Garlic Scape Pesto

The cold weather this spring and summer are incredible for cool season beauties in the garden like our kale, lettuce, herbs, cabbage, broccoli and GARLIC.  I had a guest recently ask, "is that corn growing".  They likely did not realize what a complement that truly is.  Here is a wonderful recipe I use for the garlic scapes.  This pesto has been wonderful as a veggie dip, on a salad, and over pasta.  

Ingredients:

6-7 garlic scapes

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

1/2 cup olive oil

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup parmesan cheese 

Instructions:

Blend in a food processor til smooth and creamy .  

Use fresh or jar it up in the freezer for a cold winters night treat. 





Printed from North Cascades Basecamp recipe blog
www.northcascadesbasecamp.com
July 2013

Wild Food & Fish Foraging Weekend

June 24-26th, we hosted a Wild Foods and Foraging Workshop at the North Cascades Basecamp.  Through the lush summer greenery we tromped about, searching for and sampling the botanical bounty of the Basecamp.  Along the way we plucked greens, gnawed stems, and dug roots.  By the end of the day we eleven learners were all the more aware of the array of natural foods available to us throughout the time and place that is the Basecamp.  

Our menu for the weekend included:

Friday 6/24

Dinner ◦ Slow cooked ham locally grown and harvested ; ◦ Roasted garden potatoes and yams; ◦ Cabbage, carrot, apple slaw with sweet cicily roots; ◦ Emmer rolls; ◦ Rosehip & Mint tea; Dessert

◦ Vanilla ice cream with elderberry syrup

Saturday 6/25

Breakfast ◦ Egg strata w/ sautéed fireweed greens; ◦ Strawberries; ◦ Elderberry scones; ◦ Strawberry/Blackberry leaf tea

Lunch ◦ Wild rice with feta, cow parsnip stalks and wild bulbs; ◦ Salad of wild greens and flowers; ◦ Watermelon; ◦ Coconut-Chocolate Dibs cookies

Appetizer ◦ Salmon skin chips with herbed cream spread

Dinner ◦ Cast iron rainbow trout with foraged wild mushrooms, bacon and herbs; ◦ Smoked wild salmon with stinging nettle sauce garnished with miners lettuce; ◦ Nettle gnocchi; ◦ Asparagus and bracken fern fronds; ◦ Dandelion-Sorrel tea; Dessert ◦ Apple/ Rhubarb cobbler with gingered whipping cream

Sunday 6/26

Breakfast:  ◦ Emmer waffles; ◦ Homemade blueberry-applesauce; ◦ Yogurt, toasted sunflower seeds, syrup; ◦ Cantaloupe

 

Dana Visalli taught us mushroom identification, Steve Bondi discussed the ecology of Mazama and the wild foods we collected, and Becky Selengut discussed sustainable fishing with the group as well as demonstrated a fabulous culinary dinner on Saturday night with the foods we harvested.  

Edible plants (leaves, roots, stems, bulbs or flowers) found and sampled during our weekend workshop at the Basecamp

• Serviceberry
• Elderberry
• Chokecherry
• Thimbleberry
• Raspberry
• Sticky currant
• Balsalmroot
• Oregon grape
• Tiger lily
• Cow parsnip
• Sweet cicily
• Wild rose
• Wild mint
• Lamb’s quarters
• Salsify
• Lady fern
• Bracken fern
• yarrow

Salad mix

• miners lettuce
• stream violet (yellow)
• dandelion
• white clover
• plantain
• slender hawkweed
• pineapple weed
• cleavers (bedstraw)
• sheep sorrel
• wood’s violet (purple)
• sedum (stonecrop)
• rock cress
• oxeye daisy

Mushroom sampled:

• Black morels
• xxx

Teas

• rose hip and mint
• dandelion and sorrel
• raspberry and strawberry leaf

Others sampled and discussed but not seen on site

• Spring beauty
• Fireweed
• Chocolate lily
• Glacier lily
• Stinging nettles

Natural Currents: Harlequin Duck Females on the Methow River

Over the pond from North Cascades Basecamp and through the woods to the Methow River we go.  From the strategically setup bench, our eyes followed a Spotted Sandpiper flying over a long bobbling log floating stationary in the river.  On its southern wooded tip, two female Harlequin Ducks were resting with their heads down tight, as the motion of the river currents put them fast asleep.  Suddenly, another alarming female came flying in from down river to make a controlled crash landing in the turbulence of the river next to the log.  She jumped up and onto the jam and joined the other two females to groom herself in preparation for a good nights sleep upon a soothing, yet wild, water bed.

To know more about the life history of the Harlequin Duck, please check out the following Audubon Link:  Seattle Audubon Society

Morels are Up in the Methow Valley

Hurrah!  Black Morels (Morchella species) have begun their ascent into the skies and landscapes of the Methow Valley.  One often associates collecting these mushroom gems from fire-burned areas that occurred in previous years.  However, if one has the eyes to see jewels in the rough, then this mushroom is also momentarily making its debut along and near the banks of the Methow River in association with the leaf litter of Black Cottonwoods.

Another woodland wonder that is currently arising is the Yellow Morel.  This mushroom also has mycorrhizal relationships with deciduous trees such as the cottonwood tree.  Both these mushrooms are splendid as an addition to gourmet cuisine.  Finding mushrooms of these types gives the hunter a true feeling of communion with the land, as they then take care in each step, as one’s awareness is then in the infinite details of nature’s understory. 

In the first several weeks of May, the Early Morel was the first to peak its head above ground in groundhog fashion. This is one of many false morels that often fool novice collectors.  Also known as Verpa bohemica, this species in known by some to be poisonous and by others as edible if cooked properly.  Apparently, it can cause gastronomical upset in some individuals.  I ate this false morel on two occasions, and found it to be fine to the taste.  So collect and eat with caution knowing exactly that which you partake in.

In the photo above, you can see how the black morel on the left has its skirt or cap attached to the stem where the skirt ends towards the bottom.  However, in Verpa bohemica,on the right, the cap is attached at the top of the stem.  The interior of the stem also has a soft cottony tissue that often has worms browsing about in the older mushrooms. 

And finally, yesterday I found yet another species of Morel look-alikes called Verpa conica. I found this false morel, also known as thimble fungus, under some conifer trees near a pond.  The literature sites this mushroom as edible by some, with the chance that some foragers will have gastronomical discomfort. 

Have fun in the woods……

And be sure to have a great i.d. book and know what you are picking and browsing upon always. 

Beaver Restoration

WSU's restoration ecology class came to the North Cascades Basecamp for an overnight on their 3-day eastern Washington field trip to discuss beavers as restoration specialists.  Steve and I took them into the field and hosted an evening presentation to show and talk to the students about beavers and their amazing ability to restore wetland habitat for a host of wildlife species.    The Methow Beaver Relocation Project was very interesting to these amateur biologists.

Home for the Birds

The Methow Valley Community School 3-4th graders were at the Basecamp for their outdoor education day and helped hang songbird-sized birdhouses throughout the upper portion of the property.  We decided not to put any in the lower wetland and cedar grove areas because there is so much habitat already available to our cavity nesters. The true need was on the grounds near our infrastructure.  We took note to hang the boxes on trees where disturbance is minimal, they can be seen easily from the hot tub, cabin and lodge breakfast areas, and adjacent to our home/garden.  We placed them on the south to east side of the trees where the sunshine can warm their cold little bodies early in the mornings on these still so chilly nights.

Spring Blooms

The glacier lilies are blooming around the Basecamp!  It is fun for us to watch the transformation from winter snow, to first flowers, and onto spring bloom.  This is the season last year when we spent a fair amount of time on the property, before we made the jump to ownership.  This is also how the glacier lily, a favorite of our family, became the logo for our new business venture.