Tag: Plants

Herb Guide: Growing and Using Rosemary

By Crooked Bear Creek Organics

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

Rosmarinus officinalis

Also, Known As:

  • Compass Weed
  • Dew of the Sea
  • Garden Rosemary
  • Incensier
  • Mary’s Mantle
  • Mi-tieh-hsiang
  • Old Man
  • Polar Plant
  • Rosemary
  • Rosemary Plant

Rosmarinus officinalis L. (family Lamiaceae), is also known as rosemary. This herb is an evergreen shrub, with lovely aromatic linear leaves. Colored a dark shade of green above and white below, the leaves of the rosemary give off a beautiful fragrance, and with its small pale blue flowers, the plant is cultivated extensively in many kitchen gardens across America and elsewhere.

The evergreen shrub originated in the Mediterranean area, but it is today cultivated almost everywhere in the world, primarily for its aromatic leaves. The shrub has several ash colored branches, and the bark is rather scaly. The leaves, as described earlier, are opposite and leathery thick. They are lustrous and dark green above and downy white underneath, with a prominent vein in the middle and…

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Growing Lemongrass

By Crooked Bear Creek Organics

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

Also known as Fever grass, Bhustrina, and Takrai. From the family Poaceae.

This important culinary and medicinal herb, which can be found throughout the tropics, is indigenous to Southeast Asia where it is used extensively to produce an essential oil. It is also a snake repellent and a versatile garden plant. There are records showing that the Persians were using it as a tea in the first century B.C. I have been lucky enough to see it growing and flowering naturally in the Caribbean {Jamaica} where they primarily use it for reducing fevers.

VARIETIES:

Cymbopogon citratus: Lemon Grass

A half-hardy perennial, evergreen in warm climates. Height 4 1/2 ft. Spread 3 feet. Lax panicles of awnless spikelets appear throughout the summer. However, it rarely flowers in cold climates. Lemon-scented linear, grey/green leaves up to 3 feet in length. Robust creamy/beige cane-like stems. Zone 9.

Cymbopogon nardus: Citronella Grass

A…

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Our Herb Garden Guide for Desert Dwellers

By Crooked Bear Creek Organics

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

HERB GARDEN

Herbs have been used for generations for many purposes from medicinal remedies to perfumes and culinary uses. Herbs also provide beauty and variety to our desert landscapes. We invite you to use this guide to learn about the variety of herbs that grow well in our Sonoran Desert and how you can create your own herb garden at home.

OVERVIEW
The Herb Garden is designed with seven themed gardens. This guide has information about each area with plant recommendations and growing tips about herbs you can grow in your low desert garden.

THEMES
Sensory Garden Wildlife Garden Tea Garden Mediterranean Garden Picante Garden Culinary Garden Medicinal Garden

DEFINITION: herb: a plant that is useful in some way

MEDITERRANEAN GARDEN

Many herbs that thrive in our harsh desert environment are of Mediterranean origin. Soil types, low rainfall and over 300 sunny days a year allow these familiar herbs…

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Wild Food Profile: Eat Your Hostas!

Often, when you are interested in unusual and wild foods, a season for a delectable treat may only last for a few short days or weeks. A fun early spring food that is usually popping up around or before Beltane in temperate parts of North America is the hosta. Yes, you heard me–that large leafy […]

via Wild Food Profile: Eat Your Hostas! — The Druid’s Garden

Have You Seen These Amazing Wildflowers?

Greetings!

First, I want to say “thank you!” to everyone who pre-registered for the upcoming Wild Edible Plant & Mushroom Outing (featuring Sam Thayer!) on June 2nd.  The event filled to max capacity within 24 hours and registration is now closed.  Stay tuned for another exciting Learn Your Land event to be held in early July!

Second, let’s talk about flowers.

If you’re a wildflower enthusiast like me, perhaps you’ll agree that the spring ephemeral wildflower season is one of the best times of year to explore the woods.

What’s not to love about a hillside teeming with White Trillium?  Or a vernal pool speckled with Marsh Marigold? Or a floodplain loaded with Virginia Bluebells?

Personally, I can’t think of a spring ephemeral wildflower I don’t like.  No matter the color, no matter the size… each one is a superstar in its own special way.

Recently, I took to the woods in search of these fleeting flowers and tried my best to capture the magic on film.  The sky was sunny, the air was warm, and plenty of plants were blooming that afternoon.  Needless to say, the wildflowers definitely put on a good show.  Check it out!

Speaking of ephemeral organisms, morel mushrooms are making grand appearances all over the woods right now.  Depending on where you live, these choice edible fungi may currently be fruiting in your neck of the woods.  Check out this recent Instagram post to learn more about these elusive springtime fungi!

Thanks for reading and watching, and as always, thank you for your support!

-Adam Haritan

CREATING HERB GARDENS WITH CHILDREN

Visit http://www.kidsgardening.org/ for more fun gardening ideas at school or at home. Herbs arouse kids’ curiosity and interest because they thoroughly engage the senses. What better motivator for student investigations than plants that feel cool, smell great, and can turn mere tomatoes into pizza sauce? Their life stories, it turns out, are fascinating too. After all, […]

via Creating Herb Gardens With Children — Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

HERBARIUM PROJECT FOR CHILDREN

An herbarium is a collection of dried plants that botanists use for studying, identifying, and classifying plants. Making an herbarium is a great way for kids and their parents to learn about botany and the plants used in herbalism. An herbarium will help you and your child get to know what plants look like, along with […]

via HERBARIUM PROJECT FOR CHILDREN — Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

FUN ON THE WILD SIDE ~ INTRODUCTION TO HERBS FOR KIDS: WILDCRAFTING

Take a trip outside your door and look down! What do you see? Do you see little plants growing? Perhaps it is one single little dandelion or maybe you have found a whole area of plants growing and thriving. You won’t have to go far to find wild plants! Sometimes wild plants found around homes, […]

via Fun On The Wild Side ~ INTRODUCTION TO HERBS FOR KIDS: WILDCRAFTING — Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Jewelweed Salve

By Luna Walks Alone

Wild Edible Plant & Mushroom Outing with Sam Thayer & Adam Haritan

Greetings!

I am extremely excited to announce that I will be co-hosting the upcoming Wild Edible Plant & Mushroom Outing with Sam Thayer on Saturday, June 2nd.  Sam is a nationally recognized foraging instructor and the author of three popular foraging books, including The Forager’s Harvest, Nature’s Garden, and Incredible Wild Edibles.

He will be traveling from his home in Wisconsin to spend the day with us in Western Pennsylvania for the Wild Edible Plant & Mushroom Outing.  This event is an all-day outdoor excursion designed to improve your identification skills by introducing you to a variety of edible species that grow in the early weeks of summer.

During the first part of the event, we will explore Pennsylvania’s beautiful Moraine State Park by hiking a 1.5-mile trail alongside the park’s main feature, Lake Arthur.  While walking, we’ll discuss the plants and mushrooms that inhabit the grassy meadows, lakeside ecosystems, and wooded habitats.

In the afternoon, we’ll head to nearby McConnells Mill State Park to explore 2.5 miles of the North Country Trail and its notable hemlock-lined ravines, sugar maple slopes, and sandstone cliffs… all while discussing the area’s unique plants and mushrooms.

Interested?  Here are more details:

What: Wild Edible Plant & Mushroom Outing with Sam Thayer & Adam Haritan
When: Saturday, June 2nd, 2018
Where: Moraine & McConnells Mill State Parks, Western Pennsylvania
Time: 9:00 AM — 6:00 PM

Please note that in order to maximize your learning experience, space for this event is limited to approximately 25 participants.  Registration with payment in advance is required.

To purchase your ticket, and to learn more about the outing, please visit this link:  Wild Edible Plant & Mushroom Outing

We’d love to see you there!

-Adam Haritan