One of my favorite topics! Herbs to grow, eat, and use in the home.
When it comes to borage there is always too much and never enough. I’ve been growing regular ole blue borage flowers for years; first at my community garden plot and now here in my small urban backyard where they are happy — too happy — growing into monstrous, prickly sea creature-like things that make my …
As promised I’ve made up a list of herbs and spices that can be used to flavour pickles. Many of these can be grown at home! Pickling Flavours From the Garden Basil Bay Laurel leaf Bergamot flowers (never tried it, but would function similar to oregano) Caraway seed Celery seed Coriander seed Dill seed & …
Oh hello there! Don’t mind me. I’ll just be over here plucking baby shiso plants from this raised bed for the next 100 years. Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the raised bed with your progeny and govern it. Spill your seed over a 4 foot radius and push out every other seedling that dare try …
My gluttonous seed-hoarding habits seem to be behind me now, or have at least calmed for a spell. This year I have abstained from impulse buys from swollen turnstile racks and I only placed one mail order this season. Of course, I say this having bought 40 packets of seed in Tucson, Arizona last June. …
Fresh sage blossoms are a tasty garnish in savoury, tomato-based beverages. Fortunately, it feels like my toothy saga is nearing the finish line. After a few consultations, I opted for an extraction of the offending tooth. It had a significant crack, and due to an experience Davin had some years ago and the options presented …
The urge to run away to some far off destination is strong this winter, made worse by the particularly long and dark days of this past fall, and winter events like last week’s ice storm. To appease wanderlust I have been taking advantage of the holiday break to make trips around town to browse shops …
It’s already mid-December and I have finally got around to harvesting what remains of the ginger root (Zingiber officinale) that I grew in a container in my Zone 5(b-ish) garden this past summer. Yes, this spicy, tropical herb can be grown in a cold climate, and with minimal effort.
Herbal bundles are tightly bound rolls of dried woody, resinous herbs, that are slowly burned as a way to purify and cleanse the air. The roots of burning an herbal bundle, or smudging, is in indigenous purification rites and ceremony that span the world globally. It is not a homogeneous practice, and since I am …
I’m currently preoccupied with preserving the harvest [aside note to say that Preserving is now a category on this site rather than a tag]. This list includes herbs and while there are several ways that I go about ensuring that the herbs I grow are put to good use and available year-round, drying is by …
If you’ve read my books or attended my presentations, you’ve probably heard this one by now. This method of storing freshly harvested, edible blossoms over the short term is a miracle worker and has completely altered my ability to keep and use them more effectively.
Bay laurel (Laurus nobilis) is a Mediterranean tree whose leaves are most famously used as a flavour boost to soups and stews. I bought econo-sized bags of scentless bay leaves for years before I was converted by my first experience with the real thing. Bay has a sweet and heady perfume with a spicy nutmeg …
We’ve hit midsummer, a time in my area when the garden tends to go downhill. While there is much bounty to be had, many plants begin to suffer in the heat. Or it is just their time to go. Or we’re just too darn tired/hot/fed up/over it to keep up with garden chores. Sometimes we …