Volume 8, Issue 2, July 1999
The Black Swamp Herb Socity, with Gardens at the Wood County Historical Center
Officers Installed
On June 28th new officers, who will be serving until June of 2001, were informally installed. Officers are all listed in the box on the left (not included in this online version).
Those who have served long and faithfully were given figures from our special Carruth Studio, located in Waterville. Thanks to Sandy Dewyer for her long service as Recording Secretary, to Kathy Hicks for serving as a very creative Vice President for programming, Marjory Kinney for time as Corresponding Secretary, and Joyce Mueller as a super-conscientious Vice President for Gardening.
Thanks to those who will be carrying the herbal banner forward into the next millennium.
Some Gardening News
The butterfly garden behind the slaughter house in flourishing. No sign there yet, but the large artificial butterfly gives a broad hint as to what it is. Gardeners Jo Sipes and Harriet Rosebrock researched their selections. This year the herbs are mostly annuals, next year we will add some perennials.
The new Oak-Savannah native garden has heavily amended soil which is paying off. It is populated by some very expensive plans from a grower who specializes in making these “difficult” plants available commerically. Fortunately the area is supplemented by bargain columbines, black eyed Susans and cone flowers from our plant auction. The Wood County Park District Naturalist has promised us a sign. The plants are well-labeled – unless the rabbits eat signs too.
A problem there is the extreme weediness on the East side of the fence. There is a very aggressive grapevine we have been fighting. Also, the poisonous poke weed insists on flourishing back there. Hours have been spent digging up the massive roots of the this true American native.
Also, exciting news, part of that area is serving as a “nursery” for plants eventually destined for the Bordner Meadows. The plants have been grown from seeds collected along railroad rights of way and other waste spots. The young plants need a couple of years of nurturing before they can be set out in the wild It is nice being part of such a project.
Thanks to the gardeners who have watered during this dry spell. Thank you all for keeping up the Time Sheets that are kept in the Chicken Coop. Anything anyone does for the herb garden, even indirectly, should be recorded. The sheets are so IMPRESSIVE!!!
We are grateful to Marjory Kinney for her presentation at the Historical Society Tea earlier this month.
The site plan for the grounds of the Historical Center are being carefully studied. There may be a greenhouse in our future! Don’t count on it, but it is good to dream.
Cooking with Herbs
Classic Bouquets Garnis or Faggots
Nothing helps a soup or stock so much as a combination of herbs and vegetables. They are best made of fresh materials and should be added for only the last half hour of cooking.
Bunch together.
3 or 4 sprigs parsley or chervil
1/2 bay leaf
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 leek, white porion only
2 cloves
To make removal easier, you may place them inside several overlapping celery ribs and bind tightly with a white string.
If you cannot get fresh materials, wrap dried herbs, still on the stem, or coarsely crumbled but not powdered, in 4 inch squares of cheesecloth tied into bags. Store them in a tightly covered container.
Allow for 12 bags:
2 tablespoons dried parsley
1 tablespoon each thyme and marjoram
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons dried celery leaves
(Taken from Joy of Cooking, 1931
Travel Opportunity
Several BSHS members had a wonderful time when they joined with MVHS (Maumee Valley Herb Society) on a garden tour based in Akron last year.
We have again been invited to join them. The date is August 18, the destinations are several gardens in Michigan with a focus on Michigan State University. The cost is $35 and includes lunch. Departure is from Franklin Park Mall at 7 am with a return at 7 pm. If interested call Nancy Durnford IMMEDIATELY as the deadline is basically NOW. These tours are such fun, so if your calendar allows it, call Nancy at 419-882-XXXX.
More Thymly Stuff
Thyme has been in use for more than two millennia, and is still a mainstay among herbs.
Thyme has been graced with many strong positive associations, not the least of which is humor. In Renaissance England, when wits were keen and words well chosen, it was said that thyme could hardly enter a conversation between two persons of quick mind without a welter of puns developing. The first allusion to the herb soon became jokingly known as “punning thyme.”
From the earliest, thyme has been associated with honey as it attracts bees in great profusion. It is a common practice in Mediterranean orchards to plant thyme as a groundcover that attracts pollinating insects to the fruit trees.
Young sheep in the plant’s native Mediterranean region often are set out to graze on fields of wild thyme, a feed that many believe enhances the flavor of lamb.
The bee-honey-thyme image lasted through the centuries and bloomed in the European age of chivalry, when thyme flourished as a symbol of strength, activity, and bravery. Many a lady embroidered her knight a pennant showing a bee hovering over a sprig of thyme.
Thyme’s generic Thymus is through by lexicographers to be a derivation of the Greek thymus (“courage”). Others believe it evolved from a Greek expression meaning “to fumigate.” Thyme was considered to have strong antiseptic properties, and it was used as an incense to purify the air. A similar belief was that a hillside of thyme not only sweetened the air near it, but cleansed it of bad vapors as well.
In the kitchen, dried thyme leaves are as nearly universal a seasoning as any herb could be. One recent expert on herbal cookery advocated using thyme “as freely as salt – in other words, in practically everything.”
Thyme is pleasing with red meat, poultry, and fish as well as almost any vegetable, even the heartier ones.
Harvest thyme just before flowers begin to open by cutting the entire plant 1 1 / 2 or 2 inches from the ground. A second growth will develop, although that should not be cut as cutting will reduce thyme’s winter hardiness.
Taken from Rodale’s Home Gardening Library “Herbs”
Was Worm
Was worm
swaddled in white.
Now, tiny queen
in sequin coat
peacock-bright,
drinks the wind and feeds
on sweat of the leaves.
Is little chinks
of mosaic floating,
a scatter of colored beads.
Alighting, pokes
with her new black wire,
the saffron yokes.
On silent hinges
open-folds her wings’
applauding hands.
Weaned
from coddling white
to lake-deep air,
to blue and green, is queen.
– May Swenson
