Sketchbook Wednesday - Fire Cider

I'd been reading about Fire Cider this summer - which sounded yummy and medicinally efficacious. While I was in Pennsylvania last month, I finally got to try some. SO good. One of the first things I did when we returned was look up some recipes and make my own!

I tried the original version and a pomegranate-hibiscus variety - filling jars and covering them with apple cider vinegar and let them steep for 6 weeks.

 At the end of 6 weeks, the veggies and spices were strained out, and I added enough honey to the herbal-vinegar liquid until it tasted oh, so delicious.

 This delectable, spicy tonic was then bottled and labeled - the extras of which will be disseminated for Christmas presents. 

But what do you *do* with Fire Cider, you may ask?

Oh, so many many things......

Make some of your own!

Music Monday - Wild Mountain Thyme

As I've mentioned, it's decided to be spring in February here in the Pacific Northwest... (pictures taken yesterday, while it was still was).

Last week, we listened to Heather, which put me in mind of the Scottish folksong Wild Mountain Thyme. (My favorite recording is by Full Moon Ensemble but I don't see theirs on youtube, so I give you The High Kings version:)

..."we'll pull wild mountain thyme from among the blooming heather".....

Thyme overwinters, but the bulk of the rest of the herbs in the yard are coming up already...

(From top to bottom, right to left: parsley, elephant garlic, bronze fennel, comfrey, french sorrel, tarragon, chives, rhubarb (ok, not technically an herb..), and chervil. Not shown: sweet cicely, meadow sweet, garlic chives, sage, horehound, rue, catamint, marjoram, oregano, lavender, rosemary, lemon balm - and a few others that have not started coming up yet..)

The chickens are thrilled with all the growing things and warming soil to root for bugs in. (I've hoed the winter cover-crop I planted a bit, hoping that they'll continue to turn it for me - since I haven't had time to do it properly due to deadlines. Here's crossing fingers for poultry-driven garden labor!)

We interrupt these WIP posts -

- for a brief herbal interlude. In honor of the fabulous sunshine today.

I have many many baby basils (5 different varieties) coming up. As well as dill, caraway, meadowsweet and lady's mantle (and various squashes and cucumbers).

This is the Cuban oregano that I've been raving about. Looks like a succulent. Incredibly aromatic (although a bit more reminiscent of fruity sage rather than anything like oregano).

I stopped by the garden center for copper tape (slug deterrent for the raised beds), but got seduced by the lush, green lovelies in the herb section: stevia, germander, salad burnett, pineapple and tangerine sage, coconut and Attar of Roses scented geraniums and more lemon thyme. Also a couple new to me: agastache and epazote. Both are labled as culinary, and smell yummy - I'll have to do some research on them (my favorite kind of research! :-)

Yay Spring!

And I keep forgetting to post the treasures that my daughter brought back for me from her British Isles adventure over spring break. She knows me well. They are wonderful and perfect for me. Thank you baby.

We interrupt this break...

...to shake our heads in amazement at the craziness of the weather!

For the first half of the week we all wondered when it became October? Rainrainrain, grey, and chilly-cold. Sweaters and thick socks.


It rained so heavily on Sunday that the local streams rose over their banks and flooded the roads (and a few basements) for a few hours.


Overall, it has been a remarkably cool and damp August...


But the sun has come out again - bringing the heat with it. Maybe I'll get some summer squash and cherry tomatoes this month after all.


I did get to harvest enough flowers and herbs for a yummy salad for dinner.*

And now back to our regularly scheduled studio time...

*Garden salad ingredients:
Greens: leaf spinach, rustic arugula, climbing spinach, garden sorrel, salad burnett
Herbs: creeping golden oregano, spicy globe basil, chives, chervil, parsley, cilantro
Flowers: marjoram, viola, scarlet runner bean, borage, calendula, garlic chives, purple chives, and sweet cicely.

Best served with a sweet dressing - poppy seed, raspberry vinaigrette or my current favorite - Sesame pear!

Weekend Outing - Cedar River (the courtyard)

I've been trying to squeeze in a tiny bit more *life* amongst trying to maintain my family/household and the ongoing busy-busy current work schedule. As part of that quest, last weekend some POBL friends and I spent a morning at the Cedar River Watershed Nature Center on a guided walk to discuss native herbs.

It is a gorgeous, slightly out-of-the-way location - with views of water and mountains (and can you believe that the vine maples are already showing some color? July feels too early for red leaves).

The center is a beautiful complex of buildings and boardwalks - all trying to integrate into their natural surroundings.

I loved these views of wild-things growing on the roofs of the various structures....

One of the coolest aspects of the courtyards were clusters of large, wooden drums they had scattered about nestled under the trees. Each drum had its own tiny, barely visible pipe that was dripping water from several feet above.

The drips must have been on computer timers or some other mechanism because they were varied and random, and the whole courtyard would echo with deep-throated percussiveness. Talk about magical and atmospheric! It was like something out of a Shakespearean fairy glen. (We discussed the possibilities of setting a similar thing up in our own backyards - but it seemed a bit beyond our capabilities).

Garden post - herbs

Many of my herbs are perennial or re-seed themselves - so those have been happily growing.


One of my staples is calendula ('marigold' in the UK). The petals are edible and medicinal both. We use them in salads and infuse oil and make tinctures for skin 'stuff' with them.


One of my new favorites - Sweet Cicely. The whole plant (leaves, stems, flowers, etc..) is edible and tastes gently of anise. It is a beautiful, ferny plant that reseeds itself happily and will grow in sun or shade.


Another fun edible flower - borage. Tastes somewhat of cucumber, and is beautifully dramatic with those long, black stamens against the bright blue star shape. Makes a lovely garnish.


I can barely keep up with my yarrow (medicinal) and lavender (culinary) - which are rapidly outgrowing the big box that they are planted in.


This is what I did this afternoon. The lavender will end up in sachets, lemonade, honey, shortbread, syrup and sugar. The yarrow will either grace dried arrangements or be drunk as tea for any number of 'what-ails-you'...

I love my herbs...

Spring!!!

What a difference a week makes!

A week ago, it looked like this outside my bedroom window.

However, the last couple of days have been absolutely glorious!! Sunny, bright blue and nearly 60 degrees out there. Buds and blooms are busting out all over. (One of my lilacs above).

One of the JOYS of springtime for me is seeing my 'sleeping' herbs emerging. The chives! The sweet cicely, the anise hyssop, the parsley, the fennel, the lemon balm, etc!!! Most exciting.

A few things are even blooming - the violets, the English Daisies, even a few violas.

The crocuses are on their last legs. The daffodils are budding and getting close.

And one of my adopted camelias (transplanted from a moving friend's garden) is budding for the first time. Joys abound. I'm loving all the plant life, and will have to continue waving at them from the studio window for awhile longer.

Although I did make a quick trip to the very dangerous O'Malley & Potter's as part of my one-outing-this-week to run a few errands. I did NOT go for chocolate - I had a couple of other things I needed to pick up - but, how could I help myself? The Dagoba chocolates are supposedly gifts (for those of you who have not yet experienced chocolate with chili - it is divine). What I DID get for me is the UliMana Cacao Kava. This is not a treat, it is a *Dietary Supplement*. (Just read the label!) "It contains raw, organic cacao which is high in antioxidants (way more than prunes, blueberries, etc..) and magnesium and contains the molecule P.E.A., phenylethymine, also known as ‘the love molcule’. P.E.A. is not only a natural mood elevator, it also helps with focus." Hey - I can use all the focus I can get right now. Plus the kava kava is supposed to be very relaxing. And the cacao is supposed to help with digestion. And oh my goodness - is it yummy! You can add a teaspoon to hot (almond) milk or eat it straight out of the jar. :-)

So, me and my Dietary Supplement are off to meet the next deadline. I'm not sure when I'll be back to post again for a bit.

I hope it's springing where you are.