Stone Beach Permaculture Broadcast - Ep.3 Rossi Farms

You can find Mr.Rossi at his website https://rossinaturals.com

Foraging for ramps 2018

We recently went ramp foraging and I have to admit I thought it was going to be harder then it turned out to be. Not only were the ramps easy to find ( after much consulting of many plant identification books) but they were a breeze to harvest.
Ramps are wild onions that have broad leaves and a white bulb. They are so easy to harvest because of their shallow root systems that make them pull able with little effort.

Ramps can be used in many was but we are going to pickle them. they can be used in pesto's or marinades - anywhere you may use onions and garlic together , you can sprinkle in a few ramps. Over the next couple of days I'm going to test out a few recipes and I hope you get adventurous with cooking with ramps as well as they are a wild, sustainable food source that should be planted and looked after in your area. As long as they are native, that is.

I did harvest 10% or less of the patch I found , as this will not affect the productivity of the patch of ramps. If you wish to keep the ramp population healthy then I suggest following the 10%harvest guidelines .

These are a few items I will/ have purchased to go foraging with. This collapsible shovel is not only light weight but it can be clipped onto your pack or belt with a Carabiner clip.  ( you should always have one on your key-chain )

This makes foraging so much easier , in the future I will not bring a basket or a bucket as I found a much easier way to take your foraged produced out of the woods. This is a collapsible bag , and I think it will be my next must have to bring with me when I go out camping or hiking.

The last thing is a good knife and this fixed blade knife is handy. Make sure it has a belt clip and is not easily opened in your pocket by accident.

StoneBeachPermaculture Brodcast. Ep.2 Norsely

Recently I did a great interview with a man who lives all over the ocean. He go's by the handle of Norsely and his pictures are displayed here on this page. You can click them and head to his Instagram page, and I highly suggest doing so because his pictures are just lovely. Not only was he possibly the most interesting man I ever had the pleasure of talking to but he was a wealth of knowledge about mead making among other things like  history and globetrotting.

In the interview we talked about mead making and you can click on the link above.

Mead is a type of fermentation that was used notably by non other then the Viking and the Norsemen of Europe.

We did get to talking about a starter kit you may be interested in checking out.

He had suggested to refrain from using a Champaign yeast or a wine yeast - and to stick towards ale yeasts. There is more on that topic in the interview above.  

Some of the items in the kit outside of ale yeast- are as follows ----

A hydrometer to monitor your alcohol percentages
Hydrometer - This is a Triple Scale Hydrometer for Home Brewing - Beer and Wine Making - Test Density, Alcohol and Brix - Guaranteed Accurate

Food safe sterilizing cleaning agent, I like this B-Brite Cleanser, 8oz

plastic corks / Plugs
an air lock to let the co2 out
2Pcs Airlock One Way Exhaust Water Sealed Check Valve For Wine Fermentation Beer Making Brewing

Bottles ( though he expressed fermentation can even begin with the simplest of containers and even an apple juice container would do) Glass Wine Fermenter Includes Rubber Stopper and Airlock, 1 gallon Capacity

Norsely was also keen to recommend "the best honey you could buy", and to experiment with your choices and flavors.

Ep.1 Stone Beach Permaculture Podcast

show air date: 2018/04/09

I had the pleasure to have a interview with James from Guerillagrowsomerville at @Guerillagrowsomerville on instagram.

We talked about what his new projects are for the up coming year, worm farming, seed saving and grey water saving.  take a listen in the link below, or tune in to Amherst Island radio next Monday at 6pm. Be sure to give Guerillagrowsomerville a visit and a follow, the pictures he shares are lovely and full of beautiful green plants!
Just what we needed as we anticipate this years growing season.
Visit our page at
@stonebeachpermaculture on instagram