After 11 days of mostly fast food, it was good to get home this evening to a jungle of slow food….
Ingredients: Hablitzia, Rumex acetosa, Rumex patientia, Myrrhis (young seeds), Hemerocallis middendorfii and H. lilioasphodelus (daylily buds), Crambe maritima (broccolis), Crambe cordifolia (broccolis), Nettle, 2* Origanum, Tragopogon pratensis (flower stems and buds), Allium senescens, Campanula latifolia, Asparagus trichophyllus, Chives (flower buds), Peltaria alliacea, garlic, chili and chicory (2 types)
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KVANN/ Norwegian Seed Savers will have a stand and be selling plants at this year’s “Vårtreff” on 28th May at Oslo’s Botanical Garden (Tøyen)
(see http://foreninger.uio.no/botaniskhagesvenner/arrangementer/2017/vartreff-2016.html)
Steering committee member Andrew McMillion will be there to tell you more about our organisation and you’ll be able to buy a number of interesting edible plants such as the fantastic perennial vegetable that all are talking about Hablitzia / Caucasian Spinach (stjernemelde). We have VIPPS! :)
This document describes the plants Andrew will have with him:
What an amazing group of people who had assembled in Jevnaker at the weekend to learn more about perennial vegetables, edible weeds and edimentals! It was sad to leave…
Thanks to Trude Skåre Johansen of Jevnaker Hage and Mr. Permaculture Norway himself, Jan Bang for arranging the weekend!
The Hablitzia salad, mostly Hablitzia shoots plus ground elder (skvallerkål), dandelion (løvetann), wild hop (humle), chicago onion (Allium cernuum), Allium scorodoparasum (bendelløk), primrose x oxlip hybrid (kusymre x hagenøkleblom), Primula elatior (oxlip / hagenøkleblom), Allium triquetrum, Allium paradoxum, Arabis alpina (flowers), Cardamine pentaphyllos (flowers), Primula denticulata (Kuleprimula; flowers)Great to finally stay with Jan Bang…who has a fantastic sunset…I admit that I did have a little slice of this cake at the weekend…
Congratulations to my friend Ronny Staquet who recently won a prestigious prize for his efforts in popularising Hablitzia at the Fête des Plantes de Printemps at Château de Saint-Jean de Beauregard just outside of Paris! See http://www.wallogreen.com/blog/?p=231
I’m proud too as this plant originated in Malvik. Ronny has over the years obtained most of my accessions (some 7 different) in return for help with this web site!! Rumour has it that Ronny has selected a golden leaved Hablitzia from this material!! :) Looking forward to that!
Cleaning out my office and I found a local newspaper article about an open day in my garden almost 13 years ago (August 2004) with a picture of me and my only 3 year old Hablitzia (noted in the caption as my favourite plant: a perennial spinach!) that’s still going strong and already in vigorous growth!
Last night (8th March 2017) was the first of two events I had been asked to take part in celebrating the diversity of vegetables that our area has on offer (or could have on offer) even in winter! The Trondheim Kosmorama international film festival are showing two films related to food. Last night, the film “NOMA: My perfect storm” was shown and around 40 people also bought tickets to a fantastic 10-15 course, 4 hour meal (I lost count) at Trondheim’s NOMA: Credo!
I supplied a number of vegetables for the dinner and these are shown here, several being served for the first time in Norway :)
All the veggies including Primula elatior (oxlip / hagenøkleblom flowers)Blanched dandelions (løvetann)Oca, ulluco, Hablitzia shoots (stjernemelde) and Chicago onioBlanched horseradish (top left) with blanched wild dandelion, Aleksandra garlic bulbil sprouts, Chicago onion (Allium cernuum), different types of Oca (Oxalis tuberosa) and Ulluco (Ullucus tuberosus – green tubers)Sweet cicely / spansk kjørvel seed sprouts at the top with blanched horseradish shoots at bottom and blanched wild dandelion on the right
The first into flower in the garden (after Hazel), winter aconite / vinterblom – NOT edible
A lot of Alliums like this Allium victorialis have been growing steadily in the mild winter conditions and not affected by -5C at present. This accession came from Reykjavik, originally from a botanical garden in Sakhalin!
Here is an article in Nationen, a Norwegian daily newspaper with a particular focus on agriculture, from my garden in 2011 by journalist Bente Haarstad. “Blomster på Matbordet” means literally “Flowers on the Edible Table”. It was written based on a garden visit on 11th August 2011 organised by the Trondheim Useful Plants Society (Trondheim sopp- og nyttevekstforening).
A journalist, Bjørg Hernes, from local newspaper Malvikbladet was also there and here is her article:
Finally, an album of pictures taken by my daughter, Hazel! The journalists are in these pictures as is the salad!
The moment Saideh Salamati, originally from Iran, spoke up to tell us that she used the seed of one of Norway’s perceived worst invasive. The seed is a popular spice in Iran called golpar, now an important spice in my own kitchen!
10 years ago in July 2006, I received an email seed request from a Sergey Banketov in the Caucasus. I don’t usually trade seed in summer, but he had such an interesting list of wild collected species from the Caucasus that I made an exception and we traded seeds. At the time I was writing my article on Hablitzia tamnoides for Permaculture Magazine and on the offchance I asked “Do you know the plant Hablitzia tamnoides? It was introduced to Sweden in about 1870 as an ornamental plant and later it was realised that it was also a very good edible plant (used in the springtime as spinach) . It is still grown in some gardens in Scandinavia for food. However, I can find no reference to its use as a food plant in its home range (the Caucasus). Do you have any information about its use? I am also interested in seed from wild populations and photographs of the plant in the wild as I am writing an article about it.”
Sergey, a botanist, lived in the city of Pyatigorsk in the Stavropol region of Russia (Northern Caucasus) and he quickly replied:
“I know a plant of Hablitzia tamnoides. This plant grows with us in the vicinity of the city. And like for the first time it is described from mountain Mashuk. I shall collect seeds and I shall try to photograph her. Unfortunately the information on it is very poor. I hear the first time that she is edible. With us we do not use even for decorative purposes. I shall try to learn about it at work (Botanical institute) and in the pharmaceutical academy.”
Just 4 days later he sent me these 4 pictures of the plant growing on northern slope at the bottom of the mountain Mashuk (see the images for the location). Further he told me that nobody knows the plant apart from botanists!
Location of Pyatigorsk in the Northern Caucasus
Mt. Mashuk is on the outskirts of the city
Picture by Sergey Banketov on the lower northern slopes of Mt. Mashuk
Picture by Sergey Banketov on the lower northern slopes of Mt. Mashuk
Picture by Sergey Banketov on the lower northern slopes of Mt. Mashuk
Picture by Sergey Banketov on the lower northern slopes of Mt. Mashuk
In January 2007, Sergey sent me his new seed list which now included Hablitzia! In February, I received a good amount of wild seed, collected from 3-4 plants at the bottom of Mt. Mashuk (my own single plant produced almost no seed) and in the Permaculture Magazine article an offer of seed was given, the source being Sergey.
