Volume 9, Issue 9, September 2000
The Black Swamp Herb Socity, with Gardens at the Wood County Historical Center
So Much Going On!!
So many to thank, so much to look forward to…
Thank yous to all the members and spouses that volunteered for the Black Swamp Arts Festival. I think we have the highest percentage of member participation of any organization. Minute, but Mighty, that’s BSHS. A number of you have signed up to be garden greeters and tour guides for Wood County Day, Saturday, September 16. The Wood County Park District has taken a holy “Rangers vow” that traffic and parking will be well managed this year. Have Faith. Old County Home Road will be one way, entering from Route 6, and circling around on Kramer Road, emerging on South Main. Volunteers may, if they wish, park on the short stretch of Linwood Road on the West.
Frances plans to be there most of the day. If you have any little tasks, such as making wreaths, or flower crowns, or stuffing catnip mice – anything that looks herbal – bring it along.
Bids are out on the neighboring Lunatic House and work will start this fall. Maybe THEN we can get bids on our humble little Chicken Coop!
Kathy will be doing an “assembly line” workshop assembling goodies such as spice rubs, for Old Home Christmas. You should see the stuff we have! It will be Monday, September 25, a stop and go session from 1-4. Please bring measuring spoons of all sizes. All materials will be there. We are asking members to try Pineapple Sage leaves and lemon balm leaves -needed all nice and dry by the 25th. Materials can be left at 924 Lyn Rd.
All members have received their manuals except Joyce Osterud. Joyce call me! We have also assembled eight more manuals in optimistic anticipation of adding active new members.
Monday, September 25 – Gather in the Garden at 7 pm, Program at 8 pm.
Program: Developing Butterfly Gardens – Cinda Davis, Naturalist WCPD.
Hostesses: Harriet Rosebrock, Sandy Hayden
Cooking with Herbs
Savory (Satureja)
Savory’s Latin Name, Satureja, means “satyr” which hints at its ancient use as a stimulant and aphrodisiac. Monks were prohibited from growing it, but savory was a favorite Italian garden herb nonetheless.
The perennial winter savory differs in various ways from the annual summer savory. In the summer, there is very little difference in flavor between the two. In the fall, the flavor of winter savory may be harsh, but you can use it if you cut the quantity in half. Summer savory is used f resh or dried. Whereas winter savory is best used fresh or frozen.
Winter savory is used commercially as a seasoning in salami. Winter savory was prized by the Romans as a disinfectant herb and was strewn liberally on floor or burned in fires. In the garden, winter savory is good for creating knot designs.
Winter savory was reputed to decrease sexual drive, while summer savory was considered an aphrodisiac. Savory is a Shakespearean herb, mentioned in The Winter’s Tale. A Seventeent Century herbalist described drying and powdering savory, mixing it with bread crumbs “to breade their meate, be it fish or flesh, to give it quicker relish.”
Creamed Green Bean Soup with Savory
1/2 pound potatoes, peeled and cut in 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup chopped yellow onions
1 pound fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces, or two 10 ounce packages frozen green beans
2 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons fresh savory leaves
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup half-and-half cream or evaporated skim milk
In a saucepan, combine the potatoes, onions, beans, stock, wine, 1 tablespoon of the savory, salt, black pepper. Bring to a boil over medium heat, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes until vegetables are very tender. Puree in a blender or food processor. Return to the pan, stir in cream, and heat on low. Serve immediately or refrigerate and serve chilled. Garnish with remaining savory leaves, minced, and grated Parmesan cheese, if desired.
Yield 6 to 8 servings.
Medicinal
There is mullein in the fields and rosemary and hoarhound in the gardens.
A Cough Syrup for the Brave
Mix 1 /4 of a cup of rosemary with 1/2 cup of mullein leaves and 1/2 cup hoarhound leaves. Steep a teaspoonful of the mixture in a cup of hot water. Cool and then strain through cheesecloth. Add enough sugar or honey to make a light syrup. Take a tablespoon 3 to 4 times a day as required.
Massage Oil for the Weary
4 ounces of best olive oil
2 teaspoons liquid lecithin
Scant 1/2 teaspoon of rosemary essential oil.
Mix and bottle and use on aching muscles.
“Cook fish with a handful of horseradish, a handsome faggot of rosemary, some thyme and a sprig of savory.”
– Izak Walton, well known 17th-century fisherman and writer.
Rosemary Jelly
2 heaping tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped
1 /4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup orange juice
3/4 cup water
3 1/ 4 cups sugar
3 ounces liquid pectin (one Certo pouch)
Sprigs of rosemary for garnish.
Boil all ingredients but certo for 7 minutes stirring constantly. Strain, return to boil adding pectin and boil vigorously 1 minute, stirring. Skim foam. Fill sterilized jars, adding sprig of rosemary. Seal with paraffin and label.
Decorative
- Bouquets and centerpieces can be enchanced with stems of fragrant rosemary.
- Tiny tussie-mussies are charming: tie several sprigs with a narrow ribbon to lay next to a photograph “for remembrance.”
- Garnish a large roast with lavish tips of rosemary.
- A stem of rosemary stuck into a fresh orange is an old-world traditional New Year’s greeting.
- If a rosemary standard has died, add tiny colorful dried flowers for an strange but attractive, maintenance-free decoration.
“Across the world, wherever it grows, a sprig of Rosemary is never just a fragrant green herb, but a bit of human history in one’s hands.”
– Dorothy Bovee Jones, The Herbarist
The Song of the Mallow Fairy
I am Mallow; here sit I
Watching all the passers-by.
Though my leaves are tom and tattered,
Dust-besprinkled, mud-bespattered.
See, my seeds are fairy cheeses.
Freshest, finest, fairy cheeses!
These are what an elf will munch
For his super or his lunch.
Fairy housewives, going down
To their busy market-town.
Hear me wheedling: “Lady, please,
Pretty lady, buy a cheese!”
And I never find it matters
That I’m nicknamed Rags-and-Tatters,
For they buy my fairy cheeses.
Freshest, finest, fairy cheeses!
– Cicely Mary Barker
A Sacrifice
The story continued…
Well, the caterpillar was joined by two more caterpillars and they all ate happily away and both parsley plants (including the Italian) got smaller and smaller.
Suddenly one morning…no more caterpillars. Let us hope they went off to hang themselves in their cocoons. (And that a passing bird didn’t get them.) Both plants recovered nicely from the severe trimming and are in nearly daily snipping use.
“What time the mighty moon Was gathering light Love paced the thymy plots Of Paradise.”
– Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Carter-Loomis Farm
Drive east on Poe Road, turn left on Carter Road and proceed north until you reach Sugar Ridge Road. Then turn around (carefully) and drive slowly past a development with pretentious houses, new grass and trees, swing sets in the back yard – all probably filled with nice young families. Then on your right, on the same side, you will see a hundred year old oak bam, a weathered house surrounded by pots of flowers and, stretching west, 80 acres of working farm land and woods.
The farm will some day belong to the Wood County Park District under the Trusteeship of the Black Swamp Nature Conservancy. It can never be developed into housing. It will remain an oasis, as the area grows, of green with wild life habitat and farm crops.
Sally Carter Loomis was bom on the farm more than eighty years ago. She was in the last class to graduate from the nearby Zimmerman School, and year after year she greets students doing day long field trips to the school. A bit of “walking history” she also was in the first high school graduating class from the present BG Junior High School. She and her husband love the land and want it to be protected. They are part of a growing number of people that recognize that future generations need more than houses to shelter their bodies- they will also need green spaces to shelter their souls.
It is forward imagining like this that makes the Historic Center a reality and the Herb Gardens a source of public pleasure.
Wine and Cheese Fund Raiser
Bowling Green residents are fortunate to be served by the Wood County Park District (our ally and friend at the Herb Gardens) and the Bowling Green Parks and Recreation Department. When BSHS was very small and struggling the members voted to contribute to the purchase of the 22 acre Bordner Meadows, off Sand Ridge Road. This is now part of the Winter-garden/St. John’s Woods Nature Preserve which can be entered by car from Wintergarden Road.
The area is being groomed for public and wildlife enjoyment under the leadership of naturalist Chris Gajewicz. The BG Parks and Recreation Foundation, BG Rotary and other service groups have all contributed financially to the development of the Nature Center, which is now ready for a multitude of activities – from educational programs, to growing seedlings of native plants.
The Annual Wine and Cheese Part to be held on Friday, September 29 between 5 and 8 is an important fund-raiser for the Foundation. Attendance by our members has been high in the past and let’s keep the tradition going. Tickets are $40 a couple and can be purchased at the Park Office in the Woodland Mall or by calling Frances.
Food and music will be abundant, and tours of the area will be available by foot or golf cart. You will not believe the recirculating stream that is already attracting migrating and resident wild life.
There is a mated pair of red foxes in the area, but they will not be on display.
From the Library
Descriptions, from the publisher, new arrivals…
Garden Butterflies of North America
From the book’s introduction:
“At the most dismal part of winter, when most folks are developing cabin fever, spring begins. It’s at this time that designing a butterfly garden is quite fulfilling. By choosing which species we intend to invite to our oasis, we develop our garden plan. The garden is our palette and the flowers are our paint. Allowing the colors to swirl in your mind offers a stimulating alternative to late winter’s grays and browns. It is also time to start seeds and cuttings. I have learned to use the flora and fauna as my calendar to tell me where the butterflies will be ‘Half past the cornflowers and a quarter to the buddleia’ means that the butterfly season is about to get under way. Upon these warm winds the rainbow of butterflies can spread its wings and fly.”
The Herbfarm Cookbook
by Jerry Traunfeld
Not so long ago, parsley was just about the only fresh herb available to American cooks. Today, bunches of fresh oregano and rosemary can be found in nearly every supermarket; basil and mint grow abundantly in backyards; and farmers’ markets all over the country are rich sources for wonderful flavor enchancers like chervil, sage and lemon verbena. Now, so that you’ll be able to enjoy the fresh herb bounty that’s available, Jerry Traunfeld, executive chef of the Herbfarm restaurant in Fall City, Washington, presents 200 herb inspired recipes, plus information on pairing herbs with foods, and even how to grow your own herbs.
Spring Sorrel and Chip Soup is a bright green soup exploding with fresh lemony flavor. Fettuccine with Red Onion, Blue Cheese and Thyme is only one of the pasta dishes that are guaranteed to please. Dilled Chicken Piccata; Sauteed Duck Breasts with Mint, Coriander and Olives; and Grilled Flank Steak in Oregano Marinade are three flavorful entree choices.
Starters, breads, vegetables, desserts (Lemon Verbena Ice Cream is sensational) – you’ll find marvelous recipes for every course in this beautifully illustrated cookbook that is as lovely to look at as it is delightful to cook from.
(Please add Garden Butterflies to The Gardening section of your Library List and The Herbfarm Cookbook to the Cooking section.)
The Ponds
As of this writing the two ponds, originally designed to hold water to be harvested as ice for the ice house, are being drained. Getting the muck out is next. Our group unanimously voted to support a grant effort that could develop the ponds as aesthetic and recreational focal points. Can you imagine the effects of an aerating fountain?
From the Chicken Coop
Chairman Marna Conner continues to put out a plea for cupboards needing a new home. Also if you find you have too many gardening tools cluttering up the garage, consider donating them to the CC. Remember to label tools, yours and ours. Things get mixed up so easily. Markers are in the CC. Don’t forget to write down your time and what you did so other gardeners know what is what.
A complete Garden Manual now resides in the Chicken Coop for handy reference. The pages have heavy weight plastic page protectors so they can be used by dirty hands without damage.
The cherry tomato is a marvelous invention, producing as it does a satisfactory explosive squish when bitten. – Miss Manners
…the beautiful verdure of parsley forms an elegant garnishing to our dishes; it is the luxury of the soup-kettle; it adds to the delight of the most splendid dinners. – Frances S. Osgood
