Happy New Year!

The Herbal Husband and I wish you a very peaceful and healthy 2009. Thank you for reading this blog and hopefully, you will continue to find interesting, educational and funny posts.

One of My Favorite Herbal Catalogs!

This is one of my favorite times of year when the catalogs start rolling in! Today it is one of my favorite herbal catalogs, Richters. If you live in the US, don't be put off by not being able to bring plants back! You can do it, but you must tell the cashier that you are from the US and going back with plants and they will give you a special receipt that is presented at the border. Mr. Conrad Richter wrote me personally to tell me that as long as I go through the Peace Bridge border crossing, I wouldn't have a problem. I haven't been there YET, but I plan to get there in the near future. Now that gas prices have plunged here, it may be sooner than later!

I admit it, I'm an herbal catalog geek! I dread the time that will be no paper catalogs! For some herb farms, that has already happened. For now, I'll get a cup of tea and enjoy reading about all the new selections Richters has in 2009!

Pomander Bowl Update

Yesterday was a week since I finished the orange pomanders and they have a way to go! I switched the container to a big plastic bowl. I think things will go better! They are more buried than before. All good things take time.

Let Us Eat Cake!

I know I'm paraphrasing Marie Antoinette when I wrote the title of this post. I'm glad we could eat cake this Christmas! Pittsburgh has so many sweet places and Jean-Marc Chatellier's French Bakery is one of the best! Dessert is usually something that I enjoy making like apple or pecan pie. This year it is chocolate mousse cake from Jean-Marc's! It was yummy!

P.S. Go see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It is so well done! Cate Blanchett, the best and I don't have to say much about Brad Pitt! I'll just say he's very easy on the eyes old or young!

The Indoor Plants are Outside and It's A Wacky December !

Global warming is here in the 'Burgh today. It's going to be almost 70 degrees! Sooo the Herbal Husband took some of our plants outside to get a sunbath!

Let The Herbal Shopping Begin!

I'm not an early riser. So I wasn't one of those bargain hunters at the malls this morning! My mother taught me from an early age that shopping from a catalog is a good thing. Now I have two choices, internet or catalogs for shopping. I am going to share with you some of my favorite seed catalogs and websites.

Johnny's Seeds in Maine has a great catalog and website with not only great seeds, but great planting and growing information. We try to keep a catalog by the back door so we can refer to it during the growing season. I like Select Seeds catalog a lot owned by Marilyn Barlow. They have old fashioned flowers, both edible and non-edible and lots of other interesting items. Renee's Garden Seeds owned by Renee Shepherd who used to own Shepherd Seeds is another treasure. She does have retail outlets who carry her seeds, but she is a mainly internet operation. The catalogs shown in the picture are the Totally Tomatoes catalog, the Vermont Bean Seed Company catalog, Jung Seeds & Plants catalog and R. H. Shumway's Illustrated Garden Guide. The Herbal Husband liked the pictures in all of them. "They don't look like what we grow!" Some times he is right about that. It is always fun to look! Hope you enjoy some of my favorites!

Silent Night, Holy Night, All is Calm, All is Bright!

This night was perfect a couple of weeks ago. There was snow, Christmas lights and a full moon!

The Pittsburgh Creche and Manger Herbs

The Pittsburgh Creche was first installed in 1999 through the efforts of the Christian Leaders Fellowship, and it was reinstalled in 2007 through gifts from labor unions, businesses, the religious community and other community leaders. It is the world's only authorized replica of the creche erected in front of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. It is a very inspirational work of art.

Some of these herbs were used in the manger bed. Bedstraw grows as a ground cover in the early spring. The legend is the flowers of the bedstraw were turned to gold from white when it was used in the manger for the Christ Child. Thyme was used in the bed for Mary to rest. Pennyroyal is said to blossom at midnight when the Christ Child was born. Rosemary flowers turned from white to blue as Mary layed her robe on the bush during her journey to Bethlehem. Juniper is a very herbal tree and protected Mary and the Holy Family in their flight from Herod. It is used particularly to decorate creches and shrines in Italy. Balsam was sought as the first Christmas tree because it was as high as hope, as wide as love and that bore the sign of the cross on every bough. It was the definitive symbol of Christmas.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, Where Art Thou, Christmas Tree?

OK, 19 years ago when the herbal husband and I moved into this house, we haven't had a Christmas tree. The last tree we had in our apartment, it caused the herbal husband to get a cold. We went to a tree farm in below zero weather. He doesn't forget those times! We moved into this house and we were filled to the rafters! When we had our holiday party the first year, party goers said the only place we could have a tree was in the bathtub! It was a really easy decision. Although I have a lot of Christmas ornaments that will have to be sorted out. We decorate very simply these days. A wreath on the front door.

A little decoration in our dining room. The clementines on our dining table. See I did get one more clementine, a little holly and santolina! The herbal husband thought those were the oranges. He said, "Where is that other orange?" "Well, dear, those are clementines not oranges!" No comment on the loss of his beloved fruit.

So here is a photo of a Christmas tree from the herbal archives! I made it when I was drying everything that wasn't nailed down. It is from a Yankee magazine I think, but I need to get up in the attic after the holidays and come up with the directions for you. It's from Adelma. It really came together fairly easily, but you have to have a lot of dried material. This tree was about two feet when it was finished. I have to say it was quite impressive. It is now in everlasting heaven!