Growing and Crafting with Herbs

Fragrant Herbs

Growing herbs is easy and fun.

Here are some tips for growing and simple ways to use or

preserve your homegrown herbs.

Rosemary

Rosemary is a shrub with fragrant evergreen needle like leaves and will bloom blue flowers along the stems.

Rosemary is best planted in the spring and likes to grow in a sunny spot. A well draining sandy or loamy soil is best. Rosemary is drought tolerant when established.

There are a quite of different ways to use Rosemary. Such as making potpourri, a wreath, add to a floral spray, drink in tea, cooking and more.

*Tip* Make a brush with fresh Rosemary sprigs by tying the ends. Use to add sauce to meat while barbequing. You'll not only brushing on your sauce/marinade but adding Rosemary flavor also.

Lemon Verbena

Lemon Verbena is a flowering shrub with sprawling branches. Lemon Verbena prefers warm weather. Plant your Lemon Verbena in the spring in fertile soil. 

The fragrant slender leaves can be used in a variety of ways. The strong lemony scent bodes well in herbal sachets, bath bombs, soaps and cooking.

Bay Tree

The Bay Tree has large, pointed oval leaves that are deep, glossy green. Plants prefer partial shade but will tolerate full sun. The Bay prefers average garden soil.

Having pliable branches Bays are perfect for making wreaths, swags, even crowns. 

*TIP* Bay trees are easily propagated. Bay Tree propagation begins by taking cuttings, do this in summer when the wood is green and pliable. Take three or so cuttings at least 6'' long. You want the cutting to be firm but the wood should be easy to bend. Strip off all leaves from each cutting except the top two or three. Dip stems in rooting hormone and place in small pots. within a couple of months you should have rooted cuttings. Give them an easy tug, if you feel resistance you have roots!

Sage

Grow sage in the mild weather of spring or fall in well draining soil with lots of sunlight. 

Easily repel mosquitoes by tossing a few sage branches into your outdoor fire. They make excellent smudge bundles, wreaths, herbal sachets, place down the center of your dining table for a fragrant centerpiece base, soaps, decorate candles and more.

*TIP* Herbs are easy to grow. Most like full to partial sun, Semi-moist soil (meaning they can dry out between watering's), and they like to be trimmed. Trimming not only makes them more compact, but gives you trimmings to cook with.

Mint

Mint plants grow quickly and should be planted in the spring in a damp, moist area with well-draining soil. Mint likes a spot that's in either full sun or part shade. Its small white or purple summer blooming flowers attract bees, butterflies, and other pollinators.

Mint makes for very fresh and stimulating bath teas, herbal swags, candles, and soaps. dried and crumbled on your carpet, then vacuumed up yields a fresh scented room.

*TIP* Mint loves to spread! Before you know it you will have a good patch of mint. To keep it in bounds, plant in a container to contain roots. Be sure to pinch off any flower buds you see. If you let them flower, seeds will form which is another way they sprout and spread easily.

Growing herbs gives you such a variety of ways to use in home décor and crafts.

Should you not be lucky enough to have an herb garden,

I do have several varieties in my Etsy Shop.

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It's Feeder Season!

It's one of the best things about fall and winter. 

With the cold weather and bare trees, 

your bird feeders become hubs of activity.

Ever notice how some birds sit at your 

feeder and munch, while others flit back and 

forth on an endless quest to ferry seeds away?

Chances are this is for one of three purposes: 

fear of hawks, lack of the proper "tools," 

or planning for the lean winter ahead.

Small birds like the ones that visit feeders 
are constantly obsessed with finding safety from predators.
 If food is at a risky, exposed location, 
such as a feeder, birds must remain vigilant, 
continuously scanning their surroundings for threats. 



Birds such as Finches and Grosbeaks, 
with their seed crushing bills, 
can eat and scan simultaneously,
 looking down only briefly to grab another seed.

Birds that must look down and hammer at seeds
 prefer to fly to a safer place with their food 
instead of working on it in an area exposed to predators. 
This is why you often see Chickadees flitting
 back and forth from feeder to trees or shrubs 
and back with their seeds.

Some foods - such as shelled seeds and nuts - might even require specialized methods to crack them open. 
Blue Jays manage to wedge the seed between their toes.
 Looking down to work on a seed is still risky
 and you will often see Blue Jays quickly 
scan their surroundings before hammering away.

But the most fascinating reason is “caching”- the behavior
 of storing up food supplies in a safe place for later. 
This is one of the main reasons you see birds fly off 
with their food instead of eating at the feeder. 
Lots of birds - and even mammals such as squirrels, 
beavers, and bears - cache food for consumption
 later on, during lean times.

Caching isn’t as easy as it might appear. 
A bird must fly back and forth, 
one or a few seeds at a time, over hundreds of trips. 
They also have to make sure the caches aren’t stolen and remember where all the food is hidden 
when hunger strikes. 
Most common North American feeder birds
 can have anywhere from hundreds to thousands of
 separate caches scattered around their home ranges.



Many caching species have keen spatial memory, 
and can remember precise locations using 
visual cues like distance and direction from landmarks
 such as rocks and vegetation. 
In fact, birds such as Black-capped Chickadees increase
 the size of the brain (in the area associated with memory) 
as caching ramps up in the fall.  
I'm not so sure that Scrub Jays have that capability.
I have almonds sprout up under my larger trees, 
probably from the orchards a few blocks away!



Ravens and Scrub Jays also cache as
 inconspicuously as possible. 
Ravens cache food behind structures so that 
other Ravens cannot see what they’re doing, 
and Scrub Jays prefer shady locations, 
making it harder for other Scrub Jays 
to see what’s going on.

Hence under our trees.

Now if they could only remember where they put them!

A Few Great Tips for Winter!

Winter has finally hit in our neck of the woods and we've been having some pretty good frost in the mornings. Here's a tip I read, use breathable crib sheets over your delicate plants.

The elastic sure helps it stay on.

This is something I need to do!

Use foam gaskets to seal electrical boxes.

According to energy experts, electrical boxes that hold switches 

 or outlets are major sources of heat loss. 

 Foam gaskets (reasonably priced at home centers) won’t completely seal the boxes, but they’ll help. 

 They’re quick to install— just take off the cover plate,

 stick the gasket over the box, then put the plate back on.

Easy peasy!

Now this is clever!

Use bubble wrap for window insulation! 

Cut the bubble wrap to fit the window pane with scissors.

  Spray a film of water on the window using a spray bottle.

  Apply the bubble wrap while the window is still wet and press it into place.  The bubble side goes toward the glass.

  To remove the bubble wrap, just pull it off starting from a corner.  You can save it and use it for several years.  It does not leave a mess or stains on the window glass.

Another easy peasy!

During the Winter the home can smell a little musty from being all closed up, I thought this was great hack too! And easy!

With the Holidays comes seeing friends and relatives you may haven't seen since last year. That also means sharing of the viruses, colds, flus, and any bugs to be had. We all know stress weakens our immune system and although we all look forward to seeing each other it can be stressful. So here's a few tips to help out with any bumps, bruises, headaches, bugs, etc. that may come your way.





1 tablespoon honey

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

 Combine the honey and cinnamon in a bowl.

Eat it plain or mixed into tea or

applesauce 4 times a day until cold symptoms are alleviated.

Only for children over 1 year of age.



Our New Fence Is UP!!

Our fence on the left side of the yard had become somewhat of a patchwork. With renters ( I have nothing against renters! I was one for 20 yrs!) moving in and out on a regular basis it's been a conglomeration of dogs. Lovely dogs, small dogs, and angry dogs. 

At one point there was a pair of pit bulls that would chew through the fence to come into my backyard. Chase and bite my Chihuahua and Bassett.

They even jumped in the pond and chased the fish.

Since the owner or renter weren't going to fix the fence, I went the way of patching board holes with whatever I could get my hands on. The kids decided they were going to remove their closet doors - so those doors went to work covering holes. Pieces of plywood, cupboard doors I found along the road worked pretty good too! LOL

When on a tight budget, you use what you can.

The rental house caught fire by someone falling asleep with a lit cigarette. The owner then sold it. The new owners took about a year to get the inside remodeled. Then we all put up a NEW fence! Miracles do happen!!

Prior to the new fence, a nasty storm came through one year and a whole section fell over. I managed to get it back upright, only to realize I was on the wrong side of the fence! Had to pull it down, climb back into my yard and hoist it up again!  The wind was howling, rain was hitting hard, I was out in it with baling wire tying what 4x4's were left together!

We pounded in fence stakes and out came the baling wire again to attach them to the fence.

I didn't have the funds to pay for a whole new fence by myself. 

Luckily the new owners and I shared the costs. 

The new owners put a new fence in all the way around their backyard.

Everyone's dogs had quite a large "backyard" to roam when just the 4x4's were in!

A nice sturdy fence at last!

Some of what I had found and used on those holes!

One Dove approved

Nope, 2 Doves approved!! LOL

Glad my Eurasian Doves are happy.

They have lived in my backyard for years and raised tons of babies!!

Love to wake up to their soft cooing ♥

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Bloomers! ~ WW

Some of 2022's blooms from Spring to Fall

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