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Tuesday, December 17, 2019

December 17, 2019 the wonder of winter solstice


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. 
Pour the fudge while it is hot into an 8x8 or 9 x9 inch round or square pan lined with parchment paper, sprayed with cooking spray, or lightly buttered.
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….

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