Soon, you will see a photo of my fresh apple sauce from my new found apple tree and I got another thought-why don't I make some apple cider in my fruit juicer. Believe it or not, these thoughts are just coming to me!
Becoming more and more knowledgeable with edible herbs, using the fruits that are right in my own yard, are a start to self sufficiency.
To all of my sisters in the Lord, I depend wholly on the Lord and His provisions are great.
Last year was so rainy, I received nothing from my garden. This year is so dry, I am losing plants everywhere in the yard. Friends pruned my raspberries and blueberries so much and in November (they were trying to help me with my huge yard because of health reasons) and I have no raspberries this year and only one bush of blueberries which aren't looking so great either.
So, to a better thought, I am going to forage and harvest edible weeds and herbs.
When I harvest my herbs, I immediately hang them upside down. Mints I dry in my dehydrator to have for tea for the winter months. Mint tea is awesome for calming your nerves down at night and for an upset stomach and flu season.
You can also take a bath infused with mint tea leaves. Take a piece of cheese cloth, put the dried mint in a square shaped piece, tie it with some twine or wrap a rubber band around it tight, place it in the tub while pouring the hot water in it and enjoy the scent.
Fresh mint can be placed in your cold iced tea.
Making soap is an enjoyable event I have had with my friend Kathy Huppe. Mint can be added to your home-made soap.
Candles are cheap to buy. Purchase a white candle, spread glue on it and roll the candle in the dried mint leaves.
My drying herbs make great decorations on the back porch, in my crocks in the kitchen, and in home-made wreaths. The smell lasts for a long time. If you don't smell them anymore, rub the mint between your fingers, and the oils will liven your smell. And you can also use these herbs for cooking (unless they have dust on them from hanging for months0:)
Today, I began to make a piece of cloth paper prior to my going out hunting for "yarrow".
A friend of mine was going through a hard time and I know she loves to sew so I had seen "Stitch Alchemy" a wonderful book that I have wanted. I made mention of it to her, she looked at it online and ordered it. It took her mind off of things and onto things she loves. This book has a twist for her though. She has sewed clothing, costumes, stuffed animals and things like that. But this collage stuff is different for her. So, I just picked up the book for myself with birthday money.
I took a piece of canvas 18x12" and layed it on a glass cutting board. The book suggested freezer paper but I didn't want to stop my project because I did not have freezer paper.
I mixed elmers glue two to one ratio with water and applied it with a paint brush that I don't use much except for oil paintings. Apply the glue to the whole piece of fabric (you can use muslin or cotton fabric-preferably cream or white)and begin to add tissue papers and other vintage papers. I had about 6 tissues papers I have saved from packages and old pages from an old bible. Yolana and I are christians so I figured she would love the scriptures from Genesis in the piece and the colors I was using were green, yellow, aqua blue, a bit of pink and just a floral look. The first paper I used was the aqua blue and layed pieces down on the soak covered canvas (glue all over it, don't worry which way your brush strokes go, just cover the fabric good), and then lay a piece of tissue paper down, fill your brush up with glue and apply, dabbing or lightly brushing. Keep adding your papers how ever you want all over the fabric. I tried added layer upon layer of the same colored tissue paper to see how dark I could get the color. I applied another tissue paper over another type to see what I could see underneath. Use the underside of the tissue paper to get a lighter color. I then began to tear pieces of the Genesis pages and put in different areas of the canvas. Then, I thought, this looks like oriental home made paper, so I got my dried herbs, flaked them a bit on the glue cloth, and then filled my brush with glue and patted it on the herbs. So I am getting some nice texture and color. I stopped for awhile to take my walk and to let it dry. If your glue is too sticky add a bit more water. I used a whole small student sized bottle for this days process. I need to buy more perhaps at the Dollar Store.
When I am completed with this cloth paper, I am going to cut it and send Yolana a half. She will do the same project with her supplies and send me 1/2 of her 18x12 sheet. Then more fun will begin. I am going to teach her to collage and mix her medias!
I'll tell you, it is tough loving so many different things.
I am a mom, a marmee (grandmom) , a pastor's wife, an artist, a writer, a gardener, and a collector of what my friends would call junk. I have nicer names. like "ephemera" or "antiques" or collectibles". More expensive to get rid of it than hoarding it they say. Can I help it? "No"
So, what is gesso. It is like manure or compost to the garden. Gesso is a main substance for painting. I am a mixed media and collage artist. Gesso is used daily to cover a surface. This makes the surface one nice blank space that I can then begin to apply color and papers to. The surface you see in this photo is one of a new journal that I created out of an autograph book. I loved this little book and got it for $1.00 so I picked it up quick. The book's cover was already interested with vintage style photos on it. So, I covered it with a clear paper from a clothing store the Loft; kept the handles from the bag so that the journal could be carried. I added a vintage doily onto the cover. I began to collect vintage manila colored items that I love and painted one spread of page with the gesso. I also paper clipped the pages together so that I will have about 12-13 main pages to work on and that way they will be stable and sturdy.
We have a barn in the back with a small parcel of grass. The previous owners had perennials all around this little parcel. There has been so much I have wanted to do with this little parcel but the dogs go out there and do their duty all of the time so I was a bit concerned. But, when I have a goal, I want to do it. My son dug up a section of the yard (not the whole yard yet) and what I did was bought a bag of manure and compost, bought my plants and worked hard cleaning out the sod out of that little area. As you can see in the picture, the ground looks very dry. The new garden is the small piece that is to the left of the picture that is in a curve built with bricks put into the ground. Someone was giving away free bricks on freecycle and my husband and I filled the van and I was thrilled. Bricks are fifty cents a piece so getting a hundred bricks was money in my pocket. This job did not use all of the bricks and what the mauve colored blocks did for me was keep out the grass from coming into the herbs. I then added some compost to the dirt (not soil in this back yard). I hand tilled it in. Last year, I had bought black fabric to keep weeds growing in around garden plants, so I layed the fabric down with large staples to hold the fabric down. Then I layed out each herb where I wanted it placed. I cut an X shape into the fabric, dug a whole, placed manure in the hole (herbs do not need great soil), placed the herb inside the hole, and then filled the hole with compost and the remaining dirty. I did this with all of the plants. Compost is about $3.48 a bag so I bought five bags and laid that on top of the black fabric. So what you see in the picture is actually black compost that is so dry because of the 95 degree weather. I watered the herbs yesterday and they seemed to be doing well. The plants I started out with were small in the first place, so I am quite pleased with their well doing. I do expect some of them to die from the weather and am contemplating the fall and winter and what should be done to the plants. Thyme is a tough herb to keep in my yard and also sage.
I love the spring, summer and fall because I love harvesting herbs that I have grown and herbs that grow on the sides of the road.
Today is Sunday, and it was a bit cooler tonight, so I decided to take a walk because the weather has been so hot and has kept me indoors often.
I am taking a class called LearningHerbs.com. There is a special going if you are just starting out for $1.00 for a month. This is the time I wanted to take advantage of such a site.
I started out by writing down the different ailments my children, husband and I have and thought I would like to find out what is blooming right now out in the fields, harvest it and make teas, tinctures, creams and all that good stuff. This site includes videos, audios, live talk, photos, worksheets for kids, and also includes physiology and anatomy. I am going to include this into my children's homeschool studies.
So, the secret herb I found today up street from my house was "Yarrow" or achillia. Unfortunately, my street didn't have as much as I would like to pick, more poison ivy than you can imagine and I don't need that now. Hopefully I didn't get any on me.
Achillia or "Yarrow" has little white flowers that are grouped together with long, delicate type leaves. This herb was used historically when soldiers had wounds, they would take the leaves and pack them into the wound whichwould stop the bleeded. Yarrow is an astringent along with helping with bruises, sore gums, diarrhea, and fevers. If you have a fever, the yarrow tea will help you sweat the fever out.
So, after I harvested this cute little white herb (or to others, just a highway side flower), along with other flowers, I made it home, not sweating too too much, and took an elastic band, wound it around the bunch and hung out in my little porch to dry out.
I have a mud room or little porch I call it where I have my gardening, herb and aroma therapy books. There, I hang up my herbs because it is nice and dry and not overly sunny.
You can even put the herb in a brown paper bag and turn upside down in an attic or in a dry closet. After it is dry and crumbly, you can put it in a clean dry jar. Make sure the jar is dry because your herb will become moldy and that has happened to me. You can then make this dry herb into a tea for your ailments. Don't forget to label your jar. I have said I will label my jars later and then get confused or forget what I did so if you can try, do it right away. When I am hanging my herb upside down, I also grab a piece of paper or a tag, label it "Yarrow" and tie it around or attach it to the elastic band that is around the stalks of the herb.
I feel like I am living in the old days and I like the feeling. I don't like the idea that there are all kinds of things growing around me that the Lord created and I don't know what it is and how to use it. I want to learn to make vinegars, ointments, teas, tonics and all that good stuff.
I hope this lesson will help you.
Take a good long look at the picture though before you pick or use to make tea.
