House of the Rose

Beach roses are in full bloom right now. Here's a shot of them in the dunes in front of my friend Rosalee's old house.

 

There really aren't a lot of words needed in the presence of roses. Here's a poem by Lorca.

Casida of The Rose

The rose

was not searching for the sunrise:

almost eternal on its branch,

it was searching for something else.

The rose

was not searching for darkness or science:

borderline of flesh and dream,

it was searching for something else.

The rose

was not searching for the rose.

Motionless in the sky

it was searching for something else.

When I'm foraging, I stop searching for anything beyond the searching.

Early morning rose tea.

What I Ate For Dinner

Curried orange lentils with curly dock leaves and wood sorrel. Isn't it gorgeous! I feel like I am getting wilder and wilder every day. Today I had an encounter with this ancient creature.

She had just laid a clutch of eggs. Snapping turtles come out of the ponds this time of the year to lay their eggs on dry ground. I could see the bare spot in the grass she had scraped out with her considerable claws. I think she was very tired from her exertions. I was clearing brush with Paul and walked past her about 50 times carrying chokecherry branches I was throwing on the brush pile. She did not seem agitated at all.

Normally I would not face a snapping turtle head on like this. They are known to lunge quite a distance. I have seen this. But today I felt safe to approach her head on. I kept a respectful distance and she let me take this photo. I felt so honored. I gave her a little reiki. Her neck pulsed. I thought about what it would feel like to literally have a hard shell.

After work I rode my bike along the dunes gathering rose hip buds and petals. I plan to bathe in the petals and dry the buds for tea. I don't think there is a better smell in the world than beach roses. I am also happy to report that I found my first patch of sea rocket in the dunes. Sea rocket is one of the most delectable vegetables. I will be writing much more about it in the future. One of my customers' at Farmers' Market told me they even sell it at Dean & Deluca in New York City!

Holy Cow Parsnip

This here is cow parsnip. I've been biking by it for years, and I must admit the only reason I haven't dug it up is because it is on private property on a very public stretch of Corn Neck Rd. I've lusted after it for years. I haven't seen it anywhere else on the island and I've never tried it. I can feel it tempting me to give in to my darker impulses every time I pedal by, though so far I have resisted. I, did, however, hop the wall yesterday to take these photos.

It is a quite extraordinary plant. I really did feel spellbound as I was gazing at its leaves and the tiny white petals which make up one flower head. Especially mesmerizing, were the flowers which were just beginning to open. I was astonished when I got home and saw the photos. I was clearly connecting with an intelligence that was looking back at me, no doubt in my mind. I was kind of glad I didn't dig it up and eat it, although I read in Wildman Steve Brill's guide that the flower stalks which have not yet flowered are delicious to eat, too, not just the root, which would involve digging, and explaining why I was digging if I was caught. Anyway, what I am trying to say is that Cow Parsnip has cast a spell on me. I can't stop looking at it or at these photos. Hope you enjoy them. Hope I resist my dark impulses. I won't let you know if I don't.

The Fairy Realm

I know whenever goldfinches cross my path as I ride to work in the morning that the fairies are calling me. Today I felt them very close as I planted some pansies under a shady tree amongst the wood sorrel that was already growing there. You may recognize this plant as the legendary shamrock which leprechauns sport in their lapels. I do believe in leprechauns, though I'm not sure they were three-piece suits and top hats. I think they may be a little more wild than that. If they wear anything at all, I imagine they were moleskin breeches and robin feather cloaks. I bet they lace their boots with mouse whiskers and wear acorn caps. I bet they use shamrocks as umbrellas, and since it's been raining a lot lately I left these sorrel plants in the company of the pansies  to provide them with some shelter. I like to mix the wild with the tame. Wood sorrel is very delicate. When you put it in your mouth you feel like you are absorbing the essence of green. I pick it for salads sometimes, but mostly I just pick it and eat it wherever I find it. It reminds me there is magic everywhere. And I always remember to wink at the fairies.

Sleepin' in a Ditch, or I Never Thought Things Could Be So Good

If you live on Block Island, chances are you know this tune. It was written by my brother Stevie Lightnin.' It's about a down and out fellow who wakes up in a ditch to find a beautiful lady there with him. As you all know, the quest for housing can be quite a struggle sometimes so it might not be quite as much a surprise to find someone sleeping in a ditch on Block Island than it would be on the mainland. Only kidding! Although I bet a few folks over the years have ended up sleeping in ditches after a night out at one of the local watering holes. All I can say is if you're going to stumble into a ditch, make sure you do it on foot and not in a car. I was biking to work yesterday and noticed a stonewall that had been knocked over. Lo and behold, there in the marsh beyond was a car that had rolled a good 100 yards. Heard whoever was driving was fine physically, thank goodness. I don't really want to go on about what I think about alcohol abuse because that would be a whole other blog and you are reading this one because it's about foraging, so I'll just say that I hope the highest and greatest good occurs for everyone on this island, drunk or sober. We are all connected. In a place as small as this, surrounded by the ocean, this can be more obvious than on the mainland. It is easier to see our connections here and to realize that we are co-creating lessons for the benefit of our souls' growth together so I encourage anyone reading this who lives on Block Island to consider what our collective field is and determine if it is one you feel good about creating. For example, the housing struggle and alcohol abuse are two collective fields we have created. They are not inevitable. We choose together to make them "set in stone," some of us playing the role of victim, some of perpetrator, when really these are just the roles we adopt in order to evolve.

On a lighter note, I've been building walls with the extraordinary Paul Cunningham and I told him maybe we could get some work out of this incident. His reply was maybe we should offer kickbacks to people crashing into walls. I do love an occasional dose of black humor, of which my brother Lightnin' is a master. I think someone in that ditch was cookin' bacon.

This ditch in the photo above is on Chapel St. and it is loaded with edibles. In the photo on the right, curly dock and jewelweed can be seen. I absolutely love curly dock. According to urban forager Steve Brill, whose guide Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and Not So Wild) Places I highly recommend, curly, sometimes referred to as yellow dock because of its deep yellow roots, is a nutritional and medicinal powerhouse. Not to get down on spinach, but curly dock has a third more protein, iron, calcium, potassium, beta carotene and phosphorous, and more than double the Vitamin C. According to Steve it was an important vegetable during the Depression in the 30s when people were forced to turn to the wild for food. I don't wish a Depression on us, by any means, but it's good to know that the earth will provide for us even if we don't have money to buy food. The root is decocted and used medicinally to treat anemia and liver disorders.

This is the time to gather this green, before the flower stalk shoots up and the leaves get very tough and bitter. Its flavor is deliciously sour. I usually steam the leaves, although the other night I threw them into an omelet, and tonight I branched out and roasted them with some olive oil to make curly dock chips. I got the idea from my mom who sent me a recipe for this using kale. Here's a photo. They were delicious. Thanks for inspiring me Mom, if you read this.
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I've only eaten jewelweed once and it was by mistake. It was in my formative days as a forager. I was at Cooneymus Spring looking for watercress, which I had picked there in the past. I thought the cress looked kind of spindly, but picked it anyway, which I boiled into a soup. I think I thought it tasted ok at the time, although I do recall it sort of fell apart and wasn't quite as spicy as I expected watercress to be.  I've sinced learned it was jewelweed, which grows in damp places like watercress. Jewelweed is officially edible, but it is as a medicinal plant where it shines. Block Island is loaded with poison ivy. The next time you notice you've brushed against some, crush a stalk (remember to say thank you) and rub some juice on the affected area and you most likely will not get a rash. You can do the same for insect bites, too. I get poison ivy pretty bad and jewelweed has worked for me. My friend Johanna Ross  who is an herbalist makes a product called Poison Ivy Relief containing locally foraged jewelweed if you want to have some on hand for accidents. Her website is http://www.islandmistnaturalproducts.com/.

Here's a photo of broad-leaf dock, mallow and jewelweed sharing space in this ditch. (and one bright and sunny dandelion, also good for eating, but a little tough once the flowers blossom!) Broad-leaf dock is not quite as tasty as curly, though edible, but mallow greens are. Eat them raw, they cook down to almost nothing. I wonder if they find the drunks who stumble down Chapel St. when the bars close amusing or if they're annoyed because they can't sleep. I suppose, like all of us, they chose this busy byway to be their home because it was the best place for them to grow. Sadly, the dock I enjoyed for my dinner tonight was not from this ditch. I have noticed many times as I've biked by that the water in it is coated in an iridescent oil slick that must be run-off from the nearby mechanic's machine shop. I still love riding by it, though. It is such a lush patch of wild and delicious goodness right in town!

Lawn Salad

Ever wander across your lawn for dinner? Here in North American w  tend to be obsessed with eradicating weeds from our lawns. I say North Americans, because this didn't seem to be the tendency from what I saw in South America, where things seem to be left just to grow, except for at Macchu Picchu, where the grass in the ruins was lush and green! I wondered if the Incas were into lush lawns when I visited. The llamas seemed to be enjoying it, and it is soothing to the eyes and soft to lie on, but it really makes no sense to kill all these wonderful edible and medicinal plants that are offering themselves up right in our yards!

Anyway, my point is that there is good eating out there in your lawn, so don't curse those weeds, and especially don't kill them with chemicals which filter down into our drinking water. I do recommend rinsing anything you pick from your lawn in case it has been sprayed, not only because of chemicals, it might have been sprayed by a dog as well. Hope this doesn't turn you off foraging. I think a lot worse goes on in factory farms and produce packing plants all over the world than a little dog pee, if that makes you feel any better.



Another great place to look for salad greens is cracks in the sidewalk or along the edge of buildings. I visited my friend Rosalee in Newport last week and scanned her street for edibles. There was a lot to eat and it was fun to point them out to Rosalee. One of the things I love about foraging is the wonder in people's eyes when I point out something they've passed by a million times is a delicious, nutritious treat! We are so conditioned to buying our food that most of us have forgotten that the earth really does provide for all our needs.

I do believe that reciprocity should be involved in our interactions with plant life--energy should be exchanged--but the energy does not have to be in the form of money to be valuable. Gratitude, for example, is a wonderful gift to give the plants you pick and eat. I always ask the plant if it is ok to pick it and I never pick a plant if there is only one or two around. I read once that the Native North Americans always walked by the first of any plant they saw and gathered the next one. I think we too often feel helpless  if we don't have money. I know I've felt this way, but when I go out foraging I feel powerfully connected to the earth and powerful in my ability to support myself. It is a grand feeling. I am so grateful to have adopted this path.

As for feeling disempowered by lack of money, this can be shifted easily by recognizing that money is simply the primary form of energy exchange in our culture. It is not evil. It doesn not corrupt. It is the desire for control that corrupts and the abuse carried out by those who desire power and control more than anything that has tainted our primary form of energy exchange. The way I see it, is those of us who desire to be part of a more just and exquitable exchange are just as powerful, especially when we come together and use our abilities to focus intention on our goals. In my world, the spirit realm comes first, then the material. If we visualize in the spiritual, we create the possibility for our desire to manifest in the physical. I call this spiritual activism and I have been practicing it on Block Island for the past several years. I don't have a lot of money to donate to The Block Island Conservancy to buy land, but my thoughts and emotions are a powerful tool to assist in the preservation of Block Island. So the next time you are feeling despair about seeing your favorite open space destroyed, send prayers its way. Send prayers also that everyone involved and connected with that land will act from their hearts for the highest good of creation. The shamanic way involves knowing from direct experience. Try it and see what happens. We are no longer living in a time where we have to take anything on faith. We are all being given the opportunity to claim our power to consciously co-create our reality. We've been doing it unconsciously for a long time and the poverty-consciousness and fear that has dominated our emotional spectrum can be witnessed in our creations. I say let's make Block Island an experiment in co-creating a new Eden! We can all run around in fig leaves!

Just kidding, I won't decree that citizens of the new Eden have to run around naked. I've seen too many weirdos down at Block Rock to believe that we don't have to do a little more healing around body and sexuality issues before that is part of our constitution. In the meantime, there is plenty of gazing at the ground to do, grazing the lawn for dainty wild greens like violet leaves, sheep sorrel, chickweed, purslane, plantain, dandelions, and maybe even a wild carrot or two, dug up with a thank you, thank you, thank you--for all this wild and wonderful life.

Here are those pictures to help you identify. First row: plantain and chickweed. Second row: sheep sorrel and wild violets. Leaves and flowers are both edible. Mmmm-I love eating flowers. Someday I want to exist on a diet of flowers alone! Now that will be some amazing energy to exchange!

Saved in the Nick of Time!

Look what I saved from the bulldozers!! Wild carrots in my front yard. We're getting a new septic system and the gentlemen operating the heavy equipment had no idea what treasures they were about to decimate until I ran out with my Cape Cod weeder and pulled these up. Notice the color--wild carrots do not contain beta-carotene which gives domestic carrots their orange hue. Many of you probably know this plant as Queen Anne's lace which sends up its delicate white lace crowns in a few weeks. Now, before the flowers bloom, is the time to eat the roots. They can be eaten after that, but they are rather tough. This batch was in fact, rather tough, but I enjoyed them nonetheless. In the past I have roasted them, but these were tossed into a pot with a few domestic carrots, some ginger, onion, turmeric, and water to become a soup. After the soup was cooked I pureed it with a handful of soaked raw almonds so it was nice and creamy. I served it with a dash of toasted sesame oil and a sprinkling of sesame seeds. It was simple and delicious. Of course, nibbling them raw is fun, too, sitting right on the lawn while the bulldozers roar away.