Category: Garden Herbs

Herbs grown and their uses

Rose Petals Another Small Step Towards Foraging

A few years after we planted “Papaws” climbing rose I began collecting a few petals from it. I love the smell of roses, and these had a unique smell to them. For a long time, I just used them as a potpourri. Eventually my curiosity convinced me to look up other uses for rose petals. There were so many, and it was a shame not to use them for something.

The first thing I tried was tea. Several articles I read mentioned that rose petals were high in vitamin C and antioxidants. Beginning by adding them to the tea I already made for my sons we decided to try it. I figured it certainly wouldn’t hurt to add a little vitamin C to their diet. Especially when they were under the weather. The rose petals also added a wonderful flavor to the tea, meaning they were more apt to drink all of it. Often, I now make tea with just rose petals, inhaling the steam. I not only like the taste, but I also love the smell of those roses.

To make tea all you need to do is gather the petals and steep them in boiling water just like you would a tea bag. I dry a lot of the petals and then store them in glass jars for use when the roses aren’t blooming. You can use a tea ball, or you can just use loose petals and strain your tea into another cup. If it is not sweet enough just add a little honey. 

Eventually I decided to try infusing rose petals in coconut oil. I am allergic to so many store-bought skincare items that I had begun using plain organic coconut oil on my face. It really helped my skin maintain balance, not too dry but also not too oily.  I kept reading that rose petals are good for the skin.  I have used this ever since. Last year when my husband was so sick, I let go of self-care much more than I should have to spend all my time caring for him. Although I felt it was necessary at the time, I can really tell the difference from letting myself go. So, I am getting back on track now.  The jar to the right is ready to warm and strain.

This is how I make my rose petal oil:

Rose petal infused oil 

Choose a carrier oil. I used coconut oil, but you can use olive or almond oil. Crunch rose petals into a jar and cover with oil. Add the lid then swirl just enough to coat the petals without shaking. Warming the oil will help release the scent from the rose petals. I use a coffee cup warmer or set in the sun until warm. Let it sit for 4-6 weeks in a dark cupboard. After it has sat long enough, warm the oil and then strain out all but a few of the petals. 

My Love of Foraging Began With Mint 

Being fascinated with herbs and their many uses for as long as I can remember, I have grown and used many of them in cooking since I was a teenager. A friend introduced me to Mother Earth News when I was 15 or 16. After reading about organic gardening, I became especially interested in various herbs and their uses. I continued to read and do research over the years and began to make teas from many of them. Eventually I added wild herbs and flowers to my collection.  

My first tea was peppermint. It settled a belly ache and our doctor said it was safe for my first baby Charles, who was colicky for quite some time. He was eventually found to be lactose intolerant. Charles will be 26 as of July and still drinks my mint tea. He joined the Navy when he was 18. Last time he was deployed I asked what he would like me to send him. The only thing he wanted was my mint tea and chocolate mint which I also started making during his childhood years.  

From the time my youngest son, Chris was a baby he would not swallow pills and would spit out any liquid medicine I gave him. He would, however, drink mint tea. My grandmother used dandelions and was pretty much never sick, so I did research on them. Apparently, it has antibiotic properties. So, I began adding it to my mint tea whenever he was sick.  He could have the worst flu ever and would only be sick enough to stay down for one day. He has drunk that tea every time he gets sick for 22 years now. Evan as an adult Chris will come in and say “Mom I am so sick; would you make me some of that tea?  

As a child we lived out in the country for short periods of time. My dad would take us on walks or bicycle rides on Sunday afternoons. We often picked berries along the way, to take home and eat the next morning for breakfast. At some point he showed how to pull out the petals of a red clover flower and suck the liquid out of them. It was sweet and we began doing that anytime we saw red cover. This memory gave me an idea and I tried adding it to the mint tea. The tea was not sweet enough for my youngest and I really try to avoid sugar when possible. Red clover was a hit! Both boys loved it. Thus began my journey into foraging.  

Windowsill Herb Gardening For Winter Time Cold Weather

What is your favorite herb?

Now that cold weather has settled in and outside gardening is done, I am starting on gardening inside. I grow herbs as well as vegetable, fruits and flowers. Mint is my most prolific herb. The largest crop is peppermint, but I also have chocolate mint. The chocolate mint is my nephews favorite as well as a friends grand daughter. I generally dry quite a bit of both to use in winter for tea. My sons always loved the taste and it seemed to settle their stomachs during flu season. This year I am also using mint in my windowsill garden, just because I like to use fresh mint occasionally in a drink or as a garnish.

Peppermint starts with one Chocolate mint start.

I also love to grow creeping rosemary and use it in cooking. It is a great ground cover in between other herbs, except it dies off every winter. I usually dry what is left when it dies out, this year I have decided to try transplanting it for indoors, adding it to another windowsill garden. I have not tried growing it inside before, but if it does not live long I can still dry it and add it to my herb bottles.

Creeping Rosemary with a little Peppermint plant on the side,

Today I managed to transplant several starts in between other things that needed done. I will do a few more over the next week or two. I have a box full of tea or coffee cups that my yongest son and I picked up at secondhand bargain shop a few years ago. I plant starts in them every year. Sometimes I give them as gifts to beginning gardeners. Maybe the peppermint will be Christmas presents this year. It does seem to be the flavor for the season.

Walking onions are another herb I have never tried indoors, so that might be another one of my next experiments. The stems are much like chives and can be used in place of chives until they begin sprouting little onion bulbs on top. They then fall over and plant themselves for the following year. I do have enough to try one inside so I can eat it on a baked potato now and then.

Do any of you have a favorite herb that you grow or might like to start growing? If so please mention it in the comments.

Find Our Recipes: How We Use What We Grow

Using what grow

Scroll down until you see this page list on the right side. The “Everyday Life” page will show some of what we do with what we grow and a few recipes. Several recipes are listed under that page. More will be added through the winter as we use things we have stored or preserved.

  • Irish Pototo Soup
  • Roasted Chicken
  • Sweet & Sour Cole Slaw
  • Taco Salad
  • Vegetable soup
  • Chili
  • Apple Crisp
  • Pickled Beets and Eggs
  • Pea Salad
  • Pizza Pasta
  • Banana Nut Bread

If you have Questions or a recipe you would like us to add, leave a message in the comments.

Christine

One’s Weed Is Another’s Flower

Daisies will always remind me of my Dad.

Michaelmass Daisies

When I was a child my Dad often called me Daisy Mae. I cannot tell you how many times I heard him say “Put your shoes on Daisy Mae”. I hated wearing shoes (still do) and every time he turned his back; I would kick them off. For those of you too young to remember, Daisy Mae was a cartoon character in the Sunday Newspaper who was always barefoot.

My Dad also sang all the time when I was young. His song for me was “Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two). For that reason, daisies have always had a special meaning for me. The field of flowers where I got stung by a bee when I was around three years old (in my Yellow House stories) had wild daisies. Many of the places I lived growing up had wild daisies or at least something that resembled daisies.  I often picked them and braided them together to make a crown to wear on my head, which only made Dad call me Daisy even more. 

Throughout the years I have collected a variety of things with Daisies on them. If you walk through my house, you will see a variety of daisy reminders. Outside is another matter. I have tried planting them but for some reason the only last a few years. Several times it was due to having repairs done on the house and they got trampled on and supplies laid on them when we had new siding put on. Other times one of the dogs dug them up.

I gave up trying to plant Daisies after a while. I thought about planting them again this spring, but we got sidetracked with rebuilding our back porch. One day this spring while out helping with the porch and working in the raised beds I noticed some blooms growing among the weeds where we stack our firewood. They looked like little miniature Daisies. I picked some for a vase in my kitchen every so often until I stopped seeing them.

Yesterday when I was outside just enjoying the wind blowing through the trees in what I think of as perfect weather, I noticed they were back. This time they came up between our fence and our neighbors. I took pictures this time but did not pick any. I left them because I liked the way they looked along the fence. Daisies will always remind me of my Dad. I like seeing them when I walk out back each day and I will probably plant some in the front next spring along with the cone flowers that look so much like pink Daisies to me.

As I started writing this, I thought I should use my app PlantNet, and find out what exactly they are. It turns out they are Michaelmass Daisies. So, I have my daisies outside after all.

Warm Fall Means An Extended Gardening Season

We are just having an extended growing season with beautiful weather.

Today when I went outside it was with the intention of clearing out my vegetable garden beds. I usually do that this time of year, but they were not ready for it this time. The bell peppers are still growing as shown in the first picture top left. The next picture shows that these pepper plants are still getting blooms. I had picked every pepper on them when we had our frost warning. Now besides this pepper that is about ready to pick there are several babies of various sizes on these plants.

Next, I checked on the tomatoes and, as you can see, there are more tomatoes since I picked them last. The one in the picture is the largest that I could see, but there were several of them. We are just having an extended growing season with beautiful weather. Same thing with my red lettuce. I left just one to go to seed for next year. Today it finally bloomed, which means it will go to seed soon. Usually I would have had my seeds and cleared this bed.

Last but not least, my peppermint garden. I started pulling up all the old stems a couple weeks ago, finishing the end of last week. I have Irises growing in the back, which bloom before the mint gets very tall in the spring. The blooms are lavender and have beautiful large blooms. One of my cousins donated them when we first moved here. They have spread all down the side of the house and I have thinned and shared bulbs with several people since then. This time of year, after the mint is thinned out, new growth starts and is perfect for harvesting and drying for tea in the winter. Since I don’t have to clear my garden beds yet, I may start on that this week.

Prayer Gardens

A place of peace

I discovered St. Mary’s the year my father died. The boys started school there only a few weeks before that day. The hospital is across the street from the St. Mary’s and my oldest son encouraged me to go from the hospital to the church with him and pray. He said it is the most peaceful place he has ever been, and you can’t walk in without feeling it. He was right. On the way back to the hospital I saw the prayer garden. I have always felt closest to God outside in nature, whether it be a garden, farm, woods, beach or mountains. I was fascinated with that garden. My son explained that it was a prayer garden.

 I spent many days in that prayer garden since then.  We had our pictures taken there the following spring on the day we were baptized. I often went early to pick the boys up from school, so I could spend a few moments there. School at St. Mary’s was only through middle school and then the boys were back in public school. I no longer had the daily opportunity to spend time in that garden, so I began to build my own.

It has had to change places over the years, due to changing the landscaping a bit and adding a dog that insisted on climbing my prayer tower daily. That tower is still there, and I am experimenting with different plants that will survive her daily climb. I have discovered a steppable plant that has survived this summer so hopefully it will spread thick enough to continue spreading. I have also had some Columbine from my neighbor across the street, I planted it last year and it spread throughout the front of the tower.

After we finished our front porch, I moved my prayer garden to the front porch. It makes the front entrance so much more welcoming. The glider my next-door neighbors donated, and the wicker chair my sister left me when she moved away, make it a most comfortable place to sit and relax for a while whether it be in the morning, afternoon or evening. Peaceful enough to let go of every thought and listen. Listen to the birds, crickets and other sounds of nature. I have had more answers come to me when I rest in those prayer gardens.

Last year when I went to visit my son for Mother’s Day, he took me someplace special. Knowing how much I love gardens, woods and water, he found a place that had all three. It was such a lovely day. We went to the Botanical Gardens in Virginia. It was absolutely beautiful. The flowers were such vivid colors that my photos don’t do them justice. There was a wooden walkway that led into the trees and a large area of water. We just stayed there for awhile and I did take several photos, so I am sharing the one that I like best.

Update on Bug Hunting, the Pest Variety

The weather was beautiful today and perfect for spending some time outside. I sprayed the tomato and pepper plants again, with the water and dish soap mix. Still some aphids but not near as many, so I will continue spraying them daily until the end of the growing season. We both spent some time cleaning up the yard a little and enjoying our dogs.

Chief enjoys watching us work

Still trimming out dying and damaged leaves each time I go outside. I think I will plan on have the soap spray ready soon after planting next year. Never had pests hit as early in the summer before, but the hottest weather that brings them out never hit this early since I can remember. I could be wrong, as I do not remember as well as I used to but at least not in recent years. I lost a lot of my greens because of that. Better to be prepared and not have a repeat, than to lose them again.

Man’s best friend helping Charles

Cai tried to help Charles away some of the branches that have grown up between our fence and the neighbors. She follows him everywhere trying to copy what ever he is doing. She was even sticking her nose into the fence area to show him where to work next. Silly thing loves to help us garden and do yard work as long as we do not use the mower or weed eater. If we start them up, she will attack the wheels on the mower and the base of the weed eater, so I leave that for a time when she is inside with Charles.

Bug Hunting of a Different Kind

Organic method of pest control for tomatoes

Charles checking for pests

We plant Tomatoes, among other things, in our raised beds every year. The weather varies from year to year, so we plant early crops and late crops a few weeks apart to be sure we get tomatoes all season long. The pests that hit us vary from year to year also somewhat dependent on the weather. Most years we get the hottest driest weather in early to mid-August. That is when we get a pest that hits our kale and greens the most. This year that came early so out greens got hit early. That was before I decided to start my blog, so I did not get pictures.

This week our tomato plants got hit with aphids. Most of our neighbors already harvested their tomatoes and are done for the season, but we still have quite a few left, so we are doing what we do to try and get rid of or at least control them until first frost. First let me show you what they look like and what they do to your plants. The following photos show first actual size plant that is infested. Then you will see the close-up photos to help you identify if you have the same pests.

We had a couple days of cool and rainy weather, so we were working on other things and did not spend as much time in the garden as usual. That is all the time it took for the aphids to show up. Our first clue was leaves turning brown as they might in hot dry weather, but our hot spell had ended at least for a week so that was not likely. That is when we inspected the plants more closely and found the aphids. Time to take action. As we have continued to grow organically so as not to harm helpful insects, birds, rabbits and any other wildlife, we have found safer methods to control pests.

We have a large sprayer that we are using it to spray them. So, I added about three tablespoons of dish soap that is safe to plants, to the full container of water. During the shadiest time of day yesterday I went out and sprayed all our plants, including the bell peppers. They were not hit by the aphids yet but are prone to be, so I do not want the aphids to just move from the tomatoes to the peppers. A couple hours later I went out and started removing a few of the dead leaves and stems. It was getting dark, so I did not get them all.

Today I went back out to check on the tomatoes. Still have aphids but not near as many as yesterday. I removed several more leaves and stems and sprayed again. It is cloudy today so I will do this several times throughout the day. So far, I have been out to spray three times to spray and continue to remove more of the damaged leaves. There are still several tomatoes and blooms, so it is worth the effort to save them. Each time I go out I see fewer aphids. The soap works differently than harsh chemicals that would kill on contact. As I understand it, they eat the soap and it dries them out. So, it takes a little longer, but it is safe on the plants and the fruit which will be ripening soon.

Last but not least, my handy little garden helper. Yes the blue bucket that I put weeds in to carry to the compost (not the dead and dying tomato leaves that would infest my compost) is a handy thing, but I am talking about the spider pest control helper. He lives in the back corner above our plants. I also have several Praying Mantis in this garden, but they would not come out for a picture today.

Mint

Mint

Mint attracts butterflies

I have been growing mint for so many years, I cannot remember when I first planted it. We use it a lot of ways. I think I first planted it after reading about all the pests that do not like it. Our whole neighborhood had ants everywhere and they were starting to come in the house. So, I planted it in the flower bed down one side of the house. I put one long stem with several leave in a spray bottle and fill it up with vinegar. I use it to spray the counters stove and you name it, in the kitchen when I am cleaning. Everything comes clean, smells good and no ants.

One year when we were buying starts for my vegetable garden, we saw a chocolate mint plant. Of course, we could not pass that up. I planted it in front of my house in one of the flower beds. I love the shade of green and it was a good filler to use in between the flowers. My sons were already in the habit of grabbing a couple mint leaves and chewing them like gum. They said it made their mouth feel tingly and their breath fresh. They really liked it when the chocolate mint was added. According to them, it tasted like a Peppermint Patty. Now my nephews and my friend’s granddaughter do the same when they visit.

I love to make tea with mint and various other herbs. I make it with fresh herbs during the summer and dry enough to make the rest of the year. Charles, my oldest son, has been drinking mint tea since he was young. I have always drunk hot tea in winter months when I frequently get bronchitis. I learned this from my grandmother, who made what she called a hot toddy, to help with breathing easier. I would hold the steaming cup under my nose and breath in the steam until it cooled off enough to drink it.

Chocolate mint

My son noticed that mint tea settled his stomach, so we started fixing it minus the alcohol all during flu season. After we started growing the chocolate mint Charles decided he would help me with the process of drying mint for winter. He wanted to be sure I had plenty of chocolate mint, so he took an old metal wreath frame and made a huge wreath of chocolate mint for me and hung on the kitchen side of a door. A nice touch to the kitchen and plenty to last all winter.

  • Mint leaves – tea ball full or 1 teabag if you do not grow your own
  • 1 tsp Honey
  • 1 tsp Lemon juice
  • 1 capful of rum or whiskey (adults only)

I use fresh ingredients when possible, but if unavailable a bottle of lemon juice and mint teabags can be found at most grocery stores. Sometimes, during cold and flu season, I make a whole pot of tea in the coffee maker with a large tea ball or just put a large amount of leaves in the coffee filter.

On the hottest days of summer, I like to make iced mint tea. I just rinse a large amount of fresh mint and boil it in one of my largest pots. After it cools a little, but is still warm, I strain it into a large glass container. Then I add ¾ cup organic sugar and stir until dissolved. Pour over ice in my favorite glass and put the rest in the refrigerator for later. This has been one of my favorites since long before my kids were born. My younger brother used to ask me to make it for him years ago.

Leave your email in the comments if you would like to follow this site. I can send you an invite without publishing your email.

Christine