How sweet is your Marshmallow?

I am quite happy with the colours of my first wild rose shrub and marshmallow plants. Yes, you heard right - Marshmallow or Althea officinalis - not the white puffy candy stuff used to roast at your campfire! You can use the leaves and roots for medicinal purposes, especially good for digestive/stomach issues.

Dreaming of fresh Catnip

Looking back over my last few blog entries, it seems I have posted quite a few cat pictures - well, I could not resist our big fella dreaming of fresh Catnip... We are all patiently waiting for the snow to disappear, and as a matter of fact, some new Calendula babies have come up in my newly 'renovated' growing rack parked in the workshop we have been working on - amazing anything came up at all considering the cold temperatures.

Chef at Home

Has anyone ever watched the Chef at Home cooking show on Food Network channel? I just love the pantry set-up with all kinds of spices and herbs in mason jars...makes you want to cook or bake something special. Speaking of baking, just made a batch of Coconut Macaroons from Michael Smith's book 'Chef at Home'- they turned out a bit dark, but my tummy did not mind...Other recipes that sound interesting include Sherry Maple Vinaigrette, Grilled Vegetable Skewers with Red Wine Herb Vinaigrette, and Fruit Crisp with crispy buttery topping.

Just love these colourful herbs...

Finally this year I get to enjoy the beautiful colour of my bee balm - in addition to the anise hyssop, thymes, and other herbs in shades of purple! Also, I am happy to report another Robin family has joined the herb farm - I am pretty sure there were three little heads sticking out of the nest! In terms of workshop building, guys have been 'busy as bees' working on all the porches - they look super. Speaking of bees, there must be at least a hundred of them on the St. John's Wort plants!

Aromatic herbs ready for harvesting

Actually, as you can see on the photo, I should have harvested the thyme a little bit earlier - but I just could not cut down the flowers yet... The mugwort will be bundled up later to create smudge sticks. Gail Edwards in her book 'Opening our Wild Hearts to the Healing Herbs' (see my book list) states that mugwort has an ancient history as a sacred and protective herb with special healing qualities. The down on its leaves makes moxa, used by Chinese herbalists and acupuncturists to stimulate stagnant energy. American Indians used mugwort to relieve headache and backache, rheumatism, and parasite infestations. It grows quite tall and I think it is quite beautiful!

Zinnia's already coming up!

The guys built a total of 7 amazing container boxes over the long weekend and already the zinnia seeds have come up! I also planted a variety of salad greens, squashes, carrots, a variety of flowers, and ofcourse herbs... We followed the method used in Mel Bartholomew's book 'All New Square Foot Gardening' - simple. Looking forward to doing less weeding work and more munching on greens!

Look what has come up!

Lots of action around the house with gorgeous tulips showing their colours, herbs 'stretching' their green limbs, camper being removed (sold to a happy young couple!), and workshop walls going up at lightning speed with the help of a bunch of teenage boys!

Great addition to salads!

Just finished growing some fenugreek sprouts - they are on the large side and should taste yummy on my salad or I can put them in a sandwich made with multi grain bread, spelt bread, or a tortilla wrap and add some veggie fillings such as cucumber, colourful peppers, and more greens... ok, I am getting hungry here! Fenugreek has a unique scent, and is known as the traditional herb for colds and flu.

Mom, may I have another muffin?

Few days ago, I made a wonderfully warming bowl of mushroom barley soup with some colourful cabbage salad on the side ...yum! Speaking of warming, the herb cinnamon has hot energy and is used in this Mott's Fruitsations Blueberry muffin recipe:
In large bowl, whisk together 2 cups all purpose flour, 1/4 cup wheat germ, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp. salt.

In another bowl, whisk together 2 containers unsweetened fruit snacks, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 canola oil, and 1 tsp. vanilla. Pour over flour mixture, stir in 1 cup blueberries. Spoon into 12 muffin cups, then combine 2 tbsp. flour, 2 tbsp. wheat germ, 2 tbsp. brown sugar, 1 tbsp. canola oil, sprinkle over muffins. Bake 350F (180C) for about 20 mins until centre comes out clean. A+ from the guys!

Wise Child lives with the local wise woman

A young homeless girl, Wise Child, is sent to live with the local wise woman, Juniper, in a place that might be Scotland, and at a time that might be the Middle Ages... Wise Child learns Latin, mathematics, herbal and healing lore, and a bit about the making of magic.
If this book sounds interesting, there are two that follow: Juniper and Colman (Wise Child is my favourite). I found them in the 'teen' section written by Monica Furlong.

yellow everywhere...

During this week, I took some pictures of our sunflowers and went on a couple of healthy bike rides with my youngest son - we saw lots of goldenrod growing in the neighborhood (even he recognized this plant!). We are trying to get a few more rides in before his yellow schoolbus shows up at the door - speaking of yellow, I made the pizza recipe in Barbara Kingsolver's book 'Animal, Vegetable, Miracle' and decorated the pizza with an interesting combination of pepperoni, pineapple, yellow peppers, and herbs - yum!

Valerian loved by butterflies, bees, and beetles

I hope I am wrong, but I have been closely supervising and admiring my valerian beauties out in the front herb garden, and have seen not only butterflies, and bees, but also beetles!!! So ripped open my gardening books and not sure if these are potato beetles or cucumber beetles - need to do more research! They better not do a lot of damage....

New addition to the Herb garden

Finished planting my new 'babies' into the ground - a few hundred that is - I had lots of 'help' from the mosquito's and black flies. I am waiting a few more days to put my basil in since last year we had a 'surprise' cold night and that took care of the basil... I love the way my new bird bath looks in the 'pollinator' section of the Herb garden - it was a mother's day gift from my three guys!

Beautiful Burgundy

My herb seed babies are coming up nice on my growing racks so I want to make sure they get a perfect spot in the garden - that is why I am sketching out some garden designs... I also took several photographs of my valerian plants that are coming up outside - what a beautiful burgundy colour!