Looking Pretty Good!

Well, just wanted to give you an update! I know you all love grassy paths or places in your garden. Ours is back once again. Not perfect, but pretty good for gardeners whose preference is herbs and not lawn! Answered questions on Gardenline today. Always an interesting day! Hope you are having an interesting day wherever you may be!

Blog Party! Summer Weeds

Yay to Darcey for getting the blog parties rolling again. You can see the whole listing at her wonderful blog:
http://desertmedicinewoman.blogspot.com/

Yellow Dock (Rumex crispus)

I love to love yellow dock.

This pesky weed that is despised by so many offers us so many uses whether it be nutritious food, potent medicine, or even beauty in the way of a brilliant yellow dye or a unique flower arrangement.

Leaves as food and Medicine:
Yellow dock grows all over the United States. It is in the buckwheat, or Polygonaceae family along with rhubarb and sheep’s sorrel. Where I live in the Northeastern Cascades of Washington State, yellow dock leaves are some of the first to appear in the spring. I’ve even seen them growing right out of the shallow snow in the late winter/early spring.

The young leaves are a wonderful spring green. You can eat small amounts raw in salads, or cook them in soups or quiche. Because the leaves contain oxalic acids it’s best not to overeat them raw, and avoid them completely if you have a history of oxalate kidney stones. The leaves are slightly sour when young, becoming increasingly so as they get older.

The cooling and astringent leaves can be used topically to reduce swelling from irritations. I’ve used them on cold sores with varying results as well as stinging nettle rashes with better results.

Yellow Dock Frittata:
This breakfast can be made with any wild greens, but yellow dock gives it a nice lemony taste.

1 cup yellow dock leaves, steamed and well drained
6 eggs
2 Tbsp. Raw cream
salt and pepper to taste
1 medium potato
½ minced onion or leek
2 tbsp. butter
1 cup grated goat cheese
1 tsp. dried basil
1 T mustard

Peel and finely chop the potato. Sauté onion in butter until tender in a cast iron skillet. Add the potato and sauté for about 5 minutes. Whisk eggs, cream, basil, cheese, mustard, salt and pepper together in a bowl. Add the yellow dock greens.

Preheat the broiler in your over.
Add the egg mixture on top of the potatoes and onions. Cook on low heat on the stove top for about 10 minutes until the bottom of frittata is set, but top is still runny.

Put skillet under the broiler for about five minutes or until the top portion is nicely browned.


Seeds as food and decoration:
During the spring and summer, long green flower stalks spring up from among the leaves. By June they are fully formed and by July or August they are abundant rust colored seeds. These are easily recognized in fields and growing alongside the roads. They seem to beckon me each year to harvest the bounty.

To harvest the seeds I cut down the seed stalks and place them in a paper bag. I then keep this bag on its side and leave it outside overnight. You’d be amazed at all the creatures that make their home in the yellow docks seeds. I encourage them to leave peaceably in this way.

The next day I pick through the seeds removing any debris and old leaves. These seeds can then be ground with a mortar and pestle or in food processor.

Why go to all this trouble you ask? Why dock seed crackers of course. My mentor Karen Sherwood taught me this recipe and years later it’s still a favorite in our house.

Dock Seed Crackers:
Ingredients:
one cup of dock seed flour
one teaspoon of salt
and one cup flour of your choice. (My favorites are whole-wheat pastry flour and rye flour.)

1. Mix in enough water to make pliable, but not sticky dough.
2. On a well-floured surface, roll dough as thin as possible. Cut into desired shapes or transfer it whole to a well-oiled cookie sheet.
3. Bake for 10 -12 minutes at 350 or until crisp.
4. I love these hearty crackers with goat cheese.

The flower stalks also make a fabulous addition to flower arrangements. You can use them when they are green, or later when they are fully mature. I’ve seen them placed with other flowers or even as decoration on their own.

Roots as medicine, dye and fairy tables:
The root is the most commonly used portion of yellow dock. I harvest the roots in the late summer and early fall. They like to grow in hard rocky soil. (Or maybe we just have an abundance of hard rocky soil and it happens to grow there.) In either case I have found that a digging stick is oftentimes more helpful than a shovel in getting the roots up.

The root is a long taproot that has a brown outer covering. Underneath this brown sheath is a brilliant yellow that will knock your socks off. It’s no surprised that this was traditionally used as a dye. When you slice the root you will find growth rings similar to a tree. By counting the rings you’ll discover how old the plant is.

These brilliant yellow slices with beautiful rings rippling out make fabulous fairy furniture. You can create your own designs with a young friend. Although the color will fade as they dry, these slices can also be used as temporarily colorful earrings and necklaces.

Yellow dock root is bitter, astringent and cooling making it a great choice for clearing liver heat with signs of slow digestion that can include a lump or heavy feeling in the abdominals along with constipation. Generally described as an alterative, yellow dock (as are most alteratives) is indicated for clearing damp heat conditions.

Yellow dock root contains small amounts of anthraquinone glycosides, that are believed to stimulate the bowels as a laxative. Also being a bitter herb it helps to stimulate various digestive juices which in turn stimulates the peristaltic action of the bowels. Whether yellow dock acts directly on the bowels, or supports healthy digestion through its bitter properties, the result is a gentle effect to clear food stagnation and get those bowels moving.

It is also appropriate for damp heat signs in the blood that surface on the skin such as oozy, wet, red (hot), irritated rashes. I’ve read several accounts of it being used topically as a wash for ringworm.

It is commonly thought that yellow dock contains high amounts of iron and is frequently used for anemia especially anemia associated with pregnancy. There is a growing consensus however, that yellow dock does not actually contain large amounts of iron, but rather it helps the body to better utilize iron. When we view yellow dock in this fashion it makes sense to combine it with nettle leaf or to make a concoction of the root with an equal part of black strap molasses added.

Rich in minerals yellow dock infuses well in apple cider vinegar. This can be used as a base for salad dressings, or simply taken before meals to aid digestion. Additionally it can be taken to relieve food stagnation and constipation following a meal.

Besides vinegar and water, yellow dock root can also be extracted in alcohol. This year I hope to infuse the root in honey.

Although I have no experience with this myself, it’s worth noting that historically yellow dock salve was used externally on tumors.

Last fall I made a video about harvesting yellow dock root and then infusing it in vinegar. You can watch this at www.herbmentor.com.

I love to love yellow dock. It is abundant, easy to harvest, and has such a rich history of use for practically every portion of the plant.

In Full Bloom!

We have a Chinese chestnut in full bloom! It is stinky at the moment when the flowers are blooming! It does give a lot of shade. Plants really have to survive if they are planted underneath it! The Herbal Husband got seeds or a seedling from a guy who was having a yard sale. He told us it was an American chestnut. The Herbal Husband was excited. My extension agent told me it was probably a Chinese chestnut and not an American. They are working on a better version of an American chestnut that would be more disease and insect resistant. Hopefully you are enjoying the shade of a tree wherever you are! Got to run! Going out to work on the front garden!

Some of My Favorites are in Bloom!

Since I graduated with an art history degree from college, I had to get a famous painter into my mix in the garden. This is Hemerocallis 'Frans Hals'. Hemerocallis means beauty for a day! You have to be quick or you will miss them! One of my favorite edible flowers. You have to grow them without chemicals of any sorts to be able to eat them. I would not eat daylilies on the roadside. They make a fantastic presentation in a wine glass with a scoop of sorbet or ice cream and some fresh fruit or chocolate sauce. Don't forget to remove those reproductive parts, the stamens and pistils before you use it. The pollen can be the trigger for some people and their allergies so you want to take those parts out. It gives you a nice cup shape that fits into the glass. The lighter colors of daylily are also less likely to 'bleed' color than the darker shades. This big yellow daylily below is called 'Good Reason'. It was my Great Uncle Harry's favorite. My Great Aunt Roberta gave me a fan of this one before she died. She gave me a couple of others that I will share when they bloom. Do you have passalong plants that were shared? Please tell me about them.

Share Your Garden with the Master Gardeners!

This is the backyard of the first Share Your Garden of the season. It rained 3/4 of an inch just before we arrived! Timing is everything! Susan is our president and she has a lot of energy and commitment and has a beautiful garden. It is full of tranquility and edibles. She uses raised beds for her veggies and has areas of interesting pots and plants. Well done, Susan. It's our turn next in July!

Friendship Farms and Herb Groups!

Yesterday my Herbal Companion and I went on a bus trip to Friendship Farms in Westmoreland County with the Piccadilly Herb Club and some members of the Western Pennsylvania Unit of The Herb Society of America. It is out in the Laurel Highlands. Beautiful countryside. They specialize in native plants, very good bread and jams and Angus beef of the highest quality. I think farming is very difficult, but this family started in the 1960's and have been successful at what they know.
We had lunch at the Pepperwood Grille in front of Westmoreland Mall on Route 30. They had 'Fairy' roses, lavender and boxwood on our tables. It was a nice touch! Good friends, lunch and beautiful scenery. A great combination!

It's Travel Thursday--Cordoba, Spain!

This is the fast train, the Ave, that we took to go to Cordoba at the end of our trip to Spain in March. Below a view out the train window. Since we went into the interior of the country, it was
going to be a warm day! Cordoba is due north of Malaga. It was full of tourists and a very lively city. Known for its patios, Cordoba was very influenced by the Moorish Empire. We also explored the Gardens of the Alcazar. The Cathedral of Cordoba was again influenced by the Islamic and Catholic religions. It was mysterious and beautiful in the same moment! We loved our day in Cordoba!

Reilly's To The Rescue!

Well, we were in herbal desperation mode! The herb garden was still looking a little bare! So I took a ride out to Reilly's Summer Seat Farm & Garden Center. If you live in Pittsburgh, you need to take a ride out there. I found these three 'Hidcote' lavenders. Just what we lost! Very excited! I'll post a picture of the new improved herb garden once we get it finished!

tiny bloomers

I didn't really know what theme I was going for while taking pictures this morning, but found so many sweet, yet tiny gems that it became the topic.Very often, the smallest of the blossoms are the ones that startle us with their intense color or their amazing structure. Sometimes, they contain strong medicine or powerful scent. No matter what the interest, they carpet the ground outside my back door, and right now they are in their glory!Chives (I deadheaded the whole plant and am being rewarded with a healthy second bloom) dance among the Roman Chamomile and the Thyme. Grosso Lavender reaches for the sun. Deptford Pinks have begun a decent colony right on the other side of the rail fence. They are startlingly bright. I'll have to get a clearer picture of them later.

This grove of Elder was imported from Tennessee, and Michele Brown, who shipped it to me from Possum Creek Herbs a few years ago asked how they were doing the other day. LOOK MOM! In front of the Elder, there is an enormous patch of Mountain Mint. It cracks me up to remember the tiny slip I brought home from Sarah Liberta's in Baton Rouge 2 or 3 years ago. Wow.

This lady bug is resting on some of the blossoms.
Just this year I've realized how closely the Scarlet Pimpernel resembles Chickweed, and how closely they often grow together. On the property here, they are often growing intertwined. Will have to do some research on the Pimpernel!!! NOTE: This plant is edible, and is sometimes called "Poorman's Chickweed". I'm still laughing. How poor do you have to be to have a poorman's version of chickweed?

Wild Heart's Ease grows all over the place here. They are so tiny that I barely noticed them at first. Here they grow amidst the Chocolate Mint.

Beautiful, dainty, and oh! so fragrant, the valerian is still blooming out front. Again, I took all of the blooms earlier for a tincture, so it is re-blooming.
Thyme flowers growing in the shade of a nearby Vitex bush. I can see why the fairies are so fond of these little darlings!

Standing next to the Elder and looking up, it looks like lace doilies against the brilliant blue sky.

That's it for right now. Soon off to Farm at Coventry. I'm noticing there are 482 posts on this blog... wonder what I should do when I hit 500???

Lavender Shortbread - Gluten Free!

There are a couple of lavender workshops coming up tomorrow and the next day for The Essential Herbal, and for the one on Thursday, I really wanted to make some lavender shortbread cookies to munch on while we make some lavender wands.
Who knows? Tomorrow maybe lavender lemonade! Ahem... but I'm getting ahead of myself. My friend Sarah is gluten intolerant, so I set about finding a recipe that would work for everyone.
It didn't take long, either. A few minutes on the internet brought a simple recipe. Today Molly and I went out for the ingredients - rice flour, cornstarch, 10X sugar and butter.
I was excited! Out to the lavender patch to do battle with those bumbly bees. They are having quite a time! I keep hoping that they will flavor some local honey with a touch of lavender. Carefully I trimmed just the purple-est bits of lavender for the most exotic appearance.
I followed the recipe to the t, except I will admit to putting the cookies too close together.
Even so, they had a sandy, ethereal texture. Melt in your mouth and crumble in your fingers. Very unstable, and I really didn't feel they were shortbread-like. Just because you can't eat gluten doesn't mean you should have to pretend that something is like a thing that it is not.
So I thought about it for a while, and realized it needed something to hold it together....egg. I added an egg, and cut down on the butter while adding a wee splash of vanilla. The dry ingredients needed to be bumped up just a smidge to make up for the liquid of the egg. Maybe a medium sized egg wouldn't need that, but I used extra large.

That was what they needed! NOW they are shortbread cookies.
Here's the recipe:

1 C plus 2 heaping T Rice Flour

1/2 C plus 1 heaping T 10X sugar

1/2 C plus 1 heaping T cornstarch

1 extra large egg

1 stick butter (1/2 C)

1 good t chopped lavender flowers

1/2 t vanilla

Blend together the dry ingredients well. Soften the butter, and mix it with the egg and vanilla. Mix everything together and add the flowers. If it is too wet, add rice flour by teaspoons.

Refrigerate for one hour.

Make teaspoon sized balls and place on cookie sheet 1 1/2 inches apart.

Put into a 300 degree oven for about 20 - 25 minutes until edges are lightly browned.

mmmmm.....

Radish Sandwiches!

I made some herbal butter for a class a couple of weeks ago. Do we have radishes! Yes, we certainly do! So just sliced up a breakfast radish. Yes, that's the type and spread the bread with the butter with the sliced radish on top. Yummy! I had some apple cider with it. Wished it had been lavender lemonade. Have made some since I made those sandwiches. Nothing like it on a hot summer day! Any kind of cold drink is a great thing! Hope you are staying cool wherever you may be!

Lots of Blooming in the Garden!

This is prime time in our garden! The left photo is a chocolate foxglove. No, sorry it doesn't smell like chocolate! So you aren't missing anything. I got it at one of my favorite herb farms Mulberry Creek. This is Karen Langan's description in their catalog:

"Milk chocolate-red flowers look good enough to eat- but don't. You couldn't squeeze in another flower between the narrow, glossy green leaves on sturdy stems. Seed stalks are dried for outrageous flower arrangements."

The herb garden is looking good and the heat will help the size of some plants this week! The yellow blooming plant in the right photo above is rosemary leaved santolina also from Mulberry Creek. The middle photo below is from the front and it is in transition from spring to summer. The "wild" day lilies are in bloom. The red bee balm is about to start blooming. Last Wednesday we had almost four inches of rain in the garden! We are supposed to have a hot and mostly dry week this week. Finally!

For Herb Businesses - A Wee Commercial Break

I apologize to those not conducting an herb business of some sort, but there is some pretty big news here at TEH and we need to get the word out. Just skip this entry if it doesn't interest you - and I promise something interesting later.
Contrary to the financial uncertainty in the US, herbs and their uses are an ever-growing interest for more and more people who want to play a more active role in growing and preparing meals for their families, learning herbal first aid to use at home, and just enjoying what grows in their midst. The Essential Herbal magazine is the perfect place to advertise if these are the people you'd like to reach. Our pages are filled with the very favorite methods, recipes, and remedies of our readers. They are part of the magazine, making it precisely what it is.
With our current issue (Jul/Aug '09) we have gone to a color cover. This enables us to offer a few pages of VERY reasonable color advertising. We will not be cutting the pages up, although we would be very happy to include group ads that are put together by your group.
We have 2/3rds of the outside back cover available, as well as the inside back and front covers. Any of these options are available for $400. No bleed, full pages = 7.5 x 10, while the outside back is 7.5w x 6.25h. You can check out our demographics here: advertising info, although we will soon need to up the number of copies that are printed for each issue, including the issues we already print extras of for inclusion in herbal and soap symposium goodie bags, etc.
And if you are an herb business with zero money left over to advertise, we know that feeling too. In that case, we invite you to submit a recipe, article or craft instruction to the magazine. We'll give you credit and include contact information!

Happy Father's Day!

Well, this is my dad who adopted me 50 plus years ago. I was born in Pittsburgh and eight days later was adopted and raised in a small town north of Pittsburgh. I had seven glorious years with him and then he was killed in an auto accident. If you can, celebrate your father today and every day!

Morels and two beauties in the Figwort family

We headed out to the forest today to gather morel mushrooms. My husband brought home a decent amount, but my luck was more in the plant kingdom. It was a hot and dusty day and I headed down to a creek to cool off and found some monkey flower and American speedwell (Veronica americana). Both of them are in the Figwort family, both like to live near streams, and neither of which I had seen in the wild before.










Monkey flower became a dear friend of mine this winter while I was, in technical terms, freaking out about our steep, curvy, icy driveway that I was sure to plummet over the edge of every time I needed to leave our cabin.

Kiva, an herbalist living in the wilderness of New Mexico has the following to say about Monkey flower: (excerpted from her fabulous post on nervine differentials)

Monkeyflower (Mimulus spp.) - Neutral, moist - Flowering tops - Sweet

For sadness and stress accompanied by a sense of joylessness and lack of wonder. A true sunshine remedy that brightens the spirits and can alleviate mild to moderate depression. It has also proven helpful for when someone is wound up on stimulants of any kind, to bring them back to earth from a hyped up, strung out place. Likewise, it can very useful when someone is hysterical to the point of being paranoid, unreasonable and frantic. It won’t sedate them into a stoned out kind of place, merely bring them back to the present moment and solid ground. I’ve also seen it help alleviate chronic insomnia with restlessness and frequent waking.

I am less familiar with American Speedwell or Veronica americana. Another figwort this has opposite leaves and blue flowers with four irregular petals and two stamens. (Most figworts have four stamens).

It's a tasty potherb and is also used as a diuretic, astringent and expectorant for unproductive coughs.

And lastly here are some beautiful morels. You can read more about our adventures on the blog my husband Xavier is overseeing at: http://fourseasonsprehistoricprojects.blogspot.com/

Another Elder We Love!

This is Sambucus canadensis 'Acutiloba' or 'Laciniata' or American Elder. This one we have in our garden has a cut leaf which makes for visual interest in the summer. It is a deciduous shrub, multi-stemmed, 5 feet to 12 feet tall and has fruit that matures in September. It is native to the eastern United States and is hardy to Zone 4 and warmer parts of Zone 3. The flowers are edible and smell of vanilla. Ours is growing in shade and probably would be even better with more sun, but space is at a premium! This one below is growing in the herb garden of the Western Reserve unit of the Herb Society of America at the Cleveland Botanical Garden. It is a great garden and one you should visit if you are going to be in the Cleveland area this summer.

Vote for our market!

Hi - I just voted in the "Love Your Farmers Market" contest sponsored by Care2.com and LocalHarvest.org to help my favorite market, Mount Joy Farmers Market, win a grand prize of $5,000. I care about promoting fresh, local and healthy foods, and I need your help to get enough votes to help Mount Joy Farmers Market win. Please vote here: http://www.care2.com/farmersmarket/10444?refer=19462.09.1245522962.832230.

Guest Blogging for The Herb Companion Magazine!

Here is my latest blog and link for The Herb Companion magazine. This posting is about the New York Botanical Garden that I visited while I was in New York City in May. The picture above is the herb garden. It is very easy to reach by local commuter train and you get to see the magnificent Grand Central Station. The garden has its own stop and I enjoyed my afternoon visit immensely.