More Autumn in PA

Since we started doing color covers, it has almost given me new eyes. Now the beauty of every bud, berry, bean, and blossom is even more apparent. Our brother also has a long history of photo manipulation with different computer programs, and he's toying with some small business ideas he can do from home. We are really happy to see him excited about something, btw.
With those things in mind, we set off in search of beautiful things yesterday. This clear yellow is spectacular. Sometimes the maple out back glows this particular color into my sunporch, and it changes my mood. This year the weather wasn't right. So the larger shot of this might become a screensaver.For some reason mushrooms are just so darned cute sometimes. I don't forage or identify them, I just look at them and enjoy the way they look.Looking up through the trees, this struck me as an amazing vision. All the colors and the sky, and the size of the trees, it took my breath away.The churchyard at the Mount Hope church. I'm thinking that at dusk on a foggy night, this could be pretty darned spooky.Eeyore in the flesh! This is a very young little burro. S/he headed over to the fence right away, and I hurried away so that there would be no electric fence accident to repay the friendliness.We sat on a little one lane bridge while I snapped this out the window, with my siblings squawking about oncoming traffic.Still some firey leaves across a new crop of soybeans.One of the larger farms in our part of the county, just over the crest on the other side of a field.
And if you stayed this long, here is a luscious yet simple dessert from Michele Brown of Possum Creek Herbs, published in the Nov/Dec '06 issue of The Essential Herbal.
Baked Apple with Vanilla Bean Crème
You can make as many of these as you like. They taste best fresh from the oven.
Core a large, crispy apple and peel the top portion of the apple.
Set the apples firmly on their bottoms in a baking pan with sides.
Sprinkle cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar over the tops of the apples and add a little bit of water around the bottom of the apples.
Bake in a 325 degree oven until tender. This usually takes 30-40 minutes.
While the apples are baking, whip up some heavy cream and add one vanilla bean (scrape the inside of the bean for the delicious meat).
Stop whipping the cream before it gets stiff peaks. You want to be able to pour the thick cream over the hot apples after they come out of the oven.
Bring the apples out of the oven and let them sit for a moment or two.
Put an apple on a pretty plate and pour the cream mixture over the top.
Take some of the spice drippings from the baking pan and drizzle over the cream.
Enjoy.

Note: In PA we'd set the apples on a square of pie dough, bring it up and fasten at the top, and call it an apple dumpling.

Lavender - Beautiful and Useful

Lavender - Beautiful and Useful
Mary Ellen Wilcox
SouthRidge Treasures

 from the pages of the Jul/Aug '08 Essential Herbal: 

What was your first encounter with Lavender? Perhaps it was a soap, maybe a sachet, or did you see the lovely gray-green leaves of the plant growing in an herb garden? Whatever the case, lavender has most likely left you with a sense of the past, of bygone days.

Swirled lavender soap

In the Middle Ages, baths were scented with lavender. In fact, the plant's name is derived from the Latin verb LAVARE, "to wash". It was a favorite in Victorian times, and in the Language of Flowers, lavender is considered the herb of devotion. A tussie-mussie, which was a bouquet of herbs exchanged between friends or lovers, always included sprigs of lavender. Lavender water or oil was kept handy, and sniffed by Victorian ladies if they felt faint.

Lavender is a hardy perennial, and grows best in well-drained soil in a sunny location. It is best grown from cuttings, taken from the side shoots in summer. It is seldom grown from seed, as the germination time is quite long. Plants generally bloom in the second year and will grow 2-3 feet tall. They will produce bluish-purple blossoms borne in clusters of spikes 2-3" at the tops of the stems. Some growers recommend moving plants to a new location after 5 years, while others claim to have plants flourishing in the same location for many years. To protect lavender where winter temperatures are low, mulch in the fall with straw. In addition to the herb garden, lavender makes an excellent edging along walks and drives, and is at home in the rock garden as well.

 Lavender's uses are many. It is an excellent material for dried wreaths and arrangements. To dry, harvest the flowers before they open, otherwise they will shatter when dried. Choose a dry morning, after the dew has lifted. Hang upside down in small bunches away from light, and in a location with good ventilation.

Many body care products are made using lavender, including soaps, bath waters, bath oil, lotions and dusting powders. A French lady, Ninon deLenclos, remained a great beauty well into her 70's. This was attributed to the beautifying powers of the herbal bath. Her recipe was a handful each of dried lavender blossoms, dried rosemary, dried mint, chopped comfrey root and dried thyme. If you wish to treat yourself to this bath, make an infusion in 1 quart of water, then add it to the bath. She advised: "Rest 15 minutes in the 'magic water' and think virtuous thoughts."

Aromatherapists suggest lavender as a sleep aid, using a few drops of the essential oil on a tissue, and placing it under one's pillow.

As a culinary herb, lavender can be used for flavor vinegars, jellies and cookies and is added to herbal tea blends. When using lavender for cooking, be sure the plants have been grown organically.

Enjoy the beauty and fragrance of your lavender plants and perhaps do a bit of

experimenting to enhance your life with this wonderful herb!

Some favorite recipes:

Love Tea

3/4 cup rose petals (love)

1/4 cup lavender blossoms (devotion)

1/2 cup rosemary (remembrance)

3/4 cup jasmine blossoms (sensuality)

1/2 cup hibiscus flowers (a blossom worn behind the left ear "I have a lover", behind the right ear, "I want a lover)

Mix all dried ingredients and store in an airtight container. To make the tea, use 1 tsp. of the blend for each cup of briskly boiling water.

Herbal Moth Repellent

1 cup lavender blossoms

1 cup rosemary

3/4 cup cedar chips

1 tsp. orris root pieces (fixative)

10 drops clove bud oil

10 drops cedarwood oil

 Mix the lavender, rosemary and cedar chips. Place the orris root pieces on top of the dried mixture and drop the oils on the orris. Let it soak in for several hours or overnight. Mix it through the dried materials. Place in a tightly covered container and let it "steep" for about 2 weeks. Use in closets, drawers and garment bags.

Lavender Cookies

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 heaping tsp. dried lavender blossoms or 1 tbsp. fresh.

1-1/2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

Cream butter and sugar. Mix in vanilla and lavender. Add flour and baking powder and blend well. Drop by small teaspoonfuls on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 6-8 minutes.

The Woodland Cure

Being inside today means being in some way connected to the news of the manhunt in Boston.  Even several states away, it is surreal and it saturates everything with fear and the feeling that bad people are everywhere.  Enough!  Into the woods!
I happily snapped as I went along, but the pictures are in no particular order.  They are all taken between my backyard and the far edge of the property.  Come on.  It'll make you feel better.  It sure did help me!

A tiny barberry plant growing right next to a dead nettle.

Blackberry canes have arched across some parts of the path.  They are very prickly.

Missed the blooms of the Bloodroot, but the seedpods are ripening.

In a few square inches, we have the leaves of Bloodroot, Jewelweed, and Trout Lily. 

The creeksides are waking up and really getting gussied up.

Overnight (seriously!) the dandelions have burst into bloom.

Dutchman's Breeches.  We introduced these, and love to watch them spread.

False Solomon's Seal are one of the most prevalent plants on the forest floor.

Standing in the forsythia by the pond turned the world bright yellow for a few minutes.

I've not identified the ferns in the woods, but this frilly little lovely caught my eye.

Garlic Mustard is already in bloom.  If we could convince people to eat this as much as we eat lettuce, we'd never run out of it.  Very invasive, it is very aggressively moving across the floor of the woods.

These actually have a sweet pink blush, but my camera isn't picking up some colors lately.  I'll have to look these up.  The Spring Beauties that carpet the other hillside across the creek have petals that are more oval shaped and separate.

Although this doesn't look impressive, it made me let out a little "whoop" when I saw it.  Ramps are another introduced species here, and this singleton showed up nearly 10 feet from the nearest spreading clump.  Awesome!

Mayapple preparing to unfold.  The center bud will become a flower and the "shoulders" are 2 individual leaves.

This is the pathway between our homes - my sister and I.  It is lined with fruit trees and bayberry bushes.

The lush, gorgeous, full spreading clumps of ramps.

Also introduced, the blood-red trillium has made herself at home and is spreading very slowly.

One of the 2 introduced wild gingers, this one shiny leaved, the other fuzzy leaves and stems.  Both are doing well and stretching out, covering ground.

Introduced white trillium is even slower to reproduce than the reds.  Still, it does seem to be forming clumps rather than single stems in close proximity like the others.

Spicebushes are everywhere throughout the woods and are in full bloom right now.  They are what spring looks like in my mind's eye.  That color, caught in the sunlight is the essence of spring.

Just in the past few years the trout lilies have found their way to the near side of the creek.  This is a nice clump right off the main path.  I appreciate their cooperation in helping me avoid falling in the water.  Maybe they can have a word with the red Trillium, the Dutchman's Breeches, and all the Spring Beauties.

We have also introduced Solomon's Seal (although we've recently found huge plants near one of the bamboo patches).  It started with one stem, and I counted 6 this morning.  The uppermost of these plants is a false Solomon's Seal.

All along the path, violets carpet my footsteps.

A nice clump of white Trillium.  It makes me so happy to see them getting comfortable here.

Yellow is a nearly impossible color to pick up for some reason.  It washes out for me, but there are tons of bright yellow violets all along the woodland floor, along with various shades of blue and purple violets.

Greater Celandine is just starting to bloom, and I was thrilled to see that 2 out of 3 of the Pawpaws we planted last year were not eaten, and have leaves.  Didn't see a single Jack in the Pulpit up yet, which seems odd, especially that they have been plentiful in years past.
I still think we need to put some VA bluebells in there, and we've got some native foxgloves ready to go in along the edges of the woods.  I have no doubt that an herb festival or visit to a garden center will bring other natives into reach, and we'll add them.  A third attempt at wintergreen is not excessive in my opinion, especially because we'd really like to have it handy.

There.  Doesn't it feel like you can breathe a little more deeply now?

Wandering to the Workshop

 I don't go down the old path to the workshop much anymore.  Someone moved in on the other side of that field and cut down most of the wooded buffer before realizing it wasn't theirs, so now it feels like I'm walking right to their yard before turning down the hill.  There are a lot of plants that I miss in that buffer, so I wanted to visit what is still there.
Out the front door, the first thing to lay eyes on is this stunning clematis climbing up the butterfly bush.  It was in bud for weeks and the anticipation was hard!

Next was the first red poppy, bright as a cardinal.  It stands proudly besides the purple lupine spires.  Both of these plants have been temperamental for me, so this is super gorgeous.

Along the side of the house on the other side of the front garden is a glorious, fat juniper/cedar.  It gets cedar apple rust when the weather is wet.  We'd had a couple weeks with no rain and no "orange brains" but it rained yesterday, so...

Down to the bottom of the back yard, and the blueberries are weighing down the branches.  They'll need some serious pruning before winter.

It seems early to see the passionflower sprouts coming up at the corner, yet there they are.  Things are never on schedule anymore.  Maybe they never were.

Motherwort is doing great.  It grows all along the fence row, and down closer to the workshop.  Down there, it's just about to bloom. I love her leaves, but haven't printed with them yet.  The tincture gets very dark, so I've been hesitant, but maybe soon.

Poison ivy is also very prolific along the fence row.  The birds garden this area, depositing seeds from the things they eat.  Apparently the local birds LOVE poison ivy berries.  They aren't picky though, so the diversity is great.

Multiflora rose is there, of course.  For the next week or two, if we drive somewhere on the back roads with the windows open, the air will be perfumed with the fragrance of this rose.  Her petals can be gathered to use in the same way other roses would be used.

A bit further and we come upon blackberry blossoms.  We have 3 main wild berries in this part of the country - black raspberry, wineberry, and blackberry.  Mulberry trees are also very common.  All of these berries grow here, along with the occasional precious wild strawberry.

Perhaps 10 or 15 years ago, the birds planted Solomon's seal along the ridge above my sister's house.  Her husband was interested in bamboo at the time, so I (and by "I", I of course mean my nephew) grabbed a few shovels full of the roots to rescue, and they are now vigorously spreading across my front yard.  Today while picking a few rugosa rose petals, I noticed that the original patch is still hanging in there.  This plant is becoming much less common than it once was - but you couldn't tell around here.  It is extremely vigorous. 

Shepherds Purse is also one of the weeds (herbs) around here.  Let's face it... I live in a field with a house plopped in the middle :-) 

 Finally hoofing it back up the hill to beat the mailman with the item I'd gone down to pick up, I took the other path home and stopped to check on the yarrow and spearmint that are tucked in behind the biggest bayberry.  

All in all, there is a lot to see out there.  The whole time, birds are chirping and singing, as if it's all some Disney movie.  Of course if it WAS a Disney movie, mice and birds would be down there making and wrapping soap instead of us doing that after lunch.  

I hope you get to spend some time looking at what grows around you.