Drying the bounty......

I am graced with an abundance of some herbs, in particular Rosemary, Lemonbalm, Mint (both pepper and spearmint), Borage.....and recently, Mugwort.

Though I enjoy just looking at them or brushing up against them when I am out and about in the yard, I have been experimenting with different methods of drying and preserving this fabulous bounty.

This picture is not me in my yard :), but me at my friend Julie's demo garden (see more below).

Please share if you have had success drying or preserving (tincturing?) that are not mentioned.

Lemonbalm: The best thing so far for me: hanging upside down to dry. It does not take very long, and I have learned to take down the sprigs as soon as the leaves are crispy to preserve the lemony freshness we love. It is a bit tedious to remove the dry leaves from the sprigs without them crumbling to nothingness (I like LB big, like Texas...), but am getting the hang of it after my third harvest.

Oregano: Hang. Dries easily, and I just zip it right into a container by stripping the branch.


Chamomille: Plant tray laid out with a piece of screen, sitting on a piece of newspaper to catch anything that falls through...

Rosemary: Hanging. Strip right into the container. I use the stripped branches for my Kitchen Witches :).

Lavender: Cut fronds and tie upside down in a paper bag. As Lavender dries, just shake the bag. The little lavender buds will shake down :).



Calendula: Got to visit my friend Julie at the farm where she sells her organic plants (check out Peas & Harmony), and they are bursting with Calendula! Picked some, and am drying in plant trays. This way they get air all around, no turning necessary. I have read that they need to stay out of the sun....

I also have a ton of mint. I am not sure that I want to dry it, but will try mint jelly and mint pesto start with. Will report back when I do. The same with the Borage. The little white flowers taste like cucumbers :), other than that, we have only used the new leaves in "Gruenne Sosse".

Tough love....

Today I had to enforce some tough love in my garden....

I had 4-5 foot high stalks of borage, covered with flowers. I left them as long as possible, since the bees were having a heyday with them. Today, I pulled them out. The Borage is a bit of a bully, spreading and seeding as it pleases :). Between it, and Ms. Lemonbalm, well they were crowding my whole herb bed. Not to mention that have spread their little children way outside of the box, they are homesteading all over the backyard.

Normally, I let this wild rumpus go, I enjoy it.

In this case, I had to be a leader and pull out the Borage, and a bunch of Lemonbalm so my Echinacea could finally get some breathing room and grow!

As I was pulling, I discovered many new little Borage & Lemonbalm babies....they multiply like rabbits.

The Borage was too far gone to use, but I just hung the second harvest of Lemonbalm to dry, as well as more Oregano. Just in time to take down the first round and store. I love how my kitchen smells when I hang them in there to dry.

Like a summer in Italia.

Drying the bounty

My backyard has herb fairies that come and drop off plants while I sleep :).

I have borage back there that comes every year with a vengeance. It has white blooms that taste like cucumbers....and prickly leaves that only taste good when you use them as younglings. No one knows where the mama plant came from, but now it grows everywhere, even in the leftover grass/weed (I call it grass/weed, it is mostly weed. I am taking it out as I go...).

Then there is Ms. Lemonbalm. Her babies are growing out of every crack where there is even a sliver a dirt. Funny, these herbs need absolutely no nudging. I had so much last summer that I began trying different techniques to harvest & store. I have found now that the best way is to hang it up and let it dry, even though it is said the Lemonbalm does not dry well. Mine does.

Then there is spearmint, mint, oregano, chamomille, and arugula. All of them have found their way into our lives :). They forgive my sporadic watering plan, and grow abundantly for me. I think they know I love them ...

Last year I dug up a little mugwort plant on a walk by the river. This too is now popping up all over the place, except where I planted it.

Once they have settled in, these beautiful herbs have a mind of their own.....