Eating With The Harvest

I’ve been focusing on what I eat because I want to tone up again. Overall, I’m a fairly fit and a healthy eater, but my eating habits have taken a turn for the worst the last few years. My husband and I tend to eat out a lot and there was a span of time where I was doing some stress eating. I’m not what I would call a stress eater where I reach for food in the moment, but I do tend to make poorer choices during the day when I am stressed. I have been working on identifying that in the moment and working on what I am putting in my body to feel good so I don’t get the digestive problems I’ve been living with the last 7 years.

With summer here, I have been using my herb garden. I love walking out to gather what I want to season my food. I really enjoy eggs- either eggs sunny side up or omelette style. Lately I have been making eggs, omelette style, with herbs. I usually go out to pick some thyme, oregano, and parley. I also add EITHER basil or peppermint to it too. I crack one full egg and two egg whites, adding a tablespoon or so of half and half (it’s the only milk product in our home). I whisk in the herbs as well. This is my favorite summer egg to have! With my greens coming in full force, I have been having a salad of chickory with my eggs. I put on a bit of olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. It’s a play off a dandelion salad we make for dinner. This meal is filling and fuels me through to lunch time, or beyond.

I also enjoy taking advantage of the fruits in season. Each year I make some apricot preserves, and each year I use a different recipe. This year’s recipe included 2 pounds (roughly 8) apricots, 1 cup of honey and 1 cup of water. I simmered this down, skins included, and it made a beautiful preserve or jelly that did not have any large chunks. I feel the large chunks are the best part, but I do like the spreadability of this recipe. It was also very quick and I used ingredients I already had in my home. It has been phenomenal on some whole grain toast, which has a touch of cinnamon in its flavor.

My goal is to eat with the seasons. My beans are just starting to come in and my tomatoes are getting closer every day. As summer continues on, I remember to enjoy the season and what it brings to me. I hope to share more recipes and ideas for you as my garden continues to come through this year. What veggies are coming through in your garden and what are your favorite recipes to enjoy with them?

Mid-Season Herbal Clean Up

It’s that time of year again! It’s time for the mid-season clean up of my herb garden. Though I live in the north where we get snow and ice and really ugly weather, my herbs are accessible nearly year round and start to really grow again starting in April. By July, it’s a jungle out there!

Because many of my herbs over-winter, they are very stalky, leggy and tall by July. For instance, my main parsley plant looks more like a celery plant than parsley at the moment. My thyme is spreading (AGAIN…) and the garlics have had their flower heads chopped off. The strawberries who share the bed are starting to spread like spiders and my mint is going to flower to try to invade even further. Thankfully, I really enjoy keeping my mint in check.

Here’s what I did in my herb bed.

• Parsley– Chop down to the root to invigorate more leafy growth for the last half of the summer. Also if you’ve never let your parley go to flower, you should try it once. It has the most beautiful floral scented flowers!
• Oregano– Cut the foliage in half to get rid of flowers and encourage growth of additional foliage. I did think about taking parts of the plants I have to the front beds for herbscaping, but the plants ended up being smaller than I wanted them to be. I cut the plants and am drying some for gifts this winter.
• Thyme– Cut the plant in half and relocate the larger half to the front beds for herbscaping. I also cut some to dry some for use in gifts this winter.
• Lemon Thyme– Find it in the jungle! I added this in the spring so I want it to be well established for winter.
• Mint– Keep the peppermint plant and pull out the “mint” plant. I like the taste of the actual peppermint plant rather than the generic “mint” plant. The generic plant is also more “weedy” looking than the peppermint so for visual purposes I am eliminating it from the bed.
• Rosemary– This plant, amazingly, survived last winter and is now doing really well! I need to give her some more room to grow and be better established for this coming winter.
• Sage– I have some sage that was from last season and some that was seeded this spring. I need to start to get the plants under control. There is currently too much. I am drying the extra for gifts this winter since I already have quite a bit that is in the front beds.
• Chamomile– This is a great plant this year! She came up from a seed that I planted over a year ago. I’m not as well versed on using the plant I grow so I’m thinking this season I am going to start with drying the flowers and some leaves to share with my tea-loving friends over the holidays.
• Garlic Chives– In my vast search for regular chives last year, I planted some garlic chives late in the season. They over-wintered well and is finally getting buds. It is not a huge plant so I’m going to leave this as-is. Also, I still haven’t found regular chives in my area, but I have seeded some in the front beds. Next summer, this plant should be large enough to bring a small amount into the herb garden.
• Fennel– I love Florence Fennel, but I can’t seem to get it to grow a bulb like it should. I had 2 plants come up from leftover seeds from last year and they were promising! Then they never did create the bulb. I decided to pull them out to make more room in the garden. I also have some growing in the veggie garden that look promising for bulbing so wish me luck!
• Garlic– Once the stalks dry, I’m digging up the bulbs, drying them in the sun and using them! You will never know how amazing fresh garlic is until you try it. I dislike how it looks visually in the bed, but it’s the safest place for me to grow the garlic since it goes in the ground in October for the next summer.

One of my favorite things about gardening is that it is always changing. Just because you start something in one area doesn’t mean that it is going to stay there OR that it is going to fit there the entire season. It changes fast enough to keep my attention and fascination, but slow enough so that I don’t feel overwhelmed. My herb garden serves me year-round, but it does need some taming half way through the season. I’m happy with the results and excited to see how it transforms the last half of the season.

When are you doing your mid-season clean up of your garden? What do you do with your extras? And, if anyone has any advice on which parts of the chamomile plant are best for tea or how to make Florence Fennel create a bulb, I would love to hear.

Why I Have an Herb Garden

My husband and I moved almost 2 years ago! It doesn’t seem like it’s been this long. We lived in the house I bought for 7 years before selling it. We were “homeless” for about 6 months in between selling our house and closing on the house we have now. In reality, we were able to stay in the house I grew up in for 6 months because my parents are great like that! The hardest part about that year and half span was not having a garden.

I caught the veggie gardening bug from the cucumber seeds I got in my Happy Meal from McDonald’s, of all places. I think I took my first garden project in 4H at age 11. I’ve consistently had some sort of veggie/ herb garden from 11 on (dear lord, that’s over 20 years). Putting in some raised beds for my veggie and herb gardens were literally the first thing we did after putting the grill out on the patio at the new house.

My herb garden became very important to me at my old house. I landscaped the front bed in various herbs. Many of the non-cold hardy herbs, like Rosemary, flourished like they were growing in the Mediterranean. It was because they were up against the foundation of the house so they had protection from the elements and lots of sun, but in reality it was probably because my house leaked heat like a sieve during the winter so survival was easy for them. It was nice to be able to go out nearly any time of year to get some sage for stuffing or rosemary for chicken. It was literally my dream garden. I’m slowly duplicating this at my current house.

People have asked me why I like growing herbs so much. First off, I prefer landscaping that is soft and unstructured. You could describe my taste as an English cottage style garden. Herbs are completely unstructured, have various textures and shapes, and unless you force them to stay in their place, they just love to reseed and spread. To some this may seem really high maintenance, but in my experience it isn’t. Yes, you have to control mint with a keen eye, but doubling the size of my Chamomile area doesn’t bother me. Since I strive to keep a loose soil, I can pull it quickly and easily if needed to stay in the “shape” I want it to. I am constantly looking at my gardens every day, or at least a few times a week. This allows me to be able to watch what the plants are doing and allows me to image where I want it to go in the future.

I’m not a flower person; I’ve never been one get excited about them. They are pretty, but they just don’t blow my socks off. Herbs are flowers for people who aren’t flower people! Herbs have such a variety of textures and shapes of leaves. There are many that have variegated leaves so you get the natural green and greenish colors. The herbs that flower (which is most) have such a variety of colors and shapes of the flowers that there’s always something new coming. AND if you get your mix right, you’ll have flowers the entire growing season.

Lastly, and my favorite reason for growing herbs, is that there is nothing like sprinkling some freshly chopped parsley/ oregano/ basil/ etc. on your meal! My favorite is to make pasta, add some olive oil and parmesan cheese, and then sprinkle any combination of fresh herbs on it. Thinking of it right now makes my mouth water and I just ate lunch. One of the details you need to think about before you move forward with any garden, but especially herbs, is what it’s purpose is for YOU. The Herbal Academy has some good pointers to keep in mind.

At the end of the day, plants make me happy. My plants indoors purify the air in the house and the plants outside welcome the beauty of the world. I have been told I have a green thumb, but I have had my disasters and continue to have them too. Gardening is like anything else, it takes practice and huge, gigantic does of patience (something I’m not very good at). It calms me at the end of a hectic day and I look forward to the moments after a rain shower when the colors of the plants are most vibrant and refreshed. It’s the visual part of the natural world that makes me smile and makes me feel at peace.