Lavender

Lavendula 

Types to grow in North Texas: English Lavender (L. Angustifolia) appears to do best and has smooth-edged leaves. Also available are French Lavender (L. Dentata), which has a serrated leaf and Spanish Lavender (L. Stoechas) with grey leaves. The Spanish variety has clusters of flowers instead of the spike of the other types. Pink and white flowering varieties are not recommended.

Lavender is an evergreen perennial needing full to partial sun. Easiest planting method would be to transplant which can be done year round. Excellent drainage is necessary. Over watering can kill the plant.

Harvest leaves any time but blossoms should be harvested when they first come into bloom. Dry and store in glass container in a dark area. Drying can easily be done by hanging upside-down in bunches.

Lavender is antiseptic, sedative, and antispasmodic.

Uses: Lavender can be used as a spice as one would use Rosemary or in teas. It may be put in a pouch and placed with linens to lend a relaxing scent to the linens as well as repelling moths or stuffed into a pillow. Bath tea is another great way to use both leaves and flowers. Place dried leaves and flowers into a pouch, run a hot bath and let the herbs steep into the water before stepping in. The essential oil may be used in homemade cleaners, bath water, facial washes, or aroma diffusers.

Herbal Preparations

Part 2 of the Herb Series

Teas and Vinegars 

To get the most from your herbal tea you'll want to know a few things. If your tea is made from leaves, fruits, seeds and/or flowers an infusion is the best way to go to really draw out the most benefits. First you can either use a tea bag that you fill yourself, a french press, or a regular teapot and strainer. Typically you will use a teaspoon of dried or a tablespoon fresh of herbs to cup of water depending on your herbs and taste buds. Boil fresh water. Pour the boiled water over your herbs and cover immediately. Allow to steep about 20 minutes. This can vary. Some herbs, such as chamomile may take only 10 minutes. Some herbs can be left in all day. If you do not wish to "cook" your herbs in this way you can make sun tea by putting the herbs in a clear glass jar with the water and placing in the sun. Be sure you have a lid of course. This may be served hot or iced. Remember that the longer you let it steep, the stronger it will be.

You may want to use your roots, nuts, or barks for your tea. This is accomplished by decoction (with the exception of valerian. Valerian should be infused with one of the above methods.) Put your plant material in cold water and place over a low heat. Slowly bring to a boil and simmer gently for 15 to 20 minutes with a tight fitting lid. 

If you are making a preparation that contains both leaves and roots you could simmer your roots and then add your leaves when you take it off the heat. If your preparation is already blended you would simmer some and then add some more after taking it off the heat.

Another great way to use herbs is in an herbal vinegar. The vinegar can then be used in salad dressing, cooking, or even as a hair rinse depending on the herbs you use. You may use fresh or dried herbs. If using fresh herbs you will want to be sure to let them gently wilt in a shaded warm spot during the day to let some of the water evaporate. Either way you will then chop your herb and put them into a clean glass jar. You will want to put enough herbs in to fill the jar Then pour your vinegar over the herbs being sure you cover the herbs completely. Place your jar in a warm, dark place for 2- 6 weeks. The longer you leave them the stronger the finished product. Shake your herbs daily. After the 2-6 weeks strain the herbs out using a fine mesh cheese cloth or cotton muslin cloth. Be sure to squeeze all of the liquid out. Store in a glass container that is labeled with the date and herbs used.

Any time you put herbs into any container you want to be sure to label and date the container. This is really important. Even if you just have a jar of lavender flowers you want to go ahead and label the jar. If you have a pre-blended tea mixture label it with every herb in order of volume. You will forget how you blended the herbs and may want to make more. Just label EVERYTHING! Trust me. I've figured I would remember what was in what jar when I was in a hurry and later I wished I hadn't hurried.

Herbs, Herbs, and more Herbs

I have recently had the pleasure of being asked to give a presentation on herbs. To that end I wrote up a few things there were of interest to this particular audience. To make the information readily available I've decided to post the information here in installments. The first installment is the most frequently asked question I get. How does one harvest and store herbs. My preference is usually to dry the herbs as it is the easiest. Below is what I wrote up to present. I was trying to keep it short and to the point. There will be much more information to come including information on specific herbs. These are basically my notes  

Drying and Storing Herbs

Collect herbs when they are at their best. Roots should be full of life. The roots should not be full of bugs or woody. Leaves should look vibrantly tender and fresh with no discoloration. Leaves should not be harvested when the plant is in bloom. Flowers should be plucked when they are just about to bud into full beauty.

Herbs are best gathered according to season and time of day. Early morning and early evening are generally best. Gather herbs that are free from moisture which will prolong the drying time.

Roots: 

Roots are generally harvested in the Fall. In a wet season wait until things have dried out a bit. Wet roots are soggy and hard to dry. They are also less concentrated in their saps and juices. Old roots become woody and tough and are undesirable. Do not soak roots to clean them. Use a vegetable scrubbing brush and a little water. To dry roots slice them into small pieces first. You may dry them in full sun, by a wood stove, or in a food dryer or dehydrator. They usually take 2-3 weeks to dry. Do not store them until you are absolutely sure they are completely dry or they will be ruined. They should crack, not bend.

Drying leaves and flowers: 

Dry in a warm shaded area out of direct sunlight. 85-95 degrees is best. Good ventilation is a must. A fan may be helpful. There should be very little moisture in the air. Attics and upstairs rooms are often better for drying. Your herbs may be bundled by species and hung upside down in your warm, dry room. Be sure to check your bundles of herbs and when completely dry store them in a clean dry glass jar in a dark place. It should take between 4 days to a week for your herbs to be completely dry depending on the humidity. The leaves should crackle. A dehydrator is an acceptable method to dry leaves and flowers too.

In the Fall 2011 issue of The Herb Quarterly another drying method has been presented on page 25. This is to loosely pack your herbs in a brown paper bag, close with a clothespin and put the bag in your parked car. On very hot days the trunk is the best place to put them; otherwise put it on the dashboard. Shake the bag to check dryness and, according to the article, they should be dry within a day or two. Another method of car drying would be in single layers in baskets. This is recommended for comfrey and basil as they tend to blacken otherwise. I would not recommend drying valerian this way unless you want your car to smell so bad it wards off thieves and everyone else. Pick up a copy of The Herb Quarterly for more information on this and lots more dealing with herbs. It is a great resource!

Stay-At-Home-Mom???

    I don't know who came up with the title "Stay-At-Home-Mom." I don't know one "stay-at-home-mom." Not one. I've tried to be one, but it just never happens. I do not have a job outside of the house, yet I cannot manage to be a "stay-at-home-mom."

    I haven't posted anything to the blog lately because I've not been home long enough to do so. I'd like to say that we've been on an extended vacation on some exotic beach, but that isn't the case. I've been driving kids all over the country...Okay, not all over the country. Just all over the city. I have come to realize that my dreams of being a "stay-at-home-mom" are nothing but dreams. I'm a "stay-in-the-car-mom." Even a "car-schooling-mom" as we aren't home to home school.

    My boys are so actively involved in their 4-H club, as am I, that we are often on the go throughout our 4-H year. Going to project meetings, club meetings, county meetings, dances, etc. My eldest takes guitar so there we go. They are both actively involved in community service projects like city clean-ups. Obviously that means I go too.

    I couldn't wait for summer. Even the Texas heat wasn't going to bother me this year. Summer was going to be quiet and slow. That is not how it turned out. Both boys are taking some summer classes at the local community college...I say local, actually it is about 35 minutes away on a good day. I guess that is still local. Their classes start at 1 and end at 5. So I get a couple of hours at home, right? Wrong! Something almost always comes up. Getting the 4-H record book signed and turned in to the county, going grocery shopping, running errands. On a good day I get to hang out with my aunt. She lives closer to the campus the boys are attending so it makes more sense than coming home.

    I miss my home but in the end I wouldn't do anything differently. The boys are learning so much and gaining so much independence. I still love every minute with them. I really do enjoy their company. I know this "stay-at-car-mom" phase of my life won't last long. One day I'll probably look back and miss it just as I miss being able to pick up my eldest and carry him around. When I could carry him that is what he wanted all the time and my back would hurt and I would tell him to walk on his own. Now he is almost as tall as me so it would look pretty amusing to see me trying to carry him on my hip. One day they'll be driving themselves causing me all kinds of worry. So I'll carry on and see it for what it is, a phase. One day my home and I will be back together again. Until then my car and I will be the best of friends.

To Heat or Not to Heat...That is the Question.

Here in North Texas it looks as though Spring is gracing us early this year. It is the middle of February and 75 degrees during the day. No one could be happier than I!  I do not like the cold and we have had some extreme cold this Winter. There were actually days when the temperature here dropped below that of the temperature in Alaska! Short of having scary knife wielding clowns clawing at my windows trying to get in, extreme winters are my worst nightmare.

With all of those frigid temperatures the question arose, should we heat the coop? There are pros and cons on each side. Everyone knows I have very "spoiled" hens. They are held, petted, and talked to. They are treated to berries, watermelon, and anything else my boys think would bring them pleasure. All you have to do is open the back door to the kitchen and girls run as quickly as their little legs will carry them. It is quite a sight which never fails to bring pleasure to us humans who serve them. So, they are pretty spoiled and loved. 

As the meteorologist predicted lows in the single digits with wind chills below zero, sleet, and snow I began to worry. My two Easter Eggers, Ostara and Fancy, were molting. With so few feathers would they freeze? Were my Buffs, LuLu and Dolly, going to suffer from frost bite on their combs? What to do? Commence research! I went to www.backyardchickens.com and read all of the posts I could. I visited poultry blogs for their words of wisdom. I talked to others and read books I had on hand. Here is what I learned.

On the side of putting up a heat lamp there is the comfort factor. They would be more comfortable with a nice heat lamp under which to snuggle. If there is going to be a big drop in the temperature they will handle it much better with the extra heat in the coop and acclimate more easily.

On the flip side, the side that may seem cruel at first, is to not add heat to the coop. Adding a heat lamp will increase condensation within the coop. More condensation increases the likelihood of frost bite. When the coop is heated and the chickens go out of the coop there is a very quick temperature change, of course, which puts them at risk of illness. If the girls are used to the heat lamp and the electricity fails they are put in harms way again. Then there is the risk of fire. Heat lamp fires were rampant this year. Entire flocks were lost along with the coops. Some these fires have tragically spread to homes as well.

So you have probably figured out by now that decided not to heat the coop. We closed the largest vents to keep the wind out. There was still plenty of ventilation. Lack of ventilation is unhealthy at the best of times but also causes a build up  of condensation. So they were ventilated but protected from the bitter winds. We were sure they ate well before nightfall. I also put vaseline on their combs and wattles to protect them from frost bite. The evidence on this is sketchy at best, but it can't hurt. At the very least when you massage in the vaseline it helps the blood flow. The result? Every chicken accounted for and NO frost bite! No "freezer burned" chicken as one neighbor put it. 

The ladies are all out there now enjoying the beautiful weather scratching around. We are also back to getting an egg a day from each girl. They had slowed down a bit because of the shorter days and molting. We're back on track now.

I am so pleased to have made it through our first winter with the chickens. It is time to move on to spring planting! I have plans for those raised beds this year, but that is another conversation.

Choose Your Words Carefully

Here it is, almost Christmas. Where did the time go. I was just complaining about it being hot and now I'm complaining about it being cold.

So, what's a Texas Farmgirl to do about Christmas? I try to make a lot of the gifts we give out. I knit things like sweaters, dish cloths, mary jane slippers. I make some herbal gifts like teas, rosemary garlic olive oil, relaxing bath teas, or cold and flu bath salts. I also make fudge and cookies. What everyone really wants is my grandmother Cara's almond macaroon cake! I've been making it for years and my grandmother made it for years before me. It is a bundt cake that is good any time of day or night. It's not too sweet. Though it is called an almond macaroon cake it contains neither almonds nor macaroons. What does it contain, you might ask? I can't tell you. It is a family secret. I have sworn upon pain of death not to give out the recipe. My mother will carry that out too. My oldest son knows how to make it now. Isn't that cool? My son is making the same cake that my grandmother made so often. She would give this cake out as a gift and now my son is following that pattern. He likes making them for adult 4-H leaders as a thank you.

That reminds me of another cake my grandmother Cara used to make. It was a mandarin orange cake. This cake had 3 layers with the most slippery icing between each layer. I happened across the hand written recipe in one of my grandmother's notebooks. On one page she was balancing her budget; on the other is this recipe for a cake that everyone loved. She used to make it for birthdays sometimes. My husband didn't get one of these mandarin orange cakes for his birthday. I found the recipe just before his birthday and thought I'd make it for him. It was like grandma was telling me to make it for him from her.

I knew there were some issues with this cake. It is in 3 very thin layers. The cake is very soft and moist with pieces of mandarin oranges trying to break it up. It was going pretty well until I started getting the cakes out of the pans. I called my mom to see if grandma had a secret to keeping it together. She did! My mom asked me if I had cussed at the cake. You read that right. She wanted to know if I had used inappropriate language in the cake's presence. In my frustration I had. Then she asked me what word. What word? Seriously? Apparently I was using the wrong expletive. Grandma was quite particular about this cake. Mom gave me the word. I hung up the phone and sent the kids out of the kitchen. Lo and behold! That cake cooperated after that!

So the next time you're having problems in the kitchen, maybe it isn't you. Maybe you just haven't chosen your words carefully enough.

Since the recipe for mandarin orange cake (or pig pickin' cake) is all over the internet I'm going to post it here. I'll give you the recipe but I don't think I can give you the magic words to make it work online. You'll have to figure that out for yourself.

Ingredients

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 (11 ounce) can mandarin orange segments
• 1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple with juice
• 1 (3.5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 3 9 inch round pans.
2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, eggs, oil and mandarin oranges with juice. Beat until smooth. Pour batter into 3 prepared pans.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.
4. To make the topping: In a large bowl, beat together whipped topping, pineapple with juice and dry pudding mix until blended. Spread on cake and layer.

First of all let me introduce myself. My name is Tanna and as you can tell from my description I am obviously insane. I am married to the best man I know and we are raising the most wonderful boys whom I homeschool. That isn't what makes me insane though. We have a dog, Jake, that is some mix of random herding dogs. We also have a cat, Minerva, that drives my hubby insane. That isn't what makes me insane either. I am raising a small back-yard flock of chickens. The picture above is of LuLu, one of our two buff orpingtons (she is named after Lucy Buffett, Jimmy's sister and owner of the best restaurant I know) and behind her is Ostara, one of two easter eggers. They are about 4 weeks old in the picture enjoying the coop my husband built for them out of reclaimed lumber. The lumber is from a play set my boys enjoyed until a tornado threw a tree into it. I have two veggie gardens and herbs growing anywhere I can stick them. None of that is what makes me insane either. So what is it you ask??? It is that I am doing it in the Texas heat, in the middle of an urban area on less than a 1/4 of an acre.

Let me just get this out there. I really don't like it here right now. It is hot and it is polluted and we are too far from a beach. I don't have anything against the people though. I love all of my neighbors. I am very fortunate to live in a neighborhood that is, in some ways, stuck in the 1950's. We know all of our neighbors. We all look out for each other. There are fantastic kids riding bikes up and down the street (when it is under 100 degrees anyway). We have progressive dinner, block parties, a wonderful Halloween experience and lots of front porch conversation. We also have the best 4-H club in which my kids and are heavily invested. So I guess I'd like to just pick up my neighborhood and set it in a place with clean air, no gas drilling, temps that don't regularly soar over 100 degrees with a beach in one direction and mountains in the other. I would also like this place to not dip below freezing too often. Hey, I was raised here and I'm not used to the cold. Is that too much to ask? I hope not.