Seasonal eating in Japan

Here's some excepts from a book that's good to return to every now and then, The One Straw Revolution by th' late Masanobu Fukuoka.

Masanobu Fukuoka

 One problem is that in western nutritional science there is no effort to adjust the diet to the natural cycle. The diet that results serves to isolate human beings from  nature. A fear of nature and a general sense of insecurity are often the unfortunate results....

Edible herbs and wild vegetables, plants growing on the mountain and in the meadow, are very high in nutritional value and are also useful as medicine. Food and medicine are not two different things, they are the front and back of one body. Chemically grown vegetables may be eaten for food, but they cannot be used as medicine.
    

     From early spring, when the seven herbs sprout forth from the earth, the farmer can  taste seven flavors. To go along with these are the delicious flavors of pond snails, sea clams, and turban shellfish.
     The season of green arrives in march. Horsetail, bracken, mugwort, osmund, and other mountain plants, and or course the young leaves of persimmon and peach trees and the sprouts of mountain yams can all be eaten. Possessing a light, delicate flavor, they make delicious tempura and can also be used as seasonings.  At the seashore, sea vegetables such as kelp, nori, and rockweed are delicious and abundant during the spring months.
    When the bamboo sends up it's young shoots, grey rock cod, sea bream, and striped pig fish are at their most delicious. The iris blossom season is celebrated with the slender ribbon fish and mackerel sashimi. Green peas, snow peas, lima beans, and fava beans are delicious eaten right from the pod or boiled with whole grains such as brown rice, wheat, barley.
     Toward the end of the rainy season, Japanese plums are salted away, and strawberries and raspberries can be gathered in abundance. At this time it is natural that the body begins to desire the crisp flavor of scallions together with watery fruits such as loquats, apricots, and peaches. The loquat's fruit is not the only part of the plant which can be eaten. The seed can be ground into "coffee,"  and when the leaves are brewed to make tea it is among the finest of medicines. The mature leaves of peach and persimmon trees produce a tonic for longevity.
     Beneath the bright midsummer sun, eating melons and licking honey in the shade of a big tree is a favorite pastime. The many summer vegetables such as carrot, spinach, radish, and cucumber become ripe and ready for harvesting. The body also needs vegetable or sesame oil to hold off summer sloth.
     If you call it mysterious, then mysterious it is that the winter grain harvested in spring goes well with the decreased summertime appetite,  and so in summer barley noodles of various sizes and shapes are prepared often. Buckwheat grain is harvested in summer. It is an ancient wild plant and a food which goes well with this season.
     Early fall is a happy season, with soybeans and small red azuki beans, many fruits, vegetables, and various yellow grains all ripening at the same time. Millet cakes are enjoyed at the autumn moon viewing celebrations. Parboiled soybeans are served along with taro potatoes.  As autumn deepens, maize, and rice steamed with red beans, matsutake mushrooms, or chestnuts are enjoyed often. Most important, the rice which has absorbed the sun's rays all summer long ripens in the fall. This means that a staple food which can be plentifully obtained and is rich in calories is provided for the cold winter months.
     At first frost one feels like looking in on the fish-broilers stand. Deep water blue fish such as yellowtail and tuna can be caught during this season. It is interesting that the japanese radish and the leafy vegetables abundant during this season go well with these fish.
     The new years holiday food is prepared largely from food which has been pickled and salted away for the great celebration. Salted samon, herring eggs, red sea bream, lobster, kelp, and black beans have been served every year at this feast for many centuries.
     Digging the radishes and turnips which have been left in the ground, covered with a blanket of soil and snow, is an enjoyable experience during the winter season. Grains and various beans grown during the year and miso and soy sauce are staples always on hand. Along with the cabbages, radishes, and squash, and sweet potatoes stored in the autumn, a variety of foods are available during the months of bitter cold.  Leeks, and wild scallions go well with the delicate flavor of oysters and sea cucumbers which can be gathered then. Waiting for spring to arrive, one catches sight of colt's foot shoots and the edible leaves of the creeping strawberry geranium peeping out of the snow. With the return of watercress, shepherd's purse, chickweed, and the other wild herbs, a garden of natural spring vegetables can be harvested beneath the kitchen window.
     Thus, by following a humble diet, gathering the foods of various seasons from close at hand, and savoring their wholesome and nourishing flavor, the local villagers accept what nature provides....
    A natural diet lies right at ones feet.

high altitude foraging and Black Locust flowers

We spent th' weekend up near eleven thousand feet elevation in th' rockies, and as far as seasons go, it was like stepping back in time a couple of months. Where as down below we've already got our early summer plants growing, milkweed, black locust, amaranth and th' like, up high, we were just beginning to spot some young spring growth, so nothing much more than some nibbles, and th' promise of food to come.

early morning mountain sunshine

One of the exciting things for me was seeing kinnikinnick flowers. I've seen them before, but this time i really saw them, and we ate them too. There flavor is somewhat like a rose at first, immediately followed by th' characteristic kinnikinnick astringency. We ate loads of them, walked around in them, and lay amongst them enjoying th' carpet they can make of a forest floor.

carpet of kinnikinnick

kinnikinnick and aspen

Uva Ursi (kinnikinnick) is good for your liver, kidneys, gall bladder, urinary tract and skin. All the organs that remove toxins from your body. With the amount of pollution in our world today, a bit of preventitive medicine can go a long way. So can th' walk in th' fresh mountain air to collect it.

It was nice to be on a short outing like this, because we really had leisure time to do nothing. At home there's always stuff to do, on longer survival style trips, you're taking care of your self, this time we just enjoyed having nothing in particular to do. Some of th' promises of food to come that we found included our all time favorite, th' wild strawberry.

wild strawberry flower.

Another one of my particular favorites, th' Cow Parsnip. I wrote about this in a previous post, but here's some shots to help identify this really fabulous vegetable, as well as some shots of young Angelica. Due to it's growing environment being similar to that of water hemlock, pay very close attention to detail, and don't overlook one identifying characteristic in your eagerness to find this plant, which is a bad habit i have. Though i've not seen any hemlock this high up, with th' changes going on in our world these days i'd not be too surprised to find anything anywhere.

cow parsnip, last years umbel

cow parsnip young leaves

 Base of plant.

Note th' hairs, hollow stem (not shown) and maple like leaves of this plant, which can become larger than your hand. This was an important vegetable for the indians traveling through this region, where th' vegetation good for food is low compared to other parts of th' country. Not gonna find any vegans or vegetarians living up here before modern transportation allowed us to ship in vegetables, which by th' way, means roads and petroleum and plastic and ocean liners and industrialization, which kills many more animals than a meat eater is ever likely to eat. So if you're a vegan because you care about animals, that's something to think about. But i'm not trying to persuade anyone, it's just something that i've thought much about.

But on to th' next plant we found, Angelica Archangelica. Th' mere sight of this plant in all it's flowering glory is enough to arouse feelings of awe. It reaches up to six feet high, with a globe of small yellow flowers, often towering above th' surround vegetation. It only grows near water, so if you're thirsty and you see one of these, you're in luck. It slightly resembles cow parsnip, and they are often companions. It lacks th' hairs of cow parsnip, and does have a bit more purple coloring. It's leaves are saw-toothed, growing from a basal rosette, and sending up a flower stalk it's second year, making it a biennial. It too was an important food for native americans, and is still widely used in Saami regions today. Th' Saami make flutes from it's stems, and use it to flavor reindeer milk. Th' Saami are the indeginous peoples of arctic scandinavia. Th' stems can be eaten like celery, and have a very pleasant, though strong flavor, with just a bit of a numbing sensation left on th' tongue.

young angelica

angelica leaves

I don't have a picture of this full grown with me, so here's one borrowed from wikipedia, just so you can see what it will look like in a month or two.

mature angelica.

Here's some shots of us wandering around in th' mountains, Fynn had to have his whale with him, so we strapped it to his back, there's one happy camper.

Here he is examining a stick. Being in nature is really good for him, he's much calmer and at peace with himself than when he's at home too much. He found a tree stump covered in ants and just sat there watching them crawl around for a long time. It's hard to get him to stay in one spot at home, unless he's watching a show. 

We also took some time to shoot arrows straight up into the air. This is really fun, and we actually managed to find all our arrows.

Then we sat around, sang songs, colored on wood with charcoal, cooked over a fire, and washed dishes in th' creek.

 

Cooking over a campfire is a good skill to have, notice th' burning log under th' saucepan, and there are only coals under th' tea kettle. With correct rock placement, you have many options on how to cook just about anything. 

Washing dishes in th' wild is another good skill to have. Here i'm using a running brook with dry and green grass to scour. In the absence of water, i use dirt, rubbed around with moss or grass. Yes, dirt cleans, and well too. Simply clean your dish right after use, and save your precious water for drinking. 

washing a bowl in th' creek

wooden bowls and spoons drying

When we got back down, almost into town is an abandoned cabin, sitting in a field of lambs quarters and black locust trees, so we stopped for a salad. Black locust flowers are one of, if not the, best things i've ever put in my mouth. Th' season for them is short, so if you have any where you live, and most people do, as they've been planted all over north america as ornamentals, be on th' look out. Later in th' season, you can also harvest th' green beans and cook them up to eat them.

Black Locust flowers and lambs quarters.

While picking flowers, me and this guy startled each other, he hissed at me for a while, then crawled into a cavity in one of th' locust trees.

great plains rat snake

Til next time, happy hunting.

~Rico

A scythe, antique razors, and a wild salad

Well, we had a very busy but productive weekend. Our good friend Tyler showed up for a house show- he's th' mastermind of th' band Insomniac Folklore. As we had some folk request a wild salad for th' potluck, me and Tyler went on a foraging trip to see what we could find. I knew it was linden leaf season, so we planned on these as th' base.

Tyler under th' Linden Leaves...

You wanna get these while they're still young and waxy looking... they have a very mild flavor that slightly resembles th' flowers that will appear a bit later. Few people will object to them in a salad.  You've got about two weeks of good harvest time here, so that's a pretty small window... thus th' two very happy campers you see.

me

With th' base gathered, we set off to see what else we can find...

Is that? Is that? Yep, asparagus. A bit early for around here, but this spring has been so hot and dry that timing based on previous years means next to nothing. Just to prove that, we also found milkweed popping up already, which is usually a few weeks to a month later than asparagus.

young milkweed with flower bud.

It'll be an interesting year for foraging. Which is fine by me, it keeps us guessing... hunting, searching, ever learning, never thinking we know it all, or have it all figured out, which is the enemy of adventure. Here's some nice young asparagus close up, and next to it is a young horsetail, or scouring rush... these make excellent sandpaper.

horsetail and asparagus

We ate a bunch of asparagus in th' field, and also saved some for th' salad. After that we gathered up a bunch of young lamb's quarters, aka, wild spinach.

didn't bring a bag, had to use my shirt

Then we came across a nice patch of Bull-rush. These were traditionally eaten similar to cattail, th' roots are starchy, but lack th' itch that cattail has. We pulled up a bunch for th' tender core at th' base. This is a very mild vegetable with little flavor and a lot of water, kinda like a water chestnut, but softer.

Young Bullrush stand

Here's th' bullrush with th' part you want to eat on th' right. Native americans also made boats and houses from these plants, as they are filled with a spongy type core that floats and makes very good insulation. 

Now i've found that th' best way to store most wild greens is to put them in a container of cool water. This way they'll last for several days, and they don't dry out like they do in our fridge. We change th' water every day and that's all it takes.  Here's our salad...linden, lamb's quarters, asparagus, bullrush, milkweed, and catmint. Turned out pretty well, and it's always nice foraging with a friend.

wild salad soaking

Also, while Tyler was here he showed us his new found treasure, old razors.

antique shaving razors

He decided he was done throwing away razors, and sought these out. Being a knife lover, i was very impressed, these are high quality steel, with a really nice hollow grind bevel on them. They are friction folders, and th' one on th' left has a handle of cow horn, with the inscription "King of Whiskers" on it. I think he said he paid three dollars for these. I imagine finding one and with a little work on a grinder to change th' shape just a bit, making a really nice sloyd knife.

He'd been looking for someone to sharpen them for him, and kept being met with a nope, can't do it. I can do it i told him, better yet, you can do it. I made him a strop, and in th' morning we got out th' stones to put a razors edge on a razor. It's a very empowering thing to know how to really sharpen a knife... and Tyler was smiling throughout th' learning process. Like any skill, it takes more than a day to learn, but it is nice to get your feet on th' path.

Sharpening tools

We got out th' stone collection, strop, and magnifying glass. Here's Tyler having a go at it.

coarse grit.

ceramic, extra fine

stropping, look at that smile.

After putting a good edge on these, Tyler went to try them out. He came out a few minutes later looking quite pleased, and a bit more clean cut...He put a razors edge on his razor, and shaved with it. All after being told repeatedly, even by barbers, that you can't sharpen razors and have to throw them away and buy new ones... What's th' world come to? These things are old enough to be his grandparents, and he just shaved with them.

lookin good Ty!

And, to top off th' whole weekend, we got a package in th' mail from Peter Vido of Scythe Connection, two blades. I've had a couple of old american scythes for a few months now, and they are stout, heavy beasts. Th' first thing that struck me about these new blades was how light they are. Both of them together weigh less than one of my american scythes. Th' next thing i felt was their great balance. These are really fine instruments, swords that you cut grass with. In comparison to our old blades, it's like riding around on a Huffy Bicycle, then getting on a really nice road bike.

austrian and italian made scythe blades.

So then i was faced with th' challenge of making my own snath (scythe handle). It may seem simple, but there's so many variables and subtleties that it can be overwhelming. For some great reasons to make your own snath, look here. I studied and studied th' pics on scythe connections website, and figured out a few things, then set about making one. Following th' Vido's advice, i foraged my own wood and used only hand tools for construction. Th' main wood is Alder, with a willow handle. I carved it with a knife, and sanded it with some locally found sandstone. Th' handle has a locust thorn in it to keep it from twisting or coming loose.

scythe with wild wood snath

 I made some mistakes, and will make another one right away, (snath that is, hopefully,) with improvements, and another handle at th' top. But, i did mow our lawn with it. I've never been so excited to mow th' lawn. It was relaxing, a bit like slow dancing, and our answer to th' exhaust and noise and destruction caused by lawn mowers. And, i was easily able to mow around th' Salsify growing in th' yard. Here's me and Beth trying it out.

This really surprised me with how well it cut, not sure why considering it used to be the only way to cut grass. But needless to say, i'm hooked on scything, and if you're interested in this fascinating tool, check out th' links on our sidebar that have to do with scything.

look out grass, here i come!

And to finish th' weekend, Fynn was very excited about th' spring pole lathe, and asked me if he could try it too. This is made entirely of local wood, with only two metal parts to it, I'll write more about this on our crafts blog later. Adios.

Fynn on th' spring pole lathe.