Gathering plant materials from the garden...

Lavender, thyme, sage and rosemary...

The potting shed is home to bundles of plant materials to use in salves, dried arrangements, teas, etc. The season of gathering passes quickly, or at least, it feels that way here. A few of the plants grown here are suggested for use in making a garland, as listed in the information below. Garlands are one way to decorate your table for a gathering with fresh or dried plant material.

Herbal Garlands

Garlands aren’t just for looks: they can have purpose too! Mix flowers with herbs like calendula, chamomile, lavender, rosemary, or thyme for a healing twist. These bring color and texture while offering benefits like calming scents or antibacterial properties.

Here are a few healing herbs that will make great additions to your garland.

• Lavender – Known for its calming, floral scent, reducing stress and promoting restful sleep

• Rosemary – Piney-scented herb for mental clarity and focus, to boost memory and concentration

• Thyme – Uplifting and purifying, to freshen the air

• Sage – For cleansing spaces, clearing negative energy, protective and purifying

Extracted from an article written by Jenny Bar, www.learningherbs.com/blog, how to make flower garlands

#annisquam @annisquamherbfarm #lavender #sage #thyme #rosemary #diygarland #learningherbs #learningherbsonline

"Use to be an herb farm" . . .

- the words leapt off the page of real estate listings!

I called for an appointment - just to see it, you know. Two small stone buildings and . . . a greenhouse! What potential. That was late in 2004. Lots of work has been done with lots more to go. The gardens surrounded by stonewalls are filling with herbs, wild flowers, medicinal plants, vegetables and fruit trees. Turkeys walk thru as well as a fox. Hawks glide over head. Hummingbirds visit the arbor with scarlet runners planted just for them. Plans for more garden beds fill the air. Stone walkways are taking shape adding to those that have existed here for years. The greenhouse will be planted again for the fall and winter.

The days fly by! Must get back to work.

This property was part of a larger farm years ago. In more recent years Dorothy Norton, one of the members of the Folly Cove Designers lived here. Her sister Peggy, also a Folly Cove Designer member, lived in the little house out front. They had an herb mail order business with many items offered from the plants they grew.

Update:
The gardens are coming along with many loads of seaweed, marsh grass and other composted able materials added. The greenhouse is now thriving after many years of work on the soil. It provided greens for the table most every day. It also houses several potted plants-the neighbor's and mine-during the winter months.

Weeds or Healing Herbs?

Learn how identify and gather plants to make self-care products. If you are interested, please take this short survey to let me know which classes you are interested in and the best day & time for you!

Click Here to take the survey

Culinary Herb Class

  

Want to learn what you can do with herbs for better health?


Learn Culinary Herbalism with K.P. Khalsa!

Here is a free lesson from K.P. Khalsa's upcoming Culinary Herbalism course!

Golden Milk: An Ancient & Healing Remedy
by Rosalee de la Forêt

Turmeric has been used for thousands of years for countless ailments. In recent years it has also caught the attention of western researchers. There are many studies touting its many benefits.

Some benefits include...

• Digestion and the liver (Ulcers, diverticulitis, flatulence, leaky gut)
• Heart heath (High blood pressure, unhealthy cholesterol)
• Immune support (Cancer, colds and flu, bronchitis)
• Musculoskeletal strength and flexibility (Joint disorders, arthritis, pain)
• Nervous system (Pain, Alzheimer's)
• Wound healing and healthy skin (Eczema, psoriasis)
• Diabetes and Menstruation difficulties

Turmeric is pretty astonishing!

I learned this basic recipe from Karta Purkh Singh Khalsa and often suggest it to my client.

K.P. Khalsa has a new course coming out this week called Culinary Herbalism.  

This recipe is in two parts. First we make the paste and then we’ll explore how to use it.

To make the turmeric paste you’ll need:

• 1/4 cup of turmeric powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground pepper
• 1/2 cup of water

Measure out the ingredients. The additional pepper makes the turmeric more bioavailable, meaning that you use less for better results. At these measurements the pepper is about 3% of the mixture.

Next add the powders and the water to a small sauce pan and mix well. Turn the heat to medium high and stir constantly until the mixture is a thick paste. This won’t take long!

Let this mixture cool and then keep it in a small jar in the fridge.

Now we’ll look at a variety of ways to use this mixture.

  
Golden Milk
To make Golden Milk you’ll need...

• 1 cup of milk (or milk substitute, if you don’t consume dairy)
• 1 teaspoon almond oil, ghee or olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon or more of turmeric paste
• honey to taste

Combine all the ingredients (except honey) in a saucepan and while stirring constantly heat the mixture until just before it boils.
Add honey to taste.

Other suggestions... this could be made into a smoothie. When blended it creates a beautifully foamy drink. Fruit could be added. Cinnamon can be sprinkled on top, etc. Experiment and enjoy!

Other options for turmeric paste

• Add a small dollop of the paste on top of crackers and cheese.
• Spread the paste on sandwich bread and continue with sandwich ingredients.

The best way to get our medicine is in our food.
Please check out this new course with K.P. Khalsa, All About Culinary Herbalism.

There is a video on making this recipe in the Culinary Herbalism course.

Herb Energetics available!

Herb Energetics, an online course, by Kiva Rose, a well-known herbal blogger and co-founder of the Traditions in Western Herbalism Conference


Kiva has published her secrets of how she learns so much about plants without using books. Her plant monographs, like the one below, are famous for their deep exploration into herbs that you will not find in other places.

Click here to learn just HOW she does it. The course goes on sale at noon EDT 03 Novemeber 2010

Do you REALLY know chamomile? Read Kiva's article to see how much you do know …

Earth Apple: The Bittersweet Medicine of Chamomile

By Kiva Rose

I am excited to finally be able to go deeper into explaining herbal energetics in my upcoming course, Herb Energetics with Kiva Rose.

Let’s begin with an herb we all know and love, chamomile.

However, do you REALLY know Chamomile?

Chamomile means “earth apple” which is easy to understand when we accidentally trample the flowers underfoot and suddenly smell the welcome fragrance of apples rising from the earth. In the same way, Spanish speaking peoples often use the name Manzanilla, literally meaning “little apple”. 

Even for those largely unfamiliar with herbs, the distinctive sweet scent of Chamomile is often both familiar and comforting. This plant is many people’s first and perhaps only introduction to herbalism, often from a cup of honey-sweetened and belly-calming tea from their grandmother.

Many children enjoy eating the buds or just opened flowers, savoring the sweet aromatic taste of the plant, and rarely seeming to mind the slightly bitter aftertaste. Some patches of Chamomile, depending on phase of flowering and availability of moisture, are much more bitter than others but the fragrant sweetness persists even in the most bitter batches.

Far from irrelevant, these signature sensory characteristics of Chamomile that make the plant memorable in our minds are also the primary keys to understanding how to work with Matricaria (chamomile) as a medicine.

Click here to watch Kiva Rose explain her approach to Herb Energetics.

What to do with herbs . . .

The Herb Society of America's Essential Guide to Growing and Cooking With Herbs

Editorial Review

Fresh herbs offer a healthy and delicious way to spice up any meal, but growing and cooking with these delectable plants are endeavors fraught with uncertainty. What herbs will grow year-round on my kitchen windowsill? What foods complement rosemary? Which part of a lemongrass plant has the best flavor? Can I really eat the geraniums growing in my flower bed? This indispensable guide from The Herb Society of America takes the guesswork out of using herbs in the garden and in the kitchen by providing detailed information for cultivating a wide variety of herbs, along with easy-to-follow recipes that will surely impress even the most discerning palate.

Ranging from Alliums (onions, chives, and garlic) to Zingiber (ginger), the volume's first section provides horticultural information for each of the sixty-three herbs found in the National Herb Garden's Culinary Garden, including common and botanical names, family, place of origin, hardiness, and general light and soil requirements. Botanical sketches accompany many of the entries. Each entry also includes a short history of the herb, gardening basics, and suggestions for using the herb in your kitchen. Culinary herbs without Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) Status are included in a separate section, with an explanation of their history and ornamental value. An informative introduction to this section compares several different definitions of the word herb, explains the advantages of fresh over dried herbs, describes the proper storage and use of spices, and suggests the best timing and methods for harvesting herbs.

In the second part of the book, HSA members offer classic and creative recipes for more than two hundred dishes incorporating a variety of herbs. Learn how to use the aromatic and flavorful herbs in your garden to enhance stews and casseroles, create dips and pestos, and add a new dimension to your favorite liqueurs. Among the mouth-watering recipes featured are Lemon Basil Tea Bread, Chicken Linguine with Fennel and Tarragon, Five-Herb Pasta Salad, and Rosemary Fizz.

The concluding section of the book contains a fascinating personal tour of the two-and-one-half-acre National Herb Garden, which lies in the heart of Washington, D.C., at the center of the United States National Arboretum, and of its various themed areas, including the Knot Garden, the Antique and Heritage Rose Garden, the Dye Garden, the Colonial Garden, the Native American Garden, the Beverage Garden, the Medicinal Garden, and many others. Complete plant lists accompany the description of each garden.

Green thumbs and gourmets alike will find inspiration in these pages to look at herbs in new ways--perhaps to see beyond their cupboards and into their own yards for ways to liven up their meals--and will gain the knowledge and confidence to grow and use herbs effectively. More than a gardening book, more than a cookbook, The Herb Society of America's Essential Guide to Growing and Cooking with Herbs will prove to be an indispensable companion for all herb lovers.

376 pages, 7 Halftones, 32 Line Drawings, 6.25 x 9.25

About the Author
A long-time member of The Herb Society of America, Katherine K. Schlosser is the editor of Wild Flower, the journal of the North Carolina Native Plant Society. She lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, with her husband.

Spring!

The greenhouse will be on a garden tour this year so work began last fall to prepare. A number of plants did well over-wintering. We have been able to harvest mesclun greens, herbs, spinach, dandelion leaves and chard. The broccoli is coming along with heads of an inch showing and a cauliflower at 3/4". Peas will be planted today as well as more spinach

The most exciting find was not the plants -

it was a yellow spotted salamander, Ambystoma maculatu! Shiny dark blue with bright yellow spots, the salamander was hibernating under the straw mulch. Even tho' I replaced the straw the salamander moved on to a safer place - hopefully in the greenhouse since it will help keep the insect population down including slugs. I wonder will the salamander enjoy the sow bugs (mealy bugs)? Anyone know?

Photo from Wikipedia

A new Victory Garden . . .

I have always enjoyed growing vegetables and fruits. The first garden was on Goose Lane in the mid 1960's. The owner had used organic gardening techniques which appealed to me and suggested I read Ruth Stout's book, No Work Garden Book which is still available! I figured if Ms. Stout could have a big garden at 80 I could too.

I don't remember what we planted only that I loved working in the soil, watching seeds sprout into plants and enjoyed the fruits of our labors.

This winter the house was filled with flats of seedlings. As the weather moderated the flats were moved into the greenhouse then back in the afternoon. Now the plants are all in the gardens.

The Victory Garden which gets a lot of sun and has tomatoes, cantaloupe, squash, pumpkins and companion herbs.

The Back Forty (feet) is home to potatoes, carrots, beets, peas (which are ready to pick), beans, cabbage, cauliflower and companion herbs.

The Upper Great Wall of Annisquam Garden which gets lots of sun is home to lavender, feverfew, chamomile, pennyroyal, yarrow, bergamot, beebalm and a few flowers. The lower garden has more tomatoes, companion herbs and peony.

The Old Kitchen Garden has a wonderful clump of rhubarb in the center which has yielded several pies and sauce. it is surrounded by lemon thyme, a variegated thyme, arnica, angelica, st. johnswort, clary sage, german thyme, sage, dill, hyssop, basil, horseradish, wild onion, globe thistle, valerian, greek oregano and calendula.

And below the well: celery, leeks, several kinds of lettuce and meclun greens.