Today I am interested in writing about what I see outside, so write I will about the Blue Wood Aster.
Blue, Purple, pink and white, they are a pop of welcome beauty in the late season; a landscape starting to wither. But in October, the Blue Wood Aster is coming on strong in our fall landscape and clearly a boon as a late meal for bees and butterflies. Also a feast for the eyes!
There are many types, the white version with much smaller blooms and the heart leaved Aster to name a few. I believe there are over 150 varieties in the Northeast and Canada, many, many more globally.
I was not wrong to imagine that this plant played a multi faceted role with Maine indigenous people such as the Abenaki. It uses were vsried, from tea, which was drunk for congestion and cough, it was used too as a laxative, for headache, or cooked as a pot herb. Often the blossoms and young leaves were eaten raw, the bitter roots boiled for a tonic. It was even burned and used as a smudge to enhance mental clarity. Finally it was valued as an aid in deer hunting when used as an incense or masking smoke to cover their human scent.
In todays’s world Aster’s blossoms and dried leaves are most commonly used as a calming tea which supports respiratory health. Or try some fresh blooms on your next salad.
The Blue Wood Aster has proven to be useful in so many areas of earlier lives. When you see its stately presence in our Autumn landscape, understand that it \’s not just a pretty face!
This Food Safari doesn’t take us far, but if you are an orchardist, it’s an important trip to take.
This Journey takes us to our back field or wherever your fruit trees grow. Proper fall care ensures healthy trees the following season and beyond.
The protocol couldn’t be easier:
HARVEST YOUR FRUIT and clear away any drops that you cannot use or give away. This stopes disease from spreading and pest from seeing a free lunch.
CLEAR DEBRIS like leaves and branches, twigs, etc. We don’t want to harbor bacteria.
PROTECT THE TRUNK only needed if the tree s are young , but then a wrap or mesh can help
WATER DEEPLY especially after the summer we’re had, a deep soaking is beneficial. Followed by a gift of mulch or compost to retain moisture., several inches away from the trunk itself . We want to do this early on before the roots could possibly freeze.
It’s too late in the season to fertilize,or to do any pruning so skip that thought until Spring.
These tips should give you a leg up on keeping your apple or other fruit trees happy and healthy!
Perhaps the first thing people think of when you say the word “Maine” is blueberries.
Maybe that’s because the low bush variety that yields the sweet wild blueberries we know and love….low bush, and so different from a high bush berry, have been thriving here for over 10,000 years.
Maine also supplies the lion’s share of wild blueberries to the US markets.
Twice as high in antioxidants as a cultivated berry, these wild wonders thrive on the glacial barrens so prevalent in these parts of Maine and the northern area we call “Downeast”.
These low bush blueberry lands were not planted but do need to be managed. They occurred naturally when the glaciers receded ,and spread through an underground network of runners.
They stay healthy by burning the fields every other year. The burn year regenerates growth, the second year stimulates production.
Much of the blueberry land in Maine is managed by the Wabanaki confederacy and is indeed an integral park of tribe economy and identity.
Around Waldoboro and until quite recently you could see spirited local kids of all ages with their blueberry rakes crowded into in a flatbed truck, headed for the blueberry farms around town. It was a summer rite of passage to rake blueberries for whatever pittance they were offering per flat while foundering yourself on berries, returning home stained and exhausted.
A few names come to mind. Businesses who have been at it forever: Brodis Blueberries in Hope, Me, White Oak Farm/Beth’s Farm Market, and Molly Sholes’ Spruce Mountain Farm in Rockport.
Spruce Mountain is one of my favorites for her excellent Blueberry Chutney and also for Molly! Molly passed away this winter at the age of 95. I am honored to have known her and so glad to have been the recipient of many visits, as she liked
to ride along to deliver her products, until very recently. So when my chutney arrived, I’d fetch it from the delivery vehicle in order to get in some conversation in with Molly.
She was truly a force, an inspiration and a forerunner in every way and we will miss her bright presence.
July is a lovely time to be alive! Especially as a kid.
How many of you remember walking in the woods and finding puckery, acidic sorrel at this time of year?
It was Wood Sorrel, it looked bright green with yellow flowers and seeds reminiscent of a tiny banana, interestingly like shamrocks and good enough to put in my mouth. What an addictive surprise! Like the first “sour patch” experience.
The sorrel family is varied: there’s wood sorrel, French ( or round leaf) sorrel, sheep sorrel, red vein sorrel, a favorite (in micro form) of chefs everywhere…and the larger leaf sorrels. I grow the red vein for salad and decor and the larger leaf French for a delicious sauce or soup, a suitable, saucy foil for oily fish or the traditional Ukrainian/Jewish soup Schav. Follow me over to Seasonal Recipes for that recipe.
Sorrel is easy to grow in Maine. Think of it as the northern gardener’s lemon.
It is an early perennial, thrives in moist soil and cooler weather. It tolerates shade, and can be used either raw or cooked. Acidic and lemony by nature is contained an abundance of Oxalic Acid. It deserves a place in any potager or herb garden and probably on your table.
A Spring as wet as this one has produced a glorious burst of juicy rhubarb stalks, just begging for a go-round with some lemon zest and vanilla sugar.
Rhubarb is generally ready in my garden at about the same time as the first asparagus and the wild fiddlehead. It’s a celebration because winter is in the rear view mirror, finally, and the earliest jewels of the garden are here and ready to enjoy! My rhubarb is already sending up a blossom or two. These must be cut off in order for the stalks to get the growth needed to be fat and juicy. I always treat them as the lovely cut flower that they are and place those flowers in a vase.
The crab apples are snowing petals, grass s growing at an alarming rate and carrot seeds are being sown. It’s a heady moment for the Maine Gardener. There’s a lot to do outdoors after a long winter and the work days can be arduous .
Don’t you owe your self a nice, sweet/tart rhubarb dessert once you wash the dirt out from under your nails for the day?
Follow me over to Seasonal Recipes for a gorgeous Rhubarb Crisp made special with a crunchy crumble and a bit of candied ginger.
This Spring finds me with a new fascination for the healthy cuisine of Korea.
If you follow my blog, you may have noticed that I recently had a heart episode.
The doctor’s directive was “ eat closer to a Vegan diet”. My first thought was that it sounded a little boring, but after diving into Korean cuisine, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
The robust flavors and fermentation techniques prevalent in this traditional cuisine are defined by a “golden ratio” of 7 to 3, or vegetables to meats and carbs. So really very vegetable forward.
Rice, soup and sides are supported by fermented sides and pastes like kimchi, a popular side dish (made with chili and cabbage) and gochujang, which is a fermented red chili paste that brings a ton of flavor to the party.
Cooking like you live in Seoul, doesn’t require too much special equipment, but a rice cooker is a plus.
Another great dish to begin with is Kimchi. It takes a while to get the fermented result, but in the mean while learn how to make a Korean rice bowl, or Bibimbap, with its wonderful array of vegetables.
Nothing tops off Bibimbap like the umami filled spicy and piquant Gochujang. Making this sauce is a right of Spring in Korea.
Follow me over to Seasonal Recipes for the recipe!
I am celebrating in my own special way, with the joy of simply being alive. I had a close call just a week ago.
I’d scheduled myself a baseline stress test , having never had one. Long story short, I experienced a heart attack while trudging up an incline on the tread mill! Everything else happened fast. The wheel chair, the emergency room the blood tests and blood thinners and then the ambulance ride to Maine Medical Center in Portland. After several days stay and many tests I have three new stents and marching orders to eat lighter. Tell that to a French trained Chef. No butter? No swine? No wine? I guess bacon is out of the picture too…
What I learned, I would like to share.
Eating “well” and moderate exercise isn’t enough if you have chronically high cholesteral. After two decades of saying “no thanks” to statins, I am taking them now. I tossed the butter for better olive oil and am laser focused on lean proteins, eating the rainbow of vegetables and sadly, skipping dessert. For the time being, it’s goat cheese only. These are big changes for person whose life has been food and wine. But I am ready and entirely grateful for this wake up call.
It’s been an old fashioned winter, to be sure. We haven’t had snow piling up in such a protracted way for seasons.
The good news is, the NorthEast is where the snow is, so feeling very happy for the ski and winter activity resorts. They’ve had a few bad years, so this may not make up for it, but will certainly help!
“In like a lion” seems apt, we’re expecting the second storm of the week tomorrow. But even so, there’s already a change in the air, a quickening towards spring, and also in the quality of the light.
Soon, in a matter of days, it will be time to “spring ahead” with daylight savings time. That’s a definite boost!
Meanwhile, I’ll be content ( which seems a little underrated in today’s world) to watch the snow fall, the wild turkeys forage in the yard, note the witch hazel in winter flower, and ruminate with my seed and bulb catalogs.
Meanwhile eat hearty, stay warm and drink a little Guinness for old St. Pat!
Going to the root cellar is likely a dying tradition, however still very much alive amongst a certain style of Mainer.
Winter cooking used to be entirely informed by this. When people stored and ate what they grew (what remained in February were root vegetables, apples, cabbages, etc…and things that were “put by”, such as jams, jellies and pickles , salted meats and ferments) you’d better believe that there were some hearty soups and stews slated for the coldest days. So, get yourself some carrots, turnip, a rutabaga , cabbage, some creamy white beans, diced tomato, bone broth and a beef shin …OR MISO!…and go to town!
It seems like that this winter has really gotten real and we’re had weeks of“the coldest days”. Perfect for soup.
This is the sort of thing I want to cook and eat. I was first aquainted with it in Tuscany. They make a hearty soup, served over a slice of their saltless Tuscan bread called Ribolita. It means re-boiled and when you make a big pot, you’ll be eating it for a few days. So it must be “reboiled” or at least reheated!
It’s perfect! We know those days when it’s too cold to even get out of the house . Who wants to shop or cook? Do it once and enjoy the fruits of your labor for days!
Please pop over to SEASONAL RECIPES to learn some of the secrets to a successful RIBOLITA.
I was just checking with my Google Personal Assistant about the year ahead, 2026.
Beginning in mid February, the year of the Fire Horse begins, occurring once every 60 years. This represents a combination of the horse sign and fire element, expect dynamic action, adventure, and a shift from planning to rapid growth and bold execution.
What type of person will thrive this year? The entrepreneur for one, creatives, communications fields, travel and adventure… and leadership/public service ( nick of time!).
Food Safari is about travel, in this case traveling deep within to pull out aspects of the creative adventurer inside.
Sit in stillness to form your intentions for 2026. Release the things, habits, people that no longer serve, vision what you hope for and desire.Speak gently to yourself, try to serve others without expectation. Breathe, move into your fullness and remember to be grateful for the abundance that many of us are fortunate to know. Spread the love.
Bright Blessing for all that strengthens humanity and our paths on this fragile planet we call home.
I was not wrong to imagine that this plant played a multi faceted role with Maine indigenous people such as the Abenaki. It uses were vsried, from tea, which was drunk for congestion and cough, it was used too as a laxative, for headache, or cooked as a pot herb. Often the blossoms and young leaves were eaten raw, the bitter roots boiled for a tonic. It was even burned and used as a smudge to enhance mental clarity. Finally it was valued as an aid in deer hunting when used as an incense or masking smoke to cover their human scent.
The protocol couldn’t be easier:
Perhaps the first thing people think of when you say the word “Maine” is blueberries.
Around Waldoboro and until quite recently you could see spirited local kids of all ages with their blueberry rakes crowded into in a flatbed truck, headed for the blueberry farms around town. It was a summer rite of passage to rake blueberries for whatever pittance they were offering per flat while foundering yourself on berries, returning home stained and exhausted.
July is a lovely time to be alive! Especially as a kid.
The crab apples are snowing petals, grass s growing at an alarming rate and carrot seeds are being sown. It’s a heady moment for the Maine Gardener. There’s a lot to do outdoors after a long winter and the work days can be arduous .
This Spring finds me with a new fascination for the healthy cuisine of Korea.
Happy April Fool’s Day!
