So life is all over the place right now…and it’s taking me AWHILE to get into a rhythm of posting while juggling my full time job, my relationships and household while also making sure I give this project the attention it needs and that I want to be able to give. So, please hang in there with me!
Anyway, I was planning on doing a cottage tour; after all this is the Wildcraft Cottage! But now we are in the process of moving! Which is very exciting and will be so much better for us. But, it doesn’t make for pretty pictures and is kind of pointless to share if in a few weeks everything will all be different!
There is apart of me that is sad to no longer be on this beautiful vineyard, to wake to the vines and sit under the apple tree. But my stress and Daniels stress and health with be so much better, that we just have to!
So instead let’s talk about Wildcrafting!
As I have said before, wildcrafting and foraging are two of my favorite things to do. It is relaxing to wander, find plants and flowers that you can take home and turn into something useful!
On this property, where we are currently living, there are several flower beds that have gone unattended for many years. As a result, the mint and lemon balm (two of my favorite herbs) have over run the entire bed and many of the surrounding plots as well.
If you can’t find me chances are I’m either picking this fresh goodness for tea, water infusions or just enjoying the sweet minty aromas!
So being the foragers we are, and never wanting to be wasteful, we got up early one Saturday morning, before Dan had to go to work, and harvested ALL of it!
Looking back, we should have done this months ago. But being the notorious procrastinators we are, we didn’t!
The leaves were still fragrant and beautiful, but toward the end of the stock some of the leaves were browning from the lack of sunlight and crowding in the over grown bed.
But it’s not like we don’t have plenty!
After a couple hours, Dan went to work, while I spent the next, 8 hours sorting and stripping the leaves from their stems.
The sorting was a tedious process. In passing lemon balm and mint look very similar, after all they are apart of the same extensive mint family, Lamiaceae. But if you look closely, you can see several differences.
You can see the lemon balm on the left has a softer leaf with wider veins, while in contrast the mint is appears to be rough with wrinkly leaf with smaller veins. Of course, you can also tell the difference by the smell. Lemon balm, imagine that, has a hint of sweet lemon, while mint …does not. I also observed, when the mint is matured it develops a red stem, making it easier to identify.
Both are amazing in teas, hot or cold, as well as salads, as a garnish, in dressings or in capsule form.
*Disclaimer: Please make sure to do your own research before you ingest, consume or apply topically any plants.
It was busy work. I caught up on some of my favorite vlog/bloggers and procrastinated doing the housework and laundry just a little longer. But by the end my hands felt raw from the picking!
We were even surprised to find fresh oregano!
Next step was to dry the herbs for storage. After all of that, I certainly didn’t want all of this goodness to go to waste!
I tried two methods to dry the herbs. One, using an electric dehydrator and two hang drying the herbs in small bunches.
With the electric dehydrator I just placed the fresh herbs on each of the stack-able trays, put the lid on and turn it on. That easy! Just keep an eye on it until the herbs are completely dry.
The electric dehydrator worked great and as a bonus made my house smell amazing!
It didn’t take much time at all! Only about an hour to completely dry them. But, on the down side it was messing and way more time consuming.
I see these amazing and beautiful drying racks on Pintrest and one day I will get my lazy butt to make one, but today we are practical!
To hang dry the herbs, I gathered a small bunch, too large of a bundle will cause the center to mold, and then tied cooking string around the end with a loop to hang from.
Buy my laundry drying rack worked perfect!
The best part was that it was low maintenance and not time consuming, at all!
I could just hang them, walk away and then just check on them periodically until they were completely dry. Which, lets be real, they sat there for a few days!
It was great to find this forgotten bounty on the property! I am so excited to make all of the teas, elixirs and oils we are planning and to also ship some of this goodness to friends and family, so they can enjoy the medicinal, magical and delicious properties of these wonderful herbs too!
One day, I will have my dream cottage with an endless amount of herbs hanging in every room. But, today we are taking this life one day at a time, being practical and taking steps to follow our dream. Until that day I hope we never stop learning and developing our skills!
Cheers!
