EcoLogic Culture

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Europe's tallest aspen measured in Estonia Scientists have identified Europe's tallest common aspen (Populus tremula) in Estonia's Nigula Nature Reserve, located in Pärnu County. The record-breaking tree stands at 45.5 meters, surpassing the previous European record by more than four meters.

Days are getting pretty dark in Estonia, but the 'Black Magic' kale is thriving in the greenhouse 💚🖤

If you are in need for seeds for the future, cold tolerant plants are also available 🤍✨ (link in bio)

Many earwig species also display maternal care, which is uncommon among insects 💚

One reason why preserving plant varieties is an important act ❣️

Seeds From Wild Crop Relatives Could Help Agriculture Weather Climate Change The hardy wild cousins of domesticated crops can teach us how to adapt to a hotter, more unpredictable future.

Have a nice rest of the week 🌚🌱

Fermentation processes are not only exciting and useful but also provide great support for health.

With the summer ending it is also important to create a nice home-warming atmosphere 🤎

If you wish to bake your own healthy low-gluten rye sourdough, the staple of the Nordic diet, visit the link in the bio for some starter culture.

Having enough water has become an issue in many parts of the world by now. Global warming many times evaporates rain before it would even reach the ground ( yes even here in the North). So we need to be thoughtful of how we use water and maintain our oasis instead of letting it become part of the desertification process.💧

A good thing that you could do to your plants instead of letting them be thirsty is to become friends with some w**ds. Many w**ds are useful to soil and help keep moisture underground. So before getting rid of them consider their role in the system. They may be also food for you or other pollinators.💚

These small plants sprouting between tomatoes and basil are purslane (Portulaca oleracea) which is often seen as a w**d. I willingly planted them not only for soil cover, but they are also highly nutritious containing more Omega-3 fatty acids than any other green leafy vegetable besides many other health benefits they have. 🌱

**dsaregood

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THESE 9 ARE CALLED WEEDS, BUT ARE HEALTHY FOR US

Did you know that some w**ds we are always worried about in our yards and Gardens are actually good for you, and can be delicious if prepared properly? Be sure to identify the w**ds correctly (The ones described here are easy to spot.) Avoid harvesting from anyplace you suspect pollution — such as from vehicle exhaust, lawn pesticide or doggy business. And remember that edible does not mean allergen-free. Here are 9 good ones:

DANDELION
Dandelion is one of the healthiest and most versatile vegetables on the planet. The entire plant is edible. The leaves are like vitamin pills, containing generous amounts of vitamins A, C and K — far more than those garden tomatoes, in fact — along with calcium, iron, manganese, and potassium.

The leaves are most tender, and tastiest, when they are young. This happens in the spring but also all summer along as the plant tries to rebound after being cut or pulled. You can add them to soup in great abundance. Or you can prepare them Italian style by sautéing with a little olive oil, salt, garlic and some hot red pepper.

You can eat the bright, open flower heads in a lightly fried batter. You can also make a simple wine with the flowers by fermenting them with raisins and yeast. If you are slightly adventurous, you can roast the dandelion root, grind it, and brew it like coffee. It's an acquired taste. You might want to have some sugar on hand.

PURSLANE
If you've ever lived in the city, you have seen good ol' Portulaca olearacea, or common purslane. The stuff grows in cracks in the sidewalk. Aside from being surprisingly tasty for a crack dweller, purslane tops the list of plants with omega-3 fatty acids, the type of healthy fat found in salmon.
If you dislike the bitter taste of dandelion greens, you still might like the lemony taste of purslane. The stems, leaves and flowers are all edible; and they can be eaten raw on salads — as they are prepared worldwide — or lightly sautéed.

You should keep a few things in mind, though, before your harvest. Watch out for spurge, a similar-looking sidewalk-crack dweller. Spurge is much thinner than purslane, and it contains a milky sap, so you can easily differentiate it. Also, your mother might have warned you about eating things off the sidewalk; so instead, look for purslane growing in your garden, or consider transplanting it to your garden from a sidewalk.

Also, note the some folks incorrectly call purslane "pigw**d," but that's a different w**d — edible but not as tasty.

LAMB'S QUARTERS
Lamb's-quarters are like spinach, except they are healthier, tastier and easier to grow. Lamb's-quarters, also called goosefoot, usually need more than a sidewalk crack to grow in, unlike dandelion or purslane. Nevertheless, they can be found throughout the urban landscape, wherever there is a little dirt.

The best part of the lamb's-quarters are the leaves, which are slightly velvety with a fine white powder on their undersides. Discard any dead or diseased leaves, which are usually the older ones on the bottom of the plant. The leaves and younger stems can be quickly boiled or sautéed, and they taste like a cross between spinach and Swiss chard with a slight nutty after-taste.

Maybe that taste combination doesn't appeal to you, but lamb's-quarters are ridiculously healthy. A one-cup serving will give you 10 times the daily-recommended dose of vitamin K; three times the vitamin A; more than enough vitamin C; and half your daily dose of calcium and magnesium.

PLANTAIN
Plantain, like dandelion, is a healthy, hardy w**d as ubiquitous in the city as broken glass. You know what it looks like, but you might not have known the name.
Part of the confusion is that plantain shares its name with something utterly different, the banana-like plantain, whose etymology is a mix of Spanish and native Caribbean. The so-called w**d plantain, or Plantago major, was cultivated in pre-Columbus Europe; and indeed Native Americans called it "the white man's footprint," because it seemed to follow European settlers.

Plantain has a nutritional profile similar to dandelion — that is, loaded with iron and other important vitamins and minerals. The leaves are tastiest when small and tender, usually in the spring but whenever new shoots appear after being cut back by a lawnmower. Bigger leaves are edible but bitter and fibrous.

The shoots of the broadleaf plantain, when green and tender and no longer than about four inches, can be described as a poor-man's fiddlehead, with a nutty, asparagus-like taste. Pan-fry in olive oil for just a few seconds to bring out this taste. The longer, browner shoots are also tasty prepared the same way, but the inner stem is too fibrous. You'll need to place the shoot in your mouth, clench with your teeth, and quickly pull out the stem. What you're eating are the plantain seeds.

The leaves of the equally ubiquitous narrow-leaf plantain, or Plantago lanceolata, also are edible when young. The shoot is "edible" only with quotation marks. You can eat the seeds should you have the patience to collect hundreds of plants for the handful of seeds you'd harvest. With time being money, it's likely not worth it.

CHICKWEED
One of the not-so-ugly w**ds worth pulling and keeping is chickw**d. Identified by purple stems, fuzzy green leaves, and starry white flower petals, this w**d is a fantastic source of vitamins A, D, B complex, and C. It also contains minerals like iron, zinc, calcium, and potassium. Chickw**d (Stellaria media) has a cornsilk-like flavor when eaten raw, and tastes similar to spinach when it is cooked. [1]

Chickw**d nourishes the lymph and glandular systems, and can heal cysts, fevers, and inflammation. It can help neutralize acid and help with yeast overgrowth and fatty deposits, too.
Additionally, chickw**d can be finely chopped and applied externally to irritated skin. Steep the plant in ¼ cup of boiling water for 15 minutes, and chickw**d provides benefits similar to dandelion root. Speaking of dandelion…

CLOVER
Other than the occasional four-leafed clover hunt, this common lawn w**d goes mostly unnoticed, even though it is becoming popular as a lawn replacement altogether. Clover is an important food for honeybees and bumblebees, and clover leaves and flowers can be used to add variety to human meals as well. Small amounts of raw clover leaves can be chopped into salads, or can be sauteed and added to dishes for a green accent, and the flowers of both red and white clover can be eaten raw or cooked, or dried for tea.

MALLOW
Mallow, or malva, is also known as cheesew**d, due to the shape of its seed pods, and can be found in many lawns or garden beds across the US. The leaves and the seed pods (also called the 'fruit') are both edible, either raw or cooked, and like many greens, are often more tender and palatable when smaller and less mature. The older leaves can be used like any other cooked green after steaming, boiling, or sauteing them.

WILD AMARANTH
The leaves of the wild amaranth, also known as pigw**d, are another great addition to any dish that calls for leafy greens, and while the younger leaves are softer and tastier, the older leaves can also be cooked like spinach. The seeds of the wild amaranth can be gathered and cooked just like store-bought amaranth, either as a cooked whole grain or as a ground meal, and while it does take a bit of time to gather enough to add to a meal, they can be a a good source of free protein.

STINGING NETTLES
It sounds like a cruel joke, but stinging nettles — should you be able to handle them without getting a painful rash from the tiny, acid-filled needles — are delicious cooked or prepared as a tea.

You may have brushed by these in the woods or even in your garden, not knowing what hit you, having been trained all your life to identify poison ivy and nothing else. The tiny needles fortunately fall off when steamed or boiled. The trick is merely using garden gloves to get the nettles into a bag.

Nettles tastes a little like spinach, only more flavorful and more healthful. They are loaded with essential minerals you won't find together outside a multivitamin bottle, and these include iodine, magnesium, potassium, phosphorous, silica and sulfur. Nettles also have more protein than most plants.

You can eat the leaves and then drink the water as tea, with or without sugar, hot or cold. If you are adventurous — or, you can collect entire plants to dry in your basement. The needles will eventually fall off, and you can save the dried leaves for tea all winter long. Info by Christopher Wanjek

Please visit our THE SEED GUY website when you get the chance. We have 9 Heirloom Seed Packages on Sale Now, Non GMO, still hand counted and packaged, like the old days, so you get the best germination, and fresh from the New 2021 Harvest https://theseedguy.net/15-seed-packages

You can also Call Us 7 days a week, and up to 10:00 pm each night, at 918-352-8800 if you would like to Order By Phone.

***FYI--We still have good stock in our Heirloom Seeds, but we got behind from so many orders, so just had to shut sales down for a few days to catch up on packaging and shipping. Linda will post more of our 60 Variety Heirloom Seed package for sale on Monday April 4th at 9:00 am. Thank you. ***

If you LIKE US on our page, you will be on our list for more great Gardening Articles, new Heirloom Seed Offers, and healthy Juice Recipes https://www.facebook.com/theseedguy Thank you, and God Bless You and Your Family.

The potential of art lies in opening up new ways of thinking and making transformation imaginable ✨

The necessary changes require the creativity of society as a whole 💫

Come as you are regardless of age or background and respond to the need of transformation throughout a joint creative act on 5th April at 7pm in Berlin at Group Global 3000 - Art and Other Sustainabilities 💚

Baltic Sea Day will be celebrated for 2nd time in Tallinn 💙

Baltic Sea Day celebrated for 2nd time in Tallinn For the second year in a row, Tallinn celebrates Baltic Sea Day that is held on August 26. Marine and environmental specialists as well as all townspeople are welcome to the events of the thematic day dedicated to the wellbeing of the Baltic Sea.

Thanks for everyone who took part of the seedbomb workshop today at . Hope your creations will find their best place 💚🌱

Photos by ✨