Bye, Bye 2009! Happy New Year to You All!

What a last day of 2009!  Woke up to wet, heavy snow.  We felt it in the air yesterday even before it fell.  Really beautiful to see in the garden!  Have had a great year of traveling.  The gardening year was a little strange, but because of you dear readers, The Herbal Husband and I have enjoyed our lives to the fullest!  We are blessed to have you all in our lives and hope that 2010 will be an even better year for us all!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year Goes On!

Well, I only received one additional seed catalog, but it is a good one.  Park Seed has been around since 1868 for heaven sake!  Their operation is out of Greenwood, SC.  I haven't had their catalog for a while, but it's like an old friend.  Looking forward to that cup of tea!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year Continued!

The fun continues!   The mail brought these two favorite catalogs today!  The one on the left is one of my favorite old fashioned flower seed catalogs, Select Seeds.  They are located in Connecticut.  The second catalog is Nichols Garden Nursery.  They are located in Oregon and are celebrating their 60th year!  I have ordered from both of these catalogs with great success.  Please keep your local and these smaller businesses going!  They have lots of unusual choices at reasonable prices.  Wonder what tomorrow's mail will bring?  Stay tuned!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

We are getting lake effect snow at the moment!  So it was good that in the mail today came these two seed catalogs.  Love it!  I have not ordered from either one, but intend to order something this year for next!  Harris Seeds is out of Rochester, New York.  Chock full of vegetable and flower seeds, plants, bulbs and tubers.  Territorial Seed Company is located in Cottage Grove, Oregon.  Doesn't that sound quaint?  Their catalog is full of veggie seeds and plants, flower seeds, herb seeds and plants and something called the Gardener's Tool Shed.  Both have new varieties for 2010!  This is my kind of shopping! 

Let Me Spend Some of Your Christmas Cash for You!

It didn't get a chance to tell you my favorite herbal purchases ahead of time.  So here they are now that you might have gotten some extra cash for Christmas!  One of my favorite herbal authors is Sharon Lovejoy and she has a new book coming out in a few weeks called Toad Cottage & Shooting Stars.  If you have children in your life, Sharon's early books and this latest one will appeal to the young and old alike.  My favorite books of hers are A Blessing of Toads, her columns for one of my favorite gardening magazines, Country Living Gardener.  Also, Trowel & Error which gives you over 700 shortcuts, tips & remedies for the Gardener.  These are the days when I love to get a cup of tea and curl up with a good book and you will love Sharon's wisdom and illustrations.  She's a gem.  My second choice of herbal authors is Susan Belsinger.  Her latest book is called the creative herbal home co-written with Tina Marie Wilcox chock full of tips and recipes for the herbal home.  Susan has co-authored many books on herbs and the other favorite of mine is Basil An Herb Lover's Guide co-authored with Tom DeBaggio.  It has great information on basil and a lot of delicious and easy recipes.

On to my favorite magazines, The Herb Companion and The Herb Quarterly, they have kept me company for many years and I can read them over and over and always find something new in the herbal world.  So a subscription to either magazine is always a good investment for your Christmas cash.

Finally, my favorite herb and spice company, Penzeys.  We are lucky to have a Penzeys store in Pittsburgh, but the online version is a great way to get recipes and single herbs and spices or combination of herbs and spices in gift boxes.  Hope you had a great holiday and some leftover cash to splurge on a great herbal gift for you!

Merry Christmas from Our House to Yours!

Can't believe we're only two days away!  Hasn't this year flown by?  Hope you have a great holiday and I'll be blogging again soon!  Talk to you later.

Decorated All Year Round!

I completely forgot!!  I'm sort of decorated all year round!  I got this snowman when I went to an herbal fair down in southwestern Ohio several years ago.  Sadly there is no more herb fair, but the snowman has survived.  I had every intention of putting it on our front door that year, but he didn't quite make it!  The Herbal Husband took a liking to him and didn't want him to fade with all of the sun we have this time of year!  The white stuff on his cap isn't snow.  It's good old dust!

The Last Bright Day of Fall?

Yesterday was the last day of fall!  There was such a beautiful sky though and remember we are in our gray period now.  So we treasure these beautiful blue sky days and nights!

A Minimalist Christmas!

I mentioned that the minimalist Christmas decorating is happening this year!  The one decoration on this grapevine wreath is a cardinal bell.  We love our cardinals!  We have at least five couples who come and dine with us each day.  I love that both the males and females sing!  Hope your decorating is going well.  Talk to you later.