Over the past few days, we planted the last vegetables for this year: Hokkaido pumpkins and courgettes / zucchinis. Both were pre-grown in the cold greenhouse.

That was possible, because after 3 very dry and warm weeks in May, we had a fair amount of rain last week. Finally!

So the rain barrels are nicely filled again. And everything we had sown and planted in the past few months got a huge boost. Important, for the young annual stuff like different kinds of peas and beans, tomatoes, garlic, potatoes, cabbages.... But also the perennials like all the fruit bushes and trees, walnut trees, chestnut trees, wild asparagus, perennial kale, wild garlic, primal leek... And of course all the ‘wild’ plants and trees and the weeds... They all do great after a good sip of water and regular sunshine.

Temperatures are a bit on the low side at the moment, but that doesn't hinder growth and fruiting.

Making room for more edible plants

We have slightly pruned some old, feral shrubs and trees after their flowering. Especially the rhododendrons which were rather overgrown and were suffocating other plants. This has made room for new (edible) crops. Moreover, this has allowed us to replenish the tea and medicinal supplies somewhat. Young shoots of silver fir and blue spruce, leaves of rhododendron, hazel, oak and white willow, flowers of mountain cornflower, hawthorn blossom... And among others, leaves of the dandelion as dried vegetables for ‘scarce times’.

And, quite as the book says: the berries of the Honey berry are starting to color, as the first berries of the various kinds we have in our garden.

Medicinal plants

There is an old saying: if you are sick, you can find a cure or a relief in the nature that surrounds you.

In recent months, we have been identifying as many plants in our garden and immediate surroundings as possible. We then looked up the edibility and medicinal properties of these plants on the internet. And of course in the important and valuable book we own, ‘Great Handbook of Medicinal Plants’.

This created our own archive of a very large proportion of the plants that surround us. Not only the weeds, also trees, many ornamental shrubs, fruits and vegetables turn out to have medicinal properties.
Thus, a treasure of information is at our disposal on what is edible in our garden and surroundings, and what can help to relieve or cure an ailment.

There is so much information available on the properties and uses of plants.It feels like quite a luxury to be able to find it all so easily. With enormous thanks to all our ancestors, who, sometimes at the risk of their own lives, from an intense bond with nature, passed on this information to us.

In the captions of the photos in this blog, I mentioned just a few of the, often many, workings of the plant in question.

We have now described 120+ species found in our forest garden, and we can safely say that our private pharmacy has something to offer for many, many ailments !

Food Forest Garden

Read more about our Food Forest Garden on the pages What We Eat, What We Grow and Where We Grow It.

On the first page, I'll give you an overview of what we eat. After all, that determines what we want to grow, the fruits, nuts and vegetables in the garden.

Then I'll tell you what's in the garden, and finally where it is and the overall layout.

This will give you some insight into the start of the establishment of our food forest garden, the perennials and trees.

And in this blogs I tell you more about eating Raw and Wild and about Drying and preserving.

Ecological footprint

Want to know your ecological footprint? 

Visit this website: https://www.footprintcalculator.org/home/en 

Want to reduce your ecological footprint ?

Then ask me, I will help you. For free. Or simply choose in the menu for Your Footprint (and read a bit about our simple way of living).

If you appreciate my writings and art and want to support me, you can buy me a piece of fruit here: https://ko-fi.com/jacobberghoef 

Thank you 🍏 !