Preserving Chives

Have you ever tried to dry chives for culinary use? Well I have and they taste alot like paper when they are dried. I guess they have to be freeze dried to preserve the flavor. What I do now is to cut the fresh chives with a scissors into small pieces and put those into a sandwich bag for the freezer. Kept this way the flavor will be preserved and you can use them all winter (if your bag is big enough). Be daring and toss some chive flowers in there too. Keep them in the door of your freezer so they are handy as you prepare meals.

Plantago (Plantain) in the Garden

I’ve never done much with plantain because I didn’t have a lot of it in my yard. After moving here though I have found it growing prolifically throughout disturbed soil. There are two varieties of this herb that is sometimes called rib grass. Plantago major has roundish leaves that lie close to the ground while Plantago lanceolata has narrow leaves that stand upright. We have the lanceolata variety here which I find much easier to harvest. Plantain has many benefits. It is great for cuts and insect bites gotten outside where it is easy to pick a leaf and wrap it around the injury as a dressing. For this reason it has been called ‘nature’s band-aid’. An added benefit is that it stops bleeding and is anti-inflammatory. It is also good as a tea for lung problems such as bronchitis. Seeds of this plant can also be used as a mild laxative as would psyllium be used. It has also been used as a diuretic and for diarrhea. Its use as an antitoxin is less common. It is not native to North America and the Native Americans would refer to it as “white man’s footprint” knowing that Europeans had been there with seed. I’ve been picking and drying this herb a lot lately and plan to use more of it over the coming year, probably adding it to my ‘Knuckle Balm”.

Raptors at Our Farm

We have seen quite a few raptors here at our farm including owls, hawks and bald eagles and I wanted to share some of the pictures with you. Although its quite exciting to see these great predators, I do worry about my small animals; cat, dog and chickens. We’ve seen this great horned owl in a tree by our house several times. According to Wikipedia the great horned owl is the only owl known to have killed a human. Many cultures have a special place for owls in their storytelling. I’m told in both Native American and Irish cultures the great horned owl was considered a messenger of death or at least ill well but also associated with the medicine men/women. Other stories say that the great horned owl is associated with the soul of the dead. Perhaps it is one of my parents or my sister looking out for me. Owls in general are said to give energy, wisdom and bravery.

The barn owl we found in our driveway. It could not move its legs and so we put it in this cage and my son drove it to the owl rescue group. Unfortunately we do not know what became of it afterward. Other raptors we have seen include falcons and the red tailed hawk. We have also been visited by a blue heron.

Under The Sun

Tina Sams never fails to amaze me. I have mentioned before about her magazine "The Essential Herbal"; now she has compiled articles from the first 5 years of publication and put them into a book entitled "Under the Sun, the First Five Years". The book is organized into chapters on gardening, in the kitchen, just weeds, herbal first aid, the stillroom, traditions, the herbs and herb business. You will find articles about soapmaking and cooking, drinking and crafting and lots of just naturalist experiences. The magazine has been a dream of Tina’s for some time. Writers contribute their time and skills because herbs are their passion. I only recently joined Tina in her venture and am glad I did. Reading the articles in this book is like listening to old friends discuss their lives and their passions. It is a sizable book of 220 pages so it will take some time to read. I would highly recommend going to Tina’s website and ordering your copy (http://www.essentialherbal.com).

Mother's Day Tussie Mussie

I miss my Mom. She died two years ago. When she was alive I remember giving her a tussie mussie one year for Mothers Day. This year I will walk my garden (and look in my dried collection) to see what plants I have to pay tribute to her on this Mothers Day.

Basil for the unconditional love she gave me and my siblings.
Rosemary for remembering her and the lessons she taught me.
Sage for her endless wisdom and to represent my grief.
Scented geranium for our happy times together.
Lavender for her devotion to her family.
Thyme for her strength and courage in raising 8 children.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's!

Cold Sores

As if one weren’t enough, I have two huge cold sores on my lip. My normal procedure for cold sores is to take vitamin C, vitamin B and apply a lip balm that I made that contains lemon balm infused oil. Although I did that yesterday it has gotten worse. Cold sores are caused by the herpes simplex virus. This virus will reside in a dormant state in the nerve tissue. In the case of cold sores on the lips the virus is typically in the trigeminal nerve ganglion (a collection of nerve cell bodies). For some unknown reasons this virus will travel down the nerve to the skin and start to replicate there cause fluid filled vesicles. Things that trigger these outbreaks include stress, sunshine, menstruation, injury or an immune deficiency. In my case it is typically stress that causes a cold sore. In the past few weeks I have been busy planting Nanking cherries, choke cherries, roses, lavender, cedar trees, roses, raspberries and some miscellaneous herbs. I am also finishing up teaching for the semester and getting grades done. Then the normal animal care and family activities that increase towards the end of the school year. Together, these and unnamed things have caused me a little stress.

Since this cold sore has gotten worse overnight I think I will have to do more than my normal regimen. Although there are antiviral drugs available to treat herpes, there have also been an increasing number of resistant viruses as a result of this. I would hate to think that virus’s will develop this life threatening condition that has occurred in bacteria due to overuse of antibiotics. I will pass on the antiviral drugs and try some other herbal treatments I don’t normally use. Perhaps I will apply lavender oil to the sore or Echinacea extract. I might also drink lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) tea or sage tea and have some garlic toast (my favorite cold remedy). I may use myrrh essential oil to relieve the pain as well. And what about relaxing a little? It’s a somewhat rainy day today which decreases what I can do outside so maybe I’ll sit around with my cup of lemon balm/sage tea for awhile.

130 plants

The local conservation district here sells small seedling plants cheap to people with acreage to use as wind blocks or other screens. These are the plants I bought in the back of my pickup truck. They include 50 nanking cherries, 50 choke cherries and 30 red cedars. We got these last week and planting them is taking a bit of my time! It may take a few years for them to actually do any good but don't they say the person who plants a tree believes in the future!

Springtime in the Rockies

I've been meaning to take some pictures of some spring growth around my place. I thought I'd better do it now as we are under a winter storm warning and my plants may be burried tomorrow under a foot of snow. Here are my chives, clary sage and spring bulbs. As I upload these images the hail has begun! Perhaps I will take pictures tomorrow of the snow.

Basil Benefits

Basil is one of my favorite herbs and I hope to have a good supply of it this summer. Enough to be able to distill, make pesto, and eat fresh with garden tomatoes and mozzarella. I sometimes don’t do well getting basil started from seed because I don’t water enough. I’ve been more successful at this by putting seeds in a large pot, watering and covering that pot with plastic wrap. This helps keep the moisture in and the seed soon sprouts. This year I have dug a small ditch, filled that ditch with horse manure, planted seed there. I covered that with a small plastic covered hoop until the weather warms up. I am hoping that this will allow me some early basil before I start my larger garden.

While I was researching basil (Ocimum) for an Herb Companion article I came across some interesting information on this aromatic herb.

1. Basil has been found to attenuate the stress response to excess noise in rats. This ability to help the body respond to stress is probably due to the wide variety of antioxidants found in basil which inclde flavonoids, phenols and carotenoids.

2. Human hair as well as sheep hair (wool) can fertilize basil increasing its growth. Next time you get a hair cut, work a little of the hair into your soil. Hair is a protein and so it is high in nitrogen. I’m wondering if my horse’s hair will also be beneficial.

3. Basil protects against harmful effects of ionizing radiation. This may provide protection to healthy, non-cancerous cells during radiation treatment for cancer or protect your skin from the sun.

4. Basil can help normalize blood glucose levels and thus prevent insulin resistance for borderline diabetics. Eat basil with high protein mozzarella cheese and whole grain bread and that’s even better for diabetics.

5. The shelf life of high protein food such as tofu can be extended with basil. This study was done in India where refrigeration is not as common in rural areas.

6. Basil contains antioxidants that can protect against damage to DNA resulting in mutations. It also protects against oxidative stress from a variety of sources. This important benefit protects us from free radicals that arise from environmental sources as well as within our own body. In this way it acts as an ‘adaptogenic’ herb.

7. Basil can help the skin in wound healing and may prevent formation of scars. Go ahead, rub it on!

8. Basil is anti-inflammatory agent and can decrease heat and swelling of an injured area making it a potential treatment for arthritis.

9. Basil has potential applications to lower blood pressure.

10. Basil is both antibacterial and anti-parasitic having action against Staph aureus and Giardia. It may also be active against mosquitoes.

11. Basil can inhibit growth of breast cancer cells in the lab and thus may provide anticancer activity in the diet. Is that enough reason to plant extra basil?

St. Pat's Day and mint syrup

We woke up to a few inches of snow on St. Patrick’s Day today. It should be just what those dormant plants need to get started though. We’ve just desodded a small area for our vegetable garden so as soon as this snow melts I will be planting my peas and lettuce.

A few weeks ago I bought a small mint plant from my local nursery so that I could have something green in the house. Now it’s grown to a usable size. Last night we made a mint syrup by first mixing a simple syrup (2 parts sugar, 1 part water) and put about a tablespoon of fresh chopped mint leaves into the syrup after it boiled; leaving them there while it cooled. This made a very nice syrup to use in a drink. We mixed about one part syrup with 3 parts soda water and lots of ice. Its also good with a squirt of lemon juice. This is our St. Patricks Day drink this year; well at least for the morning because I am sure we will have some Irish whiskey come evening!

In honor of St. Patrick’s day here is one of my favorite blessings:

Deep peace of the running waves to you.

Deep peace of the flowing air to you.

Deep peace of the smiling stars to you.

Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the watching shepherds to you.

Deep peace of the Son of Peace to you.

Old Irish Prayer

May Saints. Brighid, Brendan and Patrick guide you on your way.

New Bacteria Found in Toiletries

If you are a small (or large) producer of skin care or toiletries products here are examples of why it is important to test cosmetic samples for the presence of bacteria and fungus.

Researchers in Japan recently identified a new species of bacteria that was isolated from hairspray. The new bacteria is named Microbacterium hatanonis. This bacteria is related to another bacterium, Microbacterium oxydans previously isolated from hospital material. Scientists do not have enough information to know if this new bacteria species is pathogenic, but similar bacteria have not been found to infect humans. It is however a gram-positive, rod shaped bacterium. The original research was published this month in the International Journal of Systemic and Evolutionary Microbiology.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080307110337.htm

Another more serious case of a contaminated cosmetic product occurred in 2006 in the intensive care unit of a Barcelona hospital. Five patients there developed infections of Burkholderia cepacia that were traced to a moisturizing lotion used in patient care. In this case the infections ranged from bacteremia, lower respiratory tract infection and urinary tract infection. Infections of this type can be life threatening for severely ill patients.
http://www.newsmax.com/health/cosmetics_fatal_ill/2008/01/31/68943.html

It is not common for cosmetics to be contaminated with bacteria or fungus but it does happen. This contamination at times can be a threat to human health as well as damage the product integrity. Microbes can be introduced into a product during manufacturing from the air or equipment that comes in contact with the product, it can be present in one of the ingredients of the product, or it can be introduced into the product by the consumer. Preservatives used in a product should be able to inhibit bacteria or fungus that do occur naturally in a product as well as those introduced by the consumer.

In 1989 the FDA randomly tested department store cosmetics products and found that over 5% were seriously contaminated with a variety of microorganisms. Don’t let your product be one of them. Sagescript Institute offers microbiology testing.

Spring Kick Off & Herb Talk

Are you wondering what herbs to plant this year? I will be talking at Echter’s Garden Center and Greenhouse this Saturday from 10:30-11:00 on growing and using herbs. Echter’s will kick off spring with their annual Echxpo on March 7, 8, & 9. There will be continuous talks given by plant and gardening experts Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Representatives from a variety of gardening and plant companies as well as special interest groups including the Herb Society of America will also be on hand to answer questions.

My talk is entitled “Making the Most of Herbs”. I will focus on some common herbs and introduce you to a variety of uses for them including culinary, skin care, medicinal and crafting. I will include information on Calendula, herb of the year as well as chamomile, oregano, thyme and more. After attending Echxpo you will be ready to get your hands dirty! It may be too early to plant, but its never too early to plan.

Echter’s is located at 52nd and Garrison in Arvada, Colorado. For more information visit http://www.echters.com/.