Don't Miss ........

your chance to win a 1 year subscription of Herbal Roots Zine. See next post !!

~ Herbal Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Birthday Giveaway #8: 1 Year Subscription to Herbal Roots

Birthday Giveaway #8: 1 Year Subscription to Herbal Roots

Birthday Giveaway #7: Flora De La Terre Coloring Book

Birthday Giveaway #7: Flora De La Terre Coloring Book

Giveaway Monday: Wooden Wood Pecker

Giveaway Monday: Wooden Wood Pecker

1001 uses for White Vinegar

Click here ~ http://www.vinegartips.com/Scripts/pageViewSec.asp?id=7 ~.

Hope you find some useful tips !!

~ Greenest Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Firesign Farm: Kitchen Alchemy

Firesign Farm: Kitchen Alchemy

~ Mother of Vinegar ~

Leslie over at ~ http://comfreycottages.blogspot.com/2010/02/making-homemade-vinegar-and-mothers.html ~ blogged about making vinegar last week. I accidentally made red wine vinegar a couple of years ago. I made a few batches of wine from some grapes a friend had given me , the first few batches of wine did well , but the last gallon fermented into vinegar. The pic above shows the " Mother " that developed , the vinegar was very strong tasting but has mellowed out over time. I've been thinking about it and believe it may have fermented to vinegar for two reasons , sugar content and letting it work to long. I was making what is called " Prison Wine " ( LOL) , very cheap and easy to make , you add 6 cups of sugar to a gallon jar , fill with grapes and add water. You can google prison wine if you're interested in the details of making it. After the first few batches , I decided I would try to make it with less sugar. I don't like a sweet wine , so I added 5 cups to 1 gallon and 4 cups to another. The last gallon with 4 cups is the one that fermented to vinegar , the gallon with 5 cups of sugar did wonderful. I didn't add any yeast to my wine or mother starter to the gallon that turned to vinegar. The last two gallons did ferment longer than it should have , so that and the sugar level probably caused it to develop a "Mother". At the time I had never heard tell of a vinegar "Mother " , but I did a google search to see if wine would become vinegar , since it smelled just like vinegar. I found a wealth of information , including all the health benefits from vinegar. I also found out that vinegar was known as a natural by product of wine , the name is derived from the french word " vin aigre " meaning sour wine (LOL) . Who would have thought sour wine would be so good for you , so I've been using the vinegar and it taste great now that it has aged some. I hope to make some different kinds of vinegars from the " Mother of Vinegar " , she's not very pretty and actually slimy , but she's waiting to help me make more vinegar. The link below tells you how you make red wine vinegar and some of the health benefits it has.

http://www.benefits-of-resveratrol.com/making-red-wine-vinegar.html

More Information can be found here ........ http://www.answers.com/topic/vinegar and if you want to make apple cider vinegar , here's a link that tells you how ....... http://www.apple-cider-vinegar-benefits.com/vinegar-making.html.

~ Natural Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ All About Garlic ~

Next months Herbal Roots Zine will be about garlic , if you would like a chance to win a free copy , click here ~ http://www.lunaherbco.com/herbal_roots//?p=508 and leave a comment. The giveaway sign-up ends Feb. 16th at 8pm , the winner will be announced Wednesday , so hurry over and leave a comment if you would like to learn more about Garlic.

~ Green Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

* Happy Valentine's Day Everyone *

~ Heart Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Would You like to win some Roots ?

Kristine is giving away some herbal roots , this is a great way to start or add to your herb garden , click here to enter ........................ http://www.lunaherbco.com/herbal_roots//?p=504&cpage=1#comment-2258

The packet will include comfrey , elecampane , horseradish , marshmallow and sunchoke roots. The giveaway ends Feb 14th at 8pm , so hurry on over and leave a comment. The winner will be announced Monday.

~ Herbal Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Rosemary Shortbread Cookies ~

Got Rosemary ? Head over to the Herb Companion and check-out the Rosemary Shortbread Cookie recipe. I plan to try it soon , looks simple and easy.

http://www.herbcompanion.com/cooking/herbs-in-the-cookie-jar-rosemary-shortbread.aspx

~ Herbal Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ The Missing Crane-Fly Orchid ~

Yesterday , I went out to feed the chickens , so I decided I would go ahead and mark those Crane-Fly Orchid leaves I had found. Our chicken coop is near the garden and the leaves were on the other end of the garden near the woods. I found the area were I had raked the dead leaves away to take the photo , but the Crane-Fly Orchid leaves were missing. I looked around for awhile and saw other signs of an animal rooting around. As I was walking back to the house , I realized that I had saw 4 deer in that area Sunday evening when I went to close the chickens up , so I guess they ate them. Hopefully I can find another plant and put a small fence around it , I really want to see this plant in bloom.

~ Green Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

What is This ?

As I was gathering chickweed Sunday I found this plant , I've often seen it on my walks in the woods , but I haven't been able to identify it until yesterday. I thought it was putty root , but after more searching I found it on the internet , it's a Crane-Fly Orchid (Tipularia discolor). I'm not sure if I've ever seen it bloom , the leaves die before it blooms , making it hard to know what kind of bloom it may be. I plan to put some rocks around these leaves , so I'll know were it was growing , this plant is growing at the edge of the woods , near the garden. The leaves appear in the Fall and stay green through Winter , the leaves start start dying as the weather gets warmer. After the leaves die , it blooms in late summer.I hope to see the bloom this year , I'm an orchid lover , so this discovery was very exciting. I don't think this plant has any medicinal properties , I didn't find any information about herbal use. I did find a great article about the Crane-Fly Orchid , it has some beautiful pics of plant in bloom. You can read about it in the next post.

~~ Greenest Blessings ~~

JoyceAnn

The Search for the Crane-Fly Orchid

The Search for the Crane-Fly Orchid

~~ A Breath of Spring in Winter ~~

I found a chickweed recipe at this website called Herbmentor I thought I would share. You can click on this link to see this recipe .....................

http://www.herbmentor.com/articles/20080307 or this is my own version.

~~Chickweed With Pasta ~~

8 cups of chickweed leaves and stems

2 or 3 small cloves of garlic

2 tsp of olive oil ~ I used chickweed olive oil

2 tsp. lemon juice ~ or more to suit your taste

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp of freshly ground black pepper

Red pepper flakes to your taste

Parmesan Cheese

Cooked Pasta ~ I had some leftover spaghetti noodles I used , since I didn't want them to go to waste.

I washed my chickweed , although the recipe said you don't have to , mine was a little dirty since it's just starting to sprout out and lying very close to the ground. I threw it into a small saucepan and added a tbsp of water and minced garlic, cook over med. heat for about 5 - 10 minutes , until wilted. In a separate bowl I added the 2 tsp of chickweed flavored olive oil I have on hand , sea salt , freshly ground pepper , lemon juice and some red pepper flakes , once the chickweed is ready , put in bowl and stir to coat chickweed. Serve over pasta , with freshly shredded Parmesan cheese and more cracked black pepper or red pepper flakes to your taste. This recipe was very good , it'll be on my menu regularly , since chickweed season is comimg soon.

~ Chickweed Blessings ~

JoyceAnn