Finally, after a long winter with more snow than anyone alive in my neighborhodd has ever seen the little green shoots are poking up through the crust of the Earth with their verdent green smile. The mountain is carpeted with blooming Trillium, soon to be followed by the lovely Bloodroot. Chickweed is everywhere! If you have Chickweed in your garden don’t kill it, eat it! It is a wonderful lymphatic cleanser that nature puts out right after a more sedentary winter lull. The system has gotten sluggish. It is not a coincidence that greens such as dandelion, nettles and chickweed are the first to be popping up. Time to do our spring cleanse. Here is a nice spring drink I make that helps to clear away some of the winter cob webs. I drink it every day for a good month while these plants have their new vibrant youthful energetic energy.

Spring Cleaning Tonic

This is a good tonic that you can drink all through spring. Go out in nature and gather as much of the greens as possible. Not only is this a good liver tonic, but gathering wild greens out in nature gets you in touch with nature’s reflection of spring energy.

2-3 handfuls mixed herbs: parsley, dandelion leaves, mint, chickweed, miner’s lettuce, nettles, plantain.

1 TBS chopped fresh ginger

2 cups freshly squeezed grapefruit juice.

2 TBS fresh lemon juice.

1-2 TBS honey

2 cups water

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend on high speed until leaves are liquefied. Allow to stand for an hour or more and strain. Discard the solids and drink the refreshing liquid.

Seasonal eating runs deep and wide in our lives when we look beneath the surface.

I was at a gathering of women the other night. There was a sharing about how it looks and feels for the Divine Feminine to be showing back up in the world now on a collective and personal level. Each woman shared how she was breaking through in her own life. There was a theme of having to do the shadow work and clean up all the old stuff so she can emerge out of the shadows free from the wounding of a patriarchal era.

We discussed the need to embody the Divine Feminine in our lives grounded in her Earthly energy. This is where she is needed. This is where she is. She is not just an archetype in another dimension, she is the Earth herself. Her wisdom, and integration of the vastness of the Divine Feminine is who we are returninmg to, reclaiming, and honoring.

The movement to “save” the Earth is a noble one. However, it is still laced with the flavor of the patriarch. Women are becoming more empowered each generation. The fantasy of being saved by the white knight as we swim in our damsel in distress is rapidly becoming an antiquated fairy tale. It is no longer the desire of women to be saved. We have moved beyond that. We are saving ourselves through honoring ourselves.  We have moved into a recognition that to create balance and union we must have our wisdom honored. We are self similar to the Earth goddess. We are all made up of her very body. It is also true of her.

The Earth is not a damsel in distress waiting to be saved by those who separate themselves from her. It is quite the contrary. If we want to save ourselves we need to honor her wisdom. She is the one that will guide us through and open the door. She is reflecting back to us just how to do this with her seasonal map. All we need to do is pay attention to what she is offering seasonal course by seasonal course.

I have found that healing a collective wound that is carried by us all that keeps us trapped in a belief that we are unworthy runs parallel to nourishing ourselves by this wisdom. When we honor ourselves we honor the Earth, and when we honor the Earth we honor ourselves. The first step is taking the time to nourish ourselves aligned with her wisdom.

This winter has been an enormous gift for myself and many around me to do some deep shadow work. And as true to nature we are rising in spring to give birth to ourselves free from much of the unconscious behaviors from old wounding. Each winter us another opportunity to dive in and heal what we can. I so love how the seasons support us to heal while we nourish ourselves.

If this resonates with you and you would like support in this collective and personal journey, not just in recognizing the wisdom of nature in nourishing yourself, but also the internal shadow work needed to heal old wounding, consider my book as a support guide that is designed to do both.

You may need to digest it one small bite at a time as you go through the possible resistance in the beginning of the journey of looking beneath the surface at what drives your life. But if you give yourself time to step back, reflect, and do the work, it will be a great guide that will support you.  It will also give you seasonal practical guidance in how to nourish yourself according to the Earth’s wisdom while you heal and reclaim your hidden treasures.

MISO, SHITAKE MUSHROOM, SEAWOOD SOUP

Ingredients:

6 whole dried medium shitake mushrooms

6 cups warm water

4 medium sized pieces wakame seaweed

2 TBS chopped dulse seaweed

1 medium onion, quartered and sliced thin

3 medium cloves garlic, chopped

2 TBS minced fresh ginger,

2 TBS soy sauce

1 TBS rice vinegar

3 TBS minced scallion greens for garnish if locally available

salt and white pepper to taste

2 TBS miso

Directions:

Rinse mushrooms and wakame and soak in 2 cups of warm water for about 10

minutes, or until soft. Save water.

Heat 1 TBS seaweed water in medium sized soup pot.  Sauté onion in seaweed water

over medium heat for about 5 minutes stirring frequently. Add garlic, ginger and

continue to sauté for another minute

When mushrooms and wakame are soft, slice the mushrooms thin and chop the

seaweed. Cut out stems when slicing mushrooms and discard. Add to soup pot along

with soaking water, and 4 more cups of water. Bring to a boil on high heat. Add dulse.

Once it comes to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer uncovered for about 10

minutes. Season with salt, pepper, soy sauce and rice vinegar. Add minced scallion

and serve. Stir in miso at the end of cooking. Serves 4.

Fall is a time of letting go. Pungent spices support the body to move unwanted debris outward. Here is one of my all time favorites.

When I lived in New Mexico, fall was a special time of the year. The chilies were harvested and the red ristras cloaked all the adobe houses. Narrow streets in Santa Fe and northern New Mexico were lined with rows of ristras. They were everywhere you looked. There was an earthy pungent aroma in the air as they dried, and the homes were literally covered with this beautiful harvest of cultural bounty. We shifted from cooking everything with green chilies to adding the dried red chilies to breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The colder it got, the more red chili we ate. Combine these red chilies with our luscious, beloved friend, chocolate, and you’ve got a reason to celebrate life on earth. Instead of the usual turkey with dressing, or the vegetarian equivalent, try this authentic mole sauce to woo your holiday guests with. It can be served with your roasted turkey, chicken, tofu loaf, or simmered with cubed pumpkin. Because it is an elaborate ritual to make this sacred sauce I usually make a big batch and freeze small portions so I can pull it out and have it throughout the fall and winter. Enjoy!!

Mole

For the Ancho Chili Paste:

• 8 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• 8 dried ancho chiles, stemmed and seeded
• 1-1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• Generous pinch cumin
• Scant 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• About 6 cups chicken or vegetable broth

To finish the dish:

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 ounces whole almonds
• 1 small onion, sliced 1/8 inch thick
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 5 ounces ripe tomatoes
• Scant 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 cup roughly chopped organic dark bittersweet chocolate
• About 2-1/2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
• 1 tablespoon sugar, or to taste

Ancho Paste: Roast the unpeeled garlic in a heavy skillet over medium heat until soft and blackened in spots, about 15 minutes; cool and peel. Toast the chiles by opening them and pressing them flat in the same pan for a few seconds on each side. Soak the chiles in hot water for 30 minutes until they are very soft. Drain. (Save the chili water to thin out sauce if needed.) Process the garlic, chiles and remaining ingredients with 2/3 cup broth in a food processor or blender until smooth. Press through a medium mesh strainer into a bowl.

To Finish: In a medium heavy pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the almonds and cook, stirring until lightly toasted, about 3 minutes. Remove the almonds with a slotted spoon to a blender or food processor. Add the onion to the pan and cook until browned, about 10 minutes. Remove to the blender with the almonds. Add the raisins and stir for a minute as they puff. Put them in with the onions and almonds.

Next, roast the tomatoes on a baking sheet 4 inches below a very hot broiler until blackened on two sides. Cool, peel and add to the blender with the cinnamon, and chocolate. Add 1 cup of broth and blend to a smooth paste.

Reheat the heavy pot. When hot, add the ancho mixture and cook, stirring almost constantly until darker and thick, about 5 minutes. Add the puréed almond mixture and cook another few minutes until thickened again. Stir in the remaining 4-1/2 cups broth, partially cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, over medium-low heat for 45 minutes. Taste and season with salt and sugar (it should be slightly sweet).

Serve the mole with roasted, grilled or poached poultry (chicken or turkey), either coarsely shredded or in whole pieces, or tofu. This makes about 6 cups of sauce and will serve 6 to 9 people. The recipe can be doubled.

Figs are happening right now. One of the most luscious fruits available for our sensual pleasures.  They are hard to improve upon, so I keep my preparations simple. Following are two simple ways I prepare fresh figs when I am blessed enough to have them.

1. Cut your fresh figs in half lengthwise. Top them with a small dollop of chevre goat cheese and put them on the grill skin side down for just a couple minutes.They cook fast ad the cheese softens quickly if you put the lid on the grill. A little fresh thyme mixed in with the goat cheese is a nice addition. Serve immediately.

1. Place about 1 1/2 cups sweet Marsala wine in a pan with a sweetener of your choice. I don’t like foods real sweet, so I go light. Simmer for about 5 minutes uncovered. Turn off heat and place about 10 fresh figs cut in half into the sweetened wine, stir and turn off heat. Let them sit in the wine for about an hour or more, stirring gently occasionally to make sure they are all getting coated. Remove figs with a slotted spoon and reduce liquid to a syrup. You can serve the figs alone drizzled with the syrup or over something like vanilla ice cream drizzled with syrup. Very simply, very delicious.