Herbiness=Herbs+Happiness

On the Way Home/Herb Bouquet

Coming back to the city with my own herbs instills me with joy, and has been one of my favorite projects for the last six years or so.  It entails many steps from garden to plate or tea or gift which have evolved organically over the years:

Visiting the herb garden (note to myself: meditation) means encounters with froggie (there is always one), bees - they don't seem to mind me, the love is mutual, often a spider carrying a huge white egg, I think; lots of squatting (yoga, grounding).

• Cutting twig by twig (attention to detail, being present), it takes a while (patience); 
• each herb gets a plastic bag (organization). 
• then  ideally there is time to rinse them off right away once back in the house 
• arrange them in a bouquet and put them into a vase, five vases, that is - looks amazing when they are arranged on the kitchen table or the antique coffee table outside; edible bouquets; such splendor.
• Once back in the city (they travel on my lap in the bus or car), they either get wrapped into wet paper towels inside a plastic bag and are stored in the refrigerator until I have time to deal with them 
• or they immediately get arranged on trays for drying.  In the past I used to hang them up upside down for drying, but that got messy once I was ready to pick some.  But I liked the way it looked:-) 
• Storage in glass jars or recycled tea jars
• Labeling

Drying

They end up in teas; hot meals, sandwiches, salads, in Mowgli's breakfast (oregano) and as presents in recycled glass jam containers or tea jars.  I love every step along the way - Herbal Love.  In a world where many of us living in cities are not involved in food production, it feels very luxurious and at the same time grounding.

Many thanks to R sr. for creating such a beautiful plot and taking care of it for so many years.  I am so lucky to be fostering this garden and to be benefiting from it in so many ways.  RIP, Rsr.

Here is some information:

Peppermint

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peppermint

Thyme

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyme 

Chives

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chives
Oregano https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregano

Nice detail since I am Austrian. "In Austrian folk medicine, oregano was used internally (as tea) or externally (as ointment) for treatment of disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, respiratory tract, and nervous system."

Lavender 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LavandulaLavender honey (created from bees feeding on lavender 
plants), instead of lavender essential oil has the best effects of uninfected wounds.^[26]

If you are not a herb person, it is not too late to become one.  
How about herbed potatoes (boil potatoes, then sprinkle finely cut herbs over them, some sea salt, perhaps some olive oil, that's it; tastes very yum in my opinion)
Blessings,
Birgit

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