~ 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

~ Straining Tinctures ~

Thought I would share the easy way to I strain my tinctures , there's alot of information on the internet about making infusions , tea and tinctures , but there's not much about straining them once they're made.

Since I used baby food jars for my tincture making , I use a pint jar to strain , if you use a pint jar , you'll need a quart size jar to strain. I've been using squares of fabric that I cut from an old sheet to strain with , it works better than cheesecloth , plus it can be washed and reused.






You may want to wet the fabric first , be sure to wring out the water , doing this keeps the fabric from absorbing the tincture.
I push the fabric down inside and hold it in place with the screw on lid , the lid may not fit perfectly , but you should be able to get it on well enough to hold fabric in place.





I pour the liquid slowly and let it flow through , then I turn the jar upside down and let it sit overnight or a few hours. I didn't wet the fabric before straining this tincture and you can see how the fabric absorbed the tincture.






I use the pestle to press out any tincture that may be let.





Be sure to label the tincture , I also add dosage information. Hope this helps your process. I would really love to hear any tips you might like to share about how you strain your herbal tinctures.




~ Green Blessings ~
JoyceAnn

~ Tree Hugger ~

~ Thankful for the Pines ~

Blessings , JoyceAnn