Description: Fall in the Okanagan features warm days and frosty nights. This tea perfectly captures warm skies and frosty bite. Why the Name: Harvested while the frost was still on the leaves, this tea got its name from the beautiful fall mornings where we live. Net Weight: 37+g Price: $12 + shipping Tea: Morning Frost $12.00 Buy now
It grows wild all over the Okanagan. It is known to make cats go crazy. It can be smoked like cannabis but is not related even remotely, nor has any kind of intoxicating result. This plant actually belongs to the mint family! Whenever we’ve tried to give this plant to our cat, he’s a) acted like it’s an intruder and to be treated warily, and b) the one time he couldn’t get away from it, he got worried and scared that he couldn’t seem to control himself. This plant has been known to sedate felines as well. Our cat’s reaction…
Lichen is one of those plants classified in the edible/survival food category! But not all lichens are edible. If they are greenish-yellow, yellow, orange, or hairy, there is a strong chance they are not edible and may actually be toxic! Reindeer Lichen is one of the few hairy-ish type lichens that are edible. When edible is paired with Lichen, the intention is that you can ingest it, it does have necessary trace elements to the human body, and it does have nutritional value, but tastes absolutely terrible as a singular food! Some who have tried to prepare it as a…
Cows eat it. Horses eat it. Humans eat it as a sprout. Of course if you’re pregnant, at risk for Lupus, or on blood thinning medication, you may want to steer clear of this widely and commercially-grown herb in both it’s seed and sprout forms, at least in large quantities. Unfortunately, Alfalfa sprouts sold in stores do not carry this warning, and it would appear you do need to eat it fairly frequently to risk the complications that can arise. Even in horses, too much Alfalfa can cause health problems due to the sugar content. So if eaten in moderation…
You can find it in the grocery store and on the shelves of your local healthfood store too. But did you know you can probably find it in your backyard as well? Yarrow is a “weed” that grows well across the entire northern hemisphere! In the Okanagan, it is common to see its white or pale yellow flower heads in the late Spring/early Summer, but it’s feathery leaves can be harvested almost year-round depending on growing conditions. Those leaves are classified as ever-green, so even if it snows and you know where to look, you can harvest them even in…
Pine needles, and conifers in general, have a very mixed review of their safety versus toxicity online. When we first began foraging, we brought with us various misconceptions about what was and wasn’t edible. For example, I grew up being told that Mountain Ash was poisonous, but information is coming out saying otherwise and that its great for use in cooking meat! I haven’t tried it yet because I plan to do more research before harvesting that berry. But when you spend so much of your life being told one thing and then another pops up, you have to be…
Nettle, otherwise known as “Stinging Nettle”, grows all over the Okanagan Valley! This wide-ranging plant, best known for how it makes your skin feel if you accidentally brush past it, has an amazing array of beneficial uses in human daily life. It is best harvested while wearing long-sleeves and long pants or jeans, fully-enclosed footwear and gloves. Garden sheers can help trim only the parts of the plant you want. If you are in a zone where someone absolutely wants the plant gone, taking the entire plant roots and all will help both you and the property owner. Side note:…
The very name of this berry is enough to make anyone stand back three feet and go, “you’re not eating THAT are you???” Yet anyone who has tried the fruit after proper preparation generally enjoys it. So why the scary name?! Chokecherry gets it’s name because of the very tart flavour it has. This tartness is caused by a compound known as hydrocyanic acid. This hydro-cyanide compound is also known as anthocyanin and occurs not just in chokecherries, but in the pits of domestic cherries as well as almonds. In fact, crushing dried chokecherry adds an almond flavour to sauces,…
Description: Yellow is the new black. This amber, creamy-textured, mellow yet spritely-flavoured tea delivers soothing, calming nutrition amid the stress of your day. Why the Name: This particular tea has more of an amber glow to it than our other teas. Combine that with the creamy texture nettle adds to the liquid, the calming effect this tea has on one’s system, and our choice of display medium, and the name Sun Drop was chosen. Enjoy. 🙂 Net Weight: 20+g Price: $12 + shipping Tea: Sun Drop $12.00 Buy now
Description: You find a chest in your travels. You find a blue bottle, red bottle and a green bottle inside. The lid of the chest reads: “Red, Blue, Green, health, mana, and STAMINA”! Drinking this tea will give you a gentle boost throughout your day. Why the Name? The ingredients found in this tea closely match those of Ashley’s own stamina potion used to keep her going at a challenging day job. Some of the rarer ingredients of her potion are not present in this Lite version. Unlike the video game/fantasy genre, this tea will not give you an immediate…