Welcome to the Family!!!

That's right, the Aloe Vera has come home to live with me! We have named him Doug. And he's a perfectly lovely little plant with five tentacles and a brand new little bud. Though it is considered winter and the herb manual says that during he winter all I'm suppose to do is once a week squirt the spines with water. It ha some character to it this plant, with a growth on the biggest of them from being placed in extreme sunlight. Or at least that's what was being said about it. I'm not too certain that Illinois gets extreme sunlight, but he'll enjoy it here I hope. I cleaned off the little spines when I got it home and measured the longest one to monitor it's progress. 10 inches from base to end of the longest tip. Very cool. Lets hope I don't kill it right off the bat.

Merry Christmas, Everyone.

That's right guys, Christmas can bring all sorts of cheer. This year it brought smiling faces and happiness to my family. Young and old. Emma got tons of presents and love from her family and I received a nice small stuffed animal (a hippo), whom I name Ludwig. But shockingly, as I mentioned earlier, that I was playing secret santa, Nicky turned out being mine and not only did she buy me some glorious Frost poetry, she also got me the very thing I had been staring at in the store not two day before! I opened my gifts and just about teared up when I saw them... TWO wondrous pie plates. I had stared at them so longingly and convinced myself not to purchase them and my goodness was I so happy.

And not only did she give me these wonder plates, she has also given me an adoptee. An aloe plant! Its a small cute little thing which is saying its goodbyes tonight. But Nicky, the awesome cousin she is, is my partner in crime. We spent almost an hour looking at pictures, a lot of which were her garden which consisted of beautiful tomato, peppers, and carrots. There were tons others, almost up to 30 pots I think. She really is a green thumb, but apparently little aloe plants aren't safe, hahah. She says that though she's loving her gardening, that the mystery of the desert plant eludes her, sooooo I am inheriting it.

Its been a great day, and this is a short update but I wanted to tell you about the aloe plant and its glory as well as Ludwig. Oh and my grandmother got me a 'fill it' cake kit. Very neat. You can bake with it to have a round cake with different colored layers. Very cool! I'll try it out later after today's pie dishes are done.

Merry Christmas guys!

Season Two!

Well since the season is coming to a close I thought that perhaps I should speculate on what next year looks like in the way of this one's garden. I finished packing away all my nice pots for the winter. I'm sure I'll be digging them out at the start of April once seedlings have again been brought forth from the dirt, but for now, the cold has taken the better of them. I did however leave out two pots to experiment with. A plastic one, hoping that it would be less cold that a ceramic pot. And the very first pot I ever bought. The little blue one.

I am of course waiting to begin until 2011, but that doesn't leave January devoid of planting! Its like a fun game to play with yourself. Weighing the pros and cons of what plants to attempt growing in January. I'll letting the basil have its resting period, since we just finished playing with that, but I do in fact want to have an enormous herb garden someday and I want to say I've at least attempted to grow things other than basil. Even though we are all fairly aware by now that its my favorite since I am yet to kill one off accidentally.

Anyway I fished out my box of seeds to discover these have yet to be successfully attempted: Savory, Italian Parsley, and Cumin. Now that we know this however, we check heights and sun exposure times in the wonder book, also known as, The Complete Herb Book by Jekka McVicar.

By the way, quick fact! Did you know Parsley was used to decorate the dead's tombs? WEIRD! But anyhow, it only gets to 10" about which is good and definitely doesn't like being transplanted, so into the tiny pot that would go, with a towel wrapped about it to keep warm and in my sill. Perks!: Chewing it raw promotes healthy skin, fresh breath, and eaten cooked can promote suitable treatments for UTIs. Very nasty those things. OOOOO And I could make hair rinse from it. Sounds great! We shall attempt that one. I am excited for all its uses.

On to the Cumin. Shocked as I am to find that cumin isn't in the book, it looks interesting. My packet says its up to 12" Tall, and is suppose to harvest after the seeds turn brown... hmm... not very helpful. Lets check the net shall we? Oooo looks like its great for boiling into a tea to make a stomach pain reducer, and OH! The horror! Requires long hot summers to grow. Well I guess that means no cumin for the January season.

Hmmm how about that Savory?

Oh my... well it gets 12" tall and is world renown as an aphrodisiac? Oh dear. Apparently the stuff was suppose to be the stuff of myths. These half goat people would stand in a field of the stuff and called it 'the herb of happiness.' Well... I hope there are other uses because I don't need any of that stuff getting involved in my garden. BUT! I wonder if Mik knows that because he claims to know all in Greek and roman myths. I should ask him, bwahahaha...

Oh my! Such a good thing, I found some more uses, good for asthma! Yay for me. I should try that. I think savory is our winner, and not only be default either. Oh goodie, and it makes great tea. awesome.

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Alrighty then all we have decided on the plants to attempt. Now because its winter, and because these seeds say use in 2010, I will attempt to grow them three times. If no sprouts come then I say its one of the tow things or both, and we'll try again with new seeds in spring. Very, very exciting. I can't wait. Especially since savory looks like pine needles. Fun.

For now though, I say adieu and good day to you all.
Justine

Christmas smells great!!

You know what I realized? Pine is an amazing smell. I mean I just got home from Florida and let me tell you something, I love that warm weather, but something about walking through the pine tree section at Menard's just makes my heart flutter. Its all the right time of year for pine trees and know what? All the more right time for Basil! Yes I know its been ages, but well to be perfectly honest, it doesn't matter. All my plants have passed on by now, I had to allow them to take their last breathes before leaving on vacation, but that didn't stop me from drying the final plants and guess what this happy camper got to bring home with her for Christmas?

A MORTAR and PESTLE!

That's right! My dad bought me that gorgeous little stone there that says very sweetly, 'Bless this Garden.' I was very wobbly eyed when I received it because as we all know this little hobby of mine really matters to me and it makes my heart light up to see that others notice that as well. The mortar and pestle were a gift from my grandma Judy. Who let me get it while we discovered a quaint little cooking store at the mall in Bradenton. Its small and perfectly fits in my hands. And that's right you know what I made with it? I made Christmas presents!

Sure I can't buy things since we all know that aside from being rather frugal I am also about to lose my job and can't really afford gifts, but! I can make gifts. I took that little pestle and ground up that basil and mixed it with my mom's favorite generic tea blend and repackaged it for gifting to whomever it fits best. As we are playing secret santa this year I have to be careful who I gift to because I don't want to seem unfair. I think my person will enjoy them though... I hope. Speaking of gifts though!

I am sending Dad the basil oil. I made it and now it has someone who will appreciate it. He was very excited when I mentioned it because he likes to cook. One of the best cooks I've known actually, so I am gifting him a bottle. Bottle two went to friend Josh, as he now eats only organic foods and thought it was super cool. At least I hope he thought so... Bottle three is going to my sister. We all knew that was coming though right? The culinary queen should certainly have a bottle. So that covers that.

Now as for this tea, I'm hoping that I did it right, but I'm pretty certain that I did. I first, slowly took apart a tea bag and emptied it's contents. Afterward I used a teaspoon scooper to figure out how much was in there and replaced it 2/3 with basil and 1/3 with the original blend, so its still tea like of course. The next kind of basil I grow (hopefully a bigger variety), I'll try mixing with chamomile and that might give it a nice blend. All I know is it smells amazing!

That's it for now on the gardening end of things,
I'll update you all later with the outcome!

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The Gardening Bunny.

Preparing for Christmas

Well since not many people actually read my blog, I don't have to worry about people who are receiving these actually reading this. BUT! I spent all night last night working on making the basil oil for the specialty little containers I bought at Michael's. I plucked 8 tablespoons of fresh basil from the first plant, and was overly surprised to find that that there is at least another 8 tablespoons on that plant if not 16 and the same on the other plant. With the addition of extra virgin olive oil, my basil oil is not 'setting' in the cold dark closet for the next 3 weeks. Every weekend I am suppose to shake it up and return it to the closet. After that I put the oil into the bottles and put in a few fresh leaves and they should be ready for gifting. Apparently the longer it sits, the better the oil is infused.

Anyway I found the recipe online and with aid, figured out how to bruise my basil leaves without a mortar and pestle, though that doesn't stop me from needing one. Any way after that I was inspired to find the uses of my basil oil and I was happily excited to find that my Sunflower's favorite food, (aside from gyros and mozz sticks), that we cook here at home actually is seasoned often with basil oil so I am really excited to give him some tasty basil oil pasta! It appears its also good for our tummy aches so I'll have to try it this weekend.

Speaking of this weekend! My grandmother's burial is on Friday afternoon and I'm thinking basil tea for everyone might be nice. Well... for those that will drink it. My uncle John and his family are coming up for this as well, so I hope that everything goes well.

Goodnight all,
Tine.

Fury!

Can you believe it!? All those days of tending to those basil vigilantly and they produced flowers right out from under my nose! How am I suppose to turn them into basil oil if the basil can't be used because it was flowering! I'm so made I could just.... BAH! My fury will be unleashed!

Oh and for the record, those gorgeous sunflowers, despite my best effort, wouldn't pollinate and thus have come to the end of their road. The insides have dried up and the pretty yellow petals didn't last too long after. But they were beautiful while they lasted and I will cherish them just like I did the teddy bear sunflowers even after death. The savories didn't make it either and the lack of sun from the oncoming fall days and winter on the verge has sent them into a downward spiral. The baby basils are the only ones left of the babies. The savory didn't survive and nor did the baby sunflowers, but perhaps ts for the best. I don't want to have to force them into thinking they aren't in the warmth and happiness where they belong.

Oh well, if anyone has any basil oil recipes, lemme know!

Hello Oxygen!

For those of you who don't know, I have been battling with a rather nasty chest virus lately and this afternoon I finally met with my old and dearest friend OXYGEN! The family and I, after our glorious soccer game, traveled to Starved Rock State Park, it was extremely amazing to have all that oxygen provided by all our wonderful trees. Very nice to finally be able to breath like a normal person again.

Anyway, on to the big news!!! The Dwarf Incredibles... have blossomed!! That's right after leaving them in window to soak up as much sun as possible after the sun decided to start rising too early to get them out for their normal doses. It was great! It is great! Look at the little petals and its first tiny stamen things are extruding pollen. Its greatness!!! They are beautiful. Now you should also know that I am going on vacation starting Monday afternoon (can't miss Sunday night football), and heading to my brother's house for the week. I do enjoy those visits, but sadly it means that while I am gone I must leave the glorious garden in the care of Emma and her mother. They are good gardeners, I get my own slightly greenish tinted thumb from her, but she also doesn't have much time in the morning to be taking them out all the time. Hopefully the sunflowers continue to release their little stamen things and get even bigger. So far there is 2 blooms, hopefully with will get the last third one.

Also, the lack of sun has claimed another life, the savory is has passed on as well as the nasturtiums. They just couldn't be coaxed into surviving, but there is one more of the nasturtium plants left and its quite healthy. We'll try new savory after Christmas is over. Mom says anything that dies before Christmas can't be replaced because the table I've been using for the garden is the table we use for the tree. Our apartment being so tiny and everything. Anyway, time to baby my babies and prepare them for the night, wash the sill so they can go back out there and then wash there indoor trays so they are ready for their mommy's vacation.