Inner Sanctum
text by Carolyn Felderman
 |
| Plant rosemary for remembrance,
lavender for love, and surround yourself with herbs that will pleasure all your senses. |
Summer has come for her visit early this
year with her suitcase overpacked with heat and humidity.
During her stay, the earth blooms with appreciation.
Everywhere we look, there are gardens growing with gardeners
renewing their souls as the caregiver. With time being
a precious commodity, perhaps growing thyme in your
garden is a good way to begin to savor summer.
It isn’t necessary to turn over a plot of land
with a spade and shovel to begin to be a gardener.
Reap the reward of growing eye pleasers, taste bud teasers,
healers, and soothers, all which bring comfort to the
soul…grow herbs.
Choose an area that has at least five hours a day of
full sun and is somewhere you enjoy sitting and unwinding
after the working day. Allow your imagination to unearth
creative containers to plant in.
Are you ready to think outside the pot? Here are some
ideas to get you started. Use an old drawer to plant
thyme in and watch it overflow. An old tin watering
can that no longer holds water is still worthy for planting
lavender in.
How about a galvanized bucket filled with rosemary?
A colander, lined first with moss and planted with edible
nasturtiums, shouts, “Look at me!” Use anything
of character that fits your personality to plant in.
However, keep in mind that herbs don’t like their
feet wet so good drainage is a must. This can be achieved
easily by punching or drilling holes in the bottom of
whatever you
are using.
If you’re just starting to grow herbs, select
those that are culinary, easy growers, and use them
to enhance your summer entertaining. A few to begin
with and some simple ideas for culinary use are:
Chives - Add the pretty
purple flowers to salads, tie asparagus spears with
a bow of chives, slice them to top veggies or add to
omelets.
Basil - Fresh picked
leaves of basil sing of summer. To avoid bruising basil
leaves when cutting, wash and towel dry them gently.
Roll the leaf and with a sharp knife, make one cut diagonally
to sliver. Tomatoes and basil are like shells to a beach;
they go together.
For an addition to any pasta meal, cut tomatoes into
bite size chunks, douse with olive oil and vinaigrette
dressing, top with a generous amount of slivered basil
leaves and refrigerate until chilled. Drain tomato mixture
and use as a topping on crusty, baked bread slices.
Rosemary - The leaves
of rosemary have a pungent taste, but once acquired,
it’s often craved. Add rosemary leaves dipped
in melted butter to gently boiled red skin potatoes.
Pick long stems of rosemary, strip the leaves and
use the stems as skewers on the barbecue for grilled
veggie kabobs. Adding rosemary sprigs to your coals
will enhance the flavor of chicken or meats done on
a grill.
Lemon verbena - This
herb is versatile and for lemon lovers only. Add leaves
to fish while broiling, baking or grilling. Leaves added
to lemonade or ice tea will add a real zing of luscious,
lemon flavor.
Borage - The blue star
flowers of borage are delightful to look at and peppery
to the taste buds. Add borage flowers to salads. Freeze
the flowers in ice cubes along with grated lemon zest
for lemonade. Paint borage flowers with water, then
coat them with granulated sugar using a dry brush and
allow them to air-harden. Use these sweet flowers to
top individual, summertime desserts.
Lavender - Adding lavender
flower heads to a sugar bowl allows their delicate scent
to permeate the sugar. Add lavender flowers to basic
cake recipes.
The uses for herbs are endless. Make herbal vinegars,
steep them for tea, pick bouquets, make hair rinses,
facial cleansers, or herbal pillows. Fresh herbal tub
teas are a gift from summer herbs. Sew muslin bags or
simply take a pretty hankie, fill it with one of the
below mixtures, and tie it into a bundle to drop in
the bath.
To make tub tea mixtures, use a household blender, combining
sea salt with rosemary for an energizing bath or to
soothe sore muscles. To relax before bedtime, blend
either lavender or chamomile flowers with baking soda.
For a scented bath that leaves you feeling silky
soft, add rose petals with powdered milk for your tub
tea.
History tells us that herbs date back
to ancient times. Enjoy the magic of herbs, using them
to renew the body and the soul. Their medicinal properties
are valuable natural resources for good health.
Read about them, plant them and use them to add well-being
to your life. Plant rosemary for remembrance, lavender
for love, and surround yourself with herbs that will
pleasure all your senses.
Revive something of the past, bringing it to life
again, along with stimulating and renewing your creativity
by thinking outside the pot. Savor summer; enjoy planting
and using herbs.
Carolyn Felderman is a Virginia Beach-based writer who
specializes in gardening, cooking and innovative uses
of herbs and flowers to please the palate and nurture
the soul.