quote

"Wth umbled hair of swarms of bees,

And flower-robes dancing in the breeze,

with sweet, unsteady lotus-glances,

Intoxicated, Spring advances."

Translated from Sanskrit poem

Found Some New Herbal Kids!

Never thought I would say this.  We went to Home Depot for lumber yesterday and came home with these darlings, 'Boxwood' basil.  I would say for the price run, don't walk over to your local Home Depot and see if they have some for you!  The only downside is that they can't go in the ground yet and it is always a slippery slope in our house to have too many young herbs waiting to go in the ground.  Basil especially does not like cold soil.  Hopefully, it won't be long now before we can plant these in the herb garden.  I have just the spot!

My master gardening friend gave us this mint last year and as you can see, it has come back very nicely.  Oh, it is a silver mint, moderately invasive, relative of common spearmint and doubles as an ornamental.  I have mint everywhere in the garden and have learned my lesson.  In a container is the only way to have mint in your garden!

This last darling is my name sake, lemon verbena.  An anonymous comment led me to show you how our lemon verbena weathered the winter.  It was in a south facing window and did well until an attack of white flies really brought it back to reality!   If it hadn't been attacked, it would probably be a little larger with larger leaves.  It is rebounding rather well and it will go into the ground and we will have a new little one for this pot.  It will not go out until all danger of frost is gone, mid-May or later.  Always keep your eye on a 14 day temperature trend around this time of year.  It lets you know when you can start planting those tender herbs like, basil or lemon verbena.  Going on a road trip tomorrow to buy what else, herbs!  Stay tuned.  Haven't forgotten about those Zombie Chicken Awards either, really!

Spring in the Methow: A photographic journey

We had a beautiful day in the Methow Valley today and I enjoyed taking a walk around our cabin to see the first signs of spring.



The bluebells are out in full force, carpeting the forest floor with their blue abundance.



Yellow bells are one of my favorite edible roots. They also strongly illustrate how harvesting wild plants can actually increase their growth. When you harvest these bulbs you will find a bunch of tiny bulblets on the bulb. Separate these off and replant them in the same area. In this way you can literally increase their growth in an area by 50 times from how you found it.

The chinese use a species of yellow bells (Fritillaria cirrhosa and F. thunbergii) for medicine and it's on my list to experiment with our own native species, Fritillaria pudica.



Spring beauties (Claytonia lanceolata) are one of my favorite edibles. We eat the aerial portions as salad greens and dry the roots to eat in our winter stews.



These tiny yarrow leaves are beginning to pop up from last's years growth. Yarrow is one of my most used herbs for a myriad of conditions - from UTIs to bug bites to fevers to wounds.

You can see more of todays photo on my flicker account by clicking here

Guest Blogging for The Herb Companion Magazine!

I know this looks like weeds, but they are garlic greens and they can be used in stir fries.  They have the flavor of garlic, but a little milder.  All kinds of good herbs are coming up in the garden.  I have written a guest blog about some of my favorites for The Herb Companion magazine.  Here is the article: Spring Garden Tips:  3 Springtime Recipes.  Hope you enjoy it and are enjoying your spring herb garden as well.  Zombie Chicken Awards tomorrow.  Stay tuned!

quote

"Oh, how this spring of love resembleth
The uncertain glory of an April day!
Which now shows all the beauty of the sun
And by and bye a cloud takes all away."
- William Shakespeare

Now that is good news!

Amy Stork of the Methow Valley Newspaper writes a delicious food column each month.

This month featured a recipe from yours truly.

Check it out here.

I Was Hopeful!

Yesterday while sitting in front of the computer, I was hopeful that I could get my selections made for the Zombie Chicken award.  It was not to be.  As I opened Blogger to get started, my power went off!  We had a rainstorm the night before and our power flashed off and back on, but we didn't lose it because of the storm.  When I called the power company, they always have that cheerful automatic voice that tells you when to expect your power back on.  11:30 PM, April 18th!  Fortunately, they were way off, but it threw me off.  Although I did get off the hook for dinner.  We had Chinese.  I have to go burn off a few more calories than I had planned on having!  So hopefully as Scarlett said, "Tomorrow is another day!"  Above is my Kerria japonica.  The common name is Japanese rose.  Beautiful green stems and leaves.  Wonderful in the spring garden.  Talk to you later.  Thanks for hanging around!

Dandelion Wine Video

Here's parts 1 and 2 of making dandelion wine. This batch was the best batch of dandelion wine I've ever made. If you've got dandelions popping up in your yard, you might give this wine a try! We like to drink a glass of dandelion wine on winter solstice to celebrate the returning sun.

quote

"We begin as a mineral. 
We emerge into plant life and
into animal state, and then into
being human, and always
we have forgotten our former states,
except in early spring, when we slightly recall
being Green again."
- unknown (Can anyone i.d. the origination of this quote?)

Here's another snippet from who knows where(?):

" I am a part of all you see
 In Nature: part of all you feel:
 I am the impact of the bee
 Upon the blossom; in the tree
 I am the sap--that shall reveal
 The leaf, the bloom--that flows and flutes
 Up from the darkness through its roots. "

PA Herb Festival

Today we hit the very beginning of the PA Herb Festival in York. It is going on tomorrow, and if you have some time, run on over and check it out. We were pleasantly surprised. It has been a long time since we've seen so many new and interesting vendors at a festival - that didn't include home parties and window replacements. There were a few soap companies, but not many, many companies like before (we always notice that - what can I say?). The fact is that we always have a great time because we see our friends, but it was good to see some new stuff.
So here's the mini tour. I forgot lots of people, especially Barb from Alloway, and the folks from Willow Pond... but there will be other opportunities.
Sharon Magee is in her 25th year with her herbal pottery. Snap it up, folks. You just never know how long somebody will keep making something. We'll be hanging with Sharon a few days in the coming week during another conference. You'll probably hear more there.
Sarah was settling in to her booth space representing Radiance and Herbs from the Labyrinth. It looked pretty homey, and Kara had headed back to Lancaster to pick up some additional items. There were some recently dyed silk pieces on the aisle, and the market baskets appeared to be flying out of there too. I doubt if she got to sit and relax too much today.
Jason Spring from Spring Thyme Nursery in Dillsburg was doing a great business with his nice big herbs. In years past, it hasn't always been easy to have the herbs ready for this show, but not this time. There was lush patchouli, and the signage at his booth was imaginative.
The Japanese Jack-in-the-pulpit at the Charles Racine Co out of Elkton MD just took my breath away. Worth every cent of the $38 price - if it weren't for the fact that our deer would make a beeline for that plant. Hepatica, a wide variety of Trillium, Woodland Poppies, and Bluebells were all tempting - very tempting. This booth also usually has a splendid array of hostas.
As the doors opened this morning, the crowd began wandering, and many of them went directly into Barb Steele's talk on Dill - the herb of the year for 2010.
We wandered around and saw these trivets made from lucite enclosed herbs and botanicals, stained glass outside lamps, mosaics, stoneware, chimes, soy candles, and a good many teas, dips, botanicals, jewelry, and bath and body care items.
Maryanne chatted with Dee Shartles of Downhome Herbals. I think this is Dee's first year at the festival, but I'm not certain because we don't normally get a lot of time to go visiting. Anyhow, she has some lovely stuff.
Debbi Quinn from Blue Moon Herbals was one of the first people I saw upon entering, and her warm smile and happy voice just drew me right in. Besides having some of the most beautiful curly hair on the planet, Debbi has conjured up some incredible perfumes that are named for different deities. She's an advertiser in the magazine, so you'll see her link on the sidebar (as is Sarah).
Chef Tim had his tasty balsamic vinaigrette on sale, and the samples were delish. I still have a good bit on hand here at the house.
There seemed to be a good bit of sampling going on. Lots to see and do, smell and taste.
Finally, as we were nearing the end of our circuit, we noticed that Susanna of The Rosemary House was doing a demo - and leaving her booth unattended. So we decided that we'd go play behind her booth while she was away. Now that was absolutely perfect! We spent about 30 minutes behind a table joking around with customers. It was fun. When Susanna came back, we sampled some of the cordials and concoctions she brought along for a workshop she was doing later (and will repeat at 2:15 tomorrow).

As we drove off to make another soap delivery in another part of the county, we agreed that we'd made the right decision to limit our shows this year.
It was really great to see people - and we'll see most of them again over the next few weeks - but it was truly wonderful to be able to leave.