Drying the herbs (Drying the heeerrrbs.) La la la lalala lalala la.

I planted an herb garden in the spring. What that means now: I need to dry herbs for the winter. While I'm excited by the prospect of having a better quality of seasonings on my spice rack, I also just don't have a lot of extra time to deal with herb drying at the moment.

However, I will make time to make sure I save all of the chamomile.

Because fresh chamomile makes some potent tea. One mug of this and I'm ready for bedtime no matter how high-strung I felt before drinking it. I have, in fact, developed my own favorite home-brewed tea blend. I put about 3-5 flower heads in my trusty tea ball along with a stem-full of chocolate mint leaves.

 Tasty and medicinal.



I'm drying the chamomile on the hooks normally reserved for my car keys. Meanwhile, the rest of the herbs, which are a larger size, I started drying by draping them over the handles of my oven doors. This worked, but left much to be desired in the oven-functionality department.

Then, I noticed the hooks in the ceiling of the kitchen. Now, I have no idea what the previous owners put them there for, but my repurpose of them might be a possibility. Now my herbs are out-of-the-way and drying nicely.

Once dry, the smaller herbs are going in these little glass spice jars I bought years ago, except the thyme, which I'm putting in an empty jar that once held store-purchased thyme. The longer herbs, like basil, parsley, and mint, will go in mason jars I got last Christmas from my parents. I've got a nice bit done of it already.

And really, it didn't take much time at all.

A Garden of My Very Own: In the Vegetable Garden

I'm getting impatient for produce here at my garden (and a little sick of swiss chard, to be honest). Some things are doing very well. The chocolate mint plant, for example, has exploded in growth.

The front herb/pretty edibles garden is mostly florishing, with a good amount of that swiss chard and good production for the lettuce and kale. The savory and oregano are doing as well as the chocolate mint, but the rosemary and thyme aren't bushing out as much as I'd like. In the background, the parsley has gone native and just taken the place over, which I'm good with. It looks gorgeous. Still, the spinach and cilantro plants have just out-and-out died and the basil and argula are tall but shrinking, with the chamomile staying in its small upright form, though I've heard that it's supposed to be ground cover.

In the side garden, there is one sole pepper on one of the two pepper plants that's been there for a month and is still not-yet-ripe. There has been one zucchini and a bunch of half-finished cucumbers. The beets look ripe, and we'll pull them as soon as we decide on a recipe.

Out back, there have been two ripe cherry tomatoes, both very small, and one green tomato that has since been plundered by the wildlife. So it grows.

 

But it just isn't growing fast enough.