It's Icy and Cold in the Herb Garden!

Winter is cold, snowy and gray in the 'Burgh. Now it is icy today. We had mostly frozen precipitation yesterday. It could have been worse and been snow. We would have been buried today! Fortunately the low tracked further south or north and we were spared. We're supposed to have the coldest weather of the year so far this week. I hope the forecasters are wrong! Stay warm wherever you may be!

Hope the Garage Helps!

This peppermint scented geranium that was doing so well only a few months ago has collapsed! What a difference a few short months makes here. It was in our basement and there is not much of a light source there or it is covered by other plants searching for the light.
As I have said repeatedly, our garage is a magical place for containers in the winter. I'm sorry the Herbal Husband's car takes up so much space! There I said it! We actually thought of making this a workout room/plant room. Put one of those transparent garage doors in. We decided the winters are too cold here to put the transparent door in. The plant beside it (toward the bottom of the picture) is a Habek mint (Mentha longifolia).
It is sort of dormant at the moment. I got it several years ago from Mulberry Creek Herb Farm. In their catalog, they call it the authentic mint for tabbouleh. It has very narrow bluish-green leaves. It has seeded once in another part of the garden. Now that the peppermint scented geranium is in the garage, I expect it will make a comeback.

The Garage Is The Place To Be!

These Logee's Snowflake scented geraniums and the sweet lavender are doing very well in the garage. The magic recipe is the southern exposure and the cooler temperatures in the garage. I'm going to try to move other plants that aren't doing as well in here, but there is only so much room. The Herbal Husband's car is taking a majority of the space! The negotiations will begin!

Probably Brought Too Many Herbs Inside!

I was thinking the other day that you should get a picture of how the indoor herbs are doing. You saw the lemon verbena. This is the old fashioned rose geranium. The Herbal Husband couldn't stand to leave it die back. It is slowly losing its leaves. It probably be good to put it in the magical garage with the southern exposure windows. Herbs in the winter need all of the light you can give them. I will show you tomorrow some plants that are in the garage and are doing well.

A Good Night for Chicken Stew!

The Herbal Husband ate a lot of stews in Peru. He makes one called seco con culantro. It is a meat stew with meat cubes, potatoes, peas, sherry, lemon and cilantro. I'll do a post on that wonderful stew soon. The one I made here is called Garlic Orange Chicken. It doesn't sound like a stew, does it? I found it a while ago in The Herb Companion magazine, August/September, 1991. It is served in the magazine with vermicelli pasta. I served it last night with couscous and those new year's lentils. The Herbal Husband loves the sauce for the chicken. In fact, he puts it on the rice we usually serve with it! So here is the recipe and my thoughts on it:

Garlic Orange Chicken (Serves 6)

6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (Last night I used 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs. They worked just as well. If you are serving it for company, I would use breast meat.)
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and halved (I used 3 cloves of garlic, minced.)
1-1/2 tablespoons oil (I use 1-1/2 tablespoons to brown the chicken, then I add about 1-1/2 tablespoons more to cook the onions and garlic.)
1-1/2 cups chopped onion
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt (I cut this back to 1/4 teaspoon.)
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard (I cut this back to 1/4 teaspoon.)
1 cup orange juice
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup chopped chives (I used the ones from the freezer. They were wonderful!)
3 tablespoons chopped lovage (I used 2 tablespoons dried. I started with 1 tablespoon and up it to enhance the flavor. If you do not have lovage, use celery leaves. I would use 3 tablespoons or more as needed to add flavor.)
12 ounces vermicelli (You can use whatever grain you wish. It would even be good with potatoes.)
1-1/2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons water
6 sprigs basil and 6 chive (or other herb) flowers for garnish

Trim any fat from the chicken. Open two small pockets in each breast half, either by slicing into it with a knife or by separating the muscles of the breast. Insert a piece of garlic in each pocket. (I don't do this step. I just add the garlic to the onions and saute them together.) Pat the chicken dry. In a heavy skillet, brown the chicken on both sides in the oil, then remove it. (Add additional oil if needed.) Add onion (and garlic) to skillet, reduce heat and cook until softened and lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Add the pepper, salt and mustard, and cook for 1 minute, stirring the browned onion bits into mixture. Add orange juice, broth and herbs. Bring mixture to a boil, add chicken, then cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Cook vermicelli (or other grain or vegetable) while chicken is simmering. Remove chicken from pan and keep warm. Bring the sauce to a boil. Add cornstarch-water mixture and stir constantly until thickened. Spoon some of the sauce over the chicken and the remainder over the hot vermicelli. Garnish with the basil sprigs and chive flowers.

Hope you enjoy it!

Epiphany-The Arrival of the Three Kings

Epiphany means appearance and it is claimed that on this occasion Christ was revealed as divine to the Gentiles. On Christmas Eve, the Kings are moving closer to Bethlehem and when they finally arrive, they offer their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Originally, January sixth commemorated Christ's baptism. Twelfth Night or the Eve of Epiphany was originally a pagan celebration.

Gold stars are an appropriate symbol. If you have a Twelfth Night Feast, light candles and burn resins with spices. Adelma Simmons talks about it in her book, A Merry Christmas Herbal She says that myrrh burned alone has a bitter acrid odor but when it is combined with the sweeter resin of frankincense it is most pleasant. As the ancient Egyptians and Hebrews knew, the proportion should be approximately six frankincense to one of myrrh. Burn over low heat. Put an ember from the fire on a hearth shovel and shake the incense sparingly over it, then let it burn on the hearth. Don't allow it to flame.

At Caprilands, Adelma's home, they had a masquerade party. They had wassail to drink, a roast beef as a main course and a traditional Twelfth-Night cake. Hope they still carry on the tradition!

My Lemon Verbena Looks Good!!!!

The plant in the center of this picture is my lemon verbena. My namesake. It really shouldn't look like this. It usually drops its leaves when it comes in for the winter. This year it went to the garage for a week while we were in Arizona. The magical garage, cooler temperatures and that southern exposure. I'm going to start removing leaves and use it in tea or tea bread. Click on the link for the recipe. Hopefully, it will continue to do well. Just the smell of the leaves is a great stress reliever.

A Perennial Problem for a Tender Perennial!

I was bragging about this rosemary several posts ago. It was blooming and happy. Now I'm not sure it's going to make it. The Herbal Husband loves his plants and maybe loves them a little too much. There is a fine line with a rosemary of overwatering or underwatering. Underwatering means you have a dead rosemary, but overwatering is equally as bad. This is a perennial problem in our house because I water differently than the Herbal Husband. He waters more frequently. I water after sticking my finger into the soil to my second knuckle and watering only if it is dry.

The brown tips are the give away in the picture below. The best place for a rosemary in our cold winter is in an unheated garage with windows to the south. We have that, but somehow this rosemary ended up in the bathroom with forced air heat and too much water. Miracles happen all the time in this house. When I think something has died and it comes roaring back!

I will leave you with an article written by my extension agent, Sandy Feather about rosemary care in the winter. We should have taken her advice. Hopefully this rosemary will make a comeback! I had a discussion with the Herbal Husband and we are going to move it to the garage tomorrow. It's a step forward!

Another Favorite Catalog is Here!

The catalogs have just started to roll in. This catalog from White Flower Farm was one of the first sources for perennial plants I used when I started out in gardening 19 years ago. Their plant descriptions taught me botanical names which I needed to learn. They have added fruits and vegetables, including 145 varieties of tomatoes. I bought The Works of 100 mixed daffodils many years ago and they are still flourishing today. I look forward in the spring to seeing them pop up through the leaves!