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Food plants that grow like weeds: all of ‘em!!!

By Kurt Heidinger on Jan 02, 2012 in beauty, bees, citizenship, consumerism, Director's Notes, ecology, ecology, economy, endosymbiosis, food weeds, imagination, locavore, permaculture, sustainability, time

Been so hollydazed lately I’m determined, right now, to link you to every food weed I’ve not yet mentioned in the past two months. It’s time to order seeds!! and when we’ve ordered ‘em, we won’t have to think about food weeds anymore…until spring. We’ve looked @ mustards, tatsoi, wineberries, black walnuts, arugula, shallots, tomatillos, [...]

William Cullen Bryant loved this Black Walnut tree

Food plants that grow like weeds: black walnut

By Kurt Heidinger on Dec 22, 2011 in beauty, Director's Notes, ecology, economy, endosymbiosis, evolution, food weeds, imagination, locavore, sustainability, time

Once they get going in a microbiome, black walnuts take over. They exude chemicals into the soil that prohibit the growth of other plants. But—if you have room to grow them—that’s a good thing, b/c they’re beautiful, offer the best furniture wood, and produce oil & protein -rich nuts. You can de-worm your dog by [...]

Food plants that grow like weeds: arugula

By Kurt Heidinger on Dec 21, 2011 in beauty, bees, consumerism, Director's Notes, ecology, economy, endosymbiosis, food weeds, imagination, locavore, sustainability, time

Harvested arugula today: December 21, 2011. Is it global warming, or is it possible I’m becoming a decent gardener? Or is it the seeds—these plants like growing in winter? Maybe 3 “yeses” have allowed this vivacious pile to grace my cutting board, + one other thing: I love sharing the freedom of free food, & [...]

Food plants that grow like weeds: ¡¡frosted!! tatsoi & mustard

By Kurt Heidinger on Dec 12, 2011 in Director's Notes, ecology, economy, food weeds, imagination, locavore, sustainability

I love tatsoi. It’ll freeze and thaw out a few more times before it starts looking ragged: Still yummy when used in stir-fry, soup or stew! Even after a month of frosts, these mustards provide fresh, wholesome nourishment—with an exciting wasabi bite: Stir-fry, soup or stew! Imagine next year, harvesting—right now—the tatsoi and mustard you [...]

Food plants that grow like weeds: wineberry

By Kurt Heidinger on Dec 11, 2011 in beauty, consumerism, Director's Notes, ecology, economy, food weeds, imagination, locavore, sustainability

The raspberries you buy, and you grow, do not taste as good as wineberries. Honest. Wineberries are sweeter, sourer and juicier than raspberries. So why don’t you ever see them for sale? Ans: they’re more delicate than raspberries—their skins so easily break. They’re unmarketable. You can’t buy wineberry plants, either. And if you ever see [...]

Food plants that grow like weeds: tomatillo

By Kurt Heidinger on Dec 10, 2011 in Director's Notes, economy, food weeds, imagination, locavore, sustainability

Few food plants are as promiscuously weedy, and gastronomically exciting & productive, as the tomatillo. As the main ingredient of salsa verde, the tomatillo is prized south of the border by chefs who regard it as a kind of tomato and serve it raw or cooked. (They’re members of nightshade family; tomatillo means little tomato.) [...]

Food plants that grow like weeds: shallots

By Kurt Heidinger on Dec 08, 2011 in Director's Notes, food weeds, locavore, permaculture, sustainability

Shallots are better tasting and more expensive than onions—and, unlike onions, they grow like weeds! Which is another way of saying: they’re easy to grow. I demand you order some starter bulbs immediately. The moment you see mustards coming up next spring, go and plant your bulbs in rich soil, in a full-sun location. They’ll [...]

Food plants that grow like weeds: mustard

By Kurt Heidinger on Nov 20, 2011 in Director's Notes, ecology, food weeds, locavore, permaculture, sustainability

Welcome to our new series, just in time for the holidays! Since imagination is key to our survival (it allows us to step outside fixed ways of viewing things, and thereby prepares us to evolve beyond our present condition) let’s imagine taking Johnny Appleseed one step further. Think of the wild raspberry bush, and how [...]

hazelnutting

By Kurt Heidinger on Sep 05, 2011 in beauty, Director's Notes, economy, locavore, permaculture, sustainability

Harvest time brings yucky stuff like stinky rotten turnips and disgusting blight-black tomatoes; but it also delivers wonderful surprises—like hazel nuts! I ordered three tiny hazel nut (also called filbert) trees a few years ago from Fedco and this year they produced a couple of pounds of nuts. I give them them an A+, because [...]

Northampton Kim Chi

By Kurt Heidinger on Jul 24, 2011 in Director's Notes, locavore, sustainability

Gardeners & CSA-ers are beginning to cower beneath the tidalwave of harvest-abundance (yay!), and one way of preserving that abundance is via lactose acidophilus fermentation. (If you want to learn how to pickle, you’re invited to Return of Picklefest at the Westhampton Public Library, next Monday 8/1 from 7-8:30 pm. We’ll sample this season’s pickles, [...]

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