China Bayles' Book of Days (36 page)

Saint-John’s-wort, scaring from the midnight heath
The witch and goblin with its spicy breath.
—TRADITIONAL CHARM

JUNE 21

Today or tomorrow, the Sun enters the sign of Cancer.

The fourth sign of the zodiac, the feminine sign Cancer (the Crab) is ruled by the Moon, which governs feelings and the sense of belonging. Cancer is a cardinal water sign, suggesting that Cancer people are sensitive, nurturing, and likely to place a high value on home and family. They may also be occasionally moody, avoid change, and withdraw from painful situations.

—RUBY WILCOX, “ASTROLOGICAL SIGNS”

Cancer Herbs

Nurturing, maternal Cancer, ruled by the Moon, governs the breasts, womb, and ovaries, as well as the esophagus and the stomach. It also rules all fluid secretions, including menstrual blood, fluids, and tears. The Moon is often associated with conditions involving irregular periodicity: irregular menstruation and menstruation-related moods, insomnia, hysteria, and epilepsy. Lunar herbs tend to have white or yellow flowers and soft, juicy leaves. The seventeenth-century herbalist Nicholas Culpeper described the following plants as ruled by the Moon. The descriptions are Culpeper’s, and reflect the herbs’ historical uses.

• Saxifrage (
Pimpinella major
). The root is good for the colic and expels wind. The roots or the seed are used in powder or in decoction to help the mother, procure the courses, remove phlegm and cure venom.

• Lettuce (
Lactuca sativa
). The juice of the plant is mixed with Oil of Roses and applied to the temples to procure sleep and to cure a headache arising from a hot cause. Eaten boiled, lettuce loosens the belly, helps digestion, quenches thirst, increases milk in nursing mothers, and eases griping pains in the stomach.

• Lily (
Lilium candidum
). The root made into a decoction gives delivery to women in travail and expels the afterbirth.

• Chickweed (
Stellaria media
). The juice or distilled water is good for all heats and redness in the eyes if some is dropped into them . . . it is also used in hot and virulent ulcers and sores in the privy parts of men and women, or on the legs or elsewhere.

Read more about Nicholas Culpeper’s astrological herbalism:

Culpeper’s Medicine: A Practice of Western Holistic Medicine,
by Graeme Tobyn

In the beginning He formed the Heavens and adorned them with goodly, shining stars, to which He gave power and might to influence everything under heaven . . . so that everything which has its being under Heaven receives it from the stars, and keeps it by their health.

—ANONYMOUS FIFTEENTH-CENTURY GERMAN PHILOSOPHER

JUNE 22

Our kids are more familiar with computers and cell phones than they are with grass or fireflies. They are seldom outdoors. They think food comes in a box or a bag. It makes me wonder what the future holds for gardeners. Are we a dying breed, soon to become extinct? I like to cook, I like to garden. I just may be a dinosaur.

—CAROLEE SNYDER

Going Places: Carolee’s Herb Farm, Hartford City Indiana

I love my visits to Carolee’s Herb Farm, not just because of its wonderful gardens, or its fields of pick-your-own lavender, or even the big barn, stuffed full of herbal treasures. I love to go there just to visit with Carolee Snyder and hear all about her latest adventure into herbs. When it comes to herbs, Carolee (whom I met when we both served on the board of the International Herb Association) is one of the most knowledgeable and enthusiastic people I know.

Carolee’s special passion is lavender. She grows more than sixty different varieties in her lavender field, from the compact, eight-inch “Baby Blue” to the tall, spectacular “Hidcote Giant.” And in most years, Carolee and her visiting lavender specialists offer Lavender Daze, a two-day lavender festival, with classes and workshops on cooking, crafting, and growing this delightful plant. You can learn to make a wreath or a sorbet, relax with a lavender massage, or stroll through the lavender fields, warm and fragrant under the Indiana sun.

While you’re there, you’ll want to browse through Carolee’s delightful gardens, twenty of them, each organized around a particular theme: a Sunrise Garden of bright orange and yellow plants, a Cook’s Garden, a Cottage Garden, a Thyme Garden. If you live in the vicinity, you can tune in her weekly radio show, where she answers callers’ questions and shares gardening information (details on her web site). And if Carolee’s life as a gardener and educator tempts you to drop everything and buy a farm, you might check her online personal journal (also on her web site). It will give you an idea of the daily and seasonal challenges she faces and the many different kinds of work she does.

Come lavender time, though, you’ll find Carolee in her lavender field, enjoying the scent and sweetness of nature at its finest. Join her.

For Carolee’s Cranberry Cordial see November 26.

Read more about Carolee’s gardening life:

Carolee’s Herb Farm web site,
www.caroleesherbfarm.com
, for directions, photos, recipes, and tips

Thyme and Thyme Again: Celebrating Good Thymes in the Garden
, by Carolee Snyder (available at the farm, or from the web site)

JUNE 23

Flowers are the sweetest things God ever made.

—HENRY BEECHER (1858)

Candied Blossoms

So many flowers are in bloom in China’s garden right now that she and Ruby are dazzled. It’s time to preserve some for summertime sweet treats, so they’re planning to get together on Sunday afternoon and spend a few pleasant hours making their flowers even sweeter. Candied blossoms add elegance to cakes, petit fours, cheesecakes, candies, and other dainties. This is a family-friendly project you can do at home, so gather the kids and get started!

CANDYING FLOWERS AND HERBS

Gather flowers and herb leaves.
Good choices: Borage flowers, violas (pansies, violets, Johnny-jump-ups), redbud and lilac florets, rose petals, plum and apple blossoms, mint leaves, lemon balm leaves. Nip off the stems, wash them, and dry them on a towel. Transfer to paper towels to ensure that they are thoroughly dry.

Gather ingredients and equipment.
You will need 2 room-temperature egg whites, water, a cup or more of superfine sugar in a flat bowl or saucer, a clean tweezers, and a waxed paper-lined cookie sheet or tray.

Candy the flowers.
Beat the egg whites until they just froth. Holding a flower or leaf with the tweezers, dip it into the egg white. Hold it over the sugar, and gently sprinkle sugar over the whole flower, turning it as you work to coat all the surfaces. Place the candied blossom on the wax paper. Repeat until you’ve candied all your flowers and leaves. Put the cookie sheet in a warm, dry place to dry. If the humidity is high, this may take up to 36 hours. Alternatives: Put the blossoms in an oven with the pilot light lit overnight; or set the oven at 150° and dry them with the door open for several hours; or use a dehydrator. Store in airtight containers (tins or plastic), separating the layers with waxed paper.

Read more about edible blossoms:

Flowers in the Kitchen: A Bouquet of Tasty Recipes
, by Susan Belsinger

Using flowers in the kitchen is fun, so be creative and experiment. If you think that dill and chives go well together, then try combining their flowers in an unusual vinegar or a savory butter. . . . Sample each bloom to see how it tastes and which foods it goes well with. If you don’t like it, don’t eat it again; if you do, plant a lot in your garden!

—SUSAN BELSINGER, FLOWERS IN THE KITCHEN

JUNE 24

“Clippers, bags, and wet paper towels?” I asked, startled. I stared at Sheila [the Pecan Springs Chief of Police]. “I think I know what Mrs. Barton was doing in that cemetery! She was a rose rustler!”

Now it was Sheila’s turn to stare. “A rose rustler? What in the world is that?”

“People who want to propagate old roses,” I said. “Mrs. Barton brought the clippers in order to take cuttings, and the wet paper towels to wrap around the stems before she put them into the plastic bags.”

—“DEATH OF A ROSE RUSTLER,” IN AN UNTHYMELY DEATH AND OTHER GARDEN MYSTERIES

Rose Rustling

Rose rustling? Call the cops!

No, don’t. Rose rustling is an honorable profession, engaged in by some of the most law-abiding citizens you’d ever hope to meet. It is the name given to folks who preserve heirloom roses by taking cuttings wherever they happen to find them: in cemeteries, forgotten gardens, abandoned churchyards.

Why old roses? Because their historic interest, color, form, and most of all, their fragrance, make antique roses a valuable addition to contemporary gardens. Early rose cultivars have a much greater adaptability and disease resistance than do modern hybrids. They are especially suited to Southern gardens, where roses sometimes have a hard time of it.

What may be more important, many of these old roses are no longer commercially available. There’s enormous excitement, rose rustlers say, in discovering a “found” rose that has not been noticed for a half century or more.

So if you happen to see a rose blooming in a forgotten cemetery, bring clippers, wet paper towels, and a plastic bag, and start rustling!

HERE’S HOW TO BE A SUCCESSFUL ROSE RUSTLER:

• Take several six-inch softwood cuttings from this year’s growth. Strip the leaves from the lower four inches, leaving one or two leaf-clusters at the tip. (Some rustlers immerse the bottom inch or two in a cup of willow tea for 24 hours, to encourage root growth.)

• Fill six-inch pots with good potting soil and moisten it. Dip the cut end of the cutting into root-stimulating hormone. Make a hole in the potting soil, insert the cutting, firm gently, and water well. Set in a bright indirect light and protect from drying.

• When the cutting has produced its second set of leaves, it has taken firm root and can be moved outside. If your winters are severe, move your rustled roses into the basement for the winter.

Read more about rose rustlers:

People with Dirty Hands: The Passion for Gardening
, by Robin Chotzinoff

JUNE 25

Making Herbal Healing Oils and Salves

For centuries, liniments and salves have been a convenient and effective way to apply healing herbs to a wound, scrape, burn, sting, bruise, inflammation, or skin ulcer. Begin by making an herbal oil for topical use, then make the oil into a salve by adding beeswax, which serves as a hardener and keeps the ingredients from separating.

MAKE AN HERBAL HEALING OIL

Place three ounces of fresh or dried herbs in a glass jar and cover with a pint of olive oil, making sure that the herbal material is completely covered. Set it in the sun for about two weeks, shaking it daily. Strain through a very fine strainer to remove all of the plant material and store in a labeled, tightly lidded container. A small amount (4 drops per pint) of essential oil may be added for fragrance. You do not need to refrigerate topical oils, but you may add a few drops of benzoin tincture (available from the drugstore) as a preservative, especially if you plan to use the oil to make a salve.

MAKE AN HERBAL SALVE

Mix ¾ to one ounce of melted beeswax (available from health food stores and on-line) into one cup of herbal oil. To test for consistency, put a spoonful of the melted mixture into a dish and put it in the freezer for 2-3 minutes. Too hard? Add herbal oil. Too soft? Add beeswax. Store salve in a labeled, tightly lidded jar, in a cool place. Salves can be kept in a cool place and replaced every twelve months.

HERBS FOR HEALING OILS AND SALVES

You can make oils and salves of one herb, or a combination. Be sure to keep a record of the herbs you use in each preparation, and make notes on the use to which it is put, and the observed effect.

• To ease muscular aches: arnica, calendula, cayenne, chamomile, eucalyptus, lavender, marjoram, peppermint, rosemary, Saint-John’s-wort, wintergreen

• To treat wounds, skin lesions: chickweed, comfrey, echinacea, elder, golden seal, plaintain, yarrow

• To soothe rashes and itchy skin, treat bug bites and stings: burdock root, chickweed, chaparral, goldenseal, plantain, jewelweed

Easier than making cookies and just about as much fun, salves are deeply rewarding to create. They require little time and the finished product looks so professional and works so effectively that many people have been inspired to start small businesses with their favorite salve recipes.

—ROSEMARY GLADSTAR, HERBAL HEALING FOR WOMEN

JUNE 26

Today is National Chocolate Pudding Day.

Chocolate: The Pudding Herb

Of course, chocolate has to be the favorite pudding herb, doesn’t it?

Culinary herbalist Susan Belsinger adds a surprise to her favorite chocolate pudding: leaves of fresh bay. “Scratch the underside vein of the bayleaf with your thumbnail,” Susan instructs. “Close your eyes and sniff. What do you smell? Sniff again. I get spice, nutmeg-like, a little clove-like, maybe allspice, maybe citrus. One more time—keep your eyes closed. I get vanilla at the very end of the aroma. These flavors all go well with chocolate—that’s why I use it in desserts. I make bay syrup and bay rice pudding, too. Yum!”