Still the same, only different!

Looks a little different around here, doesn't it? I've been tinkering around with the appearance of the blog. It seemed like it might be a good idea to put the magazine in as part of the frame, for instance, and since we got the capability to add an image to the header a while back, that's been on my mind. Well, of course then the colors had to change, and well.... here we are. It might be done. Or you might come back and see something completely different again. We'll see.

Ramblings About Time
It has been a very full summer. Both my sister and I have businesses, and we help each other. We also enable each other to continue to take on projects. Over the last year, both businesses have done some serious growing. We weren't really looking at that as we jumped into the farmer's market, signed on to teach more classes, and developed products. It's a fun ride, but as I look back at summer last year - filled with days of playing with the still, puttering in the garden, reading piles of books, and the occasional afternoon nap - it is clear that times have changed. This summer has been crammed. Not a lot of napping going on.
One thing I've learned (finally) is to stop thinking that "as soon as we get "X" done, things will calm down." When we had the shop, that was our mantra. The problem is that while you're waiting to complete "X", other things are jumping onto the calendar. This is just an observation - not a complaint.
When I quit the day job a couple of years ago, my days appeared to stretch out before me like a wide, empty highway. Someone dear to me told me that very soon I'd be wondering how I ever found time to work a full-time job. I laughed to myself.
The first time I took an afternoon to read a book - not a reference book, a novel - I felt almost guilty. It was difficult to learn to adjust to all that time. The house was spotless. The cupboards were well stocked, laundry done and put away, and the gardens pristine.
Ah, but that was "then".
Now it's time to adjust again. All of my multi-tasking skills of the past seem to have gone to seed, and it's time to re-learn them.
So we're back to making lists of things that need to be done.
Back to planning when to fit things in.
Back to knowing what day it is.
Once again, I must use the whole day, and stop dawdling over the second cup of coffee.
There is a difference, though. Almost everything on every list is something I love to do. The crossword puzzle for the next issue is all but finished, and I love typing it in and watching it come together. The Field Notes are rattling around in my head and just need to be unscrambled on paper. The soap we made yesterday will be cut, shelved, and the molds prepared for a new set of batches. Orders will be mailed out. The herb bead making class will be posted to the group, and the attendees invited. The new page for the website is formulating, and the updated sample articles will go up soon. The new items to take to market this week are labeled and sitting prettily on the shelves. And yes, even taking the kid out to practice driving has become enjoyable - now that I'm not digging grooves into the handrest with my fingernails. Even hauling out the checkbook to pay bills is satisfying, because I CAN.
Somewhere in there, I'll step outside and gather jewelweed seeds, because I promised them to some folks on the list. There will be things along the way that will need me to take pictures, and those pictures will inspire some blog entries.
The only problem is that in all of that, I just don't see any place for house-keeping. Heh heh... maybe I'm not looking closely enough.

Dan and Betty Pillsbury - Friends in the news!

The following is an article featuring some friends of The Essential Herbal (and I have fun bantering back and forth with Betty via email some mornings). Betty's words can usually be found somewhere in the List Article of each issue. Nice job, Dan and Betty! Btw - there were many more pictures of plants, but between my photo program and blogger.... well, we have some of them :-).

Putting down roots

Couple turn property into fiesta of herbs and flowers

BY JOANNE E. McFADDEN For The Sunday Gazette
MARC SCHULTZ/GAZETTE PHOTOGRAPHER

HUNTERSLAND

When Betty Pillsbury ’s (http://www.bettypillsbury.com/) teenage friends were out on the town having a good time, she was in the woods. For Christmases and birthdays, she requested items like wildflower-identification guides. When she was 15, her mother gave her a recipe for a salve that had been Pillsbury’s grandfather’s. She was hooked, and began using herbs in food, medicine and crafts.

These days, Pillsbury’s love of herbs and flowers has grown into a passion that she pursues with her husband, Dan, at their home in the Schoharie County hamlet of Huntersland, which is outside Middleburgh. While Betty has been fascinated with growing plants almost her whole life, she found herself leaving garden after garden behind, in places like England, the high desert and the Great Plains, as she and her husband moved to various duty stations throughout the world during his 20-year career in the Air Force. “Moving from place to place, you know you’re probably not going to see that harvest,” Pillsbury said. All that changed when the couple purchased their 1840s home in 2001. They had discovered the area during a genealogy trip when they were stationed at the nowdefunct Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome. “We fell in love with its beauty,” she said of Middleburgh, and they decided to settle here. “We’ve really put down roots — literally and figuratively,” she said. When they purchased the property, it was overgrown with eye-high weeds, including cow parsnip, to which Dan is allergic.

TRANSFORMING PROPERTY

Slowly but surely, the couple cleared the land and transformed the three-acre property, filling it with gardens containing more than 250 different kinds of herbs as well as flowers, fruits and vegetables. Since Betty has rheumatoid arthritis, Dan builds her raised beds in which to plant. This makes it easy for her to sit on a wheeled garden tote to tend to the gardens. Some of the raised beds are made from old wood from the barns that had been on the property. Pillsbury describes her garden as “eclectic,” with a little bit of everything. There are herb gardens filled with not only staples like rosemary, thyme and tarragon, but speciality herbs like chocolate mint (yes, it does smell just like a peppermint patty) and lime balm. Whenever possible, Pillsbury starts the plants from seed herself. While she is able to harvest her herbs from May through October and likes to use them in cooking, Pillsbury, an herbalist, uses all of her plants for much more, including teas, oils, lotions, salves, balms, sprays and powders. Her garden has a cure for whatever ails. For example, her dwarf lemon balm has antiviral as well as calming effects. Ashwagandha is an Indian medicinal plant that is supposed to boost energy. Sage has antibacterial properties. Even plants that most disdain as weeds, such as stinging nettle, has valuable properties, Pillsbury said. The leaves can be made into tea or used in a potato soup, or the seeds can be made into a tincture that is supposed to help the prostate. While plants have wonderful medicinal properties, Pillsbury cautions that a person really needs to know what they are doing to use these plants properly, or use them under the supervision of someone who does.

ARRAY OF FLOWERS

Besides herbs, the Pillsburys grow about 40 different kinds of roses in addition to other flowers. They are influenced by some of the places they’ve lived, including England. Pillsbury remembers standing in a 40-acre field of blooming lavender, breathing in the sweet scent. “You could just feel the relaxation wash over you,” she said. She has lavender in her garden, and in one section, she and Dan built a miniature Stonehenge, reminding them of the four years they spent in England. Besides the joy of growing different kinds of plants, Pillsbury enjoys the folklore behind them, too. For example, she might ask if you know just why Rapunzel was locked in the tower. It was because her parents loved to eat the roots of the rampion plant (an English kitchen garden favorite), and her parents used to send Rapunzel into the witch’s garden to steal it. One day, the witch caught her and locked her up. The Pillsburys also grow a variety of vegetables and fruits, including peppers, broccoli, tomatoes, cauliflower, pears, blueberries, elderberries, cranberries, cherries and apples, to name a few. Many of the plants are just starting to mature. For example, they are still awaiting the first harvest of peaches from trees they planted four years ago. A friend in Iowa had delicious, juicy white peaches. He gave Pillsbury some of the pits, and she was able to grow her own trees from them. All of the gardening is done organically, the Pillsburys say, using materials such as manure, compost and fish emollient. They’re also mindful of attracting wildlife to their property. They plant favorites of hummingbirds and butterflies, such as rose-scented bee balm. They also left a patch of land as natural meadow. Betty Pillsbury’s answer to the comment that all of her gardens look like a heck of a lot of work, she simply replies, “When you’re doing something you love, it’s not like work. There’s something satisfying about getting your hands in the earth.” From looking at their property, you might think that the Pillsburys spend all their time in the garden. But believe it or not, both Betty and her husband have day jobs. Dan works for a pharmaceutical company, and Betty is a textile artist.

QUILTING CLASSES

Her home is full of items she’s created, including an award-winning crazy quilt that was nine months in the making and was displayed in the White House one Christmas. She also travels around the country teaching crazy quilting and other textile classes, and she has appeared on HGTV’s show “Simply Quilts.” When she’s not sewing or teaching quilting classes, Pillsbury is making items from her herbs and other plants. She and her husband started their own business, Green Spiral Herbs. They sell their products at herb festivals and fairs, as well as online. Pillsbury also teaches classes where participants get to cook or make other items from herbs. Recently, Green Spiral Herbs received the status of “Botanical Sanctuary” from United Plant Savers, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting native medicinal plants in the United States and Canada. The Pillsburys grow many of the plants that are on the organization’s “at risk” and “to watch” lists, including American ginseng, bloodroot, echinacea, goldenseal, osha, trillium, wild yam, black cohosh, blue cohosh, arnica, butterfl y weed, mayapple, spikenard, white sage and wild indigo.

Dan and Betty Pillsbury are owners of Green Spiral Herbs in Middleburg. Together they pick from a patch of St. John’s Wort grown in one of their many garden beds.

Dan and Betty Pillsbury’s Green Spiral Herbs was named a “Botanical Sanctuary” by the United Plant Savers, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting native medicinal plants in the United States and Canada.

I'm being followed by a Moonflower

Datura inoxia var. quinquecuspida

Common Names: angel's trumpet, downy thornapple, toloache

Family: Solanaceae (nightshade Family)

This is my second summer here. There are still surprises popping up around the house. One of the first to greet me this year was calendula. Michele from Possum Creek Herb Farm sent me a package of seeds when I moved in last year, and *apparently* I planted them in the two front beds. I've searched for that packet over the winter, but since they did come up, my memory is just failing (surprise, surprise).

The next plant to pop up and give me a grin was jewelweed - beside the porch. Some seeds must have taken root when I was cleaning the plant to stick into the still last year.

Last year, I noticed a plant that had thick silvery blu-ish green leaves and some purple in the stems. It didn't do anything, so when it popped up again this year I didn't expect much.

Well, it has flourished this year. The location is very sheltered, and perhaps it is growing like it would in other, more native regions.

Here, we call two different plants "moonflowers". One is a vine that I've grown on a lightpost before. It is much like a giant morning glory. This one is a Datura, a relative of the Jimsonweed that grows throughout the fields, giving farmers headaches.

Sniffing around Google, I've found that the plant growing outside the door has some interesting - if dangerous - distinction. Called Devil's Weed in The Teachings of Don Juan, it was used for it's hallucinagenic properties. Unfortunately, the quantity needed for that purpose is very close to the quantity that is lethal, so we won't be doing anything there. Besides, life is trippy enough all by itself. I REALLY don't need any help in that department.

Another tidbit I picked up is from a VooDoo practice, where this plant was used to create a deathlike condition for three days, so that victims were buried alive conscious but unable to move or signal life. Lovely. Concombre Zombi. My daughter was thrilled by that, as she has some sort of zombie fascination.

In any case, the flowers are really lovely little saucers that open in the darkness and emit a delicious fragrance. They draw sphinx moths (which, if you've been reading for a while, you'll know we are polluted with those strange little creatures around here) for pollination.

This plant has proceeded to crawl across the side porch, and has just begun to bloom. It is covered with buds. Just in time for the upcoming full moon!

Gobble up some Cobbler!

August is filled with luscious, juicy, sun-ripened local fruit in Pennsylvania. Although the cherries, raspberries, and mulberries are gone, now we are seeing the peaches, blackberries, pears, and blueberries. Melons are everywhere. It is a delicious time of the year. The peach orchard down the road is keeping me well stocked, and I've been eating several a day. I think my skin is getting fuzzy...

Last week the family was due at my house for our weekly confab (Maryanne's house, the normal location, is torn up due to construction) and I started thinking about using some of the peaches for a dessert. I looked around for a recipe for a while, and eventually found a good cobbler recipe. A few tweaks here, a little change there, and it was delicious.

The next day at our farmers market, Kharren, in the stand next to us, showed up with the most beautiful blackberries. With visions of another scrumptious cobbler danced in my head. I snagged a pint of those jewels!

The recipe I used is below. I passed it on to my favorite fruit junkie, and he combined peaches AND blackberries, along with nutmeg instead of the crystallized ginger that I used. It must have been good too. He kept sending me instant messages like, "mmmmm", "yummy", and "goooooood." This recipe would work for almost any fruit. Apple might be next on the list for me. There are some herbs that might be good to add. Basil, anise hyssop, and pineapple sage come to mind....

Fruit Cobbler

Batter

1/4 cup melted butter

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

pinch of salt

1/3 cup room temperature milk

1 egg, room temp.

Filling

1 pint fresh fruit, chopped into bite sized pieces

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. minced crystallized ginger

1 healthy squeeze of lemon juice

Melt butter into an 8" x 8" baking pan. Mix togethr flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the milk and egg. Pour batter evenly over the melted butter.

Combine fruit, sugar, and spices, and spread over the batter. NO STIRRING.

Bake 35 - 40 minutes at 350 degrees until the batter has risen to the top and is a golden brown. Serve warm with ice cream and/or whipped cream.

Herb Teas in the August Chill?

That's right. I said August CHILL! Now entering our third day of rain, the temperatures are so low that yesterday broke an all time record. How this will effect the garden is beyond me, and there will undoubtedly be some surprises.
Last night there was a moment when I almost flipped on the heat, but opted for heavier clothing instead.

Sitting here in my fuzzy slippers,it seems like a little talk about hot beverages might be in order.

One of the questions we see most often on the list is about infusing herbs for tea (or various other herbal applications). When it comes to making a beverage, people over-think it. Way back in childhood, I remember finding mint tea and using it to brew up a drink. Many neighbors grew it, and it was easy to find wild in pastures and near streams. We would just bring water to a boil, take it off the heat, and plunk the leaves in there for a few minutes.

Later, when I got "into" herbs, it appeared that there were RULES for infusion. Hmmmm... ok. The official rules (yes, that is my tongue in my cheek) state that leaves and flowers should be infused in water for 5 to 15 minutes. Some suggest then leaving the herb in the water overnight in the fridge and straining it in the morning. Roots and barks should be boiled for at least 15 minutes. Coverings should be used to keep the steam from taking away the good stuff.

If you are making teas for medicinal purposes, by all means, research and follow the guidelines. If you're making herbal teas for pleasure - enjoy the process of your choice!

I like to gather flowers and herbs during the summer. Once dry, they often get put into a large jar where they become a sort of "tea potpourri". Each cup has it's own character and flavor, depending on what gets scooped out for that cup.

Right now, the lemon verbena is flowering, and I will dry the tiny blossoms to see what they taste like. The Tutti-fruity hyssop has delicious flowers, and they will go into the jar too. Lots of pineapple sage, echinacea, mints, and chamomile too. If the passionflower vine ever blooms, we'll put some of that in, along with vitex berries that will be here for the first time. I'm also on a search for elderberries, since mine didn't bloom this year, but I see them in the wild.

Wander around your yard with a focus on teas and see what you can come up with. Basils are good additions, lemon thyme, mints, and roses. Go easy on things like sage and rosemary. Include them, but consider the strength of their flavors so they don't overwhelm your blend.

Local Farm Stands - Delicious Local Eats!

We were talking on the list about the book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver, and I mentioned the wealth of farm stands in the area. All of the pictures that follow are within a 5 mile area. Most are much closer.
I wanted to show some of the diversity in the set-ups, and also point out that in some of the pictures you can see how the honor system is in place. In the picture of the peaches, and again where the tomatoes are set out on the tv tray, the money jar is visible. It's not very clear in the picture with the umbrellas, but it's there.
The signage is also diverse. Some is just written on paper, some on wooden hanging planks, and some is pretty professional.
This is my county!
I am very fortunate.

The Bead Making Kit

I've gotten a couple of inquiries as to what is included in the kit, so now that they are finished, I'm posting a picture of what you get.

The kit is small but mighty!

You will end up with lots of beads made from three separate botanicals, and enough ideas, instructions and leftovers to go on and create from there. The only thing we haven't included is water and a dish to mix them in.

Three days left to order! Note - putting these kits together is going very smoothly, and shipping is a breeze, so we're extending the deadline for ordering until August 22!!!

Herbal Bead Making class - ON - LINE

The class is over for now, but we have herb bead making kits on the website under Essential Favorites.

Ok, we've got it set up and ready to go. Here's how it will work:

You can register on the website by clicking on the button on the home page. The registration fee of $20 includes everything you'll need to make beads from 3 different herbs, instructions, recipes, and shipping (inside the US). Deadline for sign-up is AUGUST 15! Note - Deadline has been extended until August 22.

The class will be held in the TEHclasses Yahoo! group from September 1 through September 7. Attendees will receive an invitation to the class (we'll use the email address you use to order unless you tell us otherwise) two days before the class begins. Kits should have all arrived by then. During the week of the class, there will be how-to pictures posted, files on the ingredients and ideas for use of the beads. Members may ask questions and also discuss the projects on the list.

At the end of the week, the classroom will be closed.

Please feel free to leave comments here if you have any questions!

Making Herb Beads at Sweet Remembrances

Last night we took our herb beads on the road, teaching the craft at The Rosemary House. The class was actually held next door at Sweet Remembrances - truly the sister tea room to the herb shop, as sisters run the two businesses. Hmmm.... that sounds familiar.

We got there just a few minutes early and were treated to a short visit in the garden. The gardens behind The Rosemary House in late summer are breathtaking. The shop is now celebrating their 39th year, and the variety of plants in the garden is spectacular - the kind of garden that can only be achieved over the course of many years. Whimsy is the word best used to describe it. If you are ever in the area, you really have to visit! Be sure to stop under the "teapot tree" and sit for a spell in the giant teacup. There are various sections in the garden, some tranquil, some fanciful, and some just plain bursting with unusual fruits and flowers. We took several pictures, and they'll be showing up from time to time in the magazine.

The class itself was held indoors (thank goodness for air-conditioning!). I found myself a bit disconcerted by the idea of trying to talk to several small tables. It seems that I've become so accustomed to writing instructions for crafts that I'll need to practice up my speaking skills again. Even so, the class was filled with enthusiastic participants. Fortunately the class hand-out covered the basics from start to finish, so I'm not TOO worried that anyone left shaking their head.

My sister, Maryanne Schwartz, volunteered to come give me a hand, and that turned out to be a good thing. After we talked a little bit about the original rose beads - those that come out shiny black from being cooked repeatedly in cast iron - we discussed the ingredients that we would be using, how they work, and offered several options to make fragrant herbal beads that can be worn and/or kept as family heirlooms. The class came up one table at a time, and chose the ingredients from an array that were offered.

As they settled in to begin work, everyone talked amongst themselves and we circulated around the tables to make sure everyone had the idea. We were surprised at some of the original shapes and sizes that were made. For the first time ever, several participants decided to make all of the beads before stringing them on the wire. That was a new one, and I think it must be a Mechanicsburg phenomenon.

Now that we've completed the in-person class on beadmaking, we'll be getting ready to do the on-line version. I'll be posting more about that on Monday!

Flitting, Buzzing, Chirping and Dipping

The yard is a busy, busy place right now. Every window and door leads out to a view of some crazed activity. The butterfly bushes in the front and side are simply alive with creatures. I sat in the window and watched the largest one for a while yesterday. There are Monarchs, Yellow Swallowtails, and the large black butterflies with the blue spots, along with scads of white and yellow sulphurs. There are many other butterflies - browns, and ambers, and the tiniest azure. Among the branches are gold finches, house finches, and purple finches, all taking turns lighting on the nearby echinacea. At one point a hummingbird came along and sipped from the blossoms of the butterfly bush, and then a sphinx moth showed up today - the first I ever saw in broad daylight.

Out back there is constant motion. There is a slight breeze, and the butterflies vie for space on the parsley and dill, while the birds push each other off the blueberry bushes and peck at the sunflowers. Flocks fly from tree to tree with no real plan that I can discern. They seem to have taken care of the earlier beetle infestation, and now I really wish they'd do something about the flies. Farm country, and it is fly season. Yuck. The caterpillars are going to town on the dill. There are about 10 of different size that I could count, and they are really very difficult to see without looking intently for a few moments. Their pattern is very similar to the dark and light of the flowers/stems/air.

We also have an abundance of bees. I don't know enough about bees to know if they are honeybees, but they are out there - all shapes and sizes, sipping away on the nectar of the flowers all around. Sort of reminds me of "The Ugly Bug Ball" that Burle Ives sang in Pollyanna to little Hayley Mills.

Here in human-ville, my daughter got her driver's permit today and we had a little lesson. I learned a lot. I learned, in particular, that I may not be cut out for this whole driver's ed thing. I learned that making jerking motions and stamping my foot while seated in the passenger's seat has absolutely ZERO effect on the motion of the vehicle. I learned why some people drink in the middle of the day, and most of all, I learned that if my daughter is proud enough of herself, she'll believe me when I say, "you did a great job, hon!" even when I am visibly shaking.

In other news, a parcel filled with Chukar chicks arrived at my sister's house for BIL to raise. We'll have another flock around for the year, and another gang to take up the bizarre mating call next spring. Maybe the lonely little guy that spent most of May on my roof listening to the echo of his calls coming from the building across the road might actually find a lady next spring.

Mount Joy Farm Market

We decided to have a little fun on Saturday mornings, and signed up to take a stand at the local farm market. It is a small-ish market with about a dozen vendors, and it is a very friendly group! Almost everyone sells produce, although there is local honey, fresh baked goods, plants, jars of preserves and pickles, and home made dog treats. My sister's soaps and my books and magazines were a welcome addition. We also took along some herbal products that we make jointly.

I've always enjoyed retail. It's a little more difficult to enjoy it when the products are of your own hands because there is the whole aspect of ego, putting a value on your product, and having to stand behind what you make, but after the initial shock, it is more satisfying to sell our own things than those just bought for resale.

Of course retail has it's down side. After selling our shop years ago, it became clear that being tied to the unending hours of owning a shop is only for the most committed. It was a dream job, but there were always those small irritants of difficult customers, delayed shipments, overhead, and time, time, time.

We found the farm market to be perfect! 4 short hours of face-to-face interaction. The best part is that we can take what we have and not sweat what we don't. No pressure. We pulled stock on Friday, threw a table and stools in the car, and off we went the next morning. It's a great way to test out new products, sell off discontinued fragrances, and make new contacts.

The market itself is in a covered breezeway of a local bank that is closed on Saturdays and allows the market to use the space. Everyone is under roof, and there is a nice bit of air flowing. There is just the right lighting, and since it's a small town there is a feeling of talking to neighbors. We did get to renew some acquaintances both from our old shop customers, and some unexpected friends with whom we'd lost touch. We met a lot of new friends too. People are not in a hurry.

On top of that, we got to buy some goodies to bring home. The woman next to us had some incredible cabbages, and across the way were whoopie pies and molasses cookies. Local honey came home with us too. Oh, and some big sandwich tomatoes! The men across the way were selling glads, zinnias, and sunflowers, and gave us each a bouquet when the morning was done.

Yesterday was one of the most beautiful days of the year thus far. See how happy Maryanne looks? It was sunny and cool with almost no humidity. I'm hoping the market will continue to be as simple and enjoyable as our first day out. Next time, we'll add a second table so that everything isn't so squished together, and so there will be room for the rest of TEH books. There is a recipe exchange, and I'll harvest bunches of fresh herbs to go along with the recipes that we will submit.

Almost Perfect Day for a Walk in the Woods

I woke up this morning to some perfect weather. There was a lovely breeze coming in the office window, almost no humidity, and mild mid-70's predicted for the day. We've been baking in a sauna lately, so this was entirely, whole-heartedly welcome.
There were a million things to do. I hurried to get orders packed up and shipped so that would be done for the day, and grabbed some groceries on the way home from the post office. The yellow Queen Anne cherries must have had a great year, because they were the same price as the Bings. Yummah!
After lunch, I had an appointment with the soap wrapping machine, and to put finishing touches on the upcoming issue of the magazine, but first it was into the woods.
I went alone and have mixed feelings about that. On one hand, it's such an incredible feeling of solitude, and being *in* the woods, while on the other, there's that feeling of solitude and being *in* the woods. It started out walking along the pond. I stopped to see if I could catch a glimpse of the koi under the duckweed. Directly behind me in the underbrush of the bank something moved. A lot. It could have been a groundhog, or a rabbit. Or it could have been a snake. And so it begins. Why, oh why do I never bother to change into boots?
This spring, my brother-in-law cut a path along the creek that runs through the woods. I thought it would be a good chance to see what grows there because up until now it has always been too overgrown to actually get in there any time beyond the end of May. There is an entire meadow of jewelweed! It is beautiful all along the path. However, there hasn't been a lot of rain lately. That means that there are little pools of stagnant water where the creek isn't running fast enough to keep it moving. Bugs. Lots and lots of bugs.
But the butterflies made up for that! They were everywhere, and I probably saw 10 or 12 different kinds. I'd taken along a berry basket just in case there were some stragglers to pick. I was very glad to have something to swing because the spiders have found the path to be an excellent place to weave webs and catch stuff. Today that was me. It's hard to keep your eyes on the path to watch for snakes while swinging a basket ahead to avoid spider webs. It must have been an amusing sight to the deer who were watching from behind the brush.
Towards the end of the woods, there is a steep hill that leads to a field of evergreens. I walked along the edge of the field, and discovered that Japanese beetles must really love wild grape leaves. All along the ground were leaf skeletons in varying shades from pale green to dark brown. They look like lace, and I scooped up a few of them. There must be a way to preserve them, because they are just beautiful. As I got to the grove of Mimosa trees, the scent of the blossoms hit me full force, stopping me in my tracks. How have I never smelled that before? We had purchased some Mimosa wax when we had the shop - a byproduct of the process used to acquire the absolute used in aromatherapy. It was not nearly as fragrant as the flowers!
The afternoon ended with me watering the garden, and my daughter blithely leaving the house and LOCKING THE DOOR so that I couldn't get in! Luckily, she was just down the hill. The little scamp. Yeah, that's what she is.
Oh... and I think I found some Jersey tea. I'll have to look more closely tomorrow. That will have to wait until we get home from our first day at the local farmer's market. I can't wait to see how that goes!

Making a wreath with herbs

Making Herbal Wreaths
By Tina Sams, photos by Maryanne Schwartz
Sept/Oct '06 issue of The Essential Herbal

The time is right to make a wreath, should you be so inclined. The simplicity and beauty of this craft is so rewarding, yet many are put off by the seeming complexity of it. Wreath-making classes were always quite crowded (and messy), and the creations almost always surprised the participants with their talent.

We began this particular session by going into the garden and nearby meadow in search of interesting looking botanicals. Grasses and seed heads are gorgeous, and we’ve seen really gorgeous wreaths made with nothing but the russet dock seed heads and pennywort that grow as weeds around here. Some of the other things we chose were hydrangea, ivy, bee balm, bamboo leaves (they were surprisingly pretty on the wreath!), ornamental oregano, sage, yarrow, silver king artemesia… and whatever other plants struck our fancy.
Filling a basket was easy. Stopping was a little bit harder, as the more you look, the more you see. Try to imagine how much the things will shrink when dried.

There are a few other things you need. A wreath form, greening pins, and a piece of wire for a hanger.
These items are available at craft stores. We used about 75 greening pins for this wreath.
The first thing you need to do is form a loop that will be the hanger. You may first wish to wrap the wire with florist’s tape – green lightly tacky tape that you see on floral arrangements. We did not in this case, but it adds a nice finished touch. Another consideration is to tie a ribbon to the loop so that its easy to find when the wreath is full and lush. Wrap the wire around the form and twist it closed. With the two ends, make a small loop and twist the ends together with the wire where the original twist took place.

Now you are ready to begin attaching the foliage. We were taught to make wreaths by a very particular woman who
sold hundreds of prince’s pine wreaths each holiday season. We made them for her, and if there were any holes, less than perfect branches, uneven spots, or lopsided-ness….we heard about it! Although our fingers were bruised and bloody that year, it was a great lesson in how to make wreaths, and how much more fun it is to do them for yourself.
Begin by choosing a background for your wreath. The form that we used here already had a green herby base, so we started with bamboo leaves – mostly because the bamboo plants are taking over the one hillside, and it seemed appropriate. Choose sections about 4” – 6” long and pin them to the form, overlapping them about 2” apart. Go the same direction all the way around.

The outside ring will go in the same direction, and is the next step. Alternate with other materials where you like. The small 4-6” sections that are pinned on can resemble small nosegays or bouquets.

The third shot of the wreath in process, shows the inside and outside rings completed as we are just about to start adding the center circle. At this point, we make certain that the form is closely covered, adding bits here and there, making the inside and outside rings full. We saved most of the flowers for the top or center ring. Now the real fun begins.

The center circle is set in the opposite direction to the inner and outer rings. This is done to make certain that the wreath is full and that there are no holes showing. This feels a lot like frosting a cake.

The tiny bouquets are added to all the spaces you can cram them into, resulting in the finished photo at the beginning of this post.

Dry the wreath flat on a table or counter. After two days the botanicals will have dried and shrunken, and you may then choose to add more so that it is full.
Wreaths can be made with almost anything you find growing – and even other found articles. Have fun with it, and if you don’t like it one way, take out the pins and start again!

Sunflower Women

If you've read the Jul/Aug issue of The Essential Herbal, you've seen the little sidebar Maryanne Schwartz wrote about the PA Dutch symbol, the distelfink. Distelfinks are "thistle finches" or gold finches and there are many around. There is one perched on the tip of a pine tree right outside the window as I type. In the symbolism of the old hex signs placed on Amish barns in our area, they represent harmony and happiness. Combined with cardinals and bluejays, they round out the color wheel here, bright flashes of color. However, the article also mentioned that the PA Dutch were quite superstitious, and some of that has filtered into my life. Only once have I acted on it, and I prefer to chalk that up to the insanity of menopause. But I digress.... The point is that we play a little game here.

For me, it began when I was on my way home from my final day of work before beginning the frighteningly expensive gamble that would eventually bring my daughter into the world. I was afraid and full of doubts, wondering if I was making a very bad choice. As I rounded a bend on a back road, there stood about 30 wild turkeys. I'd never seen wild turkeys before, and the sight was so magnificent that I stopped the car and sat and watched them. I can't explain it other than to say that they calmed me, and I knew it was going to be ok. I know, I know. It sounds weird.

Since then, I've enjoyed watching and considering the birds and animals that cross my path. When we were vendors at the renaissance fair, we started counting the ringneck pheasants we saw on the way each morning, and decided that they were omens of good money days - as in, "it's a three pheasant day!" It was just for fun, and on one of our best days ever, we rode along the way home, only to come across a large group of cows that had just discovered their freedom. They were fairly flying across the roadway, scurrying up into the field of grain. We called them the "happy, dancing cows" because that's how they looked. We enjoyed relating the story to the other vendors, who by then had started to ask us what we'd seen.... yeah, the ren faire is like that :-). As for turkeys, they've returned on a few occasions. Once when I was driving to meet my sister to look at the shop we were thinking of renting, and again, I took that as a green flag. Later, before signing the lease, we went to the beach with the kids for a few days to ponder that move, and a school of dolphins came up to within a few feet of us. They played at our feet, and my sister and I just looked at each other in astonishment.

But the point of this post (yes, there is a point) is sunflowers. One evening, many years ago, my sister and I sat in an apartment in NYC with our friend Laura, talking about our dreams and sunflowers. We considered how the massive stalks spring from the earth and produce the gorgeous blooms. The blossoms look towards the sky, growing beyond the bounds of "normal" and proceed to grow massive plates of seeds that are then scattered, growing more impossible dreams. Silly as we are, we dubbed ourselves "the sunflower women" and went for our dreams. To this day, I'll occasionally go to the mailbox and find a card from Laura with a glorious picture of a sunflower (or 3), and be reminded to keep going.

This year, a volunteer sunflower found it's way to my garden. This is no ordinary sunflower. Short in stature, it is a powerhouse of blooms. I've been watching it in amazement each day, and this morning realized that this flower is for Laura, as she embarks on an exciting new aspect of her career. So Laura, CHECK IT OUT!!!! This one's for you. Go, LittleBigVoice, and don't look back!

Outside in Early July

I'm not even going to show you the veggie garden right now. The peppers, squash, and cucumbers are fairly frightening in their proliferation. The tomatoes are turning red, and the canteloupe and watermelon vines are so covered in small fruits that there just has to be a fruit stand in my future. There's no way I'll be able to eat, share, or unload all of those melons on my own. It was only 3 of each plant, but they took off like crazy. The beans are also pretty darned happy, with the eggplant looking heavy too. I love summer eating.

This year after we stained the decks a light color, I wanted something bright on the front, and got a big hybiscus. It was a great choice, because once it started blooming, it makes me happy every time I see it. There are pink and white marshmallows on the other side of the entrance to the deck, so in another couple of days it is going to be breathtaking. The beetles don't seem overly fond of either plant right now, preferring to dine on the Virginia Creeper that found it's way into the front garden. Hope it stays that way for a while, because they are bad this year.

On the side of the house, beyond the yard, there are several rows of powder blue Spruces. I'm not sure if they are the Schwartzii blue spruce, propagated by my brother-in-law's father, but I think they might be. They are the bluest blue. They look so pretty against the bumper crop of queen anne's lace that grow among them. One year my sister and her husband did wreaths out of them for a national catalog. We put burgundy velvet bows on them, and they were spectacular. Those needles are very prickly, though. Some people do take them inside to decorate over the holidays, but they're too mean for me. I like them outside just fine.

This year, after the septic system was cleaned, there was an oval garden added - just a few inches of dirt, surrounded by stones. That's where the rescued chamomile from the construction site lives. These sunflowers volunteered right at the end. They aren't very tall, maybe 3 feet, but there are lots and lots of flowers. Somehow we got a gourd vine in there too. Can't wait to see how that turns out, and what sort of gourds we get.

The last picture was taken last week when we went out on a delivery run. We started to notice that there were small fields of tobacco popping up everywhere. When I was growing up, tobacco was a big crop around here. The type of tobacco typically grown locally is the stuff that is the outer wrapping of cigars (of course we rotten kids didn't know that when we snitched leaves to dry and roll up in our notebook paper and try smoking - dumb kids!). Most farm boys raised a patch every year. Tobacco is very labor intensive, requiring topping at a specific time, and then being speared on lathe and dried in a special aerated part of the barn. Tobacco brought very good prices, and those boys used their tobacco money to buy hot cars. As time passed, there was less and less tobacco grown here. The prices dropped, and we switched to corn, soybeans, wheat, and a variety of other crops.
So it was odd to see so much tobacco out there. One of my brothers remarked on the same thing when I saw him last week. Could it be that the demand for corn (biodiesel fuel) has switched other parts of the country to a different crop, making tobacco prices worth growing it again? Anyhow, I guess that will remain to be seen. On that same trip, we also saw - for the first time in about 25 years - a field of wheat that was in shocks. Wow, I couldn't get my camera out in time, but I sure was surprised and thrilled to see that again. What's next? Snow fences?

New Stuff - and a SALE!

We have had a bang-up year so far at The Essential Herbal! Our subscriber rate is growing by leaps and bounds, and we feel very gratified. On top of that, the plants around us have been doing very well, supplying us with inspiration and lots of good food.
In honor of our good fortune, we'll be having a sale all during the week of the fourth. It starts tomorrow (Monday, July 2) and will run through July 8th. Just add the word BANG! to the comments section of the shopping cart, and we'll deduct 10%. Order over $44, and shipping is free. This sale does not include wholesale, subscriptions, or advertising . It does include everything else - books, t-shirts, and some new stuff that we'll introduce right now. These items can be found under "Essential Favorites" .

First up is our new Hiker's Releaf. A spray made by infusing jewelweed, plantain, and sage in apple cider vinegar, this is something you won't want to be without. Back in our Renaissance Faire days, we'd been to see Bertha Reppert speak, and she talked about using the vinegar with sage to dry up poison ivy. That very year, most of the cast members spent a day on the river, and came back with the rash. They found the elixir to be very helpful. Over the years, we've jazzed it up with jewelweed and plantain, making it even more useful, as in folk medicine plantain is often used for both poison ivy/oak and insect bites and stings. The jewelweed is very well known among herbalists for rashes caused by other plants - poison ivy/oak and stinging nettle, for instance. The 2 ounce bottle sells for $8.95

We also put together an "Outdoor Trio". This includes the Hiker's Releaf, a lovely bar of jewelweed soap (cold-process, all vegetable), and a Bug-Wand. The Bug Wand is a solid lotion bar in a convenient push up container. It is full of essential oils said to be helpful in repelling the bugs that love us so when we are out doing what we love - be it gardening, hiking, fishing, or any other outdoor activity. Sold separately, the items are $17.55. The kit is only $16.

We've started to carry the CobraHead gardening tool, too! Last year I did a review on the CobraHead. I usually get frustrated with just about any garden tool, and eventually just get in there with my fingers and start ripping. Not good. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that this tool didn't let me down. It is built to get in under the roots and pull them up without having to break a sweat or break a nail. It is stronger than anything I've used before, and now I don't want to be in the garden without it. $24.95 includes shipping!
We wrote about weaving lavender wands a few posts back, giving full instructions and lots of pictures. Even so, we know there are people who don't have the plant available and want one of those wands! We put them up on the site too. They are $7.50 each.
There are some other goodies too. Some are still on their way here - some old favorites from our shop days. Incense matches, some favorite incenses, herbal magic candles, and amber filled boxes! They'll be up in the next day or two.

I hope you'll find something you like, and help us celebrate!!!