Herbs - Nature's Medicine!

The oldest medicine known by man. Most of our pharmaceuticals are derived from plants, we're now understanding how important eating nutritious herbs are, and herbs are all around us, often free, and  a pleasure to work with.

Because of my work on my Shakespeare's Witch Series, my interest in herbs became critical to providing my readers with reality based information. On these partnered pages I'm trying to relay some of the information I'm learning in my experimentations.  It's interesting to note that the English garden, which we've come to appreciate for its beauty, was an important part of maintaining a constant supply of herbs. Elizabethan English were particularly fond of obtaining and then growing newly discovered herbs in their personal gardens. Many of these gardens contained hundreds of specimens of herbs. I'm learning how easily the gardener can become intimately familiar with the characteristics of each one.

There are two pages I've used to identify the herbs Culpepper's included in his list of herb knowledge. I've divided them between domestic, which you'd find in our gardens, and wild, which ancient healers gathered regularly. Culpepper wrote his work in the 17th century and it is based on information Shakespeare would have found familiar. I did refer to modern uses to identify benefits, simply because I trust we have gathered more knowledge about them. But we're lucky to live in a age that is no longer restricted to distance and there are wonderful herbs that need to be added to our knowledge base. These I'm labeling "Modern Herbs." I hope you find this useful!

What follows on this page are some basic guidelines I'm developing in the growth and preservation of herbs. Most of them are culinary. 

This year I've been serious about studying the gardening aspect of herbs. I've learned so much! 
I can't imagine why I've spent years hesitating to pick the flowers except that I think they're beautiful and I look forward to seeing them every day. The think I didn't fully appreciate is that plants love to be groomed, so constant harvesting will actually produce better results! Bottom line, don't wait until "harvest days" in the fall to begin harvesting.

1. Begin picking herbs for their leaves early on. Pruned stems will usually produce two stems and double your leaf production.
2. Picking flowers as they appear which will encourage the plant to produce more flowers.
3. Never leave dead flowers on your plants/ At least not until late fall when you want them to go to seed. Once the plant has produced seeds (and dead flowers send it that message) it will actually begin to shut down. You'll find it droops and then dies off for the season). My mother taught me to always "dead-head" my plants and now I know why.
4. I'm learning to gather a handful of herb when I see it begin to crowd out surrounding plants or jump over any barriers I've created. I just leave them on my table to dry (see above), usually for two or three days, and then I crumble the dried leaves into jars. I should have a healthy supply of homegrown culinary herbs this year!
5. Many recommend hanging the herbs upside down as you dry them. I suspect the nutrients from the plant settle in the leaves when you do this.
6. Don't leave herbs out to dry too long. The nutrients will begin to break down - along with flavors and smells. The color should remain reasonably true to the original color. If they go grey, you've lost much of their value.
7. I don't dry my herbs in the sun. I find that the process is too fast and the sun often "bleaches" out the color and smell.
8. I've also learned that some herbs are best dried on the stem. For example, I can pull out a stem of Rosemary for cooking, which makes it easy to retrieve the herb at the end of the cooking process. Rosemary is a particularly tough plant and I have trouble grinding it sufficiently not to end up in my teeth when I actually eat what I've cooked.
9. Consider, too, the displays you can create with your herbs, which allow them to dry and then be retrieved throughout the year for continuous use. Examples are swags and wreaths, which we tend to associate with holidays. Unfortunately, I've loved using my Lavender so much this summer I may have little left of the wreath by the time cold weather begins.
10. Some plants just taste better fresh. I try to keep my basil alive with me all year. I'm afraid that, though it's available dry and I can dry it myself, dry just isn't the delightfully fragrant, sweet flavor I associate with basil.
11. Cilantro is similar, though I can't seem to keep it alive indoors during the winter. This year I'll try substituting the seeds, which is technically called Coriander  to see how much of the flavor transfers into my food.
12. Finally, you can infuse many herbs in oil, vinegar, and alcohols. I love this approach and am enthused to try to create my own when I see how expensive it can be to purchase flavored oils and vinegars in the store. It's not hard to do at home. I just purchase a bottle of oil or vinegar, open it, and put in the desired herbs. Let them sit for at least four to six weeks before using.  

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Pick fruit as soon as it ripens ripens.

Harvest herbs throughout the season, as soon as they begin to spread.

I hand small handfuls of drying herbs up-side-down on some clothesline clips I bought. They look and smell great in my kitchen.

I believe our wreaths were originally a practical answer to storing herbs in days past. Now their a reminder of a romantic past. Lavender, especially, can often be used on the stem.

Cilantro is also too delicate, I've found, to dry and use. It's also very difficult to grow indoors.This year I'll try using the seeds.

If left behind, the plants thinks it's done its job and will stop producing!

Always "dead-head" your spent flowers to keep the plant producing.

Decide which herbs you may want to dry on their stems, like sage and rosemary. I plan to try burning my sage this year for "purification."

Basil is best used alive, so I try to keep it in my window sill throughout the year.

I thought I'd like to try golden balsamic vinegar for my rosemary and lavender. I'm please to see the color from my lavender already infusing into the vinegar!