Volume 8, Issue 3, August 1999
The Black Swamp Herb Socity, with Gardens at the Wood County Historical Center
Gardening and member notes
Thank you to Valerie Trudeau and Lavender Blue Farm for the contributions to the culinary garden.
Double thanks to Marjory Kinney. She provided a very learned tour of the gardens for a Historical Society tea. She also gave our group a wonderful hands on feast and demonstration on ways to use summer herbs in summer salads. Master Chef Marjory is becoming a feature of our summer programming and is much appreciated.
Angela Bair has been adding to our arsenal of Chicken Coop tools. It is best when we remember or have time to bring our own gardening tools, but not everybody is a serious home gardener, so the question becomes, “What tools?” Also, we want to encourage the spontaneous gardening moment when the question becomes, “How can I soothe my soul and mind by playing in the dirt for a time?” Well, the Chicken Coop is now well equipped for the spontaneous gardening moment. The “scoot cart” for the lame of back works wonderfully.
Multiple thanks to the sister act of Dorothy Golden and Jean Gamble who have been mainstay gardeners this summer.
The “Tussie Mussie” group from Findlay were recent visitors making a generous donation and purchasing some of our aroma wraps. They were all oohs and ahs and were much impressed by our developing prairie garden.
Speaking of the prairie garden.. BG Parks and Recreation Naturalist Monica Ostrand is using some of the area as a nursery for plants destined for the Bordner Meadows. We have orders not to weed, because heaven knows what precious native we might pull up! The area is looking particularly pretty with cone flowers, black eyed susans, and mountain mint in bloom. The native columbines are not blooming, but the plants are flourishing.
Member Lynn Beard has a new baby boy – welcome! Jean Coffield’s little boy was hit by a truck while on a bicycle but is doing fine. Sierra gets better every day – we are a group that supports each other in more than gardening.
Cooking with Herbs
Making your own herbal tea
A few reminders:
- Two tablespoons of fresh herbs equals one tablespoon of dried herbs.
- The combination of herbs in the following recipes is not sacred. So you don’t have chicory handy…
- If making your own teabags allow two teaspoons per bag.
- Harvesting should be done in midday when dew is off the herbs. Dry them in a brown paper bag with holes punched for circulation. Hang bags in a dry place out of sunlight. When leaves are dry, strip them from stems, crush them and store in an airtight container.
- This has been a beautiful year for hibiscus -try drying some flowers. There are so many pretty colors.
Two sources of ready to use herbs are:
Nicholas Garden Nursery
1190 North Pacific Highway
Albany, Oregon 97321-4598
San Francisco Herb Company
250 14th St.
San Francisco, CA 94103
Snappy Lemon
Hibiscus flower
Rose hips
Chicory
Orange peel
Lemon grass
Private Time
Camomile
Spearmint
Lemon grass
Blackberry leaves
Hawthorne berries
Alfalfa Tea Blend
(Rich in minerals and vitamins)
Alfalfa leaves
Hibiscus flowers
Mint leaves
Proportions tend to be “equal parts” or “to taste.”
A Dry Summer
We are thankful to have a water source by the garden. But perhaps we should make redesign of the system a future goal.
Recently an intrepid gardener went poking around with the moisture meter and got nothing but dry, dry, dry readings – when it was possible to penetrate the ground for a reading.
Time to water. First the hose reel came flying off the post. Next the hose was so tangled it took ten minutes to snake it all out to get at the nozzle. Time to turn on the water. The hose connection promptly showed that while it was connected, it was connected ITS way. Face, hair and shirt all soaked. Well, it was a hot day. It became clear why the Southern Wood by the hose stands eight feet tall. When anything in the garden gets watered this monster REALLY gets watered. Perhaps we should measure it and submit numbers to the Guiness Book ?
The tall watering tower in the Chicken Coop looked like it belonged in Star Wars and would take a degree in Hydraulic Engineering to do it justice.
Poking around in the outside lockbox produced a yellow and black contraption that looked like it should spray water. It had many springs and clips that must have meaning, but perhaps if one just ignored them?
Once attached to the hose the next problem was how to get the supporting stake into the hard, hard ground. After much grunting, twisting, shoving, and getting on knees for more leverage the watering spike penetrated the earth by at least 1 /8 of an inch. Turn on water again with usual ritual baptism. Water didn’t go exactly where intended, but what the heck, everything was DIY. Back to weeding with a nice whoosh, whoosh sound in the background. Suddenly it was whoosh as the stake uprooted itself and spray aimed at intrepid gardener.
After about six such episodes all attempts at timing went by the wayside. This watering job was like Wood County showers, spotty and erratic – we were imitating nature!
Once all was shut off and wound up there was the problem of getting home in a nice new van that was to be “kept clean.” Gardener was all mud. Shoes off and in a paper bag. Quick look around, jeans off and a careful ride home in underwear. The vehicle was still clean.
It rained an inch and a half that night.
Drying flowers
If any of our group is serious about drying flowers, one book is highly recommended. Flowers that Last Forever, Growing, Harvesting & Preserving by Betty E. M. Jacobs, A Garden Way Publishing Book is complete and comprehensible.
She has eighteen different techniques for preserving flowers and wonderful charts that list plants and preferred preserving techniques. Chapters include “Air Drying Methods 1-4 ,” “Drying with Desiccants – Methods 11 & 12.”
Anyone who wants to preserve flowers using silica gel is reminded that we have quantities (pounds!) of the stuff in the Chicken Coop. Flowers like zinnias, pinks, phlox, hydrangea, larkspur, roses and marigolds do well in silica gel.
Here is Air Drying, Method 2: Upright, in Containers Without Water.
She recommends weighting 40 oz. juice cans, covering the top with chicken wire, inserting plants such as grasses and alliums and then drying in a warm, dark, well-ventilated place. Method 3 is the same but one adds an inch of water. Works well with baby’s breath, cockscomb, yarrow, hydrangea and mimosa.
The book may be borrowed by calling 419-352-0421. Remember a dehydrator is available for borrowing. (Method 5) Try to remember to press flowers for future craft use. (Methods 16-18) Plants can be pressed in a book using tissue or blotting paper to absorb the moisture.
Lady-Bird
Lady-bird, lady-bird! fly away home!
The field-mouse has gone to her nest,
The daisies have shut up their sleepy red eye;
And the bees and the birds are at rest.
Lady-bird, lady-bird! fly away home!
The glow-worm is lighting her lamp,
The dew’s falling fast, and your fine speckled wings
Will flag with the close-clinging damp.
Lady-bird, lady-bird! fly away home!
The fairy bells tinkle afar!
Make haste, or they’ll catch you, and harness you fast
With a cobweb, to Oberon’s ear.
– Caroline Southey
Marshmallow (Althea officinalis)
High mucilage content in both leaves and roots. It is soothing in treating inflammation and ulceration of stomach and small intestine. The pulverized roots have been used as a warm poultice for “drawing and healing.”
