-
Herbal Drops – Candy with a health kick
As an avid reader of many things herbal, the magazine sporting the name of The Essential Herbal is of course a favorite. Several issues back, there was an article on making horehound cough drops. Since then, I’ve gone from “very much like” to extreme obsession of Elderberry. The idea of using this herb/fruit to ward off flu strains instead of vaccinations has been a lot of my motivation to learn more. (If you ask my friends, few conversations about health don’t contain the word elderberry. It’s why I say obsessed.) Last week, we made lovely herbal drops without horehound or even peppermint anywhere in sight! Elderberry and lemon balm were…
-
Herbal tea is good for your new seedlings!
I saw this headline on an email from Organic Gardening: “Herbal tea for healthy seedlings”. It got my attention as I have been saving my tea leaves from past tea brewing for another project. What has happened is that I have way more discarded loose tea than I need for that project. To hear that my tea can have yet another use besides compost makes me want to learn more! “To prevent damping-off from killing seedlings, try watering them with chamomile tea. Make a strong tea with 3 teaspoons of dried chamomile in 6 cups of boiling water. Let the tea steep and cool. Water the seedlings two or three…
-
Guard against Esophageal Cancer, Mind Tea & Coffee Temps
There is nothing like a newly brewed pot of herbal tea. My favorite way to brew tea is using bulk tea in a brew basket. That way, I can blend tea from the garden with other teas I might come across in shopping with ease. The temperature of the water during brewing, makes a huge difference with the flavor of the tea. You can make the best cup of tea if you know the best brewing temperature for the leaves you are using. I found on this site the following: As a general guideline, green teas taste best when brewed at temperatures between 140°F – 185°F. The grade of the…
-
Rosehips from Raintree Nursery
While you are busy planting those blueberry bushes…consider what to place in the planting bed with them. How about a rose variety that produce rose hips? I did the same thing as I did with the blueberry bushes. I planted them and forgot about them…until they began to bloom! Move over “knock out” roses! (they might be pretty but they don’t produce these beautiful rose hips!) I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have beauty AND purpose in my planting beds! The most Vitamin C you’ll find is in rose hips. It was recommended to me several years ago to plant a certain kind of rose bush that produces…
