Hi gardeners
It’s the holiday season
and things are hectic and stressful for many people. Remember, it will all be over soon! Then you can turn your attention back to
gardening. Save those seed/plant
catalogs that are rolling in. You’ll
want them in January.
I remember the pile
of seed catalogs my grandmother had at the side of her favorite chair. She read
through them all winter, learning about new plants and compiling her list of
things to order. Sometimes she gave me her extra catalogs. Things don’t change
because I have the same pile of catalogs by my chair now (current ones, not
grandma’s). Some of the catalogs are even from the same companies.
Once my grandmother
cut a lot of colorful pictures out of her catalogs, mainly roses as I remember,
and pasted them on an old refrigerator they had in their “rec” room. The
pictures totally covered the frig, like wallpaper. I admired the look, although my mom said it
was tacky.
I asked my
grandmother for any catalogs she didn’t want and went home to cut out pictures.
I knew I would never get away with plastering them on our frig so I pasted them
on my bedroom walls. That did not go over well either and I was ordered to peel
them off. That left places where the
paint peeled off with the pictures, which left me in even more trouble.
Seed catalogs have
provided entertainment for people, including kids for a long time. Ben Franklin
is said to have published the first seed catalog in 1744. David Landreth, known for founding the Pennsylvania
Horticultural Society, published a seed catalog in 1784. This company still
exists, one of the longest surviving companies of any type. They have modernized over time and you can go
to their website at https://www.landrethseed.com/
The Landreth seed
catalog introduced American gardeners to the tomato and zinnia. The Landreth’s
(his brother Cuthbert and his son were also part of the business) developed
Bloomsdale Long Standing spinach, a variety that is still available today. Landreth
was known for importing seeds from all over the world to bring new things to
American gardeners.
Other very early seed
and nursery catalogs were put out by W. Atlee Burpee, Ferry-Morse and Park
seed. These were first available in the 1800’s.
You can get these catalogs today also. Other catalogs have disappeared
over time. But if you find one of the old seed catalogs hold onto it, some are
worth a bit of money. The L. H. Bailey Hortorium, part of the
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University maintains a
collection of old seed catalogs for research purposes. You can see some of it here; http://bhort.bh.cornell.edu/catalogs.htm
When I was working
with at risk students in an after-school program, I found another use for my
pile of seed catalogs. I brought them in and had the students look through
them, telling them to make a list of things they might like to grow. I then
gave them graph paper and lists of spacing requirements and had them plan a
garden. Most of them became very involved in the project and many begged to
keep the seed catalogs. Hopefully a few gardeners were created through the
project.
So other than
having to save those seed catalogs for January, I hope everyone has a great
holiday, whichever one you celebrate. I
am going to take a holiday break and publish my next blog on January 7, 2020.
Wonderful
Winter solstice
At
11:19 pm, December 21, 2019, is the moment of winter solstice. Winter solstice
is the oldest and maybe the first holiday that people celebrated. Winter
solstice marks the suns closest proximity to earth and the lowest point on the southern
horizon that it appears. It is also the longest night of the year, if only by a
few seconds.
Note: some of you reading this will have a different
exact solstice time. You can find your
exact solstice moment at this site:
The sun seems to pause for a few days before winter
solstice, appearing to be in the exact same position in the sky. At the moment
of solstice, it is directly overhead and then will begin to climb in the sky
and move north again, if ever so slowly.
Near the equator seasonal day length differences are
minimal. It must have been a little disconcerting for early migrators out of
eastern Africa to see the sun getting lower in the sky and the days growing
colder and shorter. The farther north (or south) they moved the more drastic
the difference became. Naturally they would monitor the skies, hoping for the
sun to return to normal.
Our ancestors felt great relief when they could determine
that that the suns cycle was reversing. The ancients knew that the sun was the
key to life. At winter solstice it has been resurrected or reborn. When the sun
“turned and began to come back” it was a signal that life would continue. This has
always been a time for great celebration.
Over generations our ancestors learned to determine this
turning point of the sun at almost the instant it happens. That still seems
amazing, that they could pinpoint the start of solstice, without any of our
modern instruments and our knowledge of how the earth revolves around the sun
and turns on its axis. The pyramids, Stonehenge and other monuments that track
the sun’s journey are proof that they did track the sun.
There was a time when winter solstice was the most sacred
holiday of the year. Life on earth is going to continue for our species, (at
least for a while), because there is a familiar, constant and comforting law of
nature. The calendar revolved around it. The day after solstice is the
beginning of a new natural year, the true New Year’s Day.
Long, long before Christmas or Hanukah our ancestors
celebrated winter solstice. The winter solstice celebration was a symbol of
hope and joy, rebirth and a new year. It was believed that man was closest to
the spiritual realm in the days around winter solstice. It was a solemn time of meditation and
reflection, a time to relinquish fears and cares in the old year and look
forward to better times in the new. Fires were lit to symbolically burn fears,
cares and transgressions. Promises and
wishes were made for the new year.
At the end of about 3 days of solemn retrospection, there
was feasting and visiting with the community to celebrate life and the promise
of the new year. Bringing evergreens inside was also a symbol that there was
life amidst the cold and dark.
Small gifts were given, mostly for luck in the new year,
which is the probable origin of gift giving at this time of year. In ancient
times it was not a time to wish for material things and if gifts were given it
was to the very poor to start a new life or the gifts were symbolic in nature.
Both Hanukkah and Christmas were set by religious leaders
to coincide with the winter solstice celebrations, since people were going to
celebrate then anyway. It’s interesting that the Torah does not mention Hanukah
although the new testament of the bible does. The event said to be celebrated,
the victory of the Maccabees over the Syrian Greek army, occurred after
the first Torah was written. And the battle probably did not happen at that
time of the year.
It wasn’t until the 4th century that the birth
of Christ was celebrated, and the birth of Christ probably didn’t even occur at
that time of the year according to scholars. In earlier times the birth was
celebrated in January but at some point, was moved back to coincide with winter
solstice. It was just more convenient to try and convert “pagans” by allowing
them the celebrations they already enjoyed.
Interestingly the Roman holiday of Saturnalia is often
confused with winter solstice celebrations. Solstice celebrations began long
before this holiday. Saturnalia was a day set by Romans to worship Saturn, the
god of agriculture and of time. It began on the roman calendar day of December
17th and by 133-31 B.C. had evolved to cover 7 days, so it generally
covered solstice.
People celebrating Saturnalia wore colorful clothes and
there was lots of partying and feasting. No one worked, even the slaves. The
slaves ate with their owners and were even served by them. “Mischief and chaos”
were encouraged, which would return to order after the new year began. Like the
religious holidays above, it was thought the Romans set the holiday dates to coincide
with solstice celebrations to encourage pagans to worship like they did.
Regardless of your religious beliefs, it’s important to
remember the significance of winter solstice, renewal and hope. I believe the
ancients had it right when they believed that this time of the year, the winter
solstice, should be a time for reflection and meditation on the past year. It’s
a time to examine our lives and decide how we want to live in the new year.
The
time around the solstice, between the 21st -24th, is when
the ancients believed that man’s mind was most open to spiritual enlightenment
and positive life changes. Traditional solstice celebrations
involve a bonfire, where your cares and problems are symbolically burnt. Then
resolutions, wishes and plans are made for the new year.
Take 3 days of every year, beginning at solstice to be
introspective, spiritual and thoughtful. We should wish for self- improvement,
knowledge, forgiveness and the ability to forgive, healing of spiritual wounds
and the ability to meet personal goals.
After
that, let the merriment begin, the feasting and fighting, the drinking and
dancing, the religious rituals, the orgy of gift giving, the family gatherings
and all the hoopla of the season.
Rejoice, a new year was given to you.
Frankincense and Myrrh
Frankincense and
Myrrh are two “spices” that are typically associated with Christmas because of
the bible mentioning that they were brought as gifts to the baby Jesus. What is
ironic is that during the early centuries of Christian worship the burning of
incense, the traditional way of using the scents of Frankincense and Myrrh, was
prohibited because it was associated with pagan and Jewish traditions. It
somehow slipped back into Christian rituals and even now incense is burned in
Catholic and Greek orthodox religious ceremonies.
Frankincense (Boswellia
carteri is the most prominent species of Boswellia used) and myrrh (Commiphora
myrrha is the most harvested species) are both woody plants that grow in
the same desolate dry areas of Northeast Africa where the countries of Ethiopia
and Somalia are now located and along the coast of the Red Sea in Yemen. There are actually several species of both
plants that are harvested, with some yielding a better product than others.
Frankincense trees
grow right on rocks with a special kind of adhesive roots. Myrrh plants are typically shrub like. Both
plants resist transplanting to more favorable climates, although it’s been
tried since the times of the Romans, with potted plants appearing in various
ancient murals.
 |
| Frankincense en.wikipedia |
Both frankincense
and myrrh are harvested by wounding the trees or shrubs trunks and collecting
the sap that oozes out after it has hardened.
It takes a lot of labor and many months to do this in the inhospitable
areas that the plants grow in and the plants were never terribly abundant,
which accounts for the value that was placed on both spices. The lumps of resin were graded by their color
and purity and assigned value accordingly.
The golden lumps of
hardened resin were often worth more than gold and widely traded. The ancient
Egyptians bought boatloads of the spices and camel caravans carried them vast
distances. These spices were often used as currency and taxes were paid with
them. Every deity imaginable was given
frankincense and myrrh as a sacrificial offering. From pagans to Christians the
practice of using frankincense and myrrh in religious ceremonies was passed
along.
The lumps of spice
resin are either ground and used in incense and other products or the lumps are
soaked in oils or alcohol to leach out the scent and medicinal properties. The scents of the two spices are hard to
describe, frankincense seems to have a warmer, more woodsy scent with myrrh
seeming to have a smoky pine scent. The
two are almost always combined in incense for religious ceremonies. You either like or dislike the aroma it
seems.
Our early ancestors
were adept in finding plants that altered the mind and or mood. Both frankincense and myrrh contain chemicals
called sesquiterpenes that are released when the resin powder is burned. When inhaled, sesquiterpenes act on a part of
the brain that controls emotions. They
were used to alter emotions – particularly to ease stress, grief and despair,
and to allow the mind to focus and become introspective. It helps that the scent of these spices is
also pleasing to most people and could cover the not so pleasant smells of
early communal gatherings.
Both frankincense
and myrrh also have traditional medicinal uses.
Myrrh was often used for diseases of the teeth and mouth and is still
used in some toothpastes and mouth washes.
Myrrh was often mixed with wine and used as a pain reliever. It has a bitter taste and is believed to be
the “gall” that was mixed with vinegar and offered to Christ on the cross. It was not a Roman cruelty as so often
taught; rather it was traditional for Romans to offer a pain sedative to those
they crucified, most often myrrh mixed with cheap wine.
Myrrh is also used
in ointments to smooth and heal chapped and inflamed skin and was used to
prevent wrinkles. It, along with
frankincense and other spices and herbs, is part of the embalming fluid
Egyptians used on the dead “mummies”.
Myrrh was also used
to bring on menstruation, possibly to induce abortions. It was given to purify women before they were
“given” to a new man. The book of Ester in the bible gives instructions to
purify a woman by giving her oil of myrrh for 6 months and then for another
additional 6 months she was given sweet oil treatments. This would effectively
mean that she would not be pregnant with another man’s child and was probably
thought to cure any sexually transmitted disease she might also have.
Frankincense has
been used since ancient times to cure arthritic pain and modern research has
found that it is indeed helpful in some forms of arthritis. It is also being used today for the treatment
of ulcerative colitis, and there are studies that prove it’s quite effective. In older references oil of frankincense was
referred to as oil of Olibanum or just as Olibanum.
Egyptian women used
burnt frankincense ashes to make kohl- the original black eyeliner and
mascara. Even today many expensive
cosmetics and perfumes contain either frankincense or myrrh as ingredients.
Frankincense was also
thought to cure sexual diseases and inhaling the smoke was thought to cure
asthma and other bronchial conditions. The smoke of both Frankincense and myrrh
repels insects and the smoke was thought to purge a room of disease or
malevolent spirits and thoughts. And of
course, it made a room smell better in most cases and would alter the emotions
in a positive way.
By the middle ages
the disruption of trade routes made the use of both frankincense and myrrh too
rare and expensive for most people and the use of the spices receded to mostly
religious ritual. Today however you can
find frankincense and myrrh, most often as incense or as essential oils to use
in cosmetic and craft products.
Some
“special” gifts you can whip up in the kitchen
Got herbs? It could be good old culinary herbs like
rosemary and sage or the top herb of all, cannabis. I’ve been experimenting with a little of my
home grown and I’ll be giving some special treats to special people this
Christmas. If you don’t have cannabis
there are some other herbs not quite as special that you can use or in the case
of the fudge, that you can make without any herbs.
I am a novice at
the use of cannabis in edibles, and I am just telling you what I have learned
and done after a lot of research. You can do your own research online and find
many recipes and procedures.
Pre-conditioning
cannabis
If you are going to
use cannabis in edibles you first need to condition it, called de-carbing. If
you don’t do this step your expensive cannabis will only add fiber to the
edible, not the special joy most people desire. You need to heat cannabis to
release the special chemicals. Here’s
how I condition cannabis for edibles.
Grind your
cannabis. I use the food processor; it works for me. I just pulse it a few times for a medium fine
grind. Some people use a hand grinder. I
understand coffee grinders make too fine of a grind. For these recipes you’ll
need to grind about a cup of whole bud and/or trim to produce about a 1/3 to ½
cup of ground product. If you don’t get a 1/3 cup of ground product, grind a
little more.
Put the cannabis in
a metal or glass pan, spread thinly. I use my air fryer, anything that you can
control the temperature at 240-250 degrees F. will work. Put your pan in the
heat for 30 minutes. Make sure it does not get above 250 degrees F. or the
active ingredients will be lost.
After heating the
cannabis store it in a dry clean container that’s tightly closed if you aren’t
going to use it right away. I like to
grind and condition mine only a few hours to a day before using.
Using
other herbs
Many other herbs
can be used in the recipe for herb butter and a few in the candy. These herbs
should be dried and ground. If they are homegrown you can grind them in your
food processor or an herb grinder.
The other herbs do
not need to be pre-conditioned like cannabis but make sure they are fresh for
best results. If you want to try a fresh, green herb, you’ll have to chop it
very finely.
Herb
butter
I’m going to give
you a recipe that makes roughly a half pound of herbal butter. Until you know what you like make small
batches at a time. No matter how you measure the herb, each batch will be
slightly different. With cannabis this
difference can be very important, with other herbs probably not as much.
You’ll need a
source of heat that can be kept low, a heat proof pan or bowl, clean containers
of your choice and some cheesecloth for straining. A crock pot with a low
setting or an air fryer would probably work better than a large oven and be
much more economical.
I like to use
muffin pans lined with cupcake liners for my herbal butters. A ½ pound of butter will make 3 cupcake sized
pats. You could use butter molds if you have them or put cookie cutters on a
sheet pan lined with foil.
How
much herb do you use? What herbs can be used?
I use about a 1/3
cup ground cannabis and I think that makes a pretty strong product. Some other herbs may take more or less herbs,
you’ll need to experiment a bit. Dried
herbs are more potent than fresh.
Herbs to try other
than cannabis are rosemary, thyme, sage, peppermint, lavender, chives, and
dill. You could also add cinnamon or other dried spices to herbal butter or
grated lemon or orange peel. Use those
in tiny amounts. You could mix herbs too.
Keep in mind how
you intend to use the flavored butter. If it’s used in cooking, you can make it
stronger flavored. If you are going to spread it on bread or crackers to eat
make it milder.
The infused butter
will change color. Many times, that will be green. If the color doesn’t please
you, add a few drops of food color and stir it in when the butter is still liquid.
Infusing
the butter
Put your herb in a
pan and add about a ¼ cup of water. A
little water should cover the whole bottom of the pan, but you don’t want too
much. This helps stop the butter from burning.
Cut up a half pound
of butter, (2 sticks), into small pieces. It doesn’t seem to matter if its
salted or unsalted. Add to the pan.
Heat the pan at
180-190 degrees F. for 3 hours. Check from time to time and stir once in a
while. The butter should be liquid but not smoke or brown. If it does turn it
off immediately. Burned butter will have to be discarded.
After 3 hours carefully
pour the hot butter through a funnel lined with cheesecloth into another
container. You can lightly squeeze the cheesecloth to push out more flavored
butter but if you squeeze hard, you’ll likely get sediment in the butter.
After straining
pour the butter in the molds. Chill until firm.
There will be some water left in the molds after the butter sets, simply
pour that off. I pop the butter out of the original cupcake liner and put it in
a new dry one. Store butter in the refrigerator, tightly covered.
Make sure to label
the butter as to what is in it. This is
especially important for cannabis infused butter. Make sure it’s out of reach
of children and pets. Remember that you won’t feel the effects of a cannabis
edible until an hour or so after consumption so start with a small amount.
Easy
Fudge
This fudge recipe
is easy, quick and almost foolproof. You can make it for everyone without using
cannabis or add cannabis for an adult edible. The best thing about it, however,
is how good it tastes. You’ll get a
product that’s great for gift giving but you’ll want to keep some for yourself
too. Most people remark that this fudge is not as sweet as some fudge and many
people who don’t like regular fudge will be won over by this recipe.
This fudge can be
made in dozens of flavors. Some recipe
variations will be given, and you can experiment with varieties of your
own. Just keep the same proportions of
baking chips to the other ingredients and become the fudge expert.
This fudge is made
using a microwave. You could also make it in a double boiler, constantly
stirring until the baking chips are melted.
Make sure your bowl and utensils are completely dry and the microwave is
wiped dry inside before beginning. Any
trace of water in the bowl or microwave may make the fudge set too soon (called
“seizing”) or it will be grainy. Don’t
overcook the fudge. Microwaves vary in
how fast they work. Stop cooking as soon
as the ingredients can be blended together without lumps. An electric mixer on low speed can be used
for blending.
Important
note about adding cannabis: the cannabis must be conditioned or de-carbed, see
the butter recipe above for directions. And add the cannabis after you have
melted the chips and stir it in. Using cannabis
infused butter makes a smoother fudge than just putting dried herb in the fudge.
Use it in place of the butter in the recipe.
Chocolate fudge
Makes about 2
pounds of fudge
3 cups of semi-sweet
chocolate baking chips, use milk chocolate chips if you like less intense
chocolate flavor. (This is about 1 and a
half, 12 oz. packages of baking chips.)
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk- (not evaporated
milk)
2 tablespoons
butter, cut into small pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla
extract
Place the chips and
sweetened condensed milk in a microwave safe bowl.
Heat on high for 3
minutes.
Remove and try to
stir fudge, if the chips lose their shape and the chocolate appears smooth and
creamy you are finished. If not put the
bowl back in the microwave and microwave on high for another minute.
Stir in the butter
and vanilla when the fudge is removed from the microwave. Add ground cannabis
(¼ cup) or cannabis butter if you are using it at this time too and any nuts.
Stir the fudge until it’s well blended and creamy.
Let the fudge cool
completely before cutting. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Stores best in the refrigerator.
Fudge variations
Add chopped nuts or
dried fruit (about 1 cup) after the fudge is removed from the microwave.
For peanut butter
fudge use Reese’s peanut butter flavored chips and omit the butter. After removing
the fudge from the microwave stir in 2 tablespoons of peanut butter. Add chopped peanuts if you like.
Use vanilla chips
and chopped dried cherries for great cherry fudge. Note: vanilla chips can take longer than
other chips to melt. Blend in 1 teaspoon
of vanilla (or cherry flavor) extract after you take the fudge out of the
microwave.
Butterscotch chips
make great butterscotch fudge. Also try
cinnamon flavored chips with chopped toasted pecans for a great flavor.
Why not add some
lavender infused butter to white chocolate chips for a different flavor
fudge? Omit the regular butter. Another herbal flavor might be lemon with
thyme.
You can make a mint
flavored fudge with mint flavored chocolate chips or add a cup of crushed
peppermint candy to a vanilla fudge base after removing it from the microwave.
Or maybe use peppermint herb infused butter instead.
A pretty plate of
various fudges will be a welcome gift.
You may want to wrap flavors separately though, to avoid the flavors
mixing.
Make sure any
cannabis infused fudge is labeled as such and kept out of the reach of children
and pets.
May your problems blow away in the smoke of
the last night’s fire and your hopes and dreams be fulfilled in the new year.
Kim
And So On….
Find Michigan garden events/classes
here:
(This
is the Lapeer County Gardeners facebook page)
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