Saturday Stroll

 From my garden this rainy Saturday morning:

 Dark Opal Basil which pairs perfectly with ...

Marion tomatoes ripening on the vine

 Feverfew about to blossom

Chive flowers which will find their way into a bottle of vinegar soon

What's growing in your garden today?

Blessings,

Catherine

Weekend Wanderings

It's raining- a good thing for the garden, but it did mess up my plans to weed the herb beds and such today.
When the weather clears, I plan to do some wandering in the wild area behind my house and do a little wildcrafting- nettle, dandelion, plantain, and chickweed are all at their spring best about now.

In the meantime, I'm moodling about in the kitchen, playing with ferments.
I have cream fraiche and kombucha started, and plan to make a jar of ginger carrots today.
Sullivan St. Bread is also bubbling away on the counter.  I'll bake it later this afternoon ... will be perfect for tea time!

I missed the Rosemary Gladstar Teleseminar last night, but thankfully the replay will be up over the weekend.  I've been listening as I putter about the house, stopping frequently to make notes. There are wonderful tips, recipes, and more in this program.  I downloaded the mp4 so I can listen as I have a few free moments.  Listen online or download it while you have a chance, you won't want to miss it.


Snippings from my herb garden this morning:

Pineapple Sage

Purple and Sweet Basil

Where are you wandering this weekend?

Herbal Blessings,

Catherine

Way of the Herbal Ninja - Free Webinar

Another Free Herbal Webinar for you:

Way of the Herbal Ninja: Using 17 Herbs You Already Have in the Kitchen

Love the simplicity of using herbs already in the kitchen.

This webinar also has some very nice freebie e-books available if you post about the webinar on a blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc.  Nice way to get some titles for your herbal pantry.










Listening to this webinar is the perfect activity for this rainy April afternoon!

Herbal Blessings,
Catherine

Wild Greens a Free Teleseminar

I plan to attend this free teleseminar on Thursday, April 25th, and thought some of you might be interested too-

Wild Greens & Spring Remedies- a Free Teleseminar with Rosemary Gladstar

I've been using Rosemary Gladstar's book  Herbal Healing for Women for many years, and also frequently turn to another of her titles- 

Rosemary Gladstar's Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health: 175 Teas, Tonics, Oils, Salves, Tinctures, and Other Natural Remedies for the Entire Family.  Both are easy to read and understand, but have a wealth of herbal knowledge to share.

I am looking forward to the teleseminar, which is just in time for the spring greens that are popping up in my area!

Blessings,
Catherine

For the Still Room Book

 tiny thyme blossoms

Below are a few links to some herbal recipes I thought might interest you.  I will be adding these and others to my Still Room Book.

Gardener's Salve ~ Frugally Sustainable

Springtime Formulas ~ Mountain Rose Herbs

Floral Spring Cleansing Tonic ~ Frugally Sustainable

What is your favorite herbal Spring tonic?

One of mine is simply wandering the herb garden in bare feet and  touching and sniffing the herbs!   Having a cup of tulsi or lemony herb tea in hand makes it all the nicer.

rosemary and marjoram

Herbal Blessings Friends,

Catherine

Sweet Pea

Sweet peas with old apothecary bottles found near our home 

In the Language of Flowers, sweet pea is said to convey delicate pleasures or departure.
Sweet peas are lovely, delicate, pleasantly scented ... and in my area, they make a quick departure when the heat of late spring/summer appears.
Though fleeting, they bring  pleasure whether blooming in the garden or in a jar of water on the windowsill.  And I will plant them every year.

What herb or flower do you plant even though it doesn't always thrive in your climate?

Weekend Blessings,
Catherine

Spring Thyme

Freshly planted 'spring thyme':

 Orange Thyme (smells fabulous)

Creeping thyme (blooming tiny lavender blossoms)

I have a fondness for thyme and have scattered other varieties throughout the herb and veggie garden- Mother of Thyme, French Cooking Thyme, Lemon Thyme, and a tiny one ... (elfin thyme perhaps?) which is going in the girls' fairy garden.

Lemon Thyme is one of my favorites, but then I do love all things lemon so it is no surprise.

I was very pleasantly surprised to find this recipe for Lemon Thyme Cupcakes online.  I made them years ago from a recipe in the Herb Companion magazine and they were delicious.  My husband has requested them from time to time but I couldn't locate the magazine or the recipe (which is surely somewhere in the Recipe Pile).  Now that I have the recipe, I can hardly wait for my lemon thyme to grow enough for me to make a batch of these cupcakes.  They are perfect with a cup of tea.  

What is your favorite variety of thyme?

An Update and a Giveaway

I know, I know ... in my last post I said I was merging this blog with  Love Living Simply ... and I am 'sort of', or maybe I should say 'I did and' ...
But now, I've found I miss this space; and even though I had not updated it frequently, I like the idea of having a place 'just for herbs'.

We'll see what happens here in the coming days.
The main reason for this little post is to ask you to please pop over to Love Living Simply and enter my giveaway of a FREE download of My Memories digital scrapbook software.
Not a scrapbook person you say?  Me either.
But my kids are; and this program is good for lots of other crafty things too, such as blog headers, buttons and so forth if you blog; or pretty printables- think to-do lists, notepaper, whatever your little head can dream up!  The sky's the limit when it comes to what you might create using My Memories.  And if you are a scrapbooking lover, so much the better, you will definitely love all the layouts, embellishments, paper and so forth.

Here's a little simple page I created with the program:

You could even use photos of your herbs and make a personalized still room book with this software (I think I just gave myself an idea!).
Or a garden journal ... or any number of pretty things.

Please drop by and enter the giveaway!   Tell your friends, too!
Blessings,
Catherine 

Simplifying ...

UPDATE:  Yes, I am simplifying, but I've decided the simplest thing to do blog-wise is leave things as they are ... I like this space.  :)


In keeping with my Return to Simplicity this year, I have decided to merge Still Room Herbs with Love Living Simply.  One blog will be simpler to keep and will give me more time for tending the herb garden, creating in the still room, and writing.




This blog will be deleted in a short while, all posts have been transferred to Love Living Simply. 

Please come visit me at Love Living Simply!

Blessings,
Catherine 

Sprouting

Even on a wintry Wednesday, I see signs of spring sprouting in my world.  Cilantro and dill self-seeded in my garden and are just the perfect size for snipping and adding to soups,salads, and salsa.

Bronze fennel is beginning to put forth ferny branches.
Lemongrass which was cut back hard at the beginning of winter is showing some greening here and there.

Earlier this week it was warm outdoors, so I cut back the sage which had grown leggy and wild, trimmed the roses, and tried to free the Mediterranean garden from the grass that invaded over the winter.  Still lots more pulling and digging to do there, but I did uncover a hidden lemon thyme, a surprisingly healthy and fragrant marjoram, and a dianthus already in bloom as I yanked out pesky grass and weeds.  Sweet discoveries like that make weeding worthwhile!

Today it is back to winter weather, so I'm planning to enjoy a cup of tea and doing some plotting and planning for my new garden area complete with a small greenhouse and potting area.

What is happening in your world today?

Herbal Blessings,
Catherine

Snippings

Simple pleasures from the herb garden-
sprigs of lavender, sweet marjoram, and rose scented geranium ... springtime to my soul!

After a bit of a funky, stressful morning, I slipped out the back door with a cup of green tea to collect my thoughts and found myself picking a pinch here and there of the herbs that have braved the winter weather.  After just a few moments of enjoying the scent and sight of these glorious greens, the not-so-great mood lifted and I was snapping photos (rather sad ones I'm afraid due to a worn out camera), sniffing sweet smells, and planning new planting schemes.
Herbs are great therapy!

Weekend Blessings ... I'm planning on a little seed sowing (indoors) myself.
How about you, what is on your agenda for this first weekend in February?

Simple Herbal Gifts

Dream pillows are simple gifts I make for Christmas gifting.  I use Dream Herbs  Pillow Mix from Mountain Rose Herbs but you could easily mix up your own blend using your favorite relaxing herbs such as lavender, rose petals, hops, chamomile, mugwort, and a few drops of rose or lavender essential oil.
I tuck the dream herbs mix into drawstring muslin bags or sew up simple pillow shapes that can be slipped into a pillowcase.    
Add a tag wishing your loved one Sweet Dreams and you have a simple gift that will be a sweet reminder of you each time they put their head on the pillow.

Herb infused oils also make excellent gifts.  Sweet Almond or Olive oil infused with calendula, lavender, or other herbs of your choice can be placed in decorative bottles and given as body/massage oils.   A few drops of a coordinating essential oil added to the oil will give you a sweet smelling perfume oil to share.

Bath salts can be as simple to mix up as adding essential oils to sea salt, though you can get creative and mix in other ingredients like epsom salts, baking soda, even a small amount of liquid soap to make foaming bath salts.  Peppermint oil makes a nice Christmas scent, or how about frankincense and myrrh, or my personal favorite lavender and rose geranium?   Put the salts in a pretty container, label, and add a pretty shell or vintage spoon to scoop out the salts and you have a great gift for someone special.

These 3 simple herbal gifts can be customized with different herbs and essential oils to please most anyone on your gift-giving list.

And don't forget herb plants or seeds for the herb lover on your list!  These are almost always at the top of my own wish list.


Next week I'll share some tasty herbal treats for gifting.

What is your favorite simple herbal gift to give or receive?

Wishing you a peaceful holiday season,

Catherine