Sweet Herbal Preservations: August Blog Party Hosted by Kiva

I am really looking forward to this month's blog party hosted by Kiva. We'll be delving into sweet herbal preservations. To see all of the participating blogs just visit the link above to Kiva's fabulous blog.

This spring I attended the East West Seminar, the school of Michael and Lesley Tierra. At the closing ceremony Lesley led us all in several visualizations. During one visualization for a plant ally, chamomile strongly came to my mind. “Chamomile?!” I thought. “Simple plain old chamomile?!”

This past month at Herbmentor our herb of the month was chamomile. Yep, plain old chamomile and I just had a fabulous time studying the many uses of this plant. I tried drinking a small cup of tea before dinner to help promote digestion and I read with interest about Kimberly Gallagher using it for a wound.

In fact I became truly intrigued with this happy little Asteraceae plant that seemed to do so much. Chamomile’s gentle but profound affinity for the nervous system proves to us that herbs can be subtle yet still powerful and effective. From babies to elders and from teething to anxiety chamomile can soothe us throughout our entire lives.

In the Herbmentor forums one person shared that he and his wife have used chamomile almost exclusively for their baby from teething to colic to diaper rash.

After a month of exploring chamomile I will certainly never look at it as simple and plain again!

One new thing I learned about chamomile is that the fresh plant preparations seem to have more of an affinity for the nervous system while the dried plant has more of a bitter flavor that lends itself more to the digestive system. I don’t feel like I have enough experience with both the fresh and dried to weigh in on this, but it is an interesting concept.

With questions about fresh preparations running through my head I made two lovely sweet concoctions with fresh chamomile that I received from Ancestree Herbals.

The first was a simple chamomile honey. I filled a jar half full with freshly picked chamomile and then filled it the rest of the way with honey. I then stirred this well to mix it in. Each day for about a week I turned the honey upside down to give it another mixing. The result was a delicately flavored chamomile honey. I didn’t bother to strain the flowers – I just ate them along with the honey. I could see chamomile honey being a great way to flavor teas.

I also tinctured a lot of the fresh chamomile. I used 100 proof vodka and almost instantly the mixture turned a beautiful golden yellow. After a month I strained the tincture. The result was a sweet, slightly bitter dark yellow tincture.

I had been recently inspired by Kiva Rose’s fascination with elixirs so I thought I would try something a little different with some of my chamomile tincture. In a 4 oz amber bottle I added enough chamomile tincture to fill it halfway. I then added an equal amount of agave syrup. (I actually prefer honey to agave syrup, but for whatever reason this is what I had on hand.) The result was beautifully sweet chamomile elixir.

A friend of mine has a daughter who I think could become good friends with chamomile. The alcohol taste of the elixir seemed a little too harsh for an adolescent, so I tried a teaspoon of the chamomile in a cup of tap water. The result was a fantastic instant “tea”. I immediately bottled some up and am awaiting a report from my friend and her daughter.

I don’t normally consume sugar myself, but elixirs can be a fun way to share herbal delights with friends who will probably come back begging for more.

I am attending two weddings this month and will be giving both friends a bottle of rose elixir which I made in the same way as described above for chamomile.

Happy Sweet Summer!

It's Travel Friday--Our Home Town!

I have been talking about far away places in my other travel postings. I decided to go local in this one and talk about Pittsburgh, PA. Everyone has the impression that Pittsburgh is a smoky city or the steel city and those definitions are furthest from the truth! Here it is on a beautiful May day this year.
We always take company up Mt. Washington on the incline. The incline is two cars that travel in opposite directions and travel up and down the mountain. Commuters use it every day, but it is an excellent way to get back and forth from Mt. Washington to downtown Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh is also known for many famous people who lived and worked here. Andrew Carnegie, George Westinghouse and Henry Clay Frick who built and lived in a place called Clayton. They even made a replica of Phipps Conservatory on the property as a greenhouse. They have a wonderful cafe that serves afternoon tea. The Herbal Husband has taken me for my birthday.















Phipps Conservatory is a beautiful glass house in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh. They have a lot of different exhibits and classes for the whole family and a beautiful herb garden as well. You know me I had to end in an herb garden! So this is a little slice of Pittsburgh and I will talk about my home town again in the future postings!

July 31, 2009 - Friday Faves, etc.

Hi all! How's the week going? Ready to relax for a few minutes and look around?
Well, first let me tell you that I had a few days off this past week, and I bounced back home relaxed and ready to take on the world again. We went to Atlantic City, where the peaceful beauty of nature meets man-made brightly lit beauty. It is so easy to forget how much we really need to step outside of our routines from time to time to shake out the cobwebs. I had a ball :-).
˙looɔ s,ʇı ʞuıɥʇ ʇsnɾ ı ˙ʇɐɥʇ ǝʞıl ɟɟnʇs puɐ 'sǝɯɐu uǝǝɹɔs 'sʞuıl pɐoluʍop ʇdʎɹɔuǝ oʇ 'spɹoʍssɐd ƃuoɹʇs ɹoɟ ʇı ƃuısn ʇsǝƃƃns ʎǝɥʇ ʇnq 'pǝuɹǝɔuoɔ ɯ,ı sɐ ɹɐɟ sɐ unɟ ɹoɟ ʇsnɾ s,ʇı ˙ǝlʇıʇ dılɟ sı ʎɐpıɹɟ sıɥʇ ɹoɟ ǝʌɐɟ ʇsɹıɟ ǝɥʇ
Now that I got that little giggle out of my system, we'll move on to Willow Way, or SoapEquipment.com The designer of this equipment, Ron Jonas was - along with his wife - a soapmaker himself. He is well aware of the challenges of moving heavy vats of hot oil, how difficult it is to cut uniform bars, and the wonders of keeping oil in a liquid state for ease of use. If during your soapmaking adventures, you've ever let your mind wander to how easy it would be if only someone would make "xxxxx", then check out this site because Ron has already done it. Next up, the all-natural products from Herbal Garden. Marilyn Courtwright has a complete line of bath, beauty, and health products. Her newest soaps look luscious, and she uses mugwort in one line for sleep.
In the mood for a little more fun? Click on over to The Glastonbury Tarot and have a free on-line reading. You choose the cards and ask a question if you'd like. At the end of a long week, it can be almost as good of a pick me up as our "Cuppa Happy" tea!
In fact, all of our new teas are incredible! Stop over at The Essential Herbal to check out all of our products :-).

Happy end of the week to you all!

Guest Blogging for The Herb Companion Magazine!

What do tansy and Russian sage have in common? Find out when you read my latest posting for The Herb Companion magazine! Here is the link.

We Can Grow Plants Anywhere!

This mullein decided to grow right by our back door. It was in full bloom when I took this picture. It is a member of the Verbascum family, Verbascum thapsus. I'm giving you a link to an article in the latest Herb Companion magazine. I will admit that I am herbally deficient in medicinal herbs and so I will be learning along with you. I did read that the plant hairs may be irritating to some people, including me. So as always, be careful when using an unfamiliar herb! It is a favorite in our garden and I will let you know what else I learn about mullein in future postings!

A Visitor and a Friend in the Herb Garden!

Five years ago when my herb garden was redesigned, a rock wall was added. It's been called a condo for the chipmunks! So periodically we spy chippie eating or sitting on top of Mary's head. I don't always get a chance to get a photo. Mary the statue is named after our friend Mary who designed and sculpted her. I hope you have plants or ornaments in your garden that are reminders of friends and family!

Heavenly Herbal View!

The Herbal Husband was busy in the bathroom this morning. He was taking aerial views of our garden in the early morning light. It really looks nice! It is always a beautiful day in the garden.

Library Garden Tour!

Well, The Herbal Husband and I thoroughly enjoyed opening up the garden to the public! Here is the front garden before everyone arrived. Then the rain came! It poured buckets before they came and even after the tour started it was raining. Fortunately, gardeners are hardy folk and took things in stride. The sun finally did make an appearance. The Herbal Husband had all of his tomatoes with name tags at the top of the stakes so that people could read them and he could remember their names also!

But I think the herb garden really looked beautiful! I'm a little biased! I worked very hard this season even if some of the plants didn't live up to expectations! I think my favorite part of the herb garden are my containers this year particularly on this stepladder of my mom's. Everyone who came up from the back garden mentioned how much they loved my fairy trough. I need to do a couple more next year! Don't tell the Herbal Husband! Hope the library made lots of bucks! Support your local library wherever you may be! They always can use a helping hand! Happy Birthday Mar!

Harvesting Garlic!

We had to start harvesting our garlic because of the rainy weather we are having. It is important to have a little green when they are pulled because the bulb can start to split and the cloves separate. I have wanted to pull the rest of the bulbs because it continues to rain, but The Herbal Husband is reluctant to do it! We are also ready for the garden tour tomorrow morning. It is supposed to rain heavily tonight and then clear up some time in the morning. I hope the harvesting of your crops is going well. Talk to you later.

Good Comes From Cool Summer Weather!

The Herbal Husband was shocked the other day when we were cleaning up for Sunday. We found these delicious snow peas. You forget about the spring veggies when you are worrying about the summer ones. I see a wok dish in our future or just steamed with a little herb butter. 'Oregon Giant' is the variety and they were growing under the radar during the cool wet summer. I really know how Seattle feels in the summer this year! See you later!

July 24, 2009 Friday Faves

Here it is, the end of the week and we're just getting it over with, right? Well probably not - lol. My experience is that herbies love each day and rarely wish them away.

I have a few cool links to share today....

The Hiker's Notebook is an incredible compendium of interesting natural and cultural facts about things you commonly see on the trails in the southern Appalachian Mountain region by William Needham. I don't remember where I got this link, but it is spectacular!

Blue Moon Herbals carries formulas that stir the soul, soothe the spirit & heal the body. Debbi Quinn is the proprietor, and if you get to meet her, she emanates a great vibe.

Harry Schwartz Eats the World is a collection of interesting tidbits that pass through Harry's head on the way to being digested. Always something interesting there.

(no that is not Truman Capote)

Finally, Gifts to Make has lots of little things to do and print-out to make them special.

I just noticed the crescent moon theme here. Well, let's go with that!

It's Travel Thursday--An Herbal Gem in Ohio!

This is the Cleveland Botanical Garden. Last year the Piccadilly Herb Club took a trip to see the garden and the Western Reserve Unit's Herb Garden and I tagged along. It is said to be one of the finest public herb gardens in the country. I would agree. It is in its 40th year of existence. Here is a plaque detailing the garden.

This is a thyme lawn with millstones for a path. On my wish list! Don't tell The Herbal Husband!


This is the culinary garden.

Finally, the English knot garden. It is said to be one of the largest English knots in the world! It was an herbal work of art!

If you are thinking about joining a unit of The Herb Society of America, please do so! They have groups all over the country and are always looking for new members. You can also join as a member at large and just be a part of the national organization as I do. The Western Reserve Unit has a wonderful herbal festival in October. You can find the exact date and time through the link for the Cleveland Botanical Garden. Hope you can visit this herbal gem soon! It is a real herbal treasure!

The herbal frenzy that is July

Wow! What a busy time this is! Last week I posted a quick Friday blog, knowing that the next few days would be a blur, and that's been true.
The deadline for the magazine was on the 15th, so we just about had everything figured out in time for Ms Laura Daniel to arrive for a quick weekend among the plants. We had a great time relaxing and talking. It was really fun! I may have mentioned that we wound up getting a fence built around the critter feeding statio...er.. I mean vegetable garden. I asked Jim from J&J Growers at market if he had any bedding plants left to plant around the outside, and that lovely man showed up with three incredible, wonderful, glowing FLATS of marigold and wax begonia. You know what that means, of course... I have to plant them. So we've been working weeding and planting into the morning and night routine around here.
Monday the liquor store opened with my face pressed against the glass waiting to purchase a gallon of vodka. Oh, how things have changed! I'm not even going to drink any! Everything around here is just begging to be jarred up and tinctured. Once we get a handle on that, we can get the still back up and running again. The freezer is stocked with ice, just waiting. Seriously, I stopped for liquor on my way home from a delightful visit with my long-time friend Karen, who - we realized while talking with her mother - was a cohort in the Cherub Choir when we were but we munchkins. Wow. Imagine.And then we continued as friends all through school, but lost touch upon graduation. FaceBook, you crazy fun thing. More tinctures and some single teabag samplers needed to be readied for market, You can order them here...so that's done too. There is a soap order that needs to be ready - and then, and then....
This is a great time of year.

OH! And if I haven't mentioned it -
Wondiferous Weed Walk in Somerset PA
don't miss it!
http://sugargroveherbs.blogspot.com/2009/05/wondiferous-weed-walk.html
Contact Barb to pre-register at sgherbs@verizon.net

One last note...
The Essential Herbal is not a business location, and we do not have hours of operation other than listed class times.

Busy on the Coneflower!

We are starting to get butterflies on flowers, but it has been a struggle with the weather. I think everyone including butterflies likes it warm and sunny. It has been sunny, but not as warm as it should be. This swallowtail opened up for me to get a decent photo! Off to the garden to keep cleaning up! Talk to you soon!

Fresh is Best!

It starts with the perfect carrot and then you add some new potatoes and purple beans and snow peas and a jar of canned tomatoes. All from our garden. It turns into this delicious stew. The Herbal Husband loves his stews! Not unlike the American casserole. He eats his stew with rice on the side. I have to have my stew on top of the rice. It was all good. Every time The Herbal Husband says it is too much work to plant and grow a garden, I think of favorite salads or meals like this. He will be growing vegetables for a while longer!

They're Baaack!

My favorite bird is back. It's the hummingbird! If you click on the image, you will see her! The hummers have been more feisty this year. I actually saw a male for the first time also. He almost flew into my car the other day! We usually have females around here. Here are some more photos and the last is one of her resting on the string! Too cute!

Late Bloomers!

Too late for the master gardeners to see, but the nasturtiums we grew from seeds from Holland are finally blooming! One flower whoo hoo! Then this morning The Herbal Husband came in and said that I had to take a picture of the blooming sunflower before the squirrel gets it! I don't make this up really! The irony is that the chipmunk planted the sunflower seeds that grew these plants! It will be just in time for the library tour next Sunday. Whoo hoo!

A Favorite Hasn't Bloomed! Ever!

I discovered this rose several years ago when I spoke at the PA Lavender Festival. This is Rosa rugosa 'Alba'. It has the most beautiful white blossom and it is absolutely delicious. I think because this one has been moved multiple times, it hasn't gotten established. Every time we move it, it ends up in the shade! I just hope that some day soon, I will be able to taste it!

Well the Forecast was Right, but We Survived!

It poured buckets, but the skies cleared and we were able to get out to see the gardens. I never take enough pictures when I'm in the middle of the excitement! Here are the master gardeners in our garden. I think they really enjoyed themselves. We certainly enjoyed having them! If you have the opportunity to become a master gardener, do it! It is a very rewarding experience.

Tie Up a Loose End!

Well, Leslie from Comfrey Cottages here is your kaffir lime (Citrus hystrix). It was literally down to one leaf. The Herbal Husband brought it back from the dead. Would not eat this leaf. It is similar to the bay laurel. It is very fiberous and is tough to chew! Really hope the weather forecast is dead wrong tonight! Start praying! Off to help get set up for the master gardeners! Talk to you later!

Friday Faves

First one is for parents, grandparents, or anyone who knows a great kid...

One of our writers, Kristine Brown has been putting out a monthly herbal learning guide geared towards kids, but certainly very appropriate for full-grown kids too. The style is very gentle and comfortable, each issue is a work of art! Herbal Roots Zine is written (by hand, I might add) about a single herb each month. There are activities, songs, puzzles, and all sorts of things to do to learn about that herb. It is delivered as a PDF electronically, and each issue costs $6.
Twisted Sisters Herbs Next up is a site/blog that my sister Maryanne and I have put together to get the word out about our classes (and who knows what else will wind up there - lol). A lifetime or two ago, we held classes every Friday night at the old Herb Basket. We really enjoyed those classes, and have decided to put together full days of herbal adventures. If you're local(ish), check out our schedule and come make some fun herbal stuff with us!

SunRose Aromatics Although I often talk about distilling my own hydrosols and the occasional essential oil here at home, I don't think I've mentioned how much I love the exotic, rare, and beautiful oils and that are the true passion of Rosanne Tartaro at SunRose. I'm sitting here with some Orris Root Concrete and some Fragonia EO, some aged Patchouli and a few other delights. Her Chakra Balancing Blends are incredible, and she's written a wonderful book packed with information to help us understand our chakras. Skip on over and look around. Her site is a treat to the senses.

On August 15th, Maryanne and I will be heading to the Wondiferous Weed Walk, held by Sugar Grove Herbs in Somerset PA. Somerset is close to VA, WV, and OH. It's probably about 4 hours west from Lancaster. Barb and Fred Will have put together an amazing, informative, FUN day of weeds, bees, mushrooms, lectures, and herbs. I think Barb mentioned that there is a wind farm on a neighboring property, and also an outdoor stone oven. Anyhow, $50 includes lunch and handouts - along with all the lectures, demos, and the weed walk. It should be an amazing time... and I hope to see some of you there!