Always finding depth in these ..like how close is a heart nut to a walnut, asking myself about its ant-parasitic traits. Marveling at another fungi going purple and discovering new properties of old friends. This is my second year only buying fruit in season. I started by making butters last year, this year I've added halves in honey syrup with pits and next year I hope to understand fruit cheese, vinegar, and chutney. Every year of reading your work I extensively grow. When I hit overwhelm I scale it back to simply adding the topic of skill to a list for future growth. You truly inspire me to be better, connect deeper to food flora and fauna and learn skills that I can teach those who cross my path and desire to preserve the true depth of food in our lives. Thank you Tara with all my heart for your constant gifts of wisdom.
A heart nut is a marvel much beyond any properties. It's soft and buttery and reminds us that not all has to come from afar. So much close to home.
You are well on your way beautiful grasshopper. I like your approach, too. Overwhelm is a call for trimming and cultivating what is uniquely yours to do. xo
My kids keep saying "mom's in squirrel mode". So true, every little bit getting tucked away now so we eat like kings this winter! Love these Sat posts from you Tara, aways inspired by them!
Wow just beautiful the property you have. Seems like there is so much abundance in every little corner. I can only hope one day we get so lucky to find something like that of our own. :)
I'm currently up to my eyeballs in zucchini over here. Going to attempt a zucchini relish this weekend so fingers crossed it works out! But if anyone has any good zucchini recipes please share :)
Also, if anyone has a fruit buying club set up in the Ottawa-Kingston area looking for new members, I would love to join in. Our area is great for apples, but that's about it!
I love zucchini relish. My favourite things to do with zucchini is piccalilli. :) That's so great if you can hook up with Natalie to get your hands on some of the fruit.
Never heard of piccalilli, I'll have to look up some recipes. :) Yes, I'm so glad she reached out. I'll have to message her today for more details, but very excited!
Hi Emma! I’m north of Kingston about 20 mins (close to Hwy 15) and order from Tara. You are more than welcome to join in with me. Let me know if that’s within driving distance and we can connect.
So much good stuff in these posts. I love reading all your essays and learning thing from you, but these are definitely my favorite. Inspiring beyond anything!
Several questions though; the chicory tincture is for a digestive bitter or something else/both?
We have artists conk everywhere here in our forests, whereas we don’t have chaga at all and we have some rare hemlock-grown reishi- where did you learn about its medicinal value? I have always seen not to eat it/it has ‘no use’ beyond dye.
And oxymels- I love making them, but using them is always where I am lost! You blend them into tinctures?
Thank you, Kaelin. Chicory is a beautiful plant with all sorts of uses. Using in a bitter is definitely one of them. We need to resist thinking of these nourishing plants as "this for that". They are so much more than a pharma substitute and they are worth getting to know. One can sit with and study one plant for days, months, years, and still not know the fullness of its offerings to our spirits, minds, and bodies.
How did I learn? Just by doing what I wrote above. By being open. By studying. By observing. By reading. By experimenting. By decades of experience. By doing what I do in all facets of my life, remaining voraciously inquisitive and gobbling up all that comes my way. None of that was on the internet. If you stop at what someone tells you about a thing, you are constantly deferring to an authority outside of yourself. And who are they to say? If I listened to such things I never would have had my first daughter. I never would have gone to nutrition school. I never would have started to farm and then raise cows with their calves at side, used homeopathy instead of vaccines, raised meat rabbits and all our animals without grains and kibble... the list goes on and on. At the time, I didn't know one other soul that did the same. Don't stop at what dissatisfies you because someone said something. Ask yourself, "Would nature really design this plant/animal/mineral to behave without reason?" Develop your instinct and intuition and learn that most people just talk nonsense. Then you'll really start learning profound truths.
No, I take oxymels straight up not blended into tinctures. 🙂
also how wonderful you have reishi kaelin! we occasionally find it in the forests here in the pnw and gratefully harvest some for tincturing + drying when there is enough 🙏🏼
I never seem to find it in time to harvest it before it fades. Lots to learn about it, but it seems to be occurring more and more on our property, so I hope that will provide good opportunity 🤞🏻feels like it’ll be a good mushroom year this year in the PNW!
we either slice & dehydrate/tincture, or sometimes just let them dry whole in the sun to be processed later. cutting them dry is trickier. what a gift!!!
Thank you so much for all that you share, I am continuously inspired and moved by your writings. Right now my life is so full as a student midwife, but my apprenticeship is ending in the fall and I am just itching to experiment with making my own vinegars!
I am curious if you use a double extraction process for your mushroom/fungi tinctures? Or do you just chop 'em up fresh and put them in the alcohol?
I don't double extract, no. For chaga I cook it for four hours and make a concentrate that I keep in the fridge. I then reuse the chaga a few more times before it's spent. For other, less palatable medicinals I will either make a potent tincture (half and half) that I will leave for six months. I also don't use straight 100 proof spirits because the alcohol should have water content to extract the water soluble constituents as well as alcohol for those that aren't. In this case, with such a woody fungus, chopping into a tincture works best for me. I prefer taking my other mushrooms, the more palatable ones, in food/water. An example is birch polypore which I put in my bone broths so it's simmering for 48 hours or so in the broth.
I am just amazed by what you do. I talk about you to my husband as if I know you personally, I tell him all the amazing tinctures, chutneys, glazes, sauces, dried stuff and you name it that you make. We have 88 acres and have blueberries, blackberries, elderberries, several types of mushrooms and nut trees in the woods and this yr the wild flowers were unbelievable. We cook our chaga for 8 hours but I dont get a syrup - Do I need less water? How I would love to stop my FT job and just use all this beauty god gave me . Until then I just brag about you :)
You won't get a syrup, but you will have a concentrate. With that concentrate you dilute to make a drink. Then you can recook that chaga a few more times. :) If you want a syrup, you'll need to add sweetener to it. I don't make syrup with chaga.
I made a few brews yesterday, Marshmallow tincture and a glycerite which I've not made before. I'm not convinced about glycerin but thought I'd try it and see what I think. I also made a wild lettuce tincture. It's funny because I've always thought both wild lettuce - which I didn't even know what it was until a week ago - and curly dock were so ugly this time of year and now that I see them in a new light my heart smiles when I see them. Which is always because the curly dock, at least, is everywhere. It's amazing what actually getting to know them does ;) I also have a pot of bone broth cooking and mixed berry crisp in the oven. The question is, what flavor ice cream should we make to go with the berry crisp. We've made a spice one with cinnamon, nutmeg and I think cardamom before that is so good. I have a new knitting project I want to start, too. (you'd think it was fall - broth, knitting...) Meanwhile, my kids built each built a "base camp" in the woods yesterday, tripod, shelter and fire pit. My daughter got a fire going on hers but it was mostly to keep the mosquitos away.
that purple mushroom tincture!! 😍 gorgeous. and tiny pears really are so cute-- in the fall here we can buy a variety called seckel that is so tiny, my kids always love to grab a few for snacking when their season comes ☺️ always inspired tara, thank you for sharing your beautiful perspectives with us ❣️
Thank you. I made some Indian Pipe a few years ago that turned that same, gorgeous colour and has remained that colour. Like a secret they release for the devoted. :)
At the moment I only observe and take pictures of mushrooms and fungi. One day I will muster up the courage to forage some for either cooking or medicinal uses. I've been looking for artists conk but I cant tell if the ones I am finding are something else... My most exciting find of all time is lion's mane and most recently crown tipped coral.
Lion's mane is a treasure! I found a big one in Virginia last year and I felt like I won the lottery :) The coral mushrooms are so magical, too. Those are good finds!
What a crazy busy and beautiful time! The kids and I just sun dried our over abundance of tomatoes this week. I now have to hide them so we actually have them in the winter. The kids think they’re candy once they’re sun dried. What will you use the Chamomile for?
I make tinctures and teas with the chamomile. How great is it that your kids love tomatoes like that!? Who needs candy when you got sun dried tomatoes?! :)
Ooh I love all this! All the beautiful things of the earth! In my corner of the woods I’m gathering yarrow and fireweed for winter teas- I really do feel so happy wandering the forest- so many gifts. Thank you, Tara.
Ok I’m coming back to this (and the cherry post!) Azure Standard had 18 lbs organic cherries available, so I’m starting there! I looked up some basic fermented cherry salsa recipes - they include whey. Do you use whey in your ferments?? I can’t have dairy at all, unfortunately, so I can’t use whey.
Dear Tara, Thank you for all the inspiration and the recipes.
I've put away a few jars this year as the result- canned and fermented - including piccalilli, mango chutney, fermented plum sauce, and peach salsa. All in my newly acquired Weck jars, which are marvelous indeed. I also finally made Herbes Salées - soo good on so many things, including to quickly add more flavor to broth. Last but not least I'm trying out the vinegar brewing. So far -strawberry, mango and peach have come out quite delicious. Thank you so much again! I wouldn't be doing all of this if it weren't for your posts!! X
We have Flemish Giant and Continental bucks and our does are Chinchilla and a motley mix of old time gals that I've cross bred and cross bred and cross bred. We breed for mothering/size/thriftiness/health and let the genetics play out as they do.
Always finding depth in these ..like how close is a heart nut to a walnut, asking myself about its ant-parasitic traits. Marveling at another fungi going purple and discovering new properties of old friends. This is my second year only buying fruit in season. I started by making butters last year, this year I've added halves in honey syrup with pits and next year I hope to understand fruit cheese, vinegar, and chutney. Every year of reading your work I extensively grow. When I hit overwhelm I scale it back to simply adding the topic of skill to a list for future growth. You truly inspire me to be better, connect deeper to food flora and fauna and learn skills that I can teach those who cross my path and desire to preserve the true depth of food in our lives. Thank you Tara with all my heart for your constant gifts of wisdom.
A heart nut is a marvel much beyond any properties. It's soft and buttery and reminds us that not all has to come from afar. So much close to home.
You are well on your way beautiful grasshopper. I like your approach, too. Overwhelm is a call for trimming and cultivating what is uniquely yours to do. xo
My kids keep saying "mom's in squirrel mode". So true, every little bit getting tucked away now so we eat like kings this winter! Love these Sat posts from you Tara, aways inspired by them!
Ha! I love the way kids lovingly tease their mamas. :)
Wow just beautiful the property you have. Seems like there is so much abundance in every little corner. I can only hope one day we get so lucky to find something like that of our own. :)
I'm currently up to my eyeballs in zucchini over here. Going to attempt a zucchini relish this weekend so fingers crossed it works out! But if anyone has any good zucchini recipes please share :)
Also, if anyone has a fruit buying club set up in the Ottawa-Kingston area looking for new members, I would love to join in. Our area is great for apples, but that's about it!
I love zucchini relish. My favourite things to do with zucchini is piccalilli. :) That's so great if you can hook up with Natalie to get your hands on some of the fruit.
Never heard of piccalilli, I'll have to look up some recipes. :) Yes, I'm so glad she reached out. I'll have to message her today for more details, but very excited!
Hi Emma! I’m north of Kingston about 20 mins (close to Hwy 15) and order from Tara. You are more than welcome to join in with me. Let me know if that’s within driving distance and we can connect.
Hi! Yeah I'm just in Smiths Falls so that's super close to me!
That would for sure work. We go to Smiths Falls fairly often as my family is in Ottawa. You can email me at natalieccgeorge@gmail.com
So much good stuff in these posts. I love reading all your essays and learning thing from you, but these are definitely my favorite. Inspiring beyond anything!
Several questions though; the chicory tincture is for a digestive bitter or something else/both?
We have artists conk everywhere here in our forests, whereas we don’t have chaga at all and we have some rare hemlock-grown reishi- where did you learn about its medicinal value? I have always seen not to eat it/it has ‘no use’ beyond dye.
And oxymels- I love making them, but using them is always where I am lost! You blend them into tinctures?
Thank you, Kaelin. Chicory is a beautiful plant with all sorts of uses. Using in a bitter is definitely one of them. We need to resist thinking of these nourishing plants as "this for that". They are so much more than a pharma substitute and they are worth getting to know. One can sit with and study one plant for days, months, years, and still not know the fullness of its offerings to our spirits, minds, and bodies.
How did I learn? Just by doing what I wrote above. By being open. By studying. By observing. By reading. By experimenting. By decades of experience. By doing what I do in all facets of my life, remaining voraciously inquisitive and gobbling up all that comes my way. None of that was on the internet. If you stop at what someone tells you about a thing, you are constantly deferring to an authority outside of yourself. And who are they to say? If I listened to such things I never would have had my first daughter. I never would have gone to nutrition school. I never would have started to farm and then raise cows with their calves at side, used homeopathy instead of vaccines, raised meat rabbits and all our animals without grains and kibble... the list goes on and on. At the time, I didn't know one other soul that did the same. Don't stop at what dissatisfies you because someone said something. Ask yourself, "Would nature really design this plant/animal/mineral to behave without reason?" Develop your instinct and intuition and learn that most people just talk nonsense. Then you'll really start learning profound truths.
No, I take oxymels straight up not blended into tinctures. 🙂
oxymels-- nice with a bit of sparkling water to sip ☺️
also how wonderful you have reishi kaelin! we occasionally find it in the forests here in the pnw and gratefully harvest some for tincturing + drying when there is enough 🙏🏼
I never seem to find it in time to harvest it before it fades. Lots to learn about it, but it seems to be occurring more and more on our property, so I hope that will provide good opportunity 🤞🏻feels like it’ll be a good mushroom year this year in the PNW!
we either slice & dehydrate/tincture, or sometimes just let them dry whole in the sun to be processed later. cutting them dry is trickier. what a gift!!!
Thank you for the info! Where are you at in the PNW?
we’re a bit north of you outside issaquah 😌 would love to meet up!
We would too! Please send me an email at flemingfamilyfarmwa@gmail.com and let’s get to know each other 😊
So it's not just me and the pear butts! Ha!
Pear Butts 4 Life :)
Hi Tara,
Thank you so much for all that you share, I am continuously inspired and moved by your writings. Right now my life is so full as a student midwife, but my apprenticeship is ending in the fall and I am just itching to experiment with making my own vinegars!
I am curious if you use a double extraction process for your mushroom/fungi tinctures? Or do you just chop 'em up fresh and put them in the alcohol?
Thank you
I don't double extract, no. For chaga I cook it for four hours and make a concentrate that I keep in the fridge. I then reuse the chaga a few more times before it's spent. For other, less palatable medicinals I will either make a potent tincture (half and half) that I will leave for six months. I also don't use straight 100 proof spirits because the alcohol should have water content to extract the water soluble constituents as well as alcohol for those that aren't. In this case, with such a woody fungus, chopping into a tincture works best for me. I prefer taking my other mushrooms, the more palatable ones, in food/water. An example is birch polypore which I put in my bone broths so it's simmering for 48 hours or so in the broth.
I am just amazed by what you do. I talk about you to my husband as if I know you personally, I tell him all the amazing tinctures, chutneys, glazes, sauces, dried stuff and you name it that you make. We have 88 acres and have blueberries, blackberries, elderberries, several types of mushrooms and nut trees in the woods and this yr the wild flowers were unbelievable. We cook our chaga for 8 hours but I dont get a syrup - Do I need less water? How I would love to stop my FT job and just use all this beauty god gave me . Until then I just brag about you :)
Ha! Thank you, Heidi :)
You won't get a syrup, but you will have a concentrate. With that concentrate you dilute to make a drink. Then you can recook that chaga a few more times. :) If you want a syrup, you'll need to add sweetener to it. I don't make syrup with chaga.
I made a few brews yesterday, Marshmallow tincture and a glycerite which I've not made before. I'm not convinced about glycerin but thought I'd try it and see what I think. I also made a wild lettuce tincture. It's funny because I've always thought both wild lettuce - which I didn't even know what it was until a week ago - and curly dock were so ugly this time of year and now that I see them in a new light my heart smiles when I see them. Which is always because the curly dock, at least, is everywhere. It's amazing what actually getting to know them does ;) I also have a pot of bone broth cooking and mixed berry crisp in the oven. The question is, what flavor ice cream should we make to go with the berry crisp. We've made a spice one with cinnamon, nutmeg and I think cardamom before that is so good. I have a new knitting project I want to start, too. (you'd think it was fall - broth, knitting...) Meanwhile, my kids built each built a "base camp" in the woods yesterday, tripod, shelter and fire pit. My daughter got a fire going on hers but it was mostly to keep the mosquitos away.
How magical. I envisioned every scene of every word of this. Beautiful, Alison.
So inspirational! Thank you! So many skills I want to learn and try!
that purple mushroom tincture!! 😍 gorgeous. and tiny pears really are so cute-- in the fall here we can buy a variety called seckel that is so tiny, my kids always love to grab a few for snacking when their season comes ☺️ always inspired tara, thank you for sharing your beautiful perspectives with us ❣️
Thank you. I made some Indian Pipe a few years ago that turned that same, gorgeous colour and has remained that colour. Like a secret they release for the devoted. :)
At the moment I only observe and take pictures of mushrooms and fungi. One day I will muster up the courage to forage some for either cooking or medicinal uses. I've been looking for artists conk but I cant tell if the ones I am finding are something else... My most exciting find of all time is lion's mane and most recently crown tipped coral.
Lion's mane is a treasure! I found a big one in Virginia last year and I felt like I won the lottery :) The coral mushrooms are so magical, too. Those are good finds!
What a crazy busy and beautiful time! The kids and I just sun dried our over abundance of tomatoes this week. I now have to hide them so we actually have them in the winter. The kids think they’re candy once they’re sun dried. What will you use the Chamomile for?
I make tinctures and teas with the chamomile. How great is it that your kids love tomatoes like that!? Who needs candy when you got sun dried tomatoes?! :)
Ooh I love all this! All the beautiful things of the earth! In my corner of the woods I’m gathering yarrow and fireweed for winter teas- I really do feel so happy wandering the forest- so many gifts. Thank you, Tara.
Me, too :) Fireweed happening here, too. So pretty.
Ok I’m coming back to this (and the cherry post!) Azure Standard had 18 lbs organic cherries available, so I’m starting there! I looked up some basic fermented cherry salsa recipes - they include whey. Do you use whey in your ferments?? I can’t have dairy at all, unfortunately, so I can’t use whey.
Dear Tara, Thank you for all the inspiration and the recipes.
I've put away a few jars this year as the result- canned and fermented - including piccalilli, mango chutney, fermented plum sauce, and peach salsa. All in my newly acquired Weck jars, which are marvelous indeed. I also finally made Herbes Salées - soo good on so many things, including to quickly add more flavor to broth. Last but not least I'm trying out the vinegar brewing. So far -strawberry, mango and peach have come out quite delicious. Thank you so much again! I wouldn't be doing all of this if it weren't for your posts!! X
Also wondering - what kind of rabbits do you have?
We have Flemish Giant and Continental bucks and our does are Chinchilla and a motley mix of old time gals that I've cross bred and cross bred and cross bred. We breed for mothering/size/thriftiness/health and let the genetics play out as they do.