One thing that has continued to make me smile during these crazy times we're living in is seeing all kinds of new people starting up home gardens who never had the time or opportunity previously. Of course my boyfriend and I are still only amateurs ourselves, but I have found much joy in the process of sowing seeds and watching them grow. When we're lucky and find the right combination, those seedlings grow into fully fruit-bearing plants that provide us delicious sustenance at the cost of a few dollars for the seeds and the labor from our backs. I am so pleased to see many others finding that same joy right now!
Besides just the benefit of growing something out of the dirt with your own two hands, the more local our food is, the more nutrients it retains and the more positive impact on the environment as a whole. You can't get much more local than your own yard or a pot on your balcony! We are still in the early stages for our spring garden. Lots of seedlings popping up, but still a ways off from actually seeing what will produce. However, a few of the usual suspects in the herb garden are growing like gangbusters.
Though I consider myself lucky enough to be working just as much as I was before the lockdown, sometimes I wish I had a bit more time for projects as there are many to be done on my suburban homesteading list. The past few weeks I've grabbed what precious extra time I can find to work on preserving the wholesome herbs growing all around us. Some of these preservation methods I've written about before, but I'm also working on a few different preparations this year as I continue to slowly expand my repertoire.
Oregano Tincture
Oregano is a member of the mint family, which explains why we seem to be able to grow it so well. Our mint, lemon balm and oregano always come back each year, with no effort on our part. Seems like a good gig until they start infiltrating every nook and cranny in the garden. Lately I've been trying to pull a lot of it back, while also putting the herbs to good use. The oregano I often dehydrate to restock my spice cabinet and use in my cooking.
In addition to using plenty of it fresh in dishes to finish them off, like this yummy lentil and cabbage stew I made earlier this week. Sometimes I forget that I can walk right outside and snip a few sprigs to toss right in, but then other times I'll go out and grab a whole bowlful to make into a beautiful pesto.
Oregano is reported to have so many health benefits. From being studied for it's antibiotic and antimicrobial properties, to lowering blood sugar, and being full of other health-promoting antioxidants [source], it's a smart choice to add to your garden. I decided to try making an oregano leaf tincture this year to add to my personal natural medicine cabinet. Though it sounded a bit intimidating at first, it really is quite easy to do. I made a trip to the liquor store to buy a nice big handle of vodka, filled my clean little jars about 3/4 of the way up with oregano, then topped them off with the liquor.
I'll let these steep for 6-8 weeks before transferring to my new jars that I got just for this purpose. I have used oil of oregano before, but this will be my first time seeing how a tincture works. Our household tends to stay pretty healthy, but I love having some form of oregano preparation around when the winter months come around to ward off any bugs at the first sign of a cough or sniffle. I have my jars in the basement away from light to prevent any degradation of the mixture, and my lovely jars are beautiful shades of colors to prevent the same thing once all those good properties are extracted from the leaves.
Lemon Balm & Mint
While we have plenty of dehydrated mint and lemon balm left from last season to use as a delicious tea, I'm on top of another round this year for more of the same and also for grinding up as another addition to the well-stocked spice cabinet! My header image for the post is a jar of mixed herbs that will be lovely added to a salad dressing, sprinkled into a curry, or used in any number of other recipes. Fresh herbs are wonderful, but sometimes the dried add a totally different level of flavor that is quite nice. It is a lot of work to dehydrate enough leaves and then grind them down to make a powder, but the process can be quite meditative and I like having the smaller grind to use in recipes.
Lemon balm and mint are both great for digestion, and lemon balm is one I also became more interested in as it has properties that may help with anxiety and stress [source]. I believe I have enough vodka left to do a lemon balm tincture along with my oregano and my pine catkin one (thanks @nateonsteemit for that idea). My pal @fionasfavourites also suggested a lemon balm, well, balm to use topically. Perhaps that will be researched today as my plants are getting to be the size of toddlers...
We have plenty of other herbs coming along to use, such as dill, basil, cilantro and parsley. I would love to learn how to forage a bit more for some of the wild-growing medicinal and edible plants found her locally, though that sneaky poison ivy makes me hesitant as it tends to be quite rampant around here. I'm highly reactive to that pesky plant, so I tend to shy away from any area where it might be found, even the back of our own yard...
If any of these preparations intimidate you, falling back on a nice sprinkle to finish off your wholesome homemade meals is never a bad way to harness the power of the plants! I'm still only scratching the surface on all the ways to make the most out of our herbs to keep ourselves healthy and well, but it is always a fun process to continue to learn and experiment. I hope we will all continue to explore, even when the pace of the world picks back up and the usual rat race begins again.
Perhaps some of this slowed down living will stick with us all for a while, if not indefinitely... A girl can dream, can't she?
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I need an herb garden! I loved reading your article. Thanks for sharing how you make tincture and others, and I love the colorful bottled that you use. BTW, I found you from the post-promotion section of TeamUSA!
have a wonderful Sunday, stay safe and take care @plantstoplanks 🥰🌺🤙
We all need one, don't we? Even if it is just a few types in some pots on the window sill. :) I need to take some time and look through some of the posts in the promotion room, as well. Wishing you the same for your Sunday!
I am impressed by the pots as well!
Looking at your post reminds me of my herb garden I had back home when I had a landed property.
It smelled so amazing each time I brush my hands over the leaves.
I had plenty of basil, mint, oregano, lavender, rosemary..
Good luck.. It's an amazing experience
It really is so lovely to have the scent of those fresh herbs, isn't it? They just boost your mood with one whiff of that delicious aroma. I need to add lavender to my list as that's one I haven't grown yet. Thank you for the reminder!
My pleasure.. Oh yes, the smell of these herbs are just soo intoxicating.
I would spend hours on the weekend sitting in my garden cutting off the stems and replanting it over and over again. After a while, my whole garden was filled with it until I had to give some pots away to my neighbours .. ha ha
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That giant lemon balm!! It looks gorgeous! Makes me think of using it as a base/wrap with a filling....
Now you've got me thinking about tinctures. Don't know if we've got any vodka... We can't buy any until we're emancipated, though... Someone share a recipe for making it though... lol.
I must have a look in my big herb book for salt and ointment recipes...
Back to herbs: our oreganum now we have water, is also running rampant. I'm wondering what's happened to the horseradish. That will have to wait until August....
Oh, and now I'm starving. So best I go and do something about supper!
Have a good week, Katie!
The lemon balm is a monster! A beautiful one, but some of those leaves are just massive! One leaf is sufficient for a whole salad, haha.
It is funny. I've bought more alcohol than I have in a long time lately, but to be fair a good portion of that has plant life steeping in it. I'm particularly excited about the pine catkin tincture as it is supposed to help seasonal allergies. I had no idea you could eat those until a chat in the @naturalmedicine discord. Dave thinks the piney flavor will be delicious in alcohol. 😂
Enjoy your dinner!
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Another fabulous post, and yes i must admit I wish we had a garden or even a private backyard where we are now, this has changed some of my priorities for when this eventually passes and we start to look to move and finding a new house
Stay safe and Healthy
Oh I hope you can find a new place in the future with some space like this. It definitely is nice to not only have the room just to relax, but to grow a few things. It's bringing me a lot of joy right now in these times!
We had hoped top be looking by Next Month, but with the virus and still waiting for my final pay and for the pension to kick in, we really don't know when it will be
Interesting!! I will admit that I have never heard of an oregano tincture. I was reading that thinking, drink it? Put in on? LOL Kidding.
This is awesome and you really have been a busy little bee! I love dehydrating mine and I freeze a few in ice cube trays (I keep spaghetti sauce herbs all together in a cube and so on) It makes it easy when I am preparing something Mexican or Italian. :)
Your lemon balm is impressive!
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I actually did freeze some of the mint like that! Might have to add a few of the others, as well. So many fun ways to use them all, I just hope I can find the time to do it. :)
Thanks for popping by my friend! Hope all is well with you and yours!
You know it!!! Oh, I do miss the days of having time to do things! :) You are really using this to your advantage! Awesome!
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I'm frankly envious at how luscious your plants look! I also love my oregano. Its leaves are much smaller than yours, but it's contending with almost desert like conditions and still growing strong. I usually make an infused oil with mine for topical use, then use it fresh in cooking, because I can usually harvest something at any time of the year. I keep meaning to dehydrate for kitchen use, but not getting around to it. I often wonder if the harsh growing it has to contend with form nutrients it may not get in easier conditions. Whether they would be good or bad for us is another question.
How do you use the tincture? Is there a particular strength of alcohol best used?
Hey @minismallholding! We've had a good bit of rain so far this year, so I think that's perhaps why the herbs are looking particularly luscious this year. Though the oregano and lemon balm tend to do well every year, I think this is the largest I've seen the leaves on either. It's tough to use them up quickly enough not to let those beauties go to waste! I need to add an infused oil to my list next. That's a great idea for the oregano. It would really be interesting to see how the nutrient content varies from condition to condition. Perhaps like kale that's been nibbled on by bugs is supposed to have higher nutrients from trying to produce components that repel them?
This is my first time making the tincture, but I saw between 80-100 proof alcohol used. So I just got regular 80 proof vodka to try. I'll have to look again at some of the dosing recommendations, but I will most likely keep it handy for use during the winter cold season. Though I saw some places that say it can be good for allergies, as well.
Your garden and herbs are just soooo healthy looking! Your oregano looks so lush and your lemon balm frankly looks like it's on steroids. 😆 Wonderful to see a witching woman in her creative element. 😍
The lemon balm is seriously blowing my mind! I've never seen the leaves get so big before. I wish I could say it was something I did, but it's just Mother Nature doing her best. 😂 Now I'm just trying to do my best to harness all the glory in my kitchen experiments. And keeping my fingers crossed that the rest of our spring/summer garden grows so well...
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When I have my own place to live, I'm going to try this tincturing thing. Sounds cool and I love taking natural remedies and staying away from pharmaceuticals.
So glad to read that you are witnessing more people growing their own food. With the internet, it is easier to learn as we have the knowledge right at our finger tips.
It really is a lot of fun to experiment with making things like this in your own home. I hope you can get the space sooner than later to do your own tincturing!
I hope that people keep up all these gardens I see popping up right now. If you keep it small it's really not too much to keep up with, but it is wonderful to reap the rewards of having even a few things grown right at home. Everything tastes that much better when it is so freshly picked and enjoyed!
I'm really interested in the process of using things up once you are stocked with preserved foods. Does it come naturally or do you sometimes feel like you prepared to many wonderful things?
repertoire, love that word, although I avoid saying: moist repertoire; because that completely ruins it.
If I had a garden, I might grow nettle, not the most obvious taste to get used to but oh so interesting.
That cabbage and lentil stew looks stellar and mouth watering!
Many medicinal properties coming from plants like oregano have a marked effect when consumed regularly so having them in your garden is a grand idea.
Thank you for a beautiful journey today.
I definitely need to expand into the less "obvious" choices of herbs and medicinal plants to grow! We've got the regulars down, so it would be fun to explore things like nettles and comfrey and beyond!
It can be a challenge sometimes to look at all we have stocked up and find ways to use it all, but then we start thinking of fun ways to share it with others. Like this Christmas we gave everyone tea with our homegrown mint and lemon balm, but perhaps this year I'll give tinctures or something else. We do have so much dried herbs stocked up there's a chance we might not use all of it. If not I'll just give them back to the earth in the compost. If I focus on the time taken to preserve them as a form of moving meditation, it is always time well spent.
A nice thought for Earth Day, today, no? 💚
I'm obsessed with avoiding waste but when you think about it, branches fall in the forest to decompose and that is essentially their purpose. You are lucky to have room to compost, mine is taken on big trucks by the municipality.
Happy Earth Day bright one!
Gardening is definitely one of the positive ways to deal with the difficulties of quarantine! I will take note of some of your suggestions, for sure, because I love herbs in my food. I may even try that oregano tincture, it sounds like quite the elixir!!!💚🌿💚
I enjoy gardening more and more as the years go by. Dave still does the majority of the work, but I try to do my part. If nothing else I feed him well for his efforts, haha. At least the herbs I have taken more of a handle on as I try to tame them from taking over the whole garden. It is definitely a labor of love!
I love herbs! Those are great tips. I used to get oregano oil for colds. I definitely will make some tincture if I can get my hands on an oregano plant. thanks for the healthy ideas!
You are always a master at making beautiful dishes with whatever herbs you can get your hands on! That little pop of green brightens up just about any dish, even the most simple and humble ones. I will be curious to see how the tincture compares to the oil, though I know it will not be quite so concentrated. Should still be quite beneficial to have around. My seasonal allergies are still flaring up a bit, so I think I might test out the pine catkin tincture to see if that helps since it has been steeping 4 weeks now. :)
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Many thanks @minismallholding and @naturalmedicine! I don't always get a chance to post much, but I love being able to contribute my positive vibes to the wonderful community when I can.
Amazing! That lemon balm is huge!!!! I have heaps of oregano growing at home in Australia - I will do a tincture when I get back. They grow SO many flowers in England, but hardly any herbs - I look over people's fences for them and all, but can only find rosemary at best! Lots of wild plants though. ONce you start foraging, a whole other world will open up!!! Great to see you dabbling in medicines as well - so good!
Oh that's really interesting about the lack of herbs. Wonder why that is? I'm kind of lazy on the flower end of things as I'd rather spend what gardening time I have on food, haha. We do always get plenty of dandelions among other floral weeds, if you will, so I need to continue to expand my knowledge and start figuring out what I can use from some backyard foraging. It's all thanks to you and the other Nat Medders that keep me trying new things!
Same same!!! I've learnt so much from Nat Medders as well - I swear I spent a fortune on herbs last year as people kept mentioning things I didn't have!
Your plants look so lovely!
I would like to add that I have heard from several sources that the more whole you can store a dried plant, the longer the potency lasts. I know they take up a lot of room stored whole vs ground. I try to store as much as I can whole and grind as needed.
Thanks @goldenoakfarm! I can't wait to see your trees that you just put in grow and mature, too! So many wonderful plants that bring such joy and use for our health, both mental and physical.
That definitely makes sense about storing whole, as I have heard the same thing about many spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, etc.). We do have a few buckets of dried leaves that we often use as tea. I'll try to only keep a this one jar ground for now and find more spots I can stash the full leaves. That's one good thing about having a fairly good-sized house with just the two of us living here--plenty of room to store things! Might just have to get the boyfriend to make me an herb shelf so I have my stash all in one spot. :)
If you do look for a place, I bet you know to find one shielded from sunlight and one that stays cool, right?
Definitely! We have a finished off basement that stays cool, dry and has one half with no windows, which should be perfect. I just need to sweet talk him to cleaning out a little niche for me. ;)
If you can select a northeast corner, and insulate it well, you could have a sort of root cellar.... That's what we did.
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