There’s a calm in my heart today.  I’m not going anywhere, intent (and content) on staying home and just being.  I am harvesting sage today.  

The sage stands bright and stately in the sunshine. 
There is an old saying, going all the way back to when Romans ruled the world:
“Why should a man die when he has sage in his garden?” 
I know […]

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I know better.  I mean, I really do.  I love studying plants and their uses and their dangers, and I am constantly aware of all of the above, but a strange set of circumstances set me up to get a pretty bad reaction from one of my favorite plants: rue, or Ruta graveolens.

This is a lesion […]

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nag.  verb  1) To annoy by continual scolding, faultfinding, complaining, urging, etc.  2) To keep troubling or worrying constantly.
You know, there’s nothing a husband hates to come home to more than a nagging wife.  I really think that’s true.  If a man works hard all day, puts all his pay into household and, especially if the […]

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While I was out getting plants for my infusion today, I enjoyed stopping by the rosemary and just drinking in the scent.  Some days I ‘m drawn to this herb, some days that herb.  One day soon I plan to make a hearty loaf of bread with plenty of rosemary and garlic in it.  Sometimes I put just a […]

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Sometimes I need the vitamins and minerals and soothing that come only from herbs.  It’s pretty often.
Care to go on an herb-gathering walk through my little yard?

The first stop is chocolate mint…

Princess of the Universe is learning to identify herbs too…

I love all the peppermints, but chocolate mint is a favorite.  I also have apple mint — another […]

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I wanted to share with you a little plant (weed) that I love.  I love it probably because it’s one my mother showed me when I was a little girl.  She would find it outside and show me how I could take off a little fruit (the heart-shaped part) and eat it and get a great […]

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A new bundt pan and a fairly recent (1/08) issue of Country Living.

Glad I stopped by the thrift store while I was out.
Yesterday was slow and my knees were hurting all day.  I just could not push myself to do much of anything except what I had to.  I did pick my first wild salad […]

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Apparently,
“What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it.”  Charles Dudley Warner 1829-1900
It’s true.  But resting every once in a while is a big help too!

Guess who?

And guess where?
Yep, I was lucky enough to get some playtime outside today.  I finished mulching bed #7.  I am working on labeling […]

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Twenty percent off everything, actually.  It’s one of the things I love about my job.

I am really enjoying and really appreciating all of the nice teas I have to choose from.  I keep them in an old rustic cabinet retrived from a local antique store that was closing down.
I think herbal teas are great for

soothing sore throats
warming […]

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My daughter and I enjoyed some time outside this morning.  It’s nice weather here this morning.  Perfect, actually.

We were thrilled to find a bunch of carrots under the leaves we raked onto the garden to compost through the winter.  I thought the summer drought had killed the carrots, so I just let them go.  Apparently […]

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