Making spirits bright at the MN Landscape Arboretum - KMSP-TV

Here's a link to a clip on our tree at the Arboretum that aired on Fox 9 this morning.
Making spirits bright at the MN Landscape Arboretum - KMSP-TV

Great job to all who helped in its creation & the people who put up with the mess in the house.  A special thanks to Bev's husband that drilled holes in those acorns - he went above & beyond the call of duty

Saturnalia

As I was driving home this evening, I saw a beautiful full moon rising.   Shortly after that, I heard Garrison Keillor state on Writer's Almanac that today was the start of the ancient Roman festival, Saturnalia.  I have been reading a book that Nora brought to our attention while we were doing our Green Man decorations for the tree, The Winter Solstice, The Sacred Traditions of Christmas  by John Matthews.  The book states that Saturnalia was celebrated from about the second century B.C. to fourth century A.D.  Saturn was the Roman god of agriculture & time & it's believed his name came from the Latin word satus (to sow). Saturnalia lasted from December 17 thru December 24th and apparently was a time of "rioutous assemblage of fun, laughter, & gift giving."   It is worth mentioning during this cold, dark time of year.  The Solstice is next week & while there is darkness & cold, this is also a reason to celebrate.  The sun will be coming back soon.  So celebrate & enjoy these last days of darkness with light.   

Birds in Holiday Lore

BIRDS IN HOLIDAY LORE  

❈ Some believe that hanging a cardinal on your Christmas tree brings good luck for the coming year. Cardinals are also a symbol of hope.
❈ The 17th century song, "The Twelve days of Christmas", is full of birds and symbols representing them. The five gold rings refer to Ring-necked Pheasants. Four "calling birds" is a misnomer for "colly," or blackbirds.

Source All Seasons Wild Bird Store
Bird's Eye View  Volume 20, Issue 6  November/December, 2013

Some herbie festivities

Our holiday party was a great success.  Lots of delicious food, as usual -herbies can cook.  A Big Thank You to Charlotte for hosting, whose glass tree collection is lovely.

Solstice Tree

Our solsticers were hard at work last week decorating the gigantic tree at the Arboretum.  Our tree decor was based on the Green Man & the Solstice.   Watch for additional close up pictures & info throughout the coming weeks.

A few more Green Men & Babette

A few more of Mary's woodsy Green Men & Donna's alter eho, Babette.  The tree goes up tomorrow, so we're all busy finishing our last adornments. 

Jill's acorns

Here are the adorable felted acorns we've been making for the tree.

Garrison

Mary's version of Garrison.

Our Scavenger

Donna went a hunting &  found the perfect Yule log for under the tree. 

Works in progress

Jill's creation

A few of the Creative Force : Donna, Nora, Bev, & Chip.  

Marcia's creation

Donna's felted acorns.

Creating is such hard work:  a few more GreenMen in progress, along with some felted acorns 

The Oak Man

Donna's creation.

The Green Man Cometh

So a few "certifiables" have been hard at it making the Green Man for the MN Herb Society holiday tree at the Arboretum.  Smile ladies.

The Green Man

Ancient Solstice Rituals &The Green Man is our theme for the MN Landscape Arboretum Holiday Tree this year. 

Here's some inspiration from Donna, as well as her thoughts.   "I used bark for the eyes, nose and mouth, and think that worked pretty good.  I tried to attach leaves in a symmetrical way. What an adventure!  Truthfully, I'm a little spooked by the guy below.  It's actually possible to find eyes on the inside of bark (evergreens)."

What I want to know is does she cover him up at night.  Watch for more of our Green Man creations in the next few days. 

A Guatemalan Kitchen

 

We had a great meeting last week when Amalia Moreno Damgaard was our guest speaker.  Amalia shared some fun stories about the Ceviche Houses in Guatemala City and then made this simple, but fabulous ceviche.  Her cookbook features healthy flavorful Guatemalan recipes -perfect to get us through the cold nights ahead.  I've already made a couple of the recipes; Sopa de Frijoles con Panitos (black bean soup) & Gallo Pinto (speckled rooster).  

Below is a pic of the ceviche Amalia made for us along with a link to the recipe.  Que Delicia! AmaliaLLC.com: Spicy Ceviche Cups

Amalia's Guatemalan Kitchen

Don't forget to join us in the Tea Room on Tuesday for our Fall meeting.  The speaker will be Amalia Moreno-Damgaard,  a Guatemalan chef & business woman.  Our Mesopotamia garden is the inspiration for inviting our speaker & Amalia will surely provide some tasty additions to our winter menus.  She'll have cookbooks for sale & will sign them for our members.
 
Check out her website www.Amaliallc.com & her blog Amalia's Blog

Late season tomaotes

The frosts are coming, but we still have a few days to harvest those tomatoes & peppers.  I went out to gather the ones that were ripe today.  I heard on the news this morning that the average frost date for the metro is October 7th & the average killing frost (28°) is October 20th.  Last year we got both on October 7th.  This year, we've been lucky.  The late spring has transferred to a late autumn frost.  Let's hope this tomatoes have a few more days to ripen on the vine.

From September 17
This little guy held still for his photo.

Renee found a friend in the herb garden

Our volunteer of the year, working hard with a smile on her face.

A Perfect Beginning: October

What a glorious day.  Chip & Mary were out on the Arboretum Prairies looking for the native artemisia.  The sky was a splendid blue & the prairie was stunning on this first of October.

A few evening visitors

So I had a happenstance meeting with fellow Herbie, Carla, last week while at the Arboretum for "Yoga in the Garden".  She told me that herself & Nora were at the Arboretum a few evenings prior & were wondered by some very tiny frogs in the fountain near the perennial gardens & also by a hummingbird moth.  I went in search & uncovered both the baby frogs & tadpoles, along with the beautiful hummingbird moth.  I had only seen one other hummingbird moth a few years ago in my herb garden & had done some research online at that time, so I was able to identify it.  It is a moth & no relation to the hummingbird, but it really does look like a small hummingbird.  Look for them in the evening in your herb gardens.  And don't forget to enjoy these first days of Autumn.

* All a'round the full moon *

Full  Moon over Two Harbors, MN  09.12.2011  7:28pm

Just in case you are wondering, the Full Moon is this Thursday, 19 September, 2013 at 6:12:48 am (CDT).  Check out this website.  * All a'round the full moon *    You can sign up to receive an email to inform you a few days before the full moon, as long as fun Full Moon enlightenment.  I signed up about 5-6 months ago & am not getting any additional junk mail, so I recommend it if you want to know ahead of time when the "lunies" are going to come out. 


Addtionally, at the Arboretum this Thursday, 6-8:00 is the Japanese Moon Viewing in the Grass Collection.  I've gone several years & it is a beautiful evening. 
 http://www.arboretum.umn.edu/moonviewing.aspx

The Dill Monarch

I just went to pull one of the last few stalks of dill that is still growing in my garden.  Not to eat, but to insure some dill control next spring, although it's probably to late for that.  After I pulled the stalk & picked it up to throw in with the garden refuse, I noticed some caterpillars on it.  There were 5 of these beauties chomping away.  While I hadn't noticed a lot of monarchs around this year, it's apparent that they like dill.  I placed the dill back in the garden near the other still rooted dill.  I'll watch what happens.  So the moral is don't pull out your dill just yet.

Cool Cucumber Soup

Here's the recipe for the delicious soup that Veronica prepared for our summer meeting.  Cool & Delicious & it uses a lot of cucumbers.

Cold Cucumber Soup with Tarragon

Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, 2007

Prep Time: 30 min

Inactive Prep Time: 2 hr 0 min

Level: Easy

Serves: 2 quarts, 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

• 6 pounds cucumbers (about 6 cucumbers), peeled, seeded, and coarsely chopped (12 cups)
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, stemmed, seeded, and minced
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh tarragon leaves
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint leaves
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh chervil
• 2 garlic cloves, mashed to a paste with 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 3 cups plain yogurt
• 3 cups sour cream, divided
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh chives

Directions

Combine the cucumbers, green onions, jalapenos, tarragon, mint, chervil, garlic, salt, cayenne, yogurt, 2 cups sour cream, olive oil, white wine vinegar, and lime juice in a large bowl. Working in batches, puree the ingredients in a blender until very smooth. Transfer the soup to the refrigerator until well chilled, at least 2 hours. Taste and adjust the seasoning, if necessary. Serve the soup, with each bowl garnished with a dollop of the remaining sour cream and some of the minced chives.

 

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All Rights Reserved

 

A Hot Summer Evening

It was another hot MN Herb Society gathering last night during our summer meeting & dinner.  While a few brave souls dined alfresco, most of us enjoyed some cool AC.  Thanks to Veronica & Marlys for graciously hosting.  The food was delicious, as always - our members can cook. 

Prize Choy

I just took this pic the other day.  As always, in spring, I am seduced by the seed catalogs.  I like to try different things & frequently spend $2.95 for various seeds that amount to nothing.  But I did have a beautiful success this year with my Bok Choy (Prize Choy from Seed Savers).  A few of the plants bolted early, but most are looking lovely tucked in between my perennials.  The ones that aren't bolting are tucked in a partly sunny spot, so I think I will plant them all there next year, even though the soil is not the best where they are.  They look lovely & the deer have passed them by - so far.  I haven't though & we've been enjoying some fresh stir fry meals with it.

MN Garlic Festival

Ahhh, the last warm days of summer always bring out the best that MN has to offer.  Well the best garlic that is.  A few members of the MN Herb Society were seen strolling thru the County Fair Grounds in Hutchinson this past Saturday, celebrating GARLIC.  Oh that tasty treat that permeates the kitchens of cooks.  I picked up some new garlic to try, even though my harvest this summer was poor - only 10 head out of about 50 came up.  When talking to the vendors, they said that there was some concern that the Aster Yellow disease would be found in the garlic DNA, but luckily, it was not.  Some vendors also had poor harvests & once again, the vendors were not as plentiful as previous years.  Speaking with a vendor from Red Wing, MN, she said the consensus was the spring weather or lack thereof.  But as a true gardener, we never lose hope for a better crop next year.  So I bought - both to plant & to eat.  Let us know how your harvest went & if you had particular varieties that performed better.  For me, Chesnok Red was the only fairly consistent producer this past season.

Elderberry

Herb of the Year

Elderflower hard cider, a new product I just had to try. I don't know if it tastes like elderberry, but it is sweet, fizzy and refreshing on a hot day. Might be fun to bring some to the Garden Tea.

Pictures of the Arboretum

Carla has a new camera

Playing with my boys and my new camera at the Arb

Some photos of the new Herb Gardens

Working in the Mesoamerican Garden and check out the new varieties of thyme (below)

So I was visiting with a friend today & she saw a pic that I had posted on Facebook of me & my grandson dividing some Bleeding Hearts to give to my dear mother in law.  My friend told me that she remembered a story about the Bleeding Hearts that someone told her when she was a child.  She wasn't sure of the exact story, but we Googled it & found a great story to tell kids while taking apart a Bleeding Heart.  I came home tonight & pulled a few hearts to try it.  Since the Bleeding Hearts are beautiful right now, give it a try.  In case you haven't heard the story, here goes.

There was a beautiful princess & a handsome prince.  The prince loved the princess & wanted to marry her, but she said NO.  So he decided to give her some presents to win her over.  First he gave her 2 cute pink bunnies.  She still said NO.  Then he gave her a pair of dazzling, dangling earrings.  She still said NO.  Then he gave her 2 beautiful spoons with porridge in them.  She still said NO.  Finally, he was so bereft, he took a sword & stabbed himself in the heart.  To this day, his heart still bleeds. 

I can't wait to tell my grandson this story.  He will love it, as last summer he called both the Bleeding Hearts & my Love Lies Bleeding plants the "Blood" plants.  I think he was fascinated by the "Blood".  Btw, the halves the heart also are the dangling earrings. 

MN Landscape Arboretum Tulips 05.16.2013

I was talking to my mom on Mother's Day & telling her that I had been working in the garden on Saturday.  She commented that I shouldn't plant anything until Icen days (pronounce ice in).  I had never heard her say anything like that before & asked her again what Icen days were.  She said that it was an old adagethat always comes around my mom & dad's anniversary, which hap
pens to be May 18.  She didn't know how to spell it, she just knew that you shouldn't plant until then.  I got off the phone & started searching the internet for this mysterious planting timeline.  I finally stumbled across "Ice Men".  My mom grew up on a farm just outside Port Washington, WI on the shores of Lake Michigan.  It was a strong Luxembourg community & I am sure there was strong accents, as I remember my grandpa & other old timer's speech.  I am thinking "Ice Men" was either shortened or because of the strong dialect, sounded like Icen.

In any case, the Ice Men are 3 saints;  St. Mamertus, St. Pancras, and St. Servatius, whose respective days occur on May 11, 12, and 13.  However, in the old astronomical calender, they fell on May 19 - 22, hence my mom's saying that it was around their anniversary.  Anyway, I thought it was an interesting little tidbit, that probably some of our older Herbie's already know, but I didn't.  For additional info, check out this link  Farmer's Almanc; The 3 Ice Men 

As for me, I will definitely not plant anything tender this year until the Ice Men pass.