Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme

 

Parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. This bouquet of herbs sounds like a recipe for Thanksgiving day stuffing. 

I have the parsley, sage, and thyme in my herb garden. But alas, no rosemary.

And on this Thanksgiving Day, no true loves to visit, except the one i live with.

Gratitude is the name of the day. Giving thanks for what i have. Even if Rose and Mary can't come to the feast.

Goodbye and Good Night Skullcap

I'm deleting several spreaders from my flowerbeds, one at a time. We all know that bee balm (a member of the mint family) and phlox freely reproduce themselves in the flower bed. Over time, i've collected some less well-known spreaders. The first on my list is skullcap (Scutellaria)--another a member of the mint family.

In the past, i have liked to collect and grow herbs, but i never did anything with them. I just liked have Nature's medicine cabinet at the ready. But when it comes right down to it, i buy a ready-made tincture of valerian and skullcap and use 2 droppers-ful to put my body back to sleep at 2:00 a.m.

I am not going to be making my own tinctures, after all.

This is part of the general pruning off of activities and stuff that i've been doing for the past few years. Yesterday, it was good-bye skullcap.

The Herb Garden

The herb garden has sprung back to life. I walk out the back door, and a pie chart of an herb garden stands at my feet.

Tonight i'm cooking spaghetti sauce. I cut 2-inch tall oregano, thyme, Egyptian onion tops, and garlic chives. So fresh that the bottled sauce revives itself into complicated flavors.

The apple mint is 2 inches tall. Well, that was yesterday. Maybe it's 3 inches tall today. It's sending out explorers to the nearby countries of Wormwood, Lovage, and Tansy. I ruthlessly pull those minty colonizers out by their roots in an effort to keep the exploding population within its own borders.

When i have a colander full of mint sprigs, i turn on the tea kettle. I stuff the rinsed mint leaves into a glass pitcher and fill to the brim with boiling water for a 2-day supply of iced tea. My honey calls it "iced mint water." By whatever name you call it, it's a cool drink for a warm day.

I love the herb garden, even though it is not showy. I've considered how i might age with my gardens. All the others may revert to woods or lawn or groundcover. The herb garden will be the last to go.