Bow Little Market's First Annual Mushroom Day was enjoyed by all who attended.  

A special thanks goes out to NW Mushroom Association, for helping with the identification table and display, Kathi Marlowe for cooking up such a fantastic pot of soup, and Garrett of Cascadia Mushroom for vending at our little market.  This year the Association held a poster contest for their annual Wild Mushroom Event, scheduled for Oct. 20, 12-5pm (read more about the event on our events blog), and all poster submissions were displayed at the market.  Books, art, hands on displays, and local experts made this an exceptional educational event for both children and adults.

This was a celebration of the natural world and the change of the season.  Because of the early rain this year, there was a beautiful array of fungus among us.

Cleavers (Galium aparine), is a weed/herb (depending on your perspective) that grows prolifically in the spring and is arguably one of the most powerful medicines for you lymphatic system, according to the book, The Complete Illustrated Holistic Herbal: A Safe and Practical Guide to Making and Using Herbal Remedies, by David Hoffman.  Your lymph nodes, found all over the body, help clean your body of toxins and wastes and help fight infection.  This herb is also used for skin conditions when applied topically, and when taken internally, improving urinary tract health, treating ulcers, tumors, and inflammation.  There are many website and blogs online that have information as well.  It is frequently dried and used as a tea, but I prefer to juice, freeze in ice cube trays and add to smoothies and soups when I think my family is fighting a cold or seems like they need a general health boost.

In the spring garden, I allow a few plants to grow where they can climb up a fence or wall or cascade down a rock terrace.  This can be an invasive weed,and because of the sticky nature of the plant, it tends to get tangled with other plants, straw, and/or dirt, making it difficult to clean.  For this reason, I am choosy about where I let it grow.

First, I cut the sprawling plant before it flowers (May/June), chop it into foot long sections, and remove any leaves or other bits that have gotten caught by its sticky leaves. 
I then further cut it into smaller pieces, loosely stuff my Vitamix Blender, add a little water, blend, and strain.
Next, I fill up blender again with chopped Cleavers greens, and this time add the Cleavers juice as the liquid, blend, and strain.
Lastly, pour juice into ice cube tray, freeze, and store juice cubes in freezer bag.

A few days ago, I made a banana, cocoa, barley malt smoothy for my kids and threw in a cube of Cleavers juice because they had been playing with a friend who had a cold.  They didn't even know they were drinking green medicine.

Mike Stevens
Gathering Force Farm