One Thing Led to Another

 

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I vowed not to take any more online classes until I retired, but the temptation was so great that I took a writing class again last fall. Just two days into a week-long, lunch time class I realized I wouldn’t be able to finish due to work demands. Still, I love learning and had to find a way!
 

I turned to online self-paced courses and these, I’m delighted to say, are working perfectly. There are even Facebook groups associated with the classes, and unlike in-person classes, I virtually meet people from all over the world and learn from their questions and different situations.

My first venture with an online class grew from my interest in cooking with herbs and wanting to know how to use herbs in healing teas. I’m especially interested in contraindications—when NOT to use particular herbs. 

This interest led to an online class in herbalism
with the Herbal Academy. The class turned out to be much more intense than I was prepared for, but I could take my own sweet time, any time, and it was a success! For anyone else interested, the additional cost for the book set is worth it.

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 This class led to the purchase of an herbal calendar that I love. Every other day it has useful and interesting facts on herbs ranging from history, medicinal uses, growing tips, and recipes.


 

 

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Through the Herbal Academy Facebook group I then learned of Grow, Forage, Cook, Ferment, a self-paced online class covering foraged plants and how to use them. Yes, that led to me enrolling just a day after learning of this course.

All of this has led to even more herbs planned for my garden, such as purslane, purple dead nettle, self-heal, miner’s lettuce, calendula, and more. One herb I had to remove was lemon balm as it is contraindicated with thyroid conditions. My spiral herb garden is now where the lemon balm patch was.

I’ve also learned of some edible wild plants that already grow in my yard such as chickweed, wild violet, plantain, and the ubiquitous dandelion. Since I grow organically and have no outside pets, I can be assured my plants are safe to consume (though I of course still wash them!).

As my garden grows I look forward to seeing where my herbalism and gardening paths leads next!

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Crafting with Herbs

 

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I vowed not to take multi-day classes until I retired, there just isn't enough time. But retirement has been pushed out and I couldn’t wait. Understanding how to grow and use herbs has been one of my top interests. When I learned about Herbal Academy it didn’t take more than a day for me to abandon my vow and decide to enroll in the introductory herb class.

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With plenty of borage outside my door, the first herbal recipe I tried was fresh borage leaf tea. The taste is mild and not unpleasant, quite like a weak green tea. Learning that it helps with stress and insomnia makes it a winner for me. Borage self-sows and I have it all around the yard from spring to fall.
 

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July also meant another trip to my local nursery where I picked up more herbs for my new herb spiral garden. My purchases included the bee-friendly plants bee balm, hyssop, and lavender that are now blossoming. These plants can also be used for herbal teas, tinctures, and salves. I'm eager to make a rosemary-lavender hand salve.

After the flowering plants have lost their blooms I’ll be saving the seeds to start next year’s plants. The sunny side of the backyard will become a bee haven!

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Throughout the summer, bees swarm the chive, oregano, rosemary, thyme, and savory blossoms. I’ve often wished I could get the herbal honey they are making. Then, this week in my herb class, I learned how to make herbal honey with dried herbs and I can’t wait to try this. My herbal class has introduced me to excellent sources of dried herbs for those that won't grow in my climate.

The next step in my herbal crafting journey will be stovetop hydrosols. Perhaps if my new peppermint and spearmint plants are bountiful I can create a refreshing mint hydrosol before summer is over.

I'm very happy I decided to take this course as I can now use the information before retirement to get a head start on experimenting with cultivating herbs and putting them to various uses. In fact, I'm so happy with my decision that I've already enrolled in a month-long class during September. Life long learning is the true goal after all, so why wait?

 

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All Wound up with Herbs

 

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Hours after pulling out several feet of the "weed" above I learned it is one of the medicinal plants I should be harvesting--purple dead nettle. Argh! Fortunately, there are a few plants I missed so those will come back in abundance next year.

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Another "weed" I will be planting is heal-all or self-heal. Both self-heal and purple dead nettle can be used in salads and teas, the latter is my goal. Both have been used for centuries by indigenous peoples.

 

 

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While studying herbs and watching videos on their use, I came across spiral herb gardens. You can guess what happened next. 😀 But first, I'll share more about spiral herb gardens, as shown in the following photos. 

 

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One advantage of a spiral herb garden is that it lets you grow a lot of herbs in a small space--six feet in diameter with three tiers. The taller plants in the center should be those that love heat, such as the Mediterranean herbs rosemary, thyme, and oregano. The lower tiers get more drainage and shade from the taller plants, and this is ideal for dill, cilantro, and sage.

Another advantage for me is that it clears space in one of my planter boxes in the front yard for more vegetables. The backyard space I've already cleared has sufficient sunlight for herbs.

Clearing space in the backyard went quickly, and building materials for the spiral herb garden have come from reclaimed sources already on hand--plenty of forest duff for fill and rocks pulled out of the ground for the spiral walls. Here's what we've accomplished in an afternoon's work. Not bad for the first day!

Ready soon for plants!