One thing I love about living in a house instead of a flat is my herb
garden situated just outside my kitchen door. It comes in very handy
for me during the summer months. Fresh herbs are so expensive and I
love being able to just pop out the door when I need one. I have also found
when buying fresh herbs, they often didn't last long enough for me to
use them up. don't have that problem when I grow my own. I
simply cut as much as I need at any given time.
This year was not a good year for my herbs, or at least for my basil and parsley. The slugs were particularly bad and ate up all of my basil, including all of those lovely cuttings I propogated so lovingly on my windowsil. C'est la vie has to be your attitude in a country which is so wet.
I know I could have put out slug pellets, but the birds eat slugs and I didn't want to poison them. I tried everything, broken egg shells, etc. Nothing really seemed to work. They have even eaten the mint.
On the plus side they left my chives and my thyme alone as well as the bay. My rosemary just disappeared! Completely.
Now is the time to start drying and preserving whatever you can when it comes to herbs. There are a few different ways to dry your herbs. I like to tie them
into little bundles and then hang them upside down . . . strung up on
little lines throughout the house. Of course you could dry them in a
slow oven or the dehydrator, but I love the beautiful smell which wafts
through the house when the little bundles are drying in the air.
Our spare bedroom has a virtual curtain of bay leaves hanging upside down from the curtain rod in front of the window. I will have enough bay leaves for ten years I think. Mom always kept bay leaves in her cupboards, etc. to keep away pests.
(source)
Bay always makes me think of the ancient Greeks and the Olympiad . . . the victor's brows bound with laurel wreaths, an ancient symbol of immortality. It was the author Edna St. Vincent Millay who plucked two laurel leaves from the graves of Shelley and Keats, keeping them always pressed in a book . . .
"For the sake of some things
That be now no more
I will strew rushes
On my chamber floor,
I will plant bergamot
At my kitchen Door."
~Edna St Vincent Millay
That be now no more
I will strew rushes
On my chamber floor,
I will plant bergamot
At my kitchen Door."
~Edna St Vincent Millay
Poets love herbs, and not surprisingly so . . . how can one not love
herbs with such lyrical names as bergamot, rosemary, rue . . . savory,
thyme. They strike down deep to the soul . . . they suggest far off
and shadowy places from the beginning of time.
Old sunny gardens where ladies in sprigged muslin mingle over cups of tea. Copper kettles steaming over great fires. The young laughter of Kit Marlowe . . . the bright dark gaze of Shakespeare . . .
Have you ever noticed the garden notes that Shakespeare sprinkled richly
throughout his plays . . . with phrases such as this . . .
"I knew a wench married in the afternoon as she went to the garden for parsley to stuff a rabbit."
~The Taming of the Shrew, ActIV, Scene IV
Tis love, gardening and cooking all in one beautiful sentence . . . the older I get the more I begin to appreciate Shakespeare.
Red sky at morning, Sailors take warning?
The days are getting noticeably shorter now. I am getting to appreciate a sunrise every morning. It seems to be happening all of a sudden. Wasn't it only a few days ago that we were going to bed and waking up in bright sunlight? The year she is a-waning . . .
I get these foodie e-mails in my e-mail every day. One of them today had the title. "Five Salad Recipes that Don't Suck." When has salad every sucked? Okay, admittedly there are some people (and eating establishments for that matter) that do absolutely deplorable salads. But as a rule, I think all salads are beautiful creatures for the most part. I adore salad in just about every way, shape or form. Which reminds me, I planted lettuce this summer also, but none of it came up or if it did, it was eaten right away. Perhaps the slugs adore salads in any way, shape or form also.
Asking that you keep my sister and her family in your prayers as they said goodbye to yet another family member this week. My sister's son in law was found dead about a week or so ago now, they were able to revive him after 45 minutes, but sadly the damage was too extensive. Very young, only 28. An undiagonosed heart condition. He leaves behind my niece, their 1 year old daughter and of course his parents. He was their only child. It is so heart breaking all round. I don't know how much more heartache one family can take.
And with that I will leave you with a thought for today.
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜ 田田 ｜門 ★
*Never forget how far you've come.
Everything you have gotten through.
All the times you have pushed on
even when you felt you couldn't.
Al the mornings you got out of bed
no matter how hard it was.
All the times you wanted to give up
but you got through another day.
Never forget how much strength
you have learned and developed.
° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
In The English Kitchen today . . . Cheddar, Bacon & Chive Biscuits. Deliciously scrumptious. Another small batch recipe.
I hope you have a beautiful day. I really do. Don't forget along the length of it . . .