Earth Day

Happy belated Earth Day.  A good Earth Day, indeed, as rain has occurred in the midst of a meteorological drought.  It has not stopped since.  It's quite fantastic.  Here are some fiddle-heads for you.

I've never eaten fiddle-heads, myself, but I am aware of their anti-oxidant properties and the concentrations of omega 3s and 6s, as well as potassium.  I do enjoy looking at them, and I love seeing them pop up here and there in the spring.  I don't give much credence to claims that they are carcinogenic.  Much like pyrrolizidine alkaloids in comfrey that folks freak out about when it is isolated, I would imagine that people fear fiddle-heads for much the same reason.  If you are not aware, these alkaloids were isolated from comfrey leaf and administered in large, unbuffered doses to lab rats and found to cause cancer.  I think that most  constituents of plants when isolated and administered in large doses will cause imbalances and disease is biotic systems, carcinogenic or otherwise.  So silly, these pharmaceutical folks.  But don't take my word for it about fiddle-heads and comfrey, as I'm shooting from the hip at the moment and have not conducted my own research.  But I can tell you this; people have used these plants for hundreds of years with little consequence.  That's evidence enough for many of us, and evidence enough for me.  


Also, Arbor Day is Friday.  My fave.