Savouring Wild Foods of Mother Earth

        

Cental Otago Wild Fruit Tart and Wild Weeds, 2006

Mother Earth’s Sacred Gifts

Can we slow down - listen, see and feel
Mother Earth’s wisdom and love 
all around us?

She needs no barriers,
builds no fences,
hides behind no walls

She never discriminates or judges,
but shares her abundance and beauty

freely with all

In return, she only asks that we embrace her
with the innocence of a child
and our open, feeling heart

Can we be humble, grateful

and honour, every day,

her gifts of sacred life?

Can we open our heart and being
to be One - again -

with our sacred Mother Earth?

Jaymie & Juerg, 2008

Gathering, Cooking and Savouring Food

by Jaymie

I am grateful that from the moment I met Juerg, he could show me a completely new way of relating to food, my body and Mother Earth. Since journeying together, gathering, cooking and savouring food (particularly wild foods) has become a beautiful, creative and sacred part of my life. 

Initially when I first met Juerg, I could see that he was very comfortable in his physical body. I loved his approach to cooking and eating because it did not come from control or fear (mind) – but from love, joy and a lot of spontaneity and freedom. Juerg’s style of cooking is very creative, intuitive and a lot of fun! 

     

Birthday Cakes for Sybill & Dominik (Juerg's children), 2005

When I first began to cook with him, it reminded me of my childhood “creative experiments” with my sister in our family garage. This involved gathering as many different combinations of plants and weeds from the garden and mixing them all together with anything colourful and interesting we could find in 
our kitchen or washing room cupboard! 

Of course, we never dared to eat our creations! However, when cooking with Juerg, I found myself re-discovering the same enthusiasm, spontaneity and joy, which every time resulted in a mandala of flavours and colours.

"Autumn soup" 2008

with nettles, dandelion leaves, flowers and stems, yarrow, 
chickweed, comfrey, hawthorn berries and leaves, rosehip, 
porcinello and puffball mushrooms, garlic, onion, 
oregano, tarragon, sage, wild thyme, bay leaves, cloves, 
nutmeg, balsamic vinegar, red wine, mint, lime 
flowers, bear root and more...yumm!

Wild mushroom/herb ravioli, 2006

Today, wherever we can, Juerg and I spend time in nature, gathering 
and cooking wild foods and herbs. 

In New Zealand, (throughout the warm spring and summer months) we love to gather mallow, plantain, chickweed, yarrow, dandelion and other herbs for salads. 

We cherish collecting wild forest and meadow mushrooms for soups, risottos, pizzas and delicious pasta dishes in autumn. We love to harvest elderberries and make jams and chutney’s with local Central Otago fruit such as plums, apricots, walnuts, apples and much more from wild trees. We dry and roast dandelion roots and healing herbs for teas and collect nettles, baby thistles, cooch grass and other wild plants for delicious soups, pestos, stir-frys, etc.

Chickweed, plantain, yarrow, mallow, 
dandelion and carrot salad, 2006
                  
    

Rainbow Trout with St John's wort herbs 
for smoking over wood fire, 2006

"Living and sharing with Juerg has given me the opportunity 
to work more deeply with my feelings to do with food and my body, 
life and self worth as a woman. 

When I first met Juerg, he kept saying to me 
that every imbalance or physical problem of our body
has to do with the energy of our emotions and thoughts 
(low self worth, self doubt, anger, hurt, fear, sadness, etc). 

Juerg helped me to see that trying to “avoid”  
or “control” eating difficulties through our mind e.g. 
looking for help from other health specialists, strict diet regimes, 
physical or mental exercise, etc), is not helping us to connect 
with what our body is really trying to show us.

Juerg challenged me to listen to my own body’s messages.
He encouraged me to feel and heal the real cause of my discomfort 
and my difficulties with “problem” foods – i.e. my unhealed emotions and past experiences relating to my body and self worth as a woman.

I am very grateful for my journey - 
which lead me to understand and heal my own food intolerances 
and digestive problems. By working through and healing 
my feelings and emotions, I have been able to embrace a more conscious, 
innocent, nurturing and loving relationship with food, 
my body and Mother Earth."