Over the years I have worked to establish more perennial food plants on our property. They typically cost a little more upfront but having low-maintenance, recurring sources of food is great. In the process of writing this post, I realized we have over forty different perennial foods growing on our property - a mix of naturally occurring and purposefully introduced.
I have integrated these perennials plants in various places on the property, creating a bit of an edible landscape; but I also have a few dedicated perennial beds in a section of our property. I keep these beds separate from my main garden so that they don't interfere with crop rotation. Before I switched to a no-till approach, it was a also a concern that they would get in the way of rototilling. I'll provide a summary of the perennial foods we grow, in hopes that it will give you ideas if you live in a similar zone. Even though we live in zone 5, I tend to favor perennials that are rustic to zone 3, to ensure they are very rustic and survive our winters. Trees:
Berries and other small fruits:
Edible flowers:
Herbs:
Others:
Naturally occurring perennials (foraging - more details here)
Failures - things I might try again:
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Fiddleheads are a great food to forage. They are very easy to identify around here, and come pretty early (early/mid-May this year where we live, in Eastern Ontario), right as nature wakes up and before I can get fresh greens from the garden. It might be easier to spot a nearby ostrich fern patch in the summer, and go back to harvest in the spring. We have lots in our forest. Fiddleheads are the early form of the Ostrich fern - one of two abundant ferns in our area, which also has a lot of Cinnamon fern. It's key to be able to distinguish between these two ferns, and luckily it's pretty easy. The first key characteristic of the ostrich fern is that is it covered with light brown / tan paper - as opposed to the white fuzz that covers the cinnamon fern. The second key characteristic is that its stem has a groove in it (a cross section would be U shaped like a tiny celery), as opposed to the cinnamon fern which doesn't. In the picture below, the ostrich fern is at the top and the cinnamon fern at the bottom. I cut a couple of fiddleheads from each fern and leave the rest, to ensure a sustainable harvest. I cut them near the ground as the stem is quite good. Once at home, I sort through the fiddleheads to confirm identification, remove as much of the papery husk as I can (but it's fine if some stays), trim off the ends and wash them. I boil or steam them, then pan fry them in olive oil with garlic, salt, pepper. I add a little bit of lime juice. Delicious! There is something to be said for finding free snacks wherever you go. In addition to growing my own food, I also enjoy foraging. The following quote from "Landmade - Eating the wild things" also speaks to me: "In a society that encourages - even insists on - constant consumption and consumerism, foraging your own food for free can be an act of rebellion". I think that most of us have had experiences with foraging, be it as simple as eating a few wild raspberries or strawberries in the summertime. I remember my grandmother showing me where to pick raspberries behind my grandparents' cottage when I was a child. I brought a tiny bucket back and had them over vanilla ice cream with a bit of maple syrup. So sweet! I also remember visiting our current property with the previous owner, just before moving in. He gave us a tour or the forest, the marsh, the fields and pointed out the raspberry bushes and the sugar maple in the forest, and I felt so lucky to become the custodian of this land. I have found it challenging to learn foraging from books or website, however, spending a couple hours with a local forager keen to share their knowledge was an incredible learning experience. In our case, we leveled up our knowledge with a foraging walk with the kind people of Landmade, at a location about half an hour from our property. I would not hesitate to recommend their walks and workshops. After our walk with Jess, our guide, we started to notice wild foods everywhere we went - on the side of the highway, in parks, and on our property. Our eyes were opened! Here is a little gallery of some of the foods we forage on our property. These image are just meant to encourage you to get to know the land around you, and to pique your interest - please make sure you are certain of your identification before eating anything you forage. Today's post is about something that I really want to learn more about - wild mushroom foraging. A few years ago I noticed that we have so many varieties of mushrooms growing on our property. I would love to know more about mushroom identification and in particular, edible mushroom foraging. Ideally, I would love to find local classes or a local mentor, but that hasn't come to fruition yet. This week though, while camping in the wonderful Charlevoix region of Québec, we had the opportunity to do a mushroom foraging activity. The SEPAQ does not usually allow foraging in its parks, however, an exception was made in this educational context. First, in a classroom setting, we learned the basics of mushroom identification and biology. We focused on one mushroom in particular - the lobster mushroom. The lobster mushroom is a mushroom that is colonized by a fungus, giving it an orange color. I learned after the fact that the infected mushroom contains mostly DNA of the parasitic fungus, which I find fascinating. Then, we did a short hike to find lobster mushrooms. It was a wonderful hike in a taiga environment. Once every participant found and harvested a lobster mushroom, we cleaned it with a brush and knife and carried it back. The naturalist then showed us how to cook the lobster mushroom. He sliced very thin slices and pan fried it to a "potato chip" consistency. It was delicious. Back at our campsite we cooked our own lobster mushrooms for supper. I am looking forward to learning more over the coming years about mushrooms, and in particular, about which mushrooms we can forage around our property. The naturalist suggested that a good goal is to learn one new mushroom a year, and to know it well. I know that on our property, we have Coprin Chevelu (shaggy mane) which is pretty distinctive and is edible. I think my goal for this year will be to harvest some Coprin Chevelu from our property, and go from there. Before moving here, I had had limited encounters with stinging nettle (une hortie), which grows in fertile and moist soil. Ray and I both unsuspectedly grabbed handfuls while weed pulling and learned our lesson quickly. If you brush against it the wrong way, it stings you with its hollow stingers. The stinging sensation can last for hours and even cause blisters. We didn't know what it was, exactly, so we simply called it 'the bad plant", a name that has stuck. Over time I learned some tips to coexist with stinging nettle, and recently I have come to appreciate this plant for cooking. Tips for handling stinging nettleA few years ago I noticed that if you pick stinging nettle with an upward motion, it doesn't sting you. I still prefer to use gloves, just in case, but once in a while I'll pull one out by the base of the stem. Its hairs are angled upwards so when you pick it up with an upward motion, you crush the hairs towards the stem, instead of embedding them into your skin. The second tip I learned during a foraging workshop is that plantain is a good antidote to stinging nettle. As soon as you feel the burn of stinging nettle, chew a few plantain leaves and then spit them out and apply them to the burn. It will neutralize the burn quickly, and prevent it from itching for hours afterwards and from causing a blister. We have lots of plantain around, so I have used the trick a few times including on my little nephew who hasn't yet learned the lessons of "the bad plant". Cooking with stinging nettlePeople use stinging nettle in various recipes including pesto, soup, and cheesemaking. I haven't used it in all these ways but I love this stinging nettle soup recipe that I just made for the first time. I think it'll be something we make often in the spring, when there isn't much in the garden yet but the stinging nettles have popped up, and before it gets too hot. It was a perfect treat on a rainy day.
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