Dandelions are one of my favourite winter perennial vegetables. During the summer, wild dandelions sow themselves on my cultivated beds….one of the advantages of having too much open soil! I deliberately let them grow on until late autumn when I dig up some of the roots, others left to grow on to the next year, and plant them in large pots ready to force later in the winter like witloof chicory. I usually force them by moving from storage in my cellar to a cool room in the house where I force them in the dark!
Many thanks to my friend Alfredo Sendim for inviting me to hold a course at his amazingly diverse Herdade do Freixo do Meio farm. It is run as a cooperative using many innovative agricultural methods, inspired in particular by Ernst Goetsch and Syntropic Farming! I was very happy that Fernanda Botelho also joined us to share her knowledge on local edible plants!
The 3 videos at the end show Agroforestry methods on the farm at Freixo do Meio, olives intercropped with a wide diversity of edibles and other useful plants!
The day started with my lecture
The course participants were joined by a group of farm workers and well known Portuguese forager /herbalist Fernanda Botelho!
Group hug of one of the ancient olive trees!
Ancient olives
Fernanda with the biggest dandelion we found!
Alfredo Sendim, whose family have owned the farm for generations, lead a long 5 hour tour around the farm…here showing how this cork oak was scarred by poor cutting in the past!
Typical form 0f Pinus pinea, umbrella pine, source of pine nuts, an important crop in this warm, dry area of Portugal!
Water is important for the animals…
Pistacia lentiscus, the mastic tree!
Acis autumnalis and Scilla autmnalis had appearedin response to the first rains after a prolonged drought!
Medronheiro, the strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo)
Medronheiro, the strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo)
Asparagus….woody plants here…just beginning to sprout!
Acis autumnalis and Scilla autmnalis
Quercus ilex ssp rotundifolia? (Holm oak), an important product of the farm!
Field mushrooms, the first of the autumn!
Pinus pinea
These acorns were actually quite sweet !
There was large diversity on the farm where machinery couldn’t reach…here with Pistacia, Ruscus aculeatus and Umbilicus!
Umbilicus rupestris
Me with Fernanda Botelho
Smilax aspera (young edible shoots like asparagus)
Stephen Barstow 30 October · Pistacia lentiscus, mastic tree
Calamintha nepeta
The seed grinding rock!
The transport home was a cattle truck…here with my friend Jorge Carona!
My accommodation on the farm!
Prickly pear with acorns and acorn biscuits (bolota)!
Showing the diversity of acorns on the farm (pictures taken by Alfredo!)
The agroforestry area.
Whitethroat? in the Agroforestry area
Stonechat in the Agroforestry area
The Egg Temple
They had a few deer in a compound next to the Egg Temple…apparently the hens were healthier with deer nearby..
Dwarf Pomegranate and Canna
Canna
Canna
Clouded yellow and lucerne
Lily
Blackcurrant sage
Mentha suaveolens
The delivery van returning….the farm sells though their shop in Lisbon
More traditional CSA area
More traditional CSA area
Oxalis corniculata, edible weed on the CSA area
The shop
Clouded yellow butterfly on lucerne:
Agroforestry methods on the farm at Freixo do Meio, olives intercropped with a wide diversity of edibles and other useful plants:
On a work trip to Italy on 4th April 2009 I took the opportunity to visit Orto Botanico in Padua. Founded in 1545 by the Venetian Republic, it is the world’s oldest academic botanical garden that is still in its original location! Here’s an album of pictures of mostly edible plants I took that day!
Gingko biloba
Platanus orientalis from 1680!
Magnolia liliiflora
Musa basjoo
Cercis siliquastrum
Koelreuteria paniculata( Golden Rain Tree) has edible shoots and the seeds were roasted
There are many records of Tamus communis being eaten traditionally in the Mediterranean countries (from Spain to Palestine), butcareful preparation is needed to boil away the saponins
Viola banksii from Australia
Cardamine enneaphylla
Asparagus acutifolius
Polygonatum hybridum
Asparagus tenuifolius
Asparagus tenuifolius
Polygonatum odoratum
Melittis melissophyllum is sometimes used as a flavouring in drinks, like maibowle
Hosta fluctuans
Hosta nakaina
Hosta capitata
Hosta crispula
Hosta elata
Hosta rectifolia
Hosta decorata
Oenanthe pimpinelloides
Smyrnium olusatrum
Ferula assa-foetida (?); most accessions of this Indian spice are wrong in European botanical gardens
Crambe cordifolia
Boehmeriabiloba
Rumex patientia
Sagittaria platyphylla
Polymnia uvedalia, north American relation of yacon
Sitting at my desk this morning I noticed the winter’s first goldfinch (stillits) sitting having a scratch in a tree in the garden (first video)….and the rest of the flock of more than 10 birds were feeding on burdock (borre) in the garden. The first ever large flocks of goldfinches started overwintering in my area in my garden in 2003 and have been a regular feature ever since, attracted to seed of burdock which I’ve been growing as vegetables in the garden for many years! Nowadays this bird has established itself in the lowlands around the Trondheimsfjord! This is another reason why winter is the most beautiful time of year here, despite the loss of direct sunshine for several weeks!
I was blown away by the edible and medicinal gardens at the Janas Ecovillage (Ecoaldeia de Janas) during my stay there. Part of my course there was a tour of the gardens and when I enthused about the Portuguese perennial kale growing well in the gardens somebody quipped “Must be the holy grail of veggies!”. Well, not far from it, I’d tried to find it on previous work trip to Portugal having read João Silva Dias’ paper about it (see the last slide for the reference). I had contacted Dias (at the Technical University of Lisbon) to ask if he would share cuttings, but sadly he wasn’t willing. Imagine my surprise then seeing a woody plant that resembled the pictures in his paper. It was confirmed to be called Couve de Estaca (which I think means cabbage propagated by cuttings) in the ecovillage garden. The oldest plant was about 4 years and there was a newer two year old bed planted closely from cuttings! It didn’t flower!
So, here are a few pictures of the holy grail kale :)
The 4 year old plant
The two year old bed
Propagated by cuttings planted close
Picking older leaves for the animals
Picking older leaves for the animals
The slide I had been using to try to find the Portuguese perennial kale with alternative names for the plant from Dias’ paper
On the morning of my permaveggies course in Mértola, we did a wild walk into the Bombeira do Guadiana Biodiversity Station where information signs have been put up along a 1km trail informing about the rich local flora and fauna. There were many knowledgeable people in the group so that we managed to identify most of the plants we saw. Following recent rains there were many new shoots but few flowers….but we were lucky to see two species of Asparagus in flower!
Marta Cortegano gives an introduction before the walk
We found our first wild asparagus quite quickly
We had visited the evening before with Nuno Roxo and he showed us two species, only one of which he harvested.
We found a few shoots by digging around the base of the plant but at this time they are unpleasantly bitter.
Asparagus albus is Nuno’s preferred species for the edible shoots
Wild artichoke / alcachofra-de-são-joão (Cynara humilis) – has been used traditionally in Mediterranean countries – both peeled basal leaves and “artichokes”
Rumex pulcher subsp woodsii (coenha)
Colchicum?
Phlomis purpurea
Helichrysum stoechas
Wild olives
Discussing how to tell the four local oak species apart
Opuntia
NB!!! It resembles an Angelica, but seems to be Thapsia transtagana…a genus known as Deadly Carrots!!
Filming from all angles
Oxalis
Opuntia
?
?
Asparagus albus
Asphodelus ramosus distalis flowering out of season
The Portuguese water dog!
What was this? Daphne?
?
Cupressus?
Cupressus?
Arum shoots
Mértola
A wild almond
View of the Guadiana River…I was told that tides reached this far upstream
Cormorants on the river…there were also white and grey herons
Asparagus in old worker’s garden
View of Mértola
Puffball
The Guadiana river (we sadly had to turn back before we reached the river, but botanised on other days along the river.
Fennel / fiolho, funcho, erva-doce
There were many shoots of what I assume were Asphodelus
Wild asparagus and Mértola
Wild asparagus and Mértola
Wild almond covered in nuts
Portuguese Water Dog
This looks like Rumex but I’m not sure…
Pistacia lentiscus
There were four species of Lavandula here: stoechas, viridis, pedunculata and multifida
Lavandula multifida, only found in the Serra da Arrábida, just south of Lisbon and in Mértola!
Pyrus bourgaeana
Marrubium vulgare (marroio-branco)
Eucalyptus
Dianthus crassipes?
Cebola-albarrã / sea squill (Drimia maritima)?
Opuntias covered in fruit on the other side of the river
Distant Opuntias
Two species of Lavandula
Perennial vegetables, Edimentals (plants that are edible and ornamental) and other goings on in The Edible Garden
