Peppermint

Peppermint (menthe piperita)
Collect aerial (above-ground) parts just before flowers open.
Contains up to 2% volatile oil including menthol, menthone, and jasmone.
Carminative (stops formation of gas in lower GI, and induces expulsion of gas), anti-spasmodic, aromatic, diaphoretic (increases perspiration), anti-emetic (effective against vomiting and nausea), aromatic, nervine, antiseptic, analgesic (pain stopper).
Excellent carminative, relaxes visceral (smooth, involuntary) muscles, stimulates bile and digestive juices. Thus excellent in treating intestinal colic and flatulent dyspepsia. Nervine tonic, good for use in treating painful menstruation (dysmenorrhea). Use with boneset, elder flowers, and yarrow to treat colds and flu. (The New Holistic Herbal, David Hoffman)

Lavender

Lavender (Lavanduala officinalis)
Native to the Mediterranean region. Pick just before the last flowers on each stalk are fully opened for optimum oil levels, between June and September. Dry and separate blossoms and leaves from stalk.

Carminative, anti-spasmodic, anti-depressant, rubefacient (topically increases blood circulation, leading to redness of the skin). Relaxing and calming effects, good sleeping aid. Leaves, as well as flowers, can have this sedative effect. Especially good for relaxing nerves and treating nerve pain. Anti-emetic (reduces nausea). Also known as aiding digestion. Long used as a remedy for giddiness, faintness, nervous palpitations, and flatulence. Combines well with lime blossom and balm to treat nerves. Lavender oil can also be rubbed into rheumatic joints to ease pain. Some claim that rubbing lavender oil on burns can aid in the healing process. Antiseptic when rubbed on the skin. Companions well with thyme, and attracts honeybees and butterflies while repelling moths. (Herbs: Their Cultivation and Usage, John and Rosemary Hemphill and The New Holistic Herbal, David Hoffman)

The Pisces in my Life

I seem to have a disproportionate number of friends born in the month of February, all of whom I must come up with birthday presents for. My plan for this year is to create custom tea blends for each person that fits with her personality and lifeways. I put these blends of dried herbs into little mesh infusers, housed in hand-sewn pouches made from fabrics that I thought matched each individual. Each pouch had a little star button to fasten the tea infuser safely inside.

Clara: rosehips, burdock, red clover, sage, jasmine
Emily B: lemon balm, rosehips, dandelion greens, sage
Triana: nettle, red clover, lavender, jasmine

Thou Shalt Eat Bitter Herbs

Turns out you don't have to wait until Passover in April for a good reason to eat bitter herbs. I spent two hours on the phone last night with Andrea Lubaway, an aspiring chiropractor and all-around incredible person. Andy is currently taking Botanical Medicine 2, and was kind enough to share some of her notes with me. Through reviewing Andy's materials (which are more science-y and over my head), and my own notes from Jim McDonald's 2009 herbal intensive (which from the more holistic, energetic, plants-talk-to-me perspective) we were able to enhance one another's understanding of the topic.

Pesto Party

Meg, Emily and I harvested the last of the cilantro, arugula, and parsley from the garden, combined our pine nut, walnut, spinner, and food processing resources, and had a serious pesto party.

Next time I want to try nettle pesto!

http://honest-food.net/veggie-recipes/greens-and-herbs/nettle-pesto/

Eat 10 for your Town

Although blogging everyday may not be my forte, eating, growing and buying local is!

The Five Finger Challenge is transforming--feeding into a project that came out of the Homegrown Local Food Summit this past Tuesday at the Dana Building on University of Michigan's campus. I will join forces with 10 Percent Washtenaw, a group that commits to making 10% of their food local food, which adds up to roughly 2 meals a week--much more doable for a wide range of people than one meal a day!

One of the things we did at the summit was break up into groups and come up with ads or slogans for the Eat 10 campaign, and below is an idea I loved so much I couldn't resist sharing. Thanks to Corinna Borden for posting this!



And with that, I'll include some recent local food deliciousness.

Fresh cilantro and basil grown at the Center for Independent Living's (CIL) hydroponics lab! Watch CIL for an accessible community garden this spring!

Also, I made some gluten free cookies for the Growing Hope monthly potluck tonight using Michigan's own Apple Schram apple butter--more pictures to come!


Last but not least, check out 826 Michigan's Stache World blog for the upcoming fundraiser for youth literacy and creative writing programming! Come have a locally brewed beer with me and my fellow mustache farmers at Arbor Brewing Company on Mondays.

Day Four

After polishing off leftover oven roasted potatoes and chard from the other day, I decided I am tired of eating potatoes and greens!

So, I marched myself over to the co-op in search of a little variety. I came away with:

Michigan Beet Sugar, distributed by Lipari, 75 cents
Bur Oaks Farm old fashioned red popcorn, 50 cents
Apple Butter ,$4
Raspberry Jam ,$7 (steep!)
And some more Kale from Goetz Farm, in Riga, MI

After all that, I ended up only using the beet sugar!
I roasted my last Ida Red apple from Alex Nemeth's orchard in Ypsilanti with some dried cranberries, drizzled with beet sugar and honey from Lesser Farm in Chelsea. Delicious!