China Bayles' Book of Days (4 page)

Mix the almond meal and herbs together. Add enough aloe gel and egg to make a paste. Add essential oil. If the paste is too thin, add more almond meal; if it’s too thick, add a bit of aloe gel or egg. To use, wash your face. Pat dry, and apply the mask. Leave on for 10 minutes or so, while you’re lying down, then wash off gently. Refrigerate for up to a week. (This will make 3-4 masks.)

Read more about home-crafted cosmetics:

Jeanne Rose’s Kitchen Cosmetics: Using Herbs, Fruit, & Flowers for Natural Bodycare
, by Jeanne Rose

Every gardener knows under the cloak of winter lies a miracle—a seed waiting to sprout, a bulb opening to light, a bud straining to unfurl. And the anticipation nurtures our dream.

—BARBARA WINKLER

JANUARY 11

“What’s going on these days?” Amy’s sharp-featured face was pale and set. “Well, for starters, I’m pregnant.”

I said the only thing I could think of. “Let’s have a cup of tea.”

—A DILLY OF A DEATH: A CHINA BAYLES MYSTERY

Create an Herbal Tea Pantry

China often says that there’s no puzzle that can’t be solved over a cup of tea, and she may just be right! Throughout recorded history, herbs have been used to brew beverages that clear our minds, lift our spirits, and heal our bodies. With very little expenditure, you can create your own original blends and stock your herbal tea pantry with your personal favorites.

GETTING STARTED

Set aside a cool, dark pantry or cupboard shelf, where you can keep your stash of teas and herbs. When you’ve created a favorite blend, put it into a lidded jar for storage. Keep notes on the blends you create, specifying the amount of herbs you use. Name your creations. (Chamomile Comfort? Lemony Luscious?) Nearby, cache your favorite teapot—or teapots, if you’re a collector! You’ll also want to have a tea ball (sometimes called an infuser) or tea strainer. For brewing tea from seeds, barks, or roots, a mortar and pestle are handy. And be sure to include a selection of pretty cups or mugs, so you can share your favorite teas with friends who drop in for a chat.

When it comes to brewing herbal tea, there are few rules. You’ll have to decide how much to use and how long to let it steep. To intensify the flavor, use more herbs, rather than increase the steeping time. To sweeten or not to sweeten? That’s another individual decision. In China’s opinion, honey is always nice.

Three of China’s favorite herb combinations:

• Rosemary Renewal Blend: 2 parts dried rosemary leaves, 1 part dried juniper berries, crushed, 1 part dried mint, 1 part dried lemongrass

• Lavender Luscious Blend: 2 parts dried lavender buds, 2 parts dried chamomile flowers, 1 part dried elder flowers,
teaspoon powdered cloves

• Mint Magic Blend: 2 parts dried peppermint, 1 part China tea, 1 part lemongrass

Read more about herbal tea-making:

A Cozy Book of Herbal Teas: Recipes, Remedies, and Folk Wisdom
, by Mindy Toomay

The path of the herbalist is to open ourselves to nature in an innocent and pure way. She in turn will open her bounty and reward us with her many valuable secrets.

—MICHAEL TIERRA

JANUARY 12

Good bread never loafs around.

Good bread never loafs around.—CHINA BAYLES

Quick and Easy Herb Breads

A loaf of hot bread is a welcome addition to the evening meal, especially in the winter. When you’re tired from a day’s work and in a hurry to get dinner on the table, preprepared products can make the task easier—and herbs make the bread special. Fannie Couch, the seventy-plus talk-show radio host at Station KPST-FM in Pecan Springs, has been collecting recipes from her Pecan Springs friends and listeners for years. Here are two of Fannie’s fast, no-fuss favorites.

BETSY BLUMEFIELD’S BEST HERB BISCUITS

2 cups baking mix
1 teaspoon dried parsley
½ teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon dried basil
1 cup sour cream (low fat is fine)
½ cup melted butter or margarine
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese mixed with ¼ cup flour

Preheat oven to 400°. Lightly spray a mini-muffin pan. Mix baking mix, herbs, sour cream, and butter. Dough will be sticky. Scoop into 24 balls and roll in cheese/flour mixture. Place in mini-muffin pan and bake for 15-18 minutes, until brown.

LILLIAN LIPPENCOTT’S SATURDAY NIGHT SPECIAL HERB BREAD

Lillian works at the dry cleaners in Pecan Springs and doesn’t get home until four on Saturdays. She says that if she puts out frozen dough to thaw in the morning, and gets started on it when she gets home, she has hot bread on the table by 6.

1 1-pound loaf frozen white bread dough (follow package
directions for thawing)
2 teaspoons dried basil, or 4 teaspoons fresh, minced
2 teaspoons minced dried rosemary leaves, or
3 teaspoons fresh
1 tablespoon minced chives
flour for dusting

Briefly knead thawed dough on lightly floured board. Knead in minced herbs until evenly mixed. Add flour as needed to prevent sticking. Shape into a smooth ball and place in a loaf pan. Cover, let rise until doubled in size, about 40 minutes. Bake in 375° oven until golden, about 35-40 minutes.

Learn how Fannie Couch catches a crook—on the radio:

“Fannie’s Back Fence Caper,” by Susan and Bill Albert, in
Malice Domestic 3: An Anthology of Original Traditional Mystery Stories
, edited by Nancy Pickard

JANUARY 13

In pre-Christian Ireland, the Celts celebrated this day as the Feast of Brewing.

A fine beer may be judged with only one sip, but it’s better to be thoroughly sure.

—CZECH PROVERB

Beer: A Magical, Mysterious Brew

Brewing has been part of human history for more than six thousand years. It is thought that the Sumerians discovered the fermentation process by chance, perhaps when bread became wet. The earliest account of brewing pictures wheat or barley bread baked, crumbled into liquid, and fermented—a process involving natural yeasts—into a drink that is said to have made people feel exhilarated.

Beer (sometimes thought of as “liquid bread”) has been an important foodstuff in many cultures, especially in places where the water was impure. People of all ages drank it throughout the day, and workers were often paid with jugs of beer. Some beers played an important part in worship, where they were considered to be the source of inspiration from the gods, and were ceremonially prepared and ritually drunk by priests, such as the Druids who celebrated the Celtic Feast of Brewing. Laws were frequently made to regulate the consumption of beer. For example, the Puritans were allowed to drink
only
two quarts of beer for breakfast.

Hops (which add bitterness and aroma) were not added to beer until the seventeenth century. Instead, other herbs provided a more subtle, complex flavor: bog myrtle, yarrow, rosemary, juniper berries, ginger, caraway seed, anise seed, nutmeg, cinnamon, wormwood, sage, broom. And rather than barley or malt, some herbs—such as ginger, nettles, Saint-John’s-wort, and dandelions—were the primary ingredient of some delicious beers. Ginger beer was a much-loved nineteenth-century drink, in both England and America.

MISS BEECHER’S FAMOUS GINGER BEER (1857)

3 pints yeast
½ pound honey
1 egg white
½ ounce lemon essence (lemon zest)
10 pounds sugar
9 gallons water
9 ounces lemon juice
11 ounces gingerroot

Boil the ginger half an hour in a gallon of water, then add the rest of the water and the other ingredients, and strain it when cold, add the white of one egg beaten, and half an ounce essence of lemon. Let it stand four days then bottle it, and it will keep good many months—
Miss Beecher’s Domestic Receipt-Book

Read more about herbal beers:

Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers: The Secrets of Ancient Fermentation,
by Stephen Harrod Buhner

JANUARY 14

When I was young, I said to God, “God, tell me the mystery of the universe.” But God answered, “That knowledge is for me alone.” So I said,

“God, tell me the mystery of the peanut.” Then God said, “Well, George, that’s more nearly your size.”

—GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER

Herbs, Gardens, and Mysteries

If it’s cold, gray, and dreary out-of-doors, it’s a perfect day to settle down with a wooly afghan, a cup of hot herbal tea, a plate of cookies, and something interesting to read. Of course, China’s herbal mysteries will be at the top of your reading list—right? But there are other herb and gardening mysteries you’re sure to find delightfully deadly and chock-full of garden lore. China joins me in recommending these favorites:

THE BROTHER CADFAEL MYSTERIES, BY ELLIS PETERS

Brother Cadfael is a fictional twelfth-century Welsh monk and herbalist, a brother in the monastery of Saints Peter and Paul, in Shrewsbury, England. Cadfael’s adventures are centered on life in the monastery, where he grows herbs and prepares them for their medicinal and culinary uses—as well as using his skills, knowledge, and sleuthing talents to solve murder mysteries. You might also be interested in
Brother Cadfael’s Herb Garden: An Illustrated Companion to Medieval Plants and Their Uses
, compiled by Rob Talbot and Robin Whiteman.

THE LOUISE ELDRIDGE GARDEN MYSTERIES, BY ANN RIPLEY

Louise Eldridge is an amateur gardener, garden writer, and garden-show host with a penchant for digging up dead bodies. Ripley’s fictions are filled with sophisticated, reliable gardening advice, arranged in separate essays throughout the novels. A few titles:
Death of a Garden Pest, The Perennial Killer, Death of a Political Plant
.

THE CLAIRE SHARPLES BOTANICAL MYSTERIES, BY REBECCA ROTHENBERG

Before her death in 1998, Rebecca Rothenberg wrote three mysteries featuring fictional microbiologist and plant pathologist Claire Sharples:
The Dandelion Murders, The Shy Tulip Murders
, and
The Bulrush Murders
. Lots of interesting botanical details are woven into the plots.

THE CELIA GRANT MYSTERIES, BY JOHN SHERWOOD

This ten-book series (which ended in the mid-1990s) featured fiftysomething British widow and horticulturist Celia Grant. A few titles:
Menacing Groves, Bouquet of Thorns, Sunflower Plot, Hanging Garden, Creeping Jenny, Bones Gather No Moss
.

JANUARY 15

Dreams are illustrations from the book your soul is writing about you.

—MARSHA NORMAN

The Magical New Moon of January

January’s new moon—the first new moon of the first month of the new year—was thought to be full of magical powers. If you had lived in 1695, when people believed in such things, you might have followed these instructions:

At the first appearance of the New Moon after New Year’s Day, go out in the Evening and stand astride the Bars of a Gate, or Stile (in Yorkshire they kneel on a ground-fast Stone), looking at the Moon, and say: