Tag: Herbs

Little Lavenders in the Landscape

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs's avatarCrooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

As spring approaches we get anxious to start planting our garden!  In March, we have time to plan which lavenders we want to add or replace in our garden.  In late March and into April and May, after the weather and the ground have warmed up, we can usually tell which lavenders need to be replaced. After we do spring garden pruning and clean up, we have a better idea of how much space we have to plant.  There are also more lavender plants available from local growers at that time of the year.
English lavenders, Lavandula angustifolia cultivars, are the hardiest lavender plants to grow, but eventually, they do need to be replaced with new plants.  Some lavender plants that are over 10 to 15 years old are very woody and parts of these plants may no longer produce new leaves or flowers. As long as a garden space…

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The Skin You’re In (#herbs, #IBS & #skincare)….

aspiringherbalist's avatarMy Herbal Adventures...

My skin has been a nemesis of mine since I was a teenager. Yet, the worst years were in my early twenties for breakouts and trial after trial of trying to fix what seemed to only get worse. As I tried to figure out how to fix it from the outside, without being willing to change my eating habits, it only got better when my alcohol consumption and relationship with nutrition & food changed in my mid-twenties. To this day I still struggle with my skin more than anything else in my lifestyle routine; due to a few reasons I will discuss below.

IBS! This has been a new discovery for me in the past few years. My sensitive stomach is really what has now been defined and given a name; Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Here are the list of symptoms in case you are unfamiliar:

  • Changes in normal bowel movements…

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Home Made Hair Treatment Oil

How to select, prepare, store and preserve Sage [Infographic]

ecogreenlover's avatarecogreenlove

Sage is a prevalent herb used worldwide in cooking and herbal medicine. Whether you opt for the fresh or dried form, sage adds a warm, pine-like flavor with hints of rosemary and citrus to any dish.

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Essential Oils and Flower Essences

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs's avatarGood Witches Homestead

Essential oils and flower essences bestow a concentrated dose of plant energy.
In most cases, however, you may want to work with the whole plant. You may find that if you wish to work with a particular plant, you’re obligated to grow it yourself. This may be for a variety of reasons.
* Some plants are rare to an area. You may need to nurture some indoors or order from a specialist nursery.
* What you desire may not be marketable: the alchemists treasured fresh morning dew caught upon the leaves of lady’s mantle. They called it “water from heaven” and prized it as an ingredient in many enchanted potions. If you want some {and you very well might; it’s reputed to provide a beautiful complexion!}, you’ll have to grow it and gather it yourself.
* In some cases, it’s best to have your own fresh stock of plants, to…

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Starting Your Seeds Indoors This Winter

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs's avatarCrooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Expert answers to your herb-growing questions.

Q.  This year I want to grow some of my herb plants from seeds. What are the steps to starting seeds over the winter?

A.  Seed starting is like baking bread- you need the right mix of ingredients, the right temperature, and viable yeast. In the case of seed starting, the ingredient list includes a lightweight growing medium and containers for planting. Provide the right temperature with a warm greenhouse or sunny window; and seeds, of course, are the viable catalyst.

Use a commercial potting mix or seedling mix for the growing medium. Choose from egg cartons, yogurt cups, flats of six-cell packs or small pots when it comes to containers. {Note: Fiber- or peat-based pots should be soaked well before adding soil.} Like yeast, seeds have a limited life, be sure the seeds are fresh or packaged for the upcoming growing season for…

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Primrose; The Flower of February

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs's avatarGood Witches Homestead

COMMON NAME:  primrose
GENUS:  Primula
SPECIES, HYBRIDS, CULTIVARS:
P. denticulata-lavender, purple, or white flowers; grows to 12 inches. P. japonica ‘Millar Crimson’-flowers whorled around 24-inch stem; blooms May-June. P. polyanthus-best known; colors are red, pink, blue, gold, and white, all with small yellow eyes.
FAMILY:  Primulaceae
BLOOMS:  spring
TYPE:  perennial
DESCRIPTION:  Primroses form an attractive rosette of crinkly, light green leaves. The flowers are generally brightly colored and occur in tight bundles on individual stems above the leaves.
CULTIVATION:  Needing partial shade, primroses thrive in well-drained, rich soil. They are indigenous to cool, moist meadows and woodland environments  Duplicating these conditions as closely as possible will create the best growing conditions for primroses. The soil should not be allowed to dry completely. To retain vigorously blooming plants, divide clumps every four to five years. Seeds should be sown in midsummer for bloom the following spring.

Primrose is beloved…

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5 Things You Didn’t Know About Cardamom

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs's avatarCrooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

f you have ever tasted Biryani (Indian flavored savory rice) or kheer (Indian rice pudding) or the famous Finnish pulla, you would probably identify the aroma of cardamom. The sweet and mystical spice was used by the Greeks and Romans in their perfumes and the ancient Egyptians as mouth fresheners. Even today, Cardamom (green) is one of the most expensive spices. It’s not just native to the South-East Asian belt, it’s increasingly used in Europe as well.

1- Cardamom, ginger, and turmeric belong to the same botanical family Zingiberaceae: cardamom is part of the Zingiberaceae family and is sold in pods, seeds, and powder form. The pods can be split open to expose the aromatic seeds. Both turmeric and ginger are roots, or rhizomes, while cardamom is the seed of the plant. It pairs very well with turmeric and ginger. Turmeric imparts a deep yellow color to curries, ginger…

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Herb of the Month; Cardamom – The Queen of Spices

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs's avatarCrooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Cardamom is the Queen of Spices and has grown lavishly under the tropical canopy on hillsides in the Ghat Mountains on the Malabar Coast of southern India to be harvested by hand and shipped around the world.  The cardamom familiar to India and the western world is called green cardamom and it, along with several other types such as giant cardamom, black cardamom, and bastard cardamom, have been used for cooking, perfumery, incense, and medicine since very early in history.

Ancient Egyptians used it frequently for perfume along with frankincense, myrrh, cinnamon, and cassia, and had a recipe for an ointment called “Oil of Lilies” that included the scent from 1000 lilies. It is often mentioned as one of the ingredients of the ancient incense kyphi. Cardamom essential oil is one of the oldest essential oils known in perfumery and in the apothecary. Cardamom is the third most expensive spice after saffron…

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Aromatic Herb for February; Tansy

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs's avatarGood Witches Homestead

Tansy {Tanacetum vulgare}

Tansy is an upright herb with a crown of bright yellow clustering flowers. It is a member of the Asteraceae family and is also known as common tansy, bitter buttons, cow bitter, mugwort, and golden buttons. It grows to a height of three feet and produces pinnate, lance-shaped leaves that are uniformly toothed. Its button-shaped flowers sit atop erect, reddish stems.

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Native to Europe and Asia – and of possible Asian origin – the plant was likely first cultivated as a medicinal herb by the Greeks. In the eighth century, it grew in the herb gardens of Charlemagne and at the Abby of Saint Gall in present-day Switzerland, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. At that time, it was used to treat…

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