* 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