks (or any wild plant) with no regard that they just destroyed the whole patch. Be kind. Take only what you need right now. 

My April 23rd Waiting For The Wild Ones Spring Tonic

• 1 organic lemon
• handful of fresh, organic cilantro
• local, raw honey
• well water (no chlorine or flouride)

1. Juice lemon and place juice in blender. I scrape out the lemon peel with a grapefruit spoon and add to blender.
2. Add 2 cups water to blender. Carefully rinse citrus juicer and add liquid to blender. Do not waste anything.
3. I eat a chunk of the lemon peel. Good nutrients here and anti-cancer antioxidants.
4. Add the handful of cilantro leaves and stems to blender.
5. Add 1-3 tbsp. local, raw honey.
6. Cover and blend to liquidy consistency. 
7. Let settle a minute or two and pour into a quart canning jar. Rinse blender carefully & slowly with gentle low stream of water, from top of blender down, to save every bit of goodness and pour the "cleaning water" into your quart jar. You should have a quart now. If not, fill the quart.  Enjoy.

I do not add ice cubes to the blender in Spring. We are trying to warm digestion as we move into the warmer weather. Iced drinks squelch digestion and contribute to poor digestion, reflux, etc. 

Relaxing by the Raquette, reading a book sipping my Cilantro Lemon Aid, and deeply grateful for the Sunshine of Spring!

*Please harvest very responsibly and never take more than 5-10% of the patch of wild foods. Other beings need to eat. The patch needs to be able to restore itself for sustainability for the next 7 Generations. Nature is not providing just for you. Be kind. Be gentle. Be conservative, caring, and Love the Earth's bounty.

The Sun Radiates Life Into Everything!

Some Of The Sun's Awesome Gifts:

• warms us every day even when we can't see the glorious sun (When you lift the corner of the cloud, the sun is ALWAYS shining." Eli, my 14 year old at 8 had figured this one out!), this solar warmth drives weather patterns
• stimulates photosynthesis
• stimulates Vitamin D production in your skin and many other living being's skin as well.  Vitamin D is needed for bone health, skin health, mood health, immune health (think cancer, MS, metabolic disease-diabetes, & auto-immune disease prevention)
• promotes the production of melatonin so you can sleep well every night and the production of serotonin so you fell happy & energetic during the day

The list of the sun's contributions to human and planetary health is a very long one. Without the sun... we would not be here; everything would not be here!  It is time for some Common Sun Sense.

                   Yoga Sun Salutations to the Rising Sun

Getting out in the morning sun helps you move through the day with flow, ease, and grace and supports sleeping better every night. All living things are meant to be exposed to the sun's light all day; from sun rise to sun set. (obviously being wise to not burning our skin... but more on that in a minute). Think of the cultures who begin their days with some form of AM exercise (movement magic eCourse), prayer, or meditation that is outside and facing east to the rising sun. Wisdom from the ages kept people healthy, wealthy (before wealth was measured in dollars and cents), and wise. 

Being Sun Wise:

• Get out every day and get sunlight on your eyes and your bare skin
• Avoid sun screens that are chemical based. The chemicals that prevent sunscreen are toxic, period. Most sun screen bases (the actual lotion the sun screening chemicals are in) are loaded with many other toxic chemicals. Check out Environmental Working Groups information on toxins in your cosmetics and body care products...http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/
• If you must use a sunscreen find one that is in an all natural lotion base and uses zinc and/or titanium dioxide for the sunscreen function. Avoid nano-particle sunscreens.
• When you have spent your time in the sun to promote health but avoid over exposure, sun burn, and sun damage... find shade and cover with clothing and a hat. 
• The high hot times of the day are approximately 10 AM to 2 PM depending where you are in the world (proximity to the equator) and the time of year. Be smart, use common sense, and get healthy sun exposure. Your vibrant health depends on it. Think of a plant and its need for sun. Put that plant in the closet and shut the door. How many days until that plant is dead? Bottom line: we need the sun... the sun makes us happy!

Sun Related Blog Posts:

Naked Sun Time!

Creating Inner SunShine!

Natural Skin Care For Prevention And Healing Sun Damage

Join My Movement Magic eCourse to

• increase your inner movement wisdom, 
• inspire yourself to make movement a daily priority,
• learn the many benefits of movement to each and every body part and system (all of your amazing body cells),
• and support your body in its need to move.

As Dr. Mark Hyman states: Exercise (Movement Magic!) is the biggest drug to reverse or prevent heart disease.  Here is the link to his video explaining this: click here.  If you want to hear just the part of exercise (it is a 10 minute video on food, supplements, & lifestyle) scroll to 6:30 and you will be at the start of his exercise chat.

The benefits of daily movement, moving all day long, are profound and beckoning you much like the sun is beckoning you outside! Moving, outside in the sun, is a double body healing bonus.

Click here to check it out and join this body, mind, and spirit moving eClass: Movement Magic eCourse   Class tuition this week is $30, (5 bucks off for Sun Celebrating) and if you have taken any other eCourse with me, I offer this course at $25 for you. 

Need more motivation to move? Check out this 96 year old man and what moving his body has done for him: Click here

Time to Move with Spring Energy!

I love Spring. The renewal of life, energy, and all it brings is breath taking to me every year.

Today is March 5th. As I walked in the woods with my dog, I can feel the pull of the sun. It is getting warmer, brighter, stronger... another winter survived! I can smell scents that were not there even 2 days ago; scents of the coming Spring.

I even found a Great White Pine whose south side's snow was already melted away. I sat my butt, right in the pine needles, and pressed my spine up along this mighty pine's trunk. The sun was in my face and the pine needles under me were fragrant in the sun's warmth.

The earth I sat on.

The Great White Pine, looking up her trunk, as I sat in the sun.

Spring motivates movement: sap rising, buds opening, shoots sprouting, doors and window being moved up and open, people getting out of their homes, and on & on.

I want to encourage you to move this Spring. Get outside and reap the benefits of moving your body, being exposed to natural light, and breathing in the fresh air.

Movement of the body is a natural, sacred, and healing thing. People moved constantly to complete the tasks of daily living and food gathering (as I sit here click click clicking!) before modern technology and labor saving devices.

• digging
• gathering
• hoeing
• walking
• chopping
• on & on the movement went!

We have traded daily, steady and slow going movement for either next to no movement or run-run-run and get high intensity exercise into an hour movement. It is like we have to fit the whole day's movement, pre-tech, into 1 hour. From a functional medicine perspective, slow and steady is better. Slow and steady does not create the free radicals and inflammation of high intensity, high metabolism exercise. Slow and steady: walks, yoga, tai chi, qi gong, canoe, kayak, hike, bike, mt. climb, moderate weight lifting, push ups... movement for low impact and longevity.

Embrace the Spring the renewed energy of the sun, and more movement this season.

Things I do during my day of client support and education, business work, and blog / newsletter writing:

• get up and do a yoga pose or two or three every half hour holding the pose for 7 long, deep belly breaths
• stop to do the dishes while dancing at the kitchen sink
• walk around my house, up & down the stairs and toss in some push ups for good measure
• throw in a load of wash, I hang all of my wash so the bending to get clothes out of the basket and lifting arms to hang is a good motion to break up the sitting habit 
• go out for a walk around my home and maybe do a hand stand or two up against the red pine or the stone wall 
• resist the call of the Great White Pines in my back woods... or not and wander off to commune with the White Pines, sit with my back to her trunks, and gather some life force energy while enjoying the peace - solitude - and earthy scents of the woods (then it is back to work for me)

My requests of you:

1. Comment below and share what you do to move more as the Winter breaks into Spring.

Also, I have a request for you natural remedy peoples out there. The sacred, great white pine spot in the pictures above is a favorite spot of mine. Sitting with my back to the trunk, my face is towards the southerly sky and the sun. I am looking over a sweet little body of water. The problem is: when spring rolls on the poison ivy grows there.

2. Does anyone have a natural way of getting rid of poison ivy? Please comment below. 

My idea is to use my hand clippers and start clipping it back when the shoots are just popping up out of Mother Earth. If I keep doing this every few days, my logic is this clipping will starve the roots of nourishment (no sun on the new shoots means no photosynthesis keeping the roots nourished) and eventually kill off the roots and plants. 

I have never had poison ivy and walk through it frequently. Yes, I now avoid touching the plants as I have become older and wiser. As a kid, I did not care and never got more that 1 - 2 tiny blisters on my bare feed from trodding through poison ivy patches for the reward of a swim in the St. Regis River.

Happy Spring Equinox! Happy Spring Moving! Cheers.

PS  I know the season's names are not proper nouns, require no capitalization, but I cannot help but believe they deserve to be honored with capitol letters. The seasons are sacred; nature is sacred, you are sacred (you are nature).

Gluten Free Bread Recipe:   

http://www.paulayoumellrn.com/gluten-free-bread/

The UN-Local Food Radical

I need a raise of hands here:  If there was a patch of green grass in your front yard... how many people would be out there grazing?

I have cabin fever, local food fever, warm sun fever...

Here in Northern NY the winter has been brutal; longs weeks of very cold weather. It has been years since I have lived through week after week of below zero temperatures. Snow, we have had plenty of snow this year to boot.

By the end of March I am always eager for the green foods of Spring: (Spring IS capitalized here because right now, Spring is very important to me!)

• wild leeks
• dandelion greens
• spring nettles
• violet leaves
• wild sorrel
• spring sorrel

To have some green nettles to chomp on, what a pleasure that would be.

It is but February 28th and I am crawling out of my skin for fresh food, food I can pluck off the vine or cut from the ground, food that is alive and vibrant with life force energy. I know it is a good two months before I am digging wild leeks. What is a girl to do when the root veggies, squash, and cabbage are no longer appealing to her? (Believe me; I am very grateful to my local farmers who work hard all season to keep me well stocked with these wonderful, winter storage veggies. I just need a break from winter; a bowl of freshness served up with sunshine.)

My radical plan to circumvent local food

I am off to the Potsdam Food Coop this AM to buy organic produce

1. big, juicy navel oranges from Florida,
2. sweet, furry little kiwis from California,
3. luscious red peppers from wherever they were grown and harvested, and 
4. any other delicious, juicy looking fruit or veggie that comes from someplace that is sunny and warm.

I will bring them home, park my butt in a sunny spot (it is gorgeous and sunny today, by 2 PM my front porch will have warmed to at least 50 degrees... this is like a tropical paradise to me!), and indulge in food grown far from my home. My thoughts will go to the people responsible for caring for the orange grove and the kiwi orchards (Do you call a Kiwi farm an orchard?) with love and gratitude for the work they do to grow, harvest, and pack these sun filled wonders to be delivered to my hands. Gratitude to the many hands the crates pass through and the people driving up the East Coast and across this big continent, through the nights, to bring these delectable non-local foods to my hands and belly. This infusion of packaged sunshine, vitamin C, and so many other amazing nutrients may just keep me humming along until my feet are bare with the green grass under them again.

Enjoy the sun today, wherever you are and remember the words of my youngest son when he was an 8 year old boy:

"If you lift the corner of the clouds the sun is always shining." Eli

This is a warning to you dandelions... I will be eating you! 

Please share your secrets for surviving cabin fever, the need for non-local food, and the need for grass under your bare feet.

Examining Fertility

No, no, this article has nothing to do with sex, reproductive issues, and human fertility (well, not human egg and sperm fertility, per se).

Fertile fields at Birdsfoot Farm, Canton, NY

What are these two farmers sitting and squatting on?

Come on, guess....

It is soil.  Fertile soil makes the world go round. Dirt is one of the earth's most precious resources, period.

How so you ask?

Read on my friend!

Fertile soil grows food that is intact, whole. I am always talking about how important it is to eat a 100% whole food diet. That whole food diet starts in whole soil; soil that is rich in nutrients and life, loamy, and fertile.

The fertility of the soil is the fertility of your body... and not just your reproductive fertility. Your body cells reproduce every day. Cellular health in reproducing vibrant, new cells is dependent on what feeds the parent cell. Read on for some soil and cell enhancing wisdom.

Soil is one of the foundations of all food, life, on this earth.

Healthy Soil = Healthy Food!

Soil + Sun + Water (and a seed or two!) = Food / Life!

Gratitude to: http://www.lappolis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Sun-Soil-Water.jpg

When we pay attention to soil, maybe that plot of garden where we grow herbs or veggies, we see a microcosm that is teeming with life.  Healthy soil is a living, breathing, dynamic organism: sand, silt, clay, air, water, minerals and organic matter crawling with earthworms, moles, grubs, centipedes, millipedes, snails, slugs, beetles, ants, fungi, insect larvae, bacteria, mushrooms, and many other organisms and micro-organisms. The sum of the whole, all parts working in synergy, is a well-orchestrated symphony. Nature is truly poetry in motion and that very poetry is what contributes to the heath and wholesomeness of the food you eat.

Your food is only as healthy as the soil it grows in. Your animal based foods? Only as healthy as the soil supporting the plants that the animals are free-range grazing on.

Farmers who understand and live / work in harmony with this soil symphony are amazing people contributing to your whole health.

I have always loved dirt: playing in it, smelling it (dirt in your yard smells different than dirt in the woods...), smelling dirt after a warm summer rain. You know... when you go outside and all you smell is that damp, musky, wet dirt smell? That is a smell that always makes me smile.

Learn more about the dirt that grows your food.

Know your soil.

Know your farmer.

How does your farmer(s) interact with the soil they grow food in and on? Do they compost, rotate crops and animal in the fields, use cover crops to feed the soil... what are the soil nourishing habits your farmer uses to grow your food?

Rich soil, teeming with life and inorganic matter, grows food rich in vitamins, minerals, phyto-nutrients, and anti-oxidants. Get into your dirt. Study the dirt that supports your health and life! Find a farmer who makes soil care a top priority. (Consumer demand for good farmers, real farmers, will create better food, better soil, and a better world!) Thank your farmer for caring for the soil.

Please, share your dirt loving stories below!

Looking for some interesting reading on Dirt?  This is one of my favorite books. I read it when it first was published and it is a book I keep in my "loved" book collection.

The below kid's book on dirt was one of my favorites to read to my kids. Not sure they were so enamored with the life in our soil but I was!

Creating Inner SunShine!

Sunshine is a body, mind, and soul soothing ray of warmth. We smile more and laugh more when the sun shines. The warm sun on our skin just feels good. The bright light entering our eyes triggers good feelings.

The sun's rays create physiological responses in our bodies. One does not need the scientific reasons behind this. Common sense tells us the sun is just good. Plants starved of sunlight wither and die. Animals locked away from the sun wither and die. The logical conclusion is that sun is good for hum-animal!

Sun on your skin is what produces vitamin D (remember that Vit D is a hormone not a vitamin). Sun light to your eyes regulates many hormonal processes in the human body: serotonin, melatonin, endorphins of all sorts, regulate the cycles of night and day (this is apparent in the cycling of a female's reproductive functions), and so many other hormonal functions necessary for life on this Earth. Worshipping the sun is a fine thing to do. Without the sun life would not exist.

Here I sit in Northern NY State. I have to say it has been a gloomy late fall and early winter. I can count the sunny days in the last month on about 1 hand (with fingers left over!). Clouds, I have seen many clouds these past 4 weeks. 

Now today was sunny.  Wow, what a gift to body, mind, and soul. I hope everyone took advantage and soaked up and soaked in a bit of sunshine; even 10 minutes outside in the deliciously cold and yummy sunshine.

What is a person to do when we have days and days, weeks and weeks of very little sunshine? My first answer would be the obvious: get out of here.  Head south, friend, head south!  For most of us that is not a possibility. The trick is to learn how to create inner sunshine; how to raise our feel good hormones despite the lack of obvious sunshine in our days and life.

When my youngest son was 8 years old, his wise 'lil self said these words to me:  

"When you lift the corner of the clouds, the sun is always shining."  Eli 

I was taken aback by his wisdom. He was speaking more of human sadness but the words hold true here...

1. Get outside and get as much natural light as you can, every single day in every season. Even if it is cloudy, the sun is still there working magic with your hormones and health. Think about it... a solar panel still makes electricity on a cloudy day and a sun flower still follows the sun on a cloudy day. Get out there and create your own electricity (life force energy) with the sun's rays... even when they are behind a cloud. Be a sun flower and follow the sun's rays. Lift the corner of that cloud in your little world, metaphorically speaking, and get some natural light.
2. You will get fresh air too. Again, this is life force enhancing. Get outside; you will be glad you did. Ditch the stationary bikes and XC Ski machines in the winter. Put on some Yak Traks, or similar boot sole (soul) enhancement, and go say hello to Old Man Winter. 
3. 100% Whole food diet. Seriously, do I need to say more about this?
4. Pets: Having a pet to love and care for (and love you right back) is a huge creator of inner sunshine. Don't believe me? Try it. But only if you genuinely want to pour some love into a friend and have it come back to you 10 fold.
5. Plants: Yes, get a plant and talk to it. Water it. Having a green plant growing in your home is something that you can love and care for. Grow an indoor herb garden that you can take little bites of to improve your mood: peppermint, rosemary, parsley, sage, lavender, oregano, basil... just have a window handy that gets plenty of light (even if the sun is not shining).
6. Whole Health Lifestyle Choices. Another area I rant on about... Is anyone listening to me?
7. Yoga... Yes, I love Yoga and all it has invited into my life: body, mind, & spirit healing.
8. Acupuncture: I have extolled the virtues of acupuncture many, many, many times and I will again, over and over. Want a happy sunshine lift? Go get acupuncture.
9. Massage: Massage is a great way to increase your endorphins.  It is sunshine rubbing your muscles, energy transfer from another human being who is a storehouse of solar energy. Think about it: all of the food we eat is stored solar energy. A human is stored solar energy. 
10. Reiki or any other kind of healing energy work that speaks to you and your personal needs. Just do it; you will feel lighter, brighter, sunnier, and happier. Learn to do self-Reiki. 
11. Have FUN.  Laughter and fun ups the feel good hormones.
12. Volunteer and make someone else's day, or life, better - brighter - sunnier.