Posted on 01/29/2022 5:54:08 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
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"Top Shelf, Dirty Martini, Shaken, Straight up, Extra Olives and a side bowl of Radishes, Bartender!" :)
I want to post a future 'topic' on growing a Tea Garden, but one about the benefits of basic vegetables would be a fun topic, too.
If I owned a bar, all I would serve would be Martinis. Cool, interesting and inventive Martinis. :)
Elderberries are so tiny that harvesting locally is challenging. DH got me a whole large bucket but once I took them off the stems and twigs, I had almost nothing, and many were not ripe. Actually made a sort of juice from them but it was pale-ish and just not the potent stuff when I use a lot of ripened dried once. Maybe if you made juice from them bit by bit and froze until you had enough to make a decent batch of syrup?
I used to have a couple of U pick places for concord grapes (HUGE YUM!) and they are so healthy, and made grape juice, often 30 qts. Then the places closed up (whine and cry) and sold the juicer to someone younger with more energy.
I also started this method, with the last batch of grapes - wash, stem, stuff in quart jars, pour in very light hot syrup, put in water bath canner for 20 minutes. When I wanted juice, I poured out the contents of one jar into the blender and pulsed it until all blended up but seeds were intact. Strained out, and ooooh lala - fantastic delicious thick juice! all the skins in there. I actually have a few pathetic concord grape vines but they are in horrid soil and all they manage to do is survive, poor things. It’s up to DH if he wants to get them into better soil. And then, there are foxes...
I can post about growing catnip and prunella, I grow and make tincture and dry catnip for tea. Very good medicinal uses, also grow lemon balm (or sometimes spelled “lemon bomb”..) also do some tincturing but mostly for tea and even small vases in the house.
I’ve grown dill for seeds, and nice for pickles, also cilantro which i love, and then when they start going to seed, let them dry and use the seeds in cooking. So much tastier than store bought. I wrote something up a few years ago about kitchen spices and herbs and their medicinal uses, I can try to find that.
Hmm, another thing - I love fresh ginger root, which of course I cannot grow in Oregon. Or so I thought.... once I put a bunch of ginger root in some dirt in a planter on the porch (spring) just to keep it fresh. Then it grew leaves! So I put the planter in the sun and it got big. And grew some new roots, which would have gotten bigger if the deer had not eaten the leaves.
I read it takes 9 months to grow ginger roots. If someone plants bits of ginger inside in the early spring under lights or in a green house, and then puts outside when it’s warm and lets it grow for 9 or 10 months, they might be able to harvest nice fresh ginger roots. I may try this early spring.
I know a bit about Prunella aka Self Heal aka Heal all. Excellent for cold sores, bug bites, weird itchy/hurty bumps, pimples, cat scratches. Anti-bacterial and anti-viral, and I use also for flu like illnesses, first sign. In Chinese medicine it is used to treat cancer, and when I had cancer in 2019 I used it as well as other herbs. I make tincture and right now I have so much I would be glad to mail anyone who wants 4 oz bottles for the shipping cost!
Hey I may try ginger too. Years ago I got a flowering ginger bulb it was a great patio plant for years. Beautiful flower and big flat leaves kind of on stalks. I’m going to dig through my pictures and see if I can identify it now. But I will definitely try growing some of the edible. Thanks for hanging out here.
Oy! Our south facing slope above the garden is loaded with heal all, all over. I would love to make use of it if you could give some direction. You are a wealth of knowledge.
Thanks for that info- Just got back on- was away today- Looks like they also reduce risk for diabetese too- which my sugar is messed up- high morning blood sugar, which they say is pre-diabetese- looks like i’ll have ot eat more- of darn lol :)
I see they mention roasted radish (though I’ll skip the garlic)- sounds good- will definitely have to try that- maybe soem rosemary oil or or soem type of flavored oil instead of garlic- (Think im allergic to garlic- i over did it when younger, and got to where i get all sweaty, dizzy, feel like gonna pass out, and it takes like 2 days where all i can taste is garlic- so i avoid it now- i do love it though sadly-)
[[Anti-bacterial and anti-viral,]]
oil of oregano is good like that too- antibacterial, antifungal, anti-viral- and pretty potent for an herb- it’s the one herb oil i do keep around- it’s also anti-cold sore too- it’s pretty cheap to buy too-
I don’t know if htis would work or not for elderberry, but if so, it woudl cut way down o n the work- it has slots i nthe back for ther berries to slip out of too- one person for another similar type said it didn’;t work good on whiole bushes, but worked pretty food for smaller clumps-
they have ‘lobstertinis’ to- and use some kind of a salt brine for the flavoring- i don’t drink anymore- but it kinda sounds good actually- a little piece of lobster claw for garnish-
[[It’s just ‘cuz we talk funny comin’ from WisCONsin and all, don’t cha’ know! ;)]]
Was born in Maine- went ot florida for college, they made fun of my accent- i told them “We don’t accentuate in Maine, We pronunciate, ayuh!”
see post 129 for elderberrying- I’m thinking abotu gettign one and trying it- we used to make elderberry jelly, which i absolutely love- but it was a pain picking the berries by hand- the product in hte link looks liek it might cut down the process quite a lot-
We are huge garlic eaters, we even grow our own.
i used to eat the cloves raw- and loved garlic bread- can’t even eat anything with slight garlic in it anymore-
Love your grape juice method! I’m growing seedless grapes, (Somerset, light red) but they seem to be crossing with the local wild grapes, so I am getting some seeds and a lot of them turned purple anyway!
Either way, they made great juice this season. I didn’t add any sugar to the juice and it’s just terrific as is. Tastes like Summertime. :)
Adding Blueberries and Blackberries to the plot this season; we already grow the grapes and strawberries. I see lots of ‘mixed juice’ in my future. ;)
Excellent! I’ll hire you when I open my bar. To safeguard my Bottom Line, I’m only going to hire Bartenders that don’t drink! :)
The stars finally aligned to fetch the new/used chicken coop that Mrs. Augie scored on the fakebook marketplace. It needs a little TLC, but I couldn't build it for the price she paid. This one has an automagical powered door hinge gizmo that will open and close the chicken door by timer setting or photoperiod - a very nice feature for forgetful geriatric chicken herders.
While I had Nanner out I spent about 45 minutes clearing underbrush in a little patch of woods along the back horse pasture, and started placing what I hope will be the last 27 tons of 4"x6" crushed limestone on the pond dam. I'm a bit squishy from sitting on my duff for the last 45 days so I only put out one loader bucket full of stone. Stopping at that was a good move - I'm only a little bit sore in the hands and back. If I'd done another load I'd be hating life this morning.
Ah... Ok . I did not want to pry but I was going to ask you that. If you ate raw garlic. I never heard of anyone becoming allergic. Have you tried roasting the garlic? I take a few big heads, slice off the tops, set them in foil together facing up, drizzle with olive oil and add salt and pepper. Close up the foil, not too tightly, and put in a 340 degree oven for an hour to an hour and a half. Set out to cool. Take each head and squeeze from the bottom you will get a delicious paste. Much easier to digest. Our favorite way to use it is in mashed potatoes. I would be very surprised indeed if it bothered you.
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