Author: Sandy Evans

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Dandelion Syrup & Dandelion Yellow Dock Seed Potato Bread

Dandelion Syrup tastes amazing, sort of like a nutty honey flavor. And it tastes sweet yet healthy and wholesome on top of Dandelion Flower Yellow Dock Seed Potato Bread. Recipe for Dandelion Syrup: Use only the yellow flower part of the dandelion. 4 cups of yellow florets plus 1 sliced lemon and one-half sliced orange boiled in a pot with 4 cups of water, then reduce heat to simmer for 10 minutes. Put a lid on the pot while simmering. After simmering for 10 minutes remove from the stove and strain. Let it sit for 3 hours at room temperature. Then add 3 cups of birch sugar (you can use regular sugar if you prefer). Stir to dissolve the sugar, place on the stove and bring to a boil then simmer 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally. It turns thick and golden like honey. Once its at the consistency you like, pour into clean glass jars. Keep refrigerated. If the sugar crystalizes you can warm it up to make it more liquid. Serve on any type of bread or on bread with butter, such a treat! Recipe for Dandelion Flower Yellow Dock Seed Potato Bread: 1 egg, 300g mashed potato, 100g flour, 1 tsp yellow dock seeds that have been sifted to remove the outter layer, 1 TBSP dandelion flower petals or more if you like the flavor of dandelion petals, pinch of salt. Mix ingredients together into a dough and flatten into round patties with your hands. Bake on a baking sheet that has been oiled or lined with baking paper, for 15 minutes at 220C. Enjoy with butter and/or dandelion syrup!

Dandelion Syrup & Dandelion Yellow Dock Seed Potato Bread
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Quaking Aspen Bud Salve

When I lived in Oregon one of my favorite things to do in Spring was to collect Cottonwood Buds to make Balm of Gilead. I havent seen Cottonwood in Finland but her relative Quaking Aspen grows here in abundance. I learned from an Instagram friend named Forest Grace that Quaking Aspen salve has similiar healing properties! So I gave it a go and the scent is very similar to a light Balm of Gilead. Another friend named Anna tried the salve on her knee pain and found it helpful. I will continue making this salve as a connection to Spring and the Poplar trees. Recipe: 3 cups of olive oil into a pot. Pour your fresh Quaking Aspen buds into the oil. You want to pour as many buds as you can fit into the oil. But dont put so many buds that some of them are exposed to air. You want all buds to be submerged in oil. Place this pot into a double boiler and add water to the bottom pot. Bring the water to a boil then lower the heat to a simmer. Simmer for 1.5-2 hours. Stir the buds occasionally. Remove the pot of oil and buds, strain out the buds and let cool. Put a spoon into the freezer. Place 3 cups of bud infused oil into a pot. Add 4 ounces of beeswax. Heat on lowest setting on the stove. Stir occasionally to help dissolve the melting beeswax. Once the beeswax is dissolved, take the frozen spoon and dip it into your oil. Wait a few seconds while the oil solidifies on the spoon. Then test the consistency of the hardened oil on the spoon by rubbing it between your fingers. If its too oily add a little more beeswax. If its too solid then add a little more olive oil. Once you have a nice salve consistency, pour the oil into tins. Do not disturb the tins and do not put lids on the tins until the salve is completely set and firm. If you like decoration you can push a quaking aspen bud into the salve just as its setting. Keep your salves stored in a cool or cooler room temperature place. Enjoy!

Quaking Aspen Salve
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Spruce Sprout Pesto

When Spring arrives and the Spruce trees sprout their bright vivid green, it is a happy sight. Spruce sprout pesto tastes delicious and is easy to make! Recipe: 1 cup fresh spruce sprouts, a few fresh basil leaves, 1/4 cup chopped nuts (I have used almonds and hazelnuts but any nut should be fine), 1/3 cup nutritional yeast, juice of 1/4 medium lemon, couple pinches of sea salt, 1/8 cup olive oil. Blend together in a blender until creamy. I add a splash of water or olive oil to help it blend easier and become creamier in texture. Keep refrigerated and enjoy within 1 week. Although it tastes so fresh & yummy that it will probably be gone within a couple days.

Spruce Sprout Pesto
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Finnish Birch Bud Potato Bread

Rieska is finnish potato flatbread and its so freaking delicious. I added fresh young birch buds to this traditional recipe and the taste is like a fresh spring forest. Recipe: 300g mashed potato mixed with 1 egg & 100g flour. Add a teaspoon of chopped fresh birch buds, or more if you want an extra birch flavor. Mix ingredients with a spoon and form into thin little patties with your hands. Bake for 15 minutes at 220C, on an oiled cookie tray or use baking paper to cover the tray. Enjoy with melted butter or honey on top… yummm!

Fresh Birch Buds
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Black Sesame Honey Balls

Sweet Black Sesame Honey Balls… In Chinese Medicine black sesame seeds are eaten as medicine. They nourish liver & kidney yin, and moisten dry intestines. Black sesame seeds are sweet and neutral in temperature. Liver & kidney yin deficiency can manifest as hair loss, early grey hair, dizziness, loose teeth, fatigue, blurry vision. So eating black sesame seeds will help those symptoms. Honey further moistens the intestines. So if you have dry constipation, these sweet little black balls are for you. Recipe: Dry roast black sesame seeds in frying pan until you can smell the aroma. Let cool, then grind into a powder. Add honey and form into small balls. I use about 3 TBSP honey per half cup of sesame seeds. Then roll the balls in black sesame seeds to coat them. Put in refrigerator to firm up. Afterwards they do not need to be refrigerated. 1 gram of black sesame seeds contain 85 mg of calcium. 1 cup of whole cows milk (240 grams) contains 300 mg of calcium. By comparison, 240 mg of black sesame seeds contains 20400 mg of calcium!!

Black Sesame Honey Balls
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Sanni Meets a Noita (witch)

As Sanni wandered thru the cold forests she could feel the penetrating weight of winter slowly seeping into her tonttu bones. When suddenly she caught the warmly fragrant scent of roses.. Roses in Winter?! She followed the rosey scent down thru the winding roots until… low & behold! A noita! (noita = finnish witch) Noita was stirring her brew and said “Tervetuloa..” (Welcome)… She offered Sanni a mug of her Rosey North Tea. “These plant allies keep us bright & strong during the cold dark times.” Roseroot is the rose flavored great tonic herb of the north. But she is dry so licorice root is added to moisten her up. And she is cool so fennel seed is added to bring warmth. St Joans Wort is added to bring summers uplifting golden sunshine energy and Milky Oats are added to nourish our frazzled cold nerves. Nettles are also added for nutrition. As Sanni held the warm mug to her face, the scent of roses & licorice made her smile. Sip by sip, she felt her spirit lifting, her elf body becoming warm & nourished. She looked up to Noita and said “Kiitos” (Thank you) to which Noita replied with a wink of her eye…

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World Wide Web of the Forest

How amazing that under the earths surface is a mycorrhizal network connecting the mushrooms, fungi, plant roots of the forest thru which they communicate with each other! The original World Wide Web! Just like humans share info thru internet, forest beings share info & nutrients thru the underground web. Tonttu can whisper to a mushroom, listen to a tree root and connect with other tonttu and forest creatures of Finlandia & beyond. And its just like this that Sanni met her first Finlandian tonttu friend, Anna. Anna introduced Sanni to many types of fungi friends and even gifted Sanni with precious hand-collected chaga.

Sanni & Anna are lovingly handcrafted by mother of tonttu Taru Kolehmainen Lehtomäki.
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Sanni Befriends a Rock Spirit

And if you squint your eyes & open your heart, you can see gentle giants slumbering within the forests of Finlandia… Well to us it appears they are resting, but their sense of time is much much slower than ours. They actually roll & rumble across the land at an ancient pace. Old Rock Spirits. And when you listen, stop & listen, they will speak. And now, Sanni has found a friend.
Ja jos siristävät silmäsi ja avaa sydämesi, voit nähdä lempeitä jättiläisiä, jotka makaavat Finlandian metsissä.

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Sanni Wonders If She Will Feel At Home

And so she returned to the forest to sit amongst the moss & stones, sharing her hot cocoa with the trees gathered around. She thought about the Cacao Tree whose home is in the South. And how the cacao seeds are so loved that they are flown in on the backs of birds all around the world. And how, like her, cacao is also an immigrant. Same with coffee and licorice, immigrants too. She wondered if some day she too would be embraced by Finlandia. Would she some day feel as cozy & familiar as hot chocolate in her new home? Not native, but embraced and integrated into the culture? ..

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Sanni Searches a Village for Other Tonttu

As Sanni wandered thru the Finlandian forest she recognized many familiar faces: Spruce, Pine, Usnea & others whose relatives live back in Sanni’s homeland in the West. She felt an immediate comfort & warmth in their familiar presence. And wondered if she might meet other tonttu (elves) whom she could also feel a familiar comfort with. So she ventured onto a small farm, as it is known that tonttu like to dwell amongst humans in their homes & barns. She quietly explored, looking for other tonttu. But it is known that Finnish tonttu are very shy. Sanni understood that it could take some time… ..