Early Spring Questions and Answers, 2017

Spring flowers in Annake's garden

I like your heart designs but I wouldn't want to do them just for Valentine's Day. What else do you suggest?

I'm glad you liked the hearts. One project I would recommend is memorializing weddings. In fact, if you are going to be a bridesmaid or a maid or matron of honor, and the date for the wedding has been set, you probably have time to make one of these as a thoughtful wedding gift. Depending on your skill, choose needlepoint canvas, monks' cloth, or Aida cloth. Choose a size that is appropriate for framing — 8 inches x 10 inches or 9 inches x 12 inches are good choices. Make a border of small hearts top and bottom or all around the background.

Small needlework hearts for borders

Or place larger hearts in the four corners. Use a pattern like the one shown below as both a chart and a sample. Rotate the pattern 90 degrees for each of the following three corners. If you put four of these together, stitched in green, you get a lucky four-leaf clover. Three of them and a stem give you a shamrock for St. Patrick's Day.

Chart and sample of corner heart

Then embroider or needlepoint a large heart shape that is open in the center. You might like to download and use the chart from the post of January 30, 2017. Add additional rows of stitches outside and inside to get the size of heart that you need. In the center of the open heart, embroider a message like the following:

Mary Jones and John Smith

February 14, 2017

Tip: Write or print the names and dates on lined paper. Cover with a smooth piece of white tissue paper. Carefully trace your message on the tissue paper. Pin the tissue paper to your fabric, carefully centering it in the heart. Embroider over the letters and numbers. Then carefully tear the tissue paper away and discard it.

These embroideries can be as simple or as elaborate as you choose. You might take a clue from the wedding announcements, if they have been chosen, to familiarize yourself with the couple's style. A white or gold frame, simple enough not to distract one from the embroidery, would be appropriate.
 

Mothers of the bride and groom should also appreciate one of these. If you want something more elaborate, you might enlarge and use parts of the intertwined heart design (January 31, 2016).

My second choice would be a similar, but perhaps smaller, birth announcement. You might embroider a blue one for a baby boy and a pink one for a baby girl or do the whole thing in a rainbow of colors. Grandmothers would treasure such a gift. I was discussing this with a dear friend and she suggested that those of you who like to embroider on perforated paper might want to do something like this in a size that would fit into an envelope.

For a larger project, you might embroider a family tree. You may want to start with a fairly large background so that the next generation's spouses and children can be added to the tree at a later date.
 

When you are making the four-way designs on paper, does it matter whether you fold the paper horizontally and vertically or if you fold it diagonally? Also, how would you apply this technique to some kind of needlework besides quilting. I don't quilt.

Let me answer your second question first. Let's explore a simple project that anyone can do with two pieces of felt, scissors, and fabric glue or a needle and thread. Remember our reverse applique (April 11, 2016 and June 24, 2016)? Once you have followed the simple directions from this post and have a four-way silhouette cut out of paper, pin your pattern to a square of felt, carefully centering the design. Cut it out with small, sharp scissors or an X-acto knife. Glue or stitch it to a square of felt in a contrasting color. Decorate it in any way you like. Frame it, make it into a wall hanging, a small pillow, or a decorative mat.

In answer to your first question, there is some difference between the two techniques. I used the “square” technique with my students because it was easier for them to grasp and execute. Here is the tulip pattern, modified to make it more nearly symmetrical, shown as cut on the square and then on the diagonal. It is necessary to shorten the tulip pattern to fit the diagonal fold.

Picture of the two patterns opened out, side by side

Is it time for more recipes?

Any time is a good time for recipes. We have an extensive mint garden. Here are two popular mint recipes from the recipe sheets we give our customers.

Minted Melon Fruit Cocktails

1 cup white sugar                                                      1 cup water

3 tbsp chopped mint leaves          Juice of 1 lemon           Juice of 1 orange

1 cantaloupe or honeydew melon, scooped into balls or diced into cubes

Sprigs of whole mint leaves for garnish (optional)

Refrigerate the cut melon. Mix the orange and lemon juices together. Boil the sugar and water together for 5 minutes to make a good syrup. Keep it warm. Chop the mint. Pour the syrup over the chopped mint. Let the mint steep in the syrup until it cools completely. Strain the syrup and add it to the orange and lemon juices. Chill.

Divide the melon balls or cubes between 6 tall glasses. Pour the chilled syrup over the melon. Garnish each glass with sprigs of whole mint leaves if desired. Keep cold until serving. This works as both an appetizer before a meal or as a light dessert after a meal.

Two varieties of mint from Annake's garden

Lime-Mint Smoothie

1 cup fat-free vanilla frozen yogurt           ¼ cup fat-free or low-fat milk

¼ cup frozen limeade concentrate                 ¼ cup fresh mint leaves

Combine all four ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth. Serve immediately. Serves two. Delicious, cooling, and low-calorie.

Enjoy!

 This post by Annake's Garden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Saving the Summer: Collecting Seeds and Drying Herbs

Strawflowers

This is my favorite time of year. I was born at the autumnal equinox, so each September brings me to the successful completion of another of my many years and the beginning of a new one. It is a time of hard work and satisfaction, harvesting what we have grown and planning for an even better harvest next year. It is a time of great color: the red of ripe tomatoes and chili peppers, the yellow of squash and aspen leaves, the orange of pumpkins and chrysanthemums, the purple of asters and eggplants. It's no wonder we want to preserve that color as long as we can, even by drying these colorful strawflowers.

Orange Poppies

Another way to preserve that color is to save the seeds of this year's brightest flowers to plant in new places for next spring. Many annuals self-seed; that is, they drop ripe seeds around themselves before they die. These seedlings come up in the same place ― and often in unexpected places — the following year. To gather such seeds, you need to place bags over the flower heads before the seeds fully mature. I'm not a great admirer of plastic, but I must admit that the self-sealing snack and sandwich bags are a great help for this, saving the time and effort it takes to tie on paper bags and being waterproof besides. We start saving the seeds of our poppies this way in late spring. This year we were able to offer seeds of orange, red, pink, peach and white poppies at the farmers' markets. We hope to have an even greater variety next year.

Black-eyed Susans, going to seed

Be aware that flowers grown from commercial seeds or bought as greenhouse plants may be hybrids. Their seeds may not produce flowers that are identical to the ones that produced them! This is not always a bad thing. You can get some interesting new varieties this way. Sometimes such flowers will revert to their wild ancestors, which are probably better for the environment. We are using more and more native wildflower seeds for ground cover and filling bare areas in the gardens.

Sunflower Seed-Heads

Several herbs have seeds that may be used in cooking. While our poppies are not the ones commercially grown for the seeds you buy at the supermarket, we can use some from the prolific orange poppies in this way. Dill seed is wonderful for pickling; harvest he ripe seeds for drying. If we let our cilantro mature completely and produce seeds, they are the same ones you buy as coriander seeds. Bag them and remove the entire seed heads. Nasturtiums, which we grow for their red, orange, and yellow edible flowers and the peppery leaves we add to salads (the pickled flower buds are also an inexpensive substitute for capers), often produce a nice crop of seeds that can even be grown attractively in hanging baskets over the winter. Sunflower seeds can be salted for snacks or used as birdseed.

Spearmint, strung to air dry

We have not had a dehydrator very long and are still exploring its capacities for drying herbs. We started by air-drying our herbs, an easy process which you can do if you have a light, airy space where you can hang bunches of plants, tied together with string, upside-down for a few days. Herbs with strong odors and flavors, like peppermint and spearmint (Mentha species), are probably best dried this way. DO NOT dry herbs in a garage: the fumes and particulates from gasoline and motor oil will ruin them. Air-drying is appropriate for anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum), sweet marjoram (Origanum majorana), dill (Anethum graveolens), oregano (Origanum vulgare), sage (Salvia officinalis) and thyme (Thymus species). Thyme, however, is best dried hung inside paper bags. I've used the scientific names here because there are so many different common names in many languages for these plants. “Officinalis” indicates herbs used for healing properties. “Vulgare” just means “common”, not anything naughty. And I almost forgot catnip (Nepeta cataria) for your cat. Our cat, Katana, would never forgive me for that!

Annake's dehydrator

Herbs best dried in a dehydrator include: sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum), bergamot ― also called bee balm and Oswego tea (Monarda didyma), cilantro/coriander (Coriandrum sativum), lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), parsley (Petroselinum crispum), and sage (Salvia officinalis). Lemon balm, oregano, and thyme should be dried with the fruit leather insert in the dehydrator. I have just included herbs we grow in the garden or greenhouse. As we acquire new ones and learn more about the dehydrator, I will update you with new information from time to time.

Herbs ready for oven curing

Although they may appear completely dry, herbs (air-dried ones especially) may not be. To avoid problems like mildew, it may be best to do a final “cure”. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Spread the sprigs of herbs on aluminum foil. Heat for no more than 10 minutes (13 for sage). Store in an airtight container — a jar with a screw-on cap or a sealed plastic bag. You can store as sprigs or separate leaves. Or you can crumble the leaves by rubbing them between your hands over an open bowl before sealing them in a container. When cooking with dried herbs, use only ¼ to ½ of the amount you would use of the fresh herbs. The dried ones are much stronger. It is a good idea to start with a small amount, taste the result, and add more if needed. Otherwise your “culinary delight” might turn out to be a “culinary disaster”. This is true about the commercial dried herbs bought at the supermarket, as well.

Chives in bloom

Unfortunately, some of my favorite herbs don't dry well. These herbs should be frozen in ice cubes or mixed with butter and frozen (thaw and use as an herb butter). Chives (Allium schoenoprasum), which I would grow for its lovely flowers even if I didn't eat it, is one of these herbs. Others include: sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum), borage (Borago officinalis) and tarragon (Artemesia dranunculus). Sprigs of rosemary and thyme may be frozen on baking sheets and stored in air-tight jars.

Savor the summer,

Annake's spice rack, first of a planned two...

 This post by Annake's Garden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Aloes, Alliums, and Mints … Oh My!

Potted Aloe vera

At last week's local Farmers' Market, a lady asked her husband to buy her “that burn plant.” She was referring to one of my potted Aloe barbadensis (also called Aloe vera) plants. The plant does offer excellent first aid for burns — and also sunburn. I started keeping a pot of it on my kitchen windowsill years ago for just that purpose. You may have noticed that aloe vera is an ingredient in many modern skin treatments. The plant was used medicinally by the Egyptians and Greeks at least 2,400 years ago, but has fairly recently been “rediscovered”. It was used both externally and internally. J.D. recently pointed out a bottle in the grocery food supplements that is a fruit juice and aloe vera mixture. To use the plant on burns, cut off a piece of one of the fleshy leaves and squeeze the internal gel over the burn. The gel has both anesthetic and antiseptic properties. The pain decreases very quickly. Unless the burn is severe (and should be treated by a doctor), it should leave neither scar nor skin discoloration.

Chives in bloom in Annake's garden

This got me to thinking about all of our plants that serve more than one purpose. For example, we have Allium (onion family) plants throughout our gardens. Not only are many of them good to eat, but some garden pests — including deer — tend to avoid them. Also, others have attractive flowers and are grown primarily for their blooms. Giant purple alliums and cheery yellow sunny twinkles come to mind. I would grow common chives (Allium schoenoprasum) for their flowers, even if they were not so useful in the kitchen. They have lovely round heads of lavender flowers in late spring. Our garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) produce star-shaped white flowers later in the summer. Put leaves, stems, and even flowers of chives into a bottle of vinegar — I prefer white wine vinegar — seal, and leave for a couple of weeks or until the scent and taste of the vinegar suits you. Onions have been used medicinally, too. I remember my grandmother making creamed onions for me when I was little and had a bad cold.

Blooms of purple alliums and yellow Sunny Twinkles

On the same market day, we were offering freshly harvested peppermint (Mentha piperita), spearmint (Mentha spicata), and lemon balm (Melissa officinalis). Despite the difference in scientific names, all three are mints — as are scarlet-flowered salvia, bee balm, catnip, and many other plants. I learned the use of peppermint tea to cure stomach upsets from Frau Hauk, our landlady in Germany. I keep both frozen and dried leaves on hand to make it. The mints are full of chemicals like thymol and menthol, both of which are useful for arthritis relief, especially for those of us who are allergic to capsaicin. Both peppermint and spearmint are delightful additions to summer iced tea. If you have an old-fashioned ice cube tray, freeze single leaves in water in each compartment. They not only add to the taste of the tea: they are pretty as well. Chop either or both mints finely, mix with sugar and serve on top of grapefruit halves or fresh pineapple.

Of all the many plants that have “lemon” in their names, I like lemon balm the best. Its fragrance alone is reason to grow it. I have never offered it to a woman who didn't like the scent — although there was a man who said it smelled like furniture polish. It tastes just as good as it smells, too. It is a welcome addition to salads, including fruit salads, and a good garnish for vegetable and fish dishes. I especially like it with early green peas.

Lemon balm in Annake's garden

The “balm” in its name shows that it has been used medicinally. My research told me that Roman soldiers used it as a poultice on wounds, claiming it helped them heal without infection. While gathering fresh herbs one morning, I suffered a nasty cut to the palm of my hand. I cleaned the cut, washed some lemon balm, and applied it to the cut, wrapping a clean cloth around the hand. The pain decreased right away and soon ceased altogether. When I checked it an hour or so later, I could actually see the sides of the cut drawing together. By afternoon, there was only a bright pink line across my palm. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it! The cut healed completely and left no scar. We tend to disregard the wisdom of the ancients, but they were wise in many ways — or else we wouldn't be here!

Another of my favorite mints is horehound. It is a pretty plant with small, oval, gray-green leaves edged neatly with white. The tiny white flowers form fluffy little wreaths around the joints of the stem, peeking shyly out from under the leaves. The plant is both fragrant and tasty. I remember my father buying me horehound candy when I had a sore throat. Fortunately, there is a shop in a town we visit frequently that still sells old-fashioned candies like anise, horehound, and sassafras.

Horehound, plant and flower specimen

How do you know a mint when you meet one? They have square stems, rather than the round or oval stems that most green plants have. Sage, marjoram, oregano, thyme and basil are mints. The lavender in bath salts and oils (and my anti-static dryer sheets) comes from mints, as does the patchouli in many popular perfumes. The multicolored Coleus species that we cultivate as houseplants are tropical mints. In Panama, we saw trees of the Hyptis species which have square trunks and can sometimes reach a height of 40 feet. Now that's a MINT!

Just for fun, try a new herb this week. I think you'll like it!

 This post by Annake's Garden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.