A fun herb identification task

Here's a fun thing for December. How many herbs can you identify in this bunch? The winner will have his or her name tweeted. :)

What’s On My Food? :: Spread the Word

What’s On My Food? :: Spread the Word

My bee garden

Lavender, feverfew, white horehound, wall flower, echinacea, nasturtium, rue, sweet william, thyme, hyssop, mexican sage and celandine grow in the bee garden.

The bees particularly love the white horehound flowers which are actually very inconspicuous. Many butterflies flit happily here too and the garden feels very much alive.

Many of the plants are self seeded. Even the echinaceas self seeded and I had small plants growing in the cracks of the paving! I like the wild effect which self seeding brings, and which insects love. It gives me so much pleasure to see how many insects enjoy and make use of the plants in my garden, I can only encourage everyone to do the same, and give the pollinators a poison-free environment.

Organic veggie gardening

Peas, red cabbage and broad beans, flourishing under shade netting.

Last summer the sun was so strong that my vegetables were burnt to a crisp in just one day. Then I was given the book "Companion planting" by Margaret Roberts, in which she states that her father predicted 30 years ago, that one day the sun will be too strong to grow vegetables successfully. There is a picture of her veggie garden under shade and she says that they love it. I decided that this is the only way forward and went out to buy white shade netting for the top and green for the sides. I want to keep the chickens out at the same time.

The white shade netting gives 12% shade. Obviously veggies need the sun in order to grow so I decided to start with that, and see how the veggies like it. I can always go up to 20% if it is still too hot. On a hot day one can immediately feel the difference under the netting - it takes the "edge" off the heat.

Red cabbage and Calendulas seem to be happy together.

The combination of red cabbage and calendulas is my own idea, and it seems to be a success. The red cabbage is forming beautiful heads and is hardly affected by insects. The Calendulas' leaves are quite chewed up, but I spotted a white eye eating insects off them, so there is quite some harmony there. I still have to make more use of companion planting, but so far everything seems very happy anyway. I am careful to rotate crops, and put beans in after brassicas to nourish the soil.

Peas looking happy.

The chickens scratched in the veggie patch through most of the winter, so I reckon the soil was nicely fertilised by the spring. I picked enormous broccoli heads which weighed more than a kilogram each. It is so nice to know that the broccoli has never been sprayed! Also there wasn't a single bug on it. Generally I don't have a bug problem at all. I think the chickens get rid of most slug and snail eggs. I hope that the garden in general is a harmonious place for all insects, so that there is no domination of one type over another. One  grub that is annoying is the cut worm, and to avoid it I place collars made out of yoghurt containers around seedlings.

You can see in the picture here that a seedling succumbed to a cut worm and is lying neatly severed. I was not expecting that to happen, so a bit belatedly have protected the others (I hope). I try to grow as many veggies from seed, but also get seedlings from a local supplier when I need a head start. It's a good idea to get tomatoes in as early as possible to avoid blight, so I started some of my seedlings in July. There are already small tomatoes on some of them. The bed pictured here is not under shade but gets afternoon shade. It is for tomatoes, basil and aubergines. Time will tell if they too need shade.

Can you spot the visitor to the compost heap?

Organic orange marmalade - the herbal way.

This marmalade has still got some way to cook. The bubbles are much too big.

In my opinion, breakfast isn't breakfast without orange marmalade on toasted home made bread.
I like to take advantage of winter fruit and make enough marmalade to last for the whole year. It's also appreciated as a gift by my family and friends. I buy organic oranges and organic sugar from Woolies. I like to use Artemisia afra (wilde als) herb to give it a more bitter flavour. If you don't have wilde als, you can use Leonotis leonurus (wild dagga) or Marrubium vulgare (white horehound), but as these are much more bitter than wilde als, use them more sparingly. Try ten leaves of either.

Ingredients

10 organic oranges
2kg organic sugar
Juice of 6 organic oranges

10 large sprigs of wilde als (optional) see pic>
2.5 l filtered water

Method

Top and tail the washed oranges, cut in halves and finely slice. Cut the slices into quarters. Boil the water and add the wilde als. Infuse for at least an hour. Strain the water and add to the sliced oranges. Heat the mixture until it starts to boil, then switch off the stove and leave over night.
Next day add the orange juice and sugar, and bring the mix up to the boil again. Simmer until it has reduced by about a third and has very small bubbles on the surface.

Test it by putting a small amount on a saucer in the fridge for a few minutes. If it wrinkles when pushed by a spoon it is ready.
Put it into warm, clean jars, and allow to cool. Once it is completely cool you can put the lids on, label and store in the cupboard for many delicious breakfasts. You can tweak this recipe by using some lemon juice or extra bitter leaves, just be brave and experiment.

Lime blossom tea

Lime blossom

This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons

Tilia cordata

Lime blossom is the flower head of the Tilia tree, a highly scented tree when it is in flower which has inspired poets and song writers.  In Europe the tree is a favourite and lines many avenues.  It is the national tree of the Czech republic and the Slovak republic. Some specimens are estimated to be up to two thousand years old. In France the flowers have been used traditionally for a tea called “Tilleul”.  A monofloral  honey from the lime tree is extremely highly valued and often used in medicine.

Lime tree flowers  contain flavonoids, mucilage, tannins, volatile oil, saponins and sugars. The tea tastes quite pleasant and is very soothing for the digestive system. The mucilaginous effect is useful for respiratory problems and the tea has been traditionally used for fevers, flu and colds.  Lime is antispasmodic, sedative and hypotensive. I t can be used for fever, headache and anxiety. It is often specifically used for high blood pressure associated with hardening of the arteries. The rich flavonoid content has a strengthening effect on blood vessels, and is generally antioxidant.

In my practice I like to make a flavonoid tea which is preventative against vascular damage and strengthening for the cardiovascular system in general. Herbs containing rutin such as rue, elder flower and buchu;  solidago which I have previously written about, and lime blossom would make up the perfect tea.

So how about a nice cuppa? In a world where everything is about "pick me up", it makes a change to have something to relax and have health benefits. Tilleul tea is available from many good tea companies.

Nasturtium pesto

Nasturtiums are very plentiful at this time of the year. They are packed with nutrients like iron, vitamins and minerals and contain chemicals called glucosinolates, (similar to what we find in broccoli and brussel sprouts), which have antibiotic and antioxidant actions. Nasturtium is excellent for people with chest problems and Madaus, a company in Germany make capsules from it, for treatment of antibiotic resistant lung and bladder infections.

One can eat both the leaves and the flowers raw in salads. The leaves are very strong when eaten alone, but on a sandwich they don't burn the mouth, but add a great flavour. They certainly are more nutritious than ordinary lettuce.
 I invented this pesto recipe to preserve as many of the rich nutrients of the leaves for as long as possible. I find it quite delicious. I am going to freeze quite a lot for use in the summer, because by then the nasturtiums in my garden are finished.

Nasturtium pesto: 200g freshly picked nasturtium leaves. (Check for aphids and brush them off. There is no need to wash the leaves if they are grown away from a road.) 250ml good quality olive oil, 100g pumpkin seeds, 50g fresh garlic, 1tspn Ina Paarman Chilli and Garlic salt. Method: Place the olive oil in a blender and add the nasturtium leaves gradually until they are all ground up. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth. If you wish you could add 50g or so of parmesan cheese which would make it even more delicious! This is very nice instead of butter on a sandwich and good on toast as a snack. Best of all it's very good for one's health!