Lavender Love

My Spanish Lavender is loaded with flowers this years so I decided to harvest some to make some crafts!  I'm searching through pinterest and hopefully will have a blog post of some of my creations soon!! 

An Autumn Herb Harvest

The days are getting shorter and the air is getting cooler.  I know it won't be long before we get a frost so I am harvesting lots of herbs to put up for winter while I still can.  

We had such a long, hot and dry summer, but now that we are getting rain and cooler temperatures my herbs are thriving.   They are growing like crazy which makes it good for harvesting.  

This harvest consisted of catnip, lavender, lemon thyme, 

rosemary, oregano, comfrey, lemon verbena, orange mint and peppermint.

I hope to find time to share with you what I do with the herbs in the next few weeks.  So stay tuned!!

Preserving Pressed Flowers

I love pressing flowers in between the pages of books.  Sometimes I even forget they are there, grab a book, open it up and out falls my pressed treasure.  Recently I found these great books at Hobby Lobby.  They are actually water color books for painting and such, but as soon as I seen it I impictured all my pressed flowers among the pages.

Here is what the book looks like.  It came in three different sized and I got the medium size.  I would love to have a large one eventually. :)  You can't really tell by the picture, but the pages are really thick and have torn looking edges.  We used to have a paper maker and the paper reminds me of that.

I decided to try Mod Podge for securing my treasures.  All I had was glossy so I definitely want to get some matte.  I still was very pleased with the outcome.  It kind of "seals" the flower.

Primrose!

A few Herbs

Dogwood

Queen Anne's Lace

Saving Dill

I love using my herbs whenever I can.  Sometimes I don't have a need for them when they are ready and that's when preserving them comes in handy.   My favorite way for preserving dill seeds is by cutting the stalks that are ready (you know it's ready when the seeds on the flower part of the plant starts turning brown) and hanging them upside down in a paper sack secured with a rubber band.  The seeds fall off on their own into the bottom of the bag.  Sometimes I even give it a good shake or two!  When all the seeds are off you can put them in a glass jar with a lid for later use.  

Orange Mint Water

 A cold glass of Orange Mint water on a hot summer's day.  In a mason jar.  Because everything tastes better in a mason jar. :):):)

Comfrey and Calendula Poultice

A few weeks ago I hurt my ankle.  I'm not really sure what I done to it, but I do know it hurt and it swelled up.  I had to wear a brace and one evening the swelling seemed worse than ever so I decided it was time to try a herbal remedy.   

Last year I started growing Comfrey in my herb garden.  This is an herb that has always captured my interest as it has so many great healing properties.  It is for external use only and is good for  muscle pains, reducing swelling, bruising and even healing broken bones.  Yes, broken bones!  Comfrey knits things together.  You can even use it on open wounds, but you have to be very careful when doing this because it can heal a cut extremely fast.   If you don't have the wound cleaned properly it can close it up with the dirt/infection inside.  So be sure to clean your wound very good if you intend on using it on any open wounds.

Calendula is another favorite of mine.  I didn't grow the annual flower this year but I had plenty of dried flower heads from last year.  Calendula is good for bruising, strains and inflammation (just to name a few).  So I decided to add it with my comfrey pultice and see what happened.

I picked some fresh comfrey leaves and got my jar of dried calendula flowers.  I tore the comfrey into smaller pieces and put both herbs in a bowl.  I then boiled some water and poured the boiling hot water over my herbs.  I let the herbs steep for about 20 minutes.  After the 20 minutes I drained off the access water and made several bandages by putting the poultice on strips of gauze.  I then put them in the freezer.  

After they were nice and frozen I removed it from the freezer and applied the gauze poultice directly to my ankle.

I also wrapped an ace bandage around my ankle to hold it in place.

And guess what!!!!  The swelling was COMPLETELY gone in the morning.  The pain was hardly noticeable.  I went ahead and continued changing the poultice the next day and my ankle was all better!  I was so excited.  I love using herbal remedies and to know without a doubt that it works give me an amazing feeling.   

There are a few things I would do different.  Next time I'll put the herbs in a blender to make more of a softer puree.  I think I'll add a little flour or cornstarch to make it a thick gel like substance.  I'll still use the gauze because it worked really well.  A matter of fact, I think I'll whip a few up and keep them in the freezer.  You never know when an injury might happen and you need a quick remedy!  Plus it will be great to have in the winter months when I can't go out and pick fresh comfrey.  

Herb Water

Nothing quenches your thirst on a hot summer day like water.  A great way to enhance the taste and beautify the presentation is by adding herbs.  Here's some pictures of the herb water I fixed tonight.  I used my borage ice cubes and I threw in some fresh chamomile and some lemon verbena.  It was very tasty!

Borage Ice Cubes

I love to grow Borage in my herb garden.  It is an easy to grow annual that has beautiful blue flowers (sometimes a few pink ones too) that have a cucumber flavor.   It is good for attracting pollinating bees which makes it a good companion plant for strawberries and tomatoes.  It's even supposed to keep tomato hornworms away and improve the taste of the tomato if planted close.  The leaves and flowers are edible both having a cucumber-like flavor.  The leaves are best when they are young because the bigger the plant gets the fuzzier and pricklier the leaves get.   Some people cook the leaves as you would greens such as spinach.  I've never tried it though.  The fuzziness of the plant kind of discourages me from that endeavor.  But I do so love the flowers!  They are great in salads.  Not only does it add flavor it makes such a pretty presentation.  This year I've been picking the flowers and freezing them in ice cube trays.  I'm thinking some mint and maybe some chamomile flowers frozen into ice cubes would be a great addition.  When I get that done I'll fix me a glass of lemonade or maybe some tea and use my beautiful ice cubes to enhance the look and the flavor.  It's going to be great!  

Always use caution when ingesting edible flowers for the first time.  The borage can be a mild laxative for some people so you would want to see how your body reacts before ingesting too many.

I'll post more pictures later of my ice cold beverage!

Harvesting Chamomile

I absolutely love to harvest my own herbs.  My Chamomile is blooming so nicely right now so I decided it was time to start harvesting.  I thought I would share a few tips on how to successfully harvest chamomile for the best results.

Tip #1 - It's best to harvest your chamomile in the morning sun after the dew is dried and gone.  The flower is the part of the plant that you will be harvesting and it should be fully open in the morning.

Tip #2 - Gently shake the entire plant to remove any dust/debris/bugs.

Tip #3 -  Pinch the flowers off the stem.  You just want the flower head not the stem.  This method will allow your chamomile plant to continue to produce.

Tip #4 - A drying screen (an old window screen is perfect) works great for drying the flowers.  Spread them out over the screen and place in a dark, hot, dry place.  This is important because you don't want them to mold.

Tip #5 - Store your dried chamomile in an air tight glass jar.  I love to use a mason jar for this!  Store away from direct sunlight.  Try to keep your flowers from being broke or crushed until you are ready to use them.

It's that simple!

Chamomile

My chamomile is doing great this year!  I just harvested some of the flowers to dry for future use.  Don't they look so pretty in this canning jar?!  :):)

Herbal Foot Soak

 Lately my feet have been extra achy by the end of the day, so tonight I thought I would treat myself to an herbal foot bath.  I got out my foot spa (if you don't have one a dishpan or other such thing will work just as well) and headed to the herb garden to gather my herbs.  I had my water lukewarm and I added some fresh peppermint, lovage and chamomile.  It was heavenly!  I probably soaked them for at least 45 minutes!

 Here is a list of herbs you can use and what their benefits would be:

Horsetail:  Excellent for tired feet and will help reduce perspiration.

Lavender:  creates a refreshing tonic for tired feet.

Lovage:  A strong natural deodorant, it's perfect for feet that have been stuffed in shoes all day.

Marjoram:  Soothing to tired and weary foot muscles.

Peppermint:  Energizing and cooling for hot and tired feet.

Chamomile:  Calming and relaxing plus great for skin.

Thyme:  Cleansing and refreshing for overworked feet.

Just use your imagination.  I think Rose petals would be delightful!  I think Lemon Verbena would also give a refreshing feeling!  I do believe I have a new nightly ritual! 

Mountain Rose Herbs Giveway

Love Herbs?

Love Green Living?

Love free stuff?

If you answered yes, then good news!  Mountain Rose Herbs is having a Green Spring Clean Giveaway and it's a good one.  Oh how I would love to win!!  You can go check it out here and see how you can enter to win too!  Be sure to have a pencil and paper handy because you are sure to want to write down the handy dandy spring cleaning recipes to replace your store bought cleaning products.  Hurry! Time to enter runs out tonight!

Final Harvest

 The cold air has moved in this week and there is a chance of the temperatures getting down to freezing one night this week so I decided I would harvest some of my herbs for the last time of the season.   I almost hated cutting down the beautiful blooming lavender.  It looked the prettiest it has all season.  I am guessing that is because we have had such a hot summer and the last month or so the weather has been perfect.  My pineapple sage was just beginning to bloom with beautiful red flowers and my calendula has blooms that were just beginning to open.  I decided to leave them alone and hopefully the cold air won't affect them because I am really wanting to harvest them and make some calendula salve. 

My mom purchase a close drying rack at a yard sale for 75 cents and it is perfect for drying herbs.  I harvested plenty today and I can't wait to add them to the already dried herbs, but right now I am enjoying how beautiful they all look hanging on the rack!  We are going to have plenty of herbs this winter for cooking, teas and much more!

My herb garden

My herb garden is flourishing.  I've been harvesting several herbs from the garden (along with other herbs in various places in our yard.

I've been drying most of them for future uses, but I have made some comfrey salve, some wild violet and plantain salve, along with the dandelion salve that I made in the spring.  Right now I have some basil vinegar steeping that I am going to use to marinate venison and I am also trying a home made herbal bug spray.   I'll let you know how it works.  It should be done steeping around the 4'th of July and I'll be able to test it out then.

Me and Bethany recently got poison sumac and we discovered that aloe from our aloe plant helps stop the itching!  Tea tree oil was another thing that helped!

A Bright Sunshiny Day

We have so enjoyed the break in rain this week. 

Yesterday we finished planting our raised beds. 

I can almost taste the yummy strawberries and cannot wait to use my herbs for cooking and medicinal purposes!!

 Our ducks - Mac, Quackers, Ginger and Dorothy enjoyed the day too!

I think they were posing for this shot.

 We got all 8 bunnies out and let them hop around.

 Daisy loved playing with the bunnies!

 Doesn't she look like she's having fun!

This is Basil - our only steel out of the bunch.

Dandelions - Not just a Weed!

Everywhere you look in the springtime you see dandelions.  They are growing in fields, yards, along roadsides, even in the cracks of the concrete.  Most people see them as nothing more than a pesky weed.  They spray them with chemicals and poisons hoping to get rid of this persnickety weed.  I have to wonder what those people would think of me, a grown women, crawling around on my hands and knees, picking the greens, the flowers and digging up the roots.

My very first memory of dandelions was a summer long ago when 2 little girls picked what seemed to be hundreds of dandelions and dissected them into different pieces.  Each piece was a different candy in our make believe candy store.  The stems were pixie sticks, the flowers where lemon drops, the flower left on the stem was a lollipop....what fun we had that summer.

I didn't think much more about dandelions in the years to follow...until last year.  I love to research things that interest me and somewhere I heard this strange thing...dandelions are edible.  So I researched.  I googled,  I checked out library books, I asked friends who knew about simple living and herbs.  The more I found out, the more intrigued I became.  These beautiful yellow spring flowers were so much more than edible, they were also medicinal.  They are nutritious and hold so many healing properties.  And to think we refer to them as a weed.

So here is what I have found out about the dandelion:

It's official name is Taraxacum officinale which means "the official remedy for disorders"

Let's start with the leaves also referred to as dandelion greens.  The leaves are the most widely used.  They are full of so many wonderful nutrients.  They are a good source of calcium, potassium, vitamin A, and vitamin C. They have twice as much vitamin A in a one-cup serving than most vitamin pills. They also have as much calcium as a half a glass of milk. That’s more than most other vegetables.  It improves your immune system and is even said to help prevent cancer.  It's a good to use as a detox and strengthens and purifies your blood and it is also good for regulating blood sugar levels.  You can boil the leaves as you would spinach, you can eat them raw like lettuce, just toss some leaves in with your next salad, or you could make a tea.  When harvesting leaves, the best time is before the plant blooms.  Just when the bloom bud appears, and before the stalk grows.  If you wait too long they will taste bitter.  Still edible but not very tasty.  I have read that you can add a pinch a baking soda and it will help with the bitterness in teas but I have never tried this.  You also want to harvest in the heat of the day so all the dew is evaporated off the plant.

Now let's talk about the stem.  The pure latex (the milky juice) inside the stem can be applied to warts or even infected wounds.  Repeat the applications until gone and healed.  Use a fresh stem with each application.

Onto the roots.  The best time to harvest them is in the spring and fall.  Of course you want to clean them good.  I soak mine overnight in water and then scrub them with a brush (a toothbrush works great).  You can boil them and eat it like a vegetable, grated in a salad, or even steamed.  You can roast them in the oven on a cookie sheet at 250 degrees for about 2 hours, grind them, and make coffee.  It is a good diuretic, it aids digestion, removes toxins from your system making it great for your liver, kidneys and gall bladder, plus its full of vitamins and nutrients.

Last but not least...the flower.  The flower is edible too!  Fried, it is considered a delicacy.  The young unopened flowers are high in protein, are tender and can add an extra crunch to your salad.  You can even make dandelion jelly.

Here are a few things I have done with dandelions this spring:

Dandelion Vinegar


1. Pick a jar full of dandelion blossoms. Can also add greens and roots (make sure they are clean)
2. Cover with apple cider vinegar.
3. Place in a sunny location to steep.
4. Shake good every day.
5. After two weeks strain with a cheesecloth or muslim fabric

6. Store in the refrigerator.

Can be used on salads!

 

Dandelion Infused Oil

1. Pick a jar full of dandelion blossoms.

2. Pour olive oil (can also use almond oil or canola oil) over the blossoms until they are fully covered. 

3.  Poke around with a wooden spoon handle to make sure there are no air bubbles. 

4.  Cover with a coffee filter held on by a rubber band.

5.  Place in a sunny location (a windowsill works well) to steep for 2 weeks. (I sat the jar outside on warm afternoons) After one week, strain the mixture, throw out the brown dandelions, and add fresh ones. Cover with your coffee filter and return to sunny location for another week of steeping. I also stirred them once a day.

6.  After 2 weeks strain using a cheese cloth or muslim fabric. I strained it twice to make sure there were no unwanted particles.

 

Dandelion Salve

 

Use the above method for dandelion infused oil.  Add grated beeswax to the oil and melt it.  Add enough to reach your desired consistency.  To test the consistency drip a drop of mixture on a plate.  It will cool immediatley and you can see how thick it is. 

 

I personally like the salve better than the oil.  Oil seems more messy to me.  Due to dandelions pain relieving properties the salve and the oil can be used for achy or sore muscles.   Just apply to the area.  It can be used to relieve sinus headaches.  Rub a little on your forhead.  Great for arthritis.  Can also be used for dry patches and other skin conditions.

Next time you look out in your yard and see dandelions taking over maybe you should consider eating away your weed problem. :):)

**Be sure when you harvest dandelions that you are not harvesting plants that have been sprayed or treated with any kind of chemical**

Plants Started from Seeds

Back in February I did a post about starting seeds indoors.  I thought I'd update ya'll on the progress.  Some of them did not do so good.  I always tend to think they need more water than what they do and over do it causing the roots to rot.  You'd think I'd learn my lesson by now, but I haven't and I'll probably have the same problem next year.  :)

Even though I lost some due to over watering I had quite a few do really good.  When it started warming up outside I began setting them outside and WOW what a difference it made.  It just goes to show no matter how hard you try, you can't replace real sunlight, fresh air and rain.  My peppers have done the best.  I also have quite a few tomatoes and marigolds.  My chives and sweet basil are coming along nicely too.  Oh and I can't forget my dill and parsley!   

Recently I planted some seeds outside in pots.  I hope they do good.  I planted Rosemary, Thyme, Calendula, Nasturtium, Lavender and I am planning on planting some Echinacea seeds right in the ground.  I have so many plans for my herbs.  Drying them, teas, salves, oils.  We'll see what happens! 

So overall I am pleased with the way my seed project has turned out.  There were a couple weeks in March that I thought they were all going to die and it was all a waste, but they pulled out of it and I will definitely do it again next year!