Special additions to your Garden Journal in Autumn

As Fall arrives I get melancholy about the sleep of my garden and the fact I cannot visit it daily and enjoy what it has to offer.  Since weeding and other tasks slow in the fall I have time to do a special recording project with my plants. 

You will need an old dictionary, a telephone book, or other large tome, or a plant press if you have one.

As the growing season draws to a close, go out to your garden and snip a sample of your herb plants.  About 1 inch of stem will be enough or a branch with two to three leaves. Or you can snip off a flower.  Press each sprig between the pages of the book or in the plant press and leave in a cool dry place for 2 to 3 weeks.

  

Once you remove the plants from the press, mount each one on either an index card or into the pages of your garden journal.  A bit of white Elmer’s glue should do the trick.  Beside each sprig write the name of the herb, its progress in the garden for that growing season and note what you did with the herbal harvest.

If you use index cards you can slide them into photo sleeves for added protection and preservation.  You can add photos, recipes and other details as you see fit and time permits.

I have a Garden Journal that I make for the Backyard Patch that has Plant pages that allow me to record all these different details.

Here is an example:

Sage – grew three varieties, purple, tri color and garden.  Used the fresh leaves to create vinegar for eating and cleaning.  Dried them in bundles for use in arrangements and winter cooking.  One set of leaves won a 1^st place ribbon at the Garden Club meeting plant competition.

I also like to add a photo of the plant to the listing as well if I have room.

Made the following recipe:

BATH BAG FOR FLU AND COLDS

1 cup dried sage

1 cup dried thyme

1 cup dried lemon balm

Mix herbs together and use ½ to 1 cup in a small muslin bag per bath. Let steep in the bathtub. For additional benefit, use the herb filled bag to rub over your skin.

The Best Herbs for Autumn

Here is a list of the ripe perfect autumnal herbs  and some ways to add them into your seasonal cooking.

Garden Sage

Sage -- This herb gives savory flavor to sausages and stuffings, either by itself or in combination with other herbs. To amaze your friends at dinner parties, pick a handful of the thick, fleshy leaves and fry them to crispness in olive oil, then sprinkle them with sea salt. Much better than potato chips as a snack.

Peppermint -- The mint (small serrated leaves in the picture) shoots up long, lavender flowers. Don't discard the flowers! These have a strong and slightly different flavor than the leaves, and make a nice addition to salads. While most use mint to make iced tea or juleps, the mint can also be used in pestos, and to make various other Italian salsa verdes.

Flowering garlic chives -- This herb flowers in the fall with a white button type flower.  It can be used in stir-fries, or as stuffing for meat, poultry or fish. Steamed with a little sesame or olive oil, they make a fine side dish by themselves.

Lemon Balm

Lemon Balm -- Said to have healing properties, this herb in the mint family smells like lemon more than it tastes. It can make a fine addition to salads or teas, or can be macerated to make a soothing balm for insect stings or sunburn.

Purple Rubin Basil

Basil -- Once again, the flowers are the most potent part of this anise-y smelling herb, and, crumbled over pasta or fresh mozzarella with olive oil, make all the dressing you ever need. And if you like a colorful vinegar, use the purple varieties instead of the green for the best shade of magenta you have ever seen and all the same Basil flavors.

Curly parsley -- Once provided on the side of the plate almost universally in restaurants as a breath freshener (you were supposed to chew it after the meal), curly parsley is strongly flavored and a little goes a long way. Salads or pestos are its best use, or sparingly in meat and poultry stuffings. Or try stuffing a big zucchini with rice and chopped up curly parsley.

Lavender

Lavender -- Identifiable by its lovely lavender flowers and saw-tooth leaves, lavender is more fragrant than it is tasty, and cooking applications are sometimes hard to find. Yet, it is indispensable in the Herbs de Provence of France, is great stuffed in a sachet and hidden in your underwear drawer, and can be sparingly used in flans, ice creams, and other sweet applications.

Thyme -- After a rainfall, thyme becomes the densest of herbs, and also one of the most pungent. Typical uses include savory stews and soups, and why not dry a handful for the winter? Much better than the jarred variety in stores.  The lemon thyme varieties make great tea and vinegar.

St. Leonard's Day - patron saint of green grocers

November 6 - Today is the feast day of St. Leonard of Noblac , the patron saint of green grocers.

I have been recently facsinated with feast days of Saints in ways I have not been since my Confirmation in 8th grade. I am having fun exploring garden related saints, like St. Francis and St. Leonard.

Born to the nobility, part of the court of the pagan King Clovis I. The Queen suggested to Leonard, possibly as a joke, that he invoke the help of his God to repel an invading army. Leonard prayed, the tide of battle turned, and Clovis was victorious. Archbishop Saint Remigius of Rheims used this miracle to convert the King, Leonard, and a thousand followers to Christianity.

Leonard began a life of austerity, sanctification, and preaching. His desire to know God grew until he decided to enter the monastery at Orleans, France. His brother, Saint Lifiard, followed his example and left the royal court, built a monastery at Meun, and lived there. Leonard desired further seclusion, and so withdrew into the forest of Limousin, converting many on the way, and living on herbs, wild fruits, and spring water. He built himself an oratory, leaving it only for journeys to churches. Others begged to live with him and learn from him, and so a monastery formed around his hermitage. Leonard had a great compassion for prisoners, obtaining release and converting many, who then lived near him and helped clear lands and grow crops.

It is both this work and the fact that he lived off herbs and vegetables on his travels that made him the patron saint of those who grow and sell vegetables. He is also know as the Vegan Saint.  

This is a perfect saint day to explore salad dressings, vegetable side and main dishes, so here are a few suggestions.

Hearty Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes

1 small butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (4 cups)

1 tablespoon fresh thyme

kosher salt and black pepper

biscuit mix and ingredients to make 8 biscuits

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan (1 ounce)

2 15-ounce cans cannellini beans, rinsed

1 bunch spinach, thick stems removed (4 cups)

Directions

1.     Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until soft, 5 to 6 minutes.

2.     Add the tomatoes and their juices and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes.

3.     Stir in the squash, thyme, 5 cups water, 1 ½ teaspoons salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper and bring to a boil.

4.     Reduce heat and simmer until the squash is tender, about 15 minutes.

5.     Meanwhile, prepare the biscuits according to the package directions, sprinkling with the Parmesan before baking.

6.     After the soup has simmered, stir in the beans and spinach and cook until the spinach is wilted and the beans are heated through, 2 to 3 minutes. Serve with the biscuits.

Vegetable Barley Soup

Makes 8 quarts, serves 16

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups barley

1/4 cup olive oil

6 carrots, diced

6 stalks celery, diced

4 large onions, diced

4 parsnips, dices

kosher salt and black pepper

1 102-ounce can diced tomatoes (or four 28-ounce cans)

1 Tbls. Backyard Patch Soup & Salad blend

1 bunch kale, thick stems discarded and leaves chopped (8 cups)

2 15.5 oz. can chickpeas, rinsed

Salt & pepper

Directions:

1. Cook the barley according to the package directions (set aside.)
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large pot or Dutch oven.
3. Add the carrots, celery, onions, parsnips, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to soften, 20 to 25 minutes.  
4. Add the tomatoes (and their juices) and 8 cups water. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the soup has slightly thickened and the vegetables are tender, 45 to 60 minutes.
5. Add the herbs and kale and simmer, stirring occasionally, until it is tender, 5 to 6 minutes.
6. Stir in the chickpeas and cooked barley and cook until heated through, about 3 minutes.

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Making a Fall Harvest Stew

Harvest Vegetable Stew

A perfect recipe you can make with vegetables in your garden.  The Olive Oil Dipping Sauce gives this a great hint of garlic.  Serve with crusty bread.  I usually add blanched carrots to this as well.

6 tomatoes, cored and quarters

4 potatoes, peel and cut into large chunks

1 green bell pepper, core and cut in large junks

3 medium zucchini, peeled and cut into 1 1/2 inch rounds cut in half

1 medium onion, peel and cut in half, cut the halves into petals

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. red pepper

1 tsp. Backyard Patch Olive Oil Dipping Sauce

2 cups water

Prepare all the vegetables, then put into a large pot and simmer until all vegetables are cooked, about 60 to 90 minutes.  If you don't like tomato skins you may pull them out as the tomatoes cook.