Category Archives: pesto

Milk Thistle Pesto

2016 CSA Spring April 9 – Milk Thistle

2016 CSA Spring April 9

  • Mixed Field Greens
  • Field Arugula
  • Baby Sorrel
  • Watercress Box
  • Chives
  • Rose Geranium
  • Mint
  • Butternut Squash
  • Basil
  • Milk Thistle Pesto

Milk Thistle

Milk Thistle

Milk Thistle Pesto

Milk Thistle Pesto

Milk Thistle

As spring gears up, so do the greens…and the greenhouses, of things we plant and some we wildcraft, such as Milk Thistle, which is included in your CSA share this week in the form of pesto.  This plant has long been known to have healthy properties, containing silymarin, and “has no equivalent in the pharmaceutical drug world”; for over 2,000 years it has been revered as a protector of the liver. “In fact, in cases of poisoning with Amanita mushrooms, which destroy the liver, milk thistle is the only treatment option. It has been so dramatically effective that the treatment has never been disputed, even by the traditional medical community.” See the website http://www.herbwisdom.com/herb-milk-thistle.html for the quoted material and more information.  In the cyclical pattern that we make the pesto of milk thistle, which is generally in spring and in fall, it is savored as a seasonal tonic.  You will find milk thistle in stores as high priced extracts, or supplement pills and tablets, especially of the seed, to economic dried preparation of the plant for tea.  The same healing properties that the seeds are touted so much about are present throughout the entire plant.  Then add the benefit of being able to include it in the diet as a freshly harvested herb by eating the pesto.  If hiking or would like to nibble from environments that you consider clean to harvest from, the leaf can be folded along its spine, aligning up the thorns on the edges of the leaf and trimmed to be eaten; the leaf can be used as a rolled up treat or as a wrap in a meal. As a pesto, it can be incorporated into your diet in classic fashions such as topping pasta or spreading on pizza or tried as a sandwich spread for a new twist.  Hope you all have a blessed week!

Chickweed

2016 CSA Winter February 20

 2016  CSA Winter February 20  -Chickweed Pesto

  • Rainbow Chard
  • Baby Salad Mix 8×8
  • Baby Arugula 8×8
  • Baby Green Sorrel
  • Flat Parsley
  • Dill
  • Cilantro
  • Mint
  • Poultry Herb Blend
  • Butternut Squash
  • Chickweed Pesto

Im so grateful that my Dad would take us camping and my Mom would teach us about picking the right kind of berries…this budded a fascination with what was edible out in the “wild”. And the wild was everywhere, even the city. My favorite plant drawing of my Dad’s is of a dandelion, coming up out of New Orleans’ pavement. Noticing the wild in the yard or sitting on electric lines wasn’t too hard in such a lush city as ours, but this backyard connection to the environment stayed with me throughout all my journeys. One plant epitomizes a thread in the tapestry of those experiences: Chickweed. Once i started studying plants with handbooks, Chickweed was a plant that seemed to thrive just about anywhere in my world, and i would find it hiking high in the mountains or strolling along a valley stream. Noticing it is still important to me as i regularly chomp on this stuff while working and use it for skin irritations or injury. Stellaria Media is the scientific name of this useful ally and crisp low-lying green. It has a demure white flower in the shape of a small bursting star. It is rich in vitamins and nutrients and carried some of the surviving Native peoples on the Trail of Tears being that it grows up twice a year, even under the snow! This strong plant is considered a weed by many, but maybe these folks don’t know how useful it is. Stellaria is the plant that healed our Sunny Girl when she was a kitten, having an abscess from a sting or a bite to the neck. This precious herb gives so much; i like to use it from the inside out. So this week, from our garden in the middle of winter, we bring you fresh ground Chickweed Pesto! Try this with a white fish or chicken and your sorrel for a yummy meal. The pesto can be used to turn your butternut squash into a savory treat by cubing the peeled flesh and rolling the squash in dobs of pesto, then roasting it.
The Chard, beautiful colorful and nutritious! Try this as a quick pan fry with walnuts. i like to use my cast iron skillet for just about everything…a little olive oil, adding nuts to roast a bit and then the greens at the end.

 

 Chickweed

 Chickweed

Chickweed

 Chickweed

Chickweed

To your health & pleasure, always, love, leslie.

Basil Pesto

CSA Fall 2015 Dec 12

CSA Fall 2015 Dec 12

  • ·        Basil Pesto
  • ·        Red Kale
  • ·        Field Arugula
  • ·        Baby Sorrel
  • ·        Poultry Herb Mix
  • ·        Cilantro
  • ·        Dill
  • ·        Bay Laurel
  • ·        Flat Parsley
  • ·        2 Butternut Squash
  • ·        Sweet Potatoes

Remember Dec 19 is the last CSA for the Fall Season and CSA winter 2016 will Begin First Saturday in January

Basil pesto is our classic, long-time favorite…try using it as a spread for grilled cheese with tomato or a dollop on some pasta or pizza. Also great for a quick pan sear of beef strips to prepare for a steak salad,

Basil Pesto

Basil Pesto

venison crustinis

which is grand over wilted arugula greens or the baby sorrel. The basil pesto is special. The original. The One. Sunny anti-depressant, old world memories, and a paste for everything all rolled into one. Sea salt, virgin olive oil, and the finest walnuts marry in processing, preserved, originally with lemon. Pine nuts are nice, but the walnut is strong. This healing mixture can even be used as a poultice.

The Kale can be chopped up for a classic southern dish…fry up some onion in butter, add water and a meat, such as ham or bacon, Virginia style, or you can use leftover bone like we did in Louisiana. Leftovers recycled are how we live. Cook in your pot; add seasoning if you like, and put in your chopped kale. Cover and cook until tender. Personally, i do not prefer over-cooking as is custom. The timing is up to you.

Parsley made a splash, big time, this week as a helper when i poisoned myself with aloe. Sunny Grrl went to the hospital with suspected kidney failure. In a panic and without doctor’s lab results, i tried to entice thirst by rubbing her sore and infected teeth with the soft center of the aloe leaf. To show her it was ok as she got tired of the teeth-brushing, i ripped the rest of the leaf and bit and sucked it. Oops. Latex. Allergic. Good to find out, hell on your kidneys and the stomach and intestines. Trust me, don’t go there. So both Sunny and i had lots of parsley this week as well as fresh harvested milk thistle leaf. Both of us fully recovered quickly. Turns out her kidneys are fine. Anemia was the lab finding, plus need for elder care. Tonight everybody had liver. And parsley. Great for that medicine cabinet in your kitchen. To your health and your pleasure! J