Wild Harvest

Even though we grow a lot of our own food, there is still a lot of abundance that the North Island provides.  

I love reading the seasons and knowing what is available at different times of the year.  I really like learning about all of the natural nutrients, minerals and natural remedies that the plants offer.  I dry plants like stinging nettle, red clover and wild rose petals for teas.  I pick emergent Bracken ferns and fry them up to eat, they have a nutty flavour to them I pick flowers like fireweed and dandelion and make jellies.  I pick the young shoots from spruce trees to make a tangy jelly.  Every year, my kids and I go to the beach close to our property and harvest sea asparagus.  This intertidal succulent is a great plant for pickling and eating, there are so many beneficial nutrients in it.  We also harvest mushrooms like chantrelles and oysters from the forest.  

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