Elderberry

The last lecture I attended was on Elderberry: Growing, Harvesting, Using. The presenter was John Moody. He also is a part of the Roque Food Conference. Not unlike the rest, this was chocked full of information and the added fact that he is a very funny person. 

We learned the best way to grow elderberries; one of the easiest besides purchasing from a nursery is planting cuttings. You don't need any root tone from a cutting. You only have to wait two years to harvest the fruit. You should harvest the flowers for the first two years to allow for root growth and establishment. Something I was not aware of they is a water-loving plant. And they also have shallow roots that help fight against erosion. All things I did not know about.

If you read my last post, you already know how everything can kill you in the correct amounts. Some are much less than others. Elderberry is on the less can kill your spectrum. The berries are highly poisonous and must never be eaten raw. They can only be eaten after they have been cooked, fermented, or dried. Once they are prepared properly, you can make some wonderful syrups, cordials, and wines with them.

Elderberry is a wonderful immune buster and is extremely helpful in the fight against viruses. It helps greatly in cold and flu season. If you don't have access to fresh elderberry or dried. You can find syrup in health food stores and most groceries and drugstores as well. It is a wonderful thing to have, and if you have bushes, you can pick the blooms to make elderberry flower teas and tinctures. The flowers are not poisonous.

We have collected a plethora of information from the classes and lectures. There is still more to come; we did attend one more event on Saturday. More on that later, plus some other fun stuff. Till then.