comfrey & catnip drying in the herb shed

One thing I love about my little garden shed is the great area for hanging herb bundles.

Since herbs need to be dried properly to avoid becoming moldy after cutting, we usually bundle the herbs and hang them to dry.

I try to get them hung right away because:

• it’s so humid here in the summer

• if I don’t, they will just sit and rot.

The shed stays pretty dry and warm (with that attached greenhouse and all) and there is no direct sun during the summer so most things dry very well in there.

Of course some things don’t lend themselves to hanging, or I may just want the leaves, so those herbs get laid out flat to dry. Like these sage leaves.

sage leaves

Every once in awhile something comes up , I get interrupted and I forget to finish something that needs doing. And sometimes I’m just flaky and forget things.

Most recently it was the second cutting of nettle. A phone call and trip to town took over my brain and I left two big tubs of cut nettle just sitting in the shed waiting to be hung… for three days.

Arrggghhh.

Nettle is a favorite and used a lot during hay-fever season. For me that starts when the local ragweed is releasing what seems like 32 tons of pollen per plant. We harvest, dry and tincture lots of Stinging Nettle.

When I remembered I had left the nettle in the tubs and returned to my drying duties I hoped some of the nettle would be usable.

Um, not so much. The nettle in the top of the tub looked great, but the high temps in the closed shed combined with juicy ripe nettle resulted in this nasty looking mess beneath that top layer…

moldy nettle

Darn it!

Come ragweed season I am sure going to wish I hadn’t done that.

Gardener's Supply Grow Bag with Bulb Fennel

Have you been seeing grow bags all over the place? I think they are a great idea -especially with so many people growing urban gardens.

For years gardeners have been slitting open bags of soil and using them as a small garden beds, and they worked very well. Appearance-wise they lean to the far side of ugly, but they work!

Then someone got smart. They invented growing bags. They are much more attractive than a ratty old bag of potting soil, and are said to have other benefits as well.

The only concern I have heard is that the bags are made from polypropylene. The idea of growing in plastic was unappealing to a few people, but in my humble opinion, if you are an urban gardener you are probably growing in plastic containers and 5 gallon buckets anyway!

It seems that fresh food grown in a Grow Bag has to be better than NOT having fresh, and I would imagine there would be less plastic chemical leaching into my herbs and veggies from a Grow Bag than with a 5 gallon bucket. I could be very wrong, but since the bags are breathable it makes sense in my head. Does anyone know of any studies out there on this?

Well, in the spirit of experimentation I thought I would try a few Grow Bags myself and post my findings here and on our Growing Herbs for Beginners Facebook page.

I bought three different Grow Bags from Gardeners Supply Company (and no, they did not pay me for this!)

Gardener's Supply Grow Bags

I got the herb bag in basic black. It’s a square affair measuring 13″ W x 10″ L x 7″ H. I got it because it said HERB BAG. It was a no brainer. It’s currently planted with a mixed group of herbs.

I also purchased a carrot bag. In blue because it was pretty  It measures 14″ diameter x 12″ tall.

I wanted to try a few larger herbs that people generally don’t grow in containers to see how they fare in the Grow Bags. My pretty blue carrot bag is planted with a few Florence or bulb fennel plants.

Blue Grow Bag from Gardeners Supply

There is also a potato bag…it’s huge and as of this moment not fully planted. I already have potatoes planted in the kitchen garden, so I’m going with big herbs…

I’m thinking we’ll test it with some of the larger herbs like Echinacea or Marshmallow. I want to try marshmallow because I’m thinking rather than wrestling and digging the coveted roots it might easier to retrieve them from a grow bag.

This could be great for those with poor soil or limited garden space and gardeners with disabilites…but we’ll see how my theory tests.

I’ll keep track and take pictures along the way and let you know how it goes!

Three Hard Shell Gourds Curing

We grow gourds and often pair them up with everlasting herbs in dried arrangements.

Gourds are simple to grow, but they do have a fairly long growing season-so if you live in Alaska and try to grow them, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

I usually grow hard shell or Lagenarias, although luffas are pretty entertaining to grow, too.

Fertile soil, plenty of sun, somewhere to sprawl or climb, and enough water are all a gourd plant needs. Ours are usually grown over a cattle panel known hereafter as a trellis.

After the plant is about 6 or 7 feet long I usually take off the growing tips and let the laterals -or side shoots- grow as long as they like. That keeps my vines shorter overall and seems to produce more gourds.

A Small Gourd

OK, so here it is…the botany word of the day:  monoecious

This means a plant has both male and female flowers on the same vine, but they are totally separate flowers.  Boy gourd flowers have just the male flower structure, and girl gourd flowers have a tiny little baby gourd at the base of the flower.

What’s more- gourds are pollinated at night. By moths. Really, I would not make that up.

Flash forward-

All summer long our moth pollinated gourds have grown beautifully. We’ve fended off the cucumber beetles that attack the vines and have some gourds. Now what?

We cure the gourds!

Curing them means cutting them from the vine and letting the shells harden, or cure. Lots of people just skip this step and leave them on the vine all winter.

While the gourds cure they look like mutant zombies. They turn all horrible and moldy looking, they shed, split their skins and flake. All this weird activity causes most people toss them out.

DON’T do it!

Bushel Gourd

Let them cure and be mutants, then scrub off all the flaky stuff with a scrub brush and some bleach water. You’ll do this when the gourd shell is hard and totally dried out- which will be months later.

Broken Gourd- See the Seeds?

You can hear the seeds inside when you shake the dried gourd -sort of like maracas.  OK, not really…they usually just thump around in there en masse.

The Same Three Gourds as Cured Mutants

Once they are scrubbed clean you can make all sorts of fun stuff like bird houses, bowls, dippers, and even ornaments with the little gourds.

Sarah's Fairy Gourd House

This beauty was done by Sarah-daughter # 2. She did it for a 4H project a few many years ago (first prize at county and State thank you), and was adapted from a design by Betsy Williams.  Although it’s dried and the color has faded from the flowers, it was gorgeous when she first did it.

Since she helped grow everything and collected it all from around the property I am never allowed to get rid of it.

Along with her home grown gourd, she also used pine cone scales and everlasting herbs. She used statice, yarrow, globe amaranth and baby’s breath for her flower garden along with some twigs, grape vine and leaves to make the furniture , stairs and clothes line. Pretty cool, huh?

Note-If you decide to drill holes in your gourds for bird houses or fairy houses, be careful! The dust is irritating, so be sure to wear a mask or drill it outside.

Want to learn more about gourds? Visit the American Gourd Society!

raised bed out front in the medicinal herb garden. During the warm months this particular raised bed houses lots of Marshmallow and Comfrey.

Marshmallow and Comfrey in Raised Bed

Here you can see the grass and Comfrey in the bed coming back after a long winter…and see how the concrete bed has heaved and moved around from the ice and snow? Ick.

Comfrey is not taken or used internally now, but is still used externally for wounds and healing. I make salves and ointments with the leaves and root. This stuff will reseed and spread like CRAZY and the smallest bit of root will grow a whole new plant. Or twenty.

Comfrey Sprouting!

Yes, the grass has miraculously turned green in the time it took you to scroll down and you can see that last years dried Marshmallow stems or stalks are still standing.

Don’t worry, they will magically have been cut back by the next picture! Marshmallows produce their seeds in a wheel or “cheese” and they have a tendency to reseed all over the place. I use the root and sometimes the leaves for teas…

Marshmallow Stalks Magically Gone

Well, here it is all magically cleaned out and naked. Well mostly…and yes, I know I need to mow now. I also had to go eat some lunch before I finished so you get to see the picture of the bed at about 75% complete. You can see some wayward Comfrey plants that jumped out of the bed and have taken up residence just outside it…

And finally-

Marshmallow Emerging

When you whack down last year’s marshmallow stalks, you find this!

New growth.

It’s so exciting it’s almost overwhelming.  I think I may faint.

When my gang gets sick I break out the Buck Tea!

Our Stinky Kinder Goat Buck

I know that doesn’t sound very herbal.

It is, and I’ll share the easy recipe below. It’s really a lemony hot, spicy herb tea.

So why do we call it Buck Tea?

Years ago my older kids gave it that name in order to terrorize their younger siblings.

We raise goats and know very well the gross behaviors that bucks(intact male goats) engage in.

OK, they urinate all over themselves and drink it-leaving a stinky mess running down their beards and legs. Evidently this drives the girls wild. Go figure.

Knowing this and being threatened with having to drink something called ‘Buck Tea’ you’d have been terrorized too. As soon as someone felt rotten, or started with a cough or runny nose I made a batch of tea up. The kid’s conversations usually went something like this:

” You’re sick? Ha! Now YOU have to drink Buck Tea, muaahhhahaha!”

This was always followed by the victim’s sobs,weeping, mild hysteria, then sniffcoughwhimpersniff…sniff…

Thankfully they have all outgrown that stage.

If you want to make your own Buck Tea you’ll need just three ingredients:

A lemon.

One Lemon

some Dried Sage -Salvia officinalis:

Some Dried Sage

and Cayenne Pepper power…I mean powder

Some Dried Pepper Powder

Here we go-

You can make a cup at a time, or a pot full. I’ve listed approximate amounts of each ingredient for different quantities. I usually make it up in pots, but I make everyone drink it. You know-just to be on the safe side

To make a Mug:

1 TB dried sage

a wedge of lemon

Shake of cayenne

Honey or Stevia to sweeten

~~~~*~~~~

To make a jar…

1/2 cup dried sage

1/4 or 1/2 of a lemon (more cuts the sage flavor and makes it more lemony.

Dash or two..or three of Cayenne pepper

Honey or Stevia to sweeten your cup

~~~~*~~~~

For a pot (usually a 2-3 quart pot)

Sage In The Pot

3/4 to 1 cup dried sage

1 or 2 lemons. If I have them I’ll use two for a full pot, I like the lemony flavor.

Shake-shake-shake-shake in your Cayenne*

*You want the tea ‘hot’ enough to clear sinuses, but not so spicy that your taste buds go up in flames.

“How To Make Buck Tea” for Mugs and Jars:

Making Buck Tea in a Jar

Put your sage into jar…you can use a strainer or tea ball if making yours in a mug.

Heat water to just boiling and pour hot water into mug, or jar.You can also be smart and lazy and just microwave the water in your mug or jar.

With a tea ball- load it up with sage, drop it in the hot water and bounce it up and down a lot to wet the sage.

In a jar you will mix the loose sage into the hot water. It will not want to mix in and will tend to float. Just keep pushing it down with a spoon. Within a minute or so it will start to absorb the water and settle down nicely. Squeeze in the lemon juice and toss the lemon rind into the jar. Really. Then poke it down.

Add the Cayenne and mix it.  Cover it. Let site for at least 15 minutes, longer if possible.

If the taste is too strong, add some water to your mug. Everyone here does that-except me. I’m a tough old bird.

Strain or remove tea ball.

Sweeten to taste.

Strain Your Buck Tea

“How to Make Buck Tea” by the Pot:

Add your sage to the pot, and then add about 5 or 6 times the water…so 1 cup of sage to 5 or 6 cups of water.

Add your cut lemons-squeezing in the juice and tossing the rinds into the pot.

Heat to almost boiling and add your Cayenne. Turn off heat,cover and let sit as long as possible before drinking-but 15 minutes anyway.

Strain

Sweeten to taste and water down if needed.

~~~~*~~~~

You can drink this through out the day whenever you feel a cold coming on-which is why I make big batches of it. We find when you first feel ill and begin drinking Buck Tea, it seems to completely knock out or at least slow down a virus.

You can also freeze Buck Tea!

I use small containers-one serving size each- and keep a few on hand. It saves time when someone needs it and I don’t have time to mix up a batch. Simply thaw, heat, and drink!

* This recipe is NOT set in stone! You just need the three components but if you want more lemon, use it! More Cayenne? Sure, go ahead! Want to make it in a Teletubbies Tea Cup? Why not!

If you try it, I hope this recipe helps you and your family feel better.

I’d love to hear about it…unless you have a horrible reaction to Sage, or peppers, or lemons, or something.

Lemons

Did you like this post? If you want too learn to grow your own herbs,come visit our sister site and take our free online class at Growing Herbs for Beginners!

This post was shared on Mind body and Sole’s Wildcrafting Wednesday.