Category: herbs

Thanksgiving 2021

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We had a wonderful relaxed get together at Tim and Jerry’s house. I didn’t take a lot of photos. I cooked a lot. As vegans, we tend to bring our own food so we can make sure of enough to eat.

I experimented with winter squash. I roasted both a pumpkin (“Winter Luxury”) and a buttercup squash. Then pureed them separately and together. Then performed a taste test.

Clockwise from upper left: pure pumpkin, mixture, pure buttercup squash

The pumpkin easily pureed but was watery and had little flavor. The buttercup was sweet and delicious, but very dry and didn’t easily puree. There are major chunks in that bowl. The blend was just about right. The taste of the buttercup still came through, but the wet pumpkin really helped the texture. So our pies were a blend! And I brought the remaining mixture as a side dish, completely unadorned with spices or anything else.

My other big innovation this year: sage powder. I dried a few branches of sage in the house, then stripped off the leaves. Removed most of the stems. Then put it in the spice grinder. It came out delightfully fluffy. I don’t think it’s dry enough to jar yet, so I’m letting it sit out in this pan for awhile. Maybe it will lose some flavor…

Homemade sage powder
Men in the kitchen – Jeff, Jerry, Sam

Potting up and other fall activities

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Taking advantage of some nice weather to do some outdoor work today. I dug up some herbs for moving inside – rosemary, thyme, and a little parsley. The angel wing begonia has become extravagantly showy in its pot during the summer. It may decline once moved inside. I can’t believe it became so happy outdoors this summer. This plant originally came from Patrick Smith.

Rosemary, thyme, parsley and angel wing begonia

I planted some lemon balm in the hole left by one of the rosemary plants. This came from Roberta, in trade for some comfrey and rudbeckia laciniata I gave her. It doesn’t look like much now, but I’m hoping it will fill in.

Planted lemon balm from Roberta

Horseradish stalks dried and saved from 2020 were put back to soak in the cement mixing trough. I’m not looking forward to scraping them, but I want the fiber enough that I’ve saved them for a whole year waiting for the right time to process them. I think the time has come.

Dried horseradish ribs rehydrating in preparation for scraping

Finally, another crafty project – braiding onions. I’ve never done this before, mostly because I don’t preserve stems on my onions and I don’t grow soft-neck garlic. But I reserved a few with stems this year so I could give it a try. Start with three at the base and add in the center and at the sides as you braid the stems upwards. Pretty easy, but I didn’t do a good job and my braid broke. It held together long enough for a photo though.

Onion braid

Autumn joy

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The color of this clump of Autumn Joy Sedum is just lovely. My friend said this image would make a nice image for rug hooking.

I like a messy garden and this bed has filled out beautifully. Sage, some type of artemisia and goldenrod, as well as a granite boulder, companion the sedum.

It’s not native and I don’t see pollinators on it so that’s a negative, sadly.

Autumn Joy Sedum

Basil and peppers

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These are the crops growing the raised beds in the hoophouse area, which has been uncovered this summer to benefit from the natural sunshine and rain.

Basil, direct-seeded. These were planted relatively late and did well. There are some strange tiny-leaved plants in there. A form of stunted dwarf basil?
The peppers that did well were purchased as seedlings. The plants I grew from seed did nothing. I probably transplanted them when the ground was not yet warm enough. I have a lot of trouble with peppers.

Borage

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Borage is thuggish in the garden and would grow everywhere if I let it. I can’t resist leaving one (or maybe two) plants in place, for the edible flowers and the bee food. It is a joyful plant, even though it grows big and coarse.

Coming indoors

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It’s been warm this week. Good weather for preparing to bring some plants indoors soon. I found a low table in a barter and swap group and picked it up this morning. It will make a nice platform for herbs in a sunny window.

From top: rosemary from Chuck, rosemary from Surry Gardens, parsley, French tarragon from Surry Gardens, dug thyme, dug chives, more parsley

We repotted the second lemon tree and the still-growing graft from the first lemon tree. Made up extra potting mix from leftover Pro-Mix potting soil, a little coir fiber, and a little sand. And some sprinkles of azomite and green sand.