What's Happening in the herb department

If you zoom in on this picture you can see the wonderful combination of herbs in our Berkshire Meadows Herbal Health Tea

Keep in mind that the ticks are out and searching for warm bodies until after the last frost.  They are repelled by our Insect Repellant!

A STUNNING SUNFLOWER (left)

& 

Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum)

in gorgeous late-summer bloom at a Berkshire Beaver Pond (right)

Late-blooming Heal-All

 (Prunella vulgaris)

The last of the Calendula flowers!!

 Infusing the whole Calendula plant into Almond Oil to form the base of our newest product...and then it is strained and squeezed until the last drops of oil are extracted.

Weighing the bees' wax for the cream

 

WOW!  It's August 16th already -- hard to believe that there is so much of the summer behind us already and I am actually being forced to think about the fall.  The Great Barrington Farmers' Market has been such a delight this year (http://gbfarmersmarket.org/index.html) and I've made a lot of new acquaintances and have a lot of happy new users of my unique "Maiden's Glow Herbal Face Cream" made with non-certified organic herbs that I grow right here on our own little plot of land.  (If you haven't tried my face cream, you can visit my website www.mysticalroseherbals.com/store to check it out).  

This summer's project is to turn what used to be the place where two huge Blue Spruce trees used to grow into a garden for flowering medicinal herbs.  What a project!  I was determined to do it by hand, (since I can certainly use the exercise!), so I went at it with a pick and shovel, putting roots and stones that I dug out into the wheelbarrow and hauling them away.  It was awfully slow going and I just knew that there were a lot of roots yet ahead of me...
Thankfully my dear son-in-law came to my rescue with an excavator and a dump truck and took the digging part of the project off my hands!

Now I must amend the soil and then I can begin to acquire plants.  I plan to include 3 colors of Echinacea, Hyssop, Butterflyweed, Wild Valerian, Marshmallow, 3 colors of Yarrow, Yucca, some scented Geraniums, culinary herbs and some old-fashioned flowers like Holly Hocks.  Can't wait!  Here's the progress...not so much to look at yet:

RESCUED!!

>>>Just look at the pile of roots that I would have been fighting with a pick and shovel!  And that's not including the huge root-ball that he dug out later on.

The rest of the summer has been so colorful!  Just look at these shots of some of the flowers surrounding me:

Fragrant Yellow Day Lilies

Anise Mint -- It smells divine!

Eupatorium perfoliatum BONESET with Monardia (wild Bee Balm)

More Monardia

Eupatorium purpureum, a cousin of the Boneset herb (above).  It's called Joe Pye Weed (named after a settler who was from Stockbridge, MA) or "Gravel Root"

Cimicifuga racemosa  - Black Cohosh

 

Yellow Loosestrife

 Early Spring Elderberry Bush

New ("volunteer") Elderberry plant!

Common Names

Celandine , Greater or common celandine

Botanical Name

Chelidonium majus

Family

Papaveracae (Poppy Family)

I put my screen in the porch storm door ... too early!

Brrrrr!  Was anyone else out there fooled by the warmth of the first week of spring?  It went on and on ... so we thought it must be an 'early' spring.  Throwing caution to the wind I acquiesced to my son's request and let him put the screen in the door.  Too early!!!  Should have listened to reason because that seemed to call the cold back and it's been cold ever since.  But the plants are still happy and coming up, Look!

This is one of my Comfrey Herb plants.  It's just emerging, but before you know it it will be HUGE!  The Comfrey Herb is known as a "skin herb" -- it helps skin cells develop and since we lose thousands and thousands of skin cells daily, this is a natural for any skin salve.  It is one of the ingredients in "Maiden's Glow Herbal Face Cream" (http://www.mysticalroseherbals.com/store/herbal-face-cream-organic-herbs/).

A fresh batch of "Maiden's Glow Herbal Face Cream" contains Organic Olive Oil that has been infused with non-certified but totally organically grown Comfrey Herb.

                                                    Each jar is carefully filled and weighed.

 

And, voila!  The velvety, thick and nutrient-laden face cream is ready to go!~

Now ... back to outside last Saturday.

Did anyone happen to see the "upside down rainbow" last Saturday?  I thought rainbows had to begin and end in water, but this one definitely had a mind of its own and was "free-flying" in the sky!  What a treat to see, and I'm sharing it with you - Fiori

 

Let me share with you this beautiful first day of spring in the Berkshires...

It's too beautiful for words ... the breeze is gentle and warm, the smell of moist soil suggests that you might want to get out the rake and remove the dead leaves that were protecting the plants during the winter to see what's hiding underneath.  There's probably new shoots anxious to sunbathe and grow. Pictures taken around 8 a.m.

How (deceptively!) ugly plants and gardens can look this time of year!  Just look at mine ...

It's my Comfrey Herb covered with it's protection from last year.  Looks awful, doesn't it?  But it smells like there's new growth underneath.  I'm going to go out and rake it when I'm done blogging!

This is a chive flower surrounded with new chive leaves.  Guess we'll be having mashed potatoes for dinner tonight.  How about one of our home-grown chickens with home-grown mashed po's & chives and a nice fresh, spring salad.  Sound good?

These are leaves from one of my poppy plants.  Hard to believe that this little thing will be full of HUGE, orange flowers in a few weeks.

                                                       Fresh, spring Yarrow leaves

                                                            Lamb's Ear peeking out

                                                                  Baby Columbine (Honeysuckle)

DO YOU LIVE IN THE CITY?  No room for a garden?  Why not do what the Italians do?  Garden on the

roof!

 http://philipsgardenblog.com/2008/08/08/roof-gardens-ii-the-roof-terraces-of-rome/

Enough of being on the computer!  I'm going outside to clean my gardens!

HAPPY ST. PADDY'S DAY!

It looks like it's going to be another gorgeous day in the Berkshires ~ wishing you all a happy and blessed 

Saint Patrick's Day!  May he look down from Heaven and guide your footsteps safely home.

Your Virtual Garden Spot

SPRINGTIME IS HERE FOR THE IDES OF MARCH ... e tu Brute?

 Ahhhh...the breeze is so nice and the sunshine so bright here in our own little New England shire of the Berk!  Today I've decided to reward my good little plants who have been trying so hard to cooperate with me all winter and survive their jail-pots.  

Look!  A brave Lemon Balm (above) is sending out some new leaves today.  It just can't resist this gorgeous sunshine...

 Can you see the new leaves on this little Tea Rose that I got last September?  I'm so happy that it's still going (I am notoriously bad at keeping Tea Roses alive.)

 And this is one of my many dormant Lavenders, holding back on turning green for another little while.  Wonder how long they can hold out~

With just two days of sunbathing, the Tuscany Rosemary is shedding its winter blues and raising its leafy arms in a happy stretch towards the sun it loves so much.

But with just two days of sunbathing, the flatter, Majorca-type Rosemary seems to have produced new shoots!  Just look!

 

 The tough little Feverfew is always one of the first herbs to brave the weather and get some leaves sprouted.

OK, nothing showing with the Anise Mint yet.  Let's give it another week or so.

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