Category: Herbs

Lemon Butter

Add to vegetable dishes.

1/3    cup chopped lemon grass bulb or lemon balm, lemon thyme, or lemon basil

          Lemon zest and juice of 1/4 fresh lemon

2        sticks unsalted butter.

Melt herbs and butter together. Simmer lightly 5-10 minutes. Strain and refrigerate.

Mint Butter

Use on breads, muffins, carrots and parsnips.

3   tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint leaves

1 stick unsalted butter

Lemon zest to taste

2 tablespoons marmalade, preserves or honey of choice

Simmer 10 minutes or less for a lighter flavor.

Herb Butters

Herb butters add a delightful flavor to vegetables, crackers, breads and meats. They are quick and easy to prepare and turn an ordinary dinner into a meal to remember 

Hints:

  • Use unsalted butter

  • Use lemon zest to enhance flavor

  • Mix into softened butter or simmer

  • Herb butters get stronger with time. Refrigerate two to three weeks. Freeze two to three months

  • Add nuts just prior to serving

  • Chop fresh herbs, cut with scissors, or food process fully dry

  • Simmer herbs about ten minutes. Do not bubble.

Magickal Vinegar

This vinegar can either be used in spells or it can be given as a lovely hostess gift.

All you need is:

8 to 10 fresh herb sprigs

1 quart good quality white vinegar

1 quart-sized glass canning jar with lid

Plastic  wrap

Gift  jars or small bottles

Ribbon

Rose Dye

Rose Dye

The Native Americans removed the spine by rubbing the cactus in the sand.

Plant: Prickly pear cactus

Harvest time:  September

 Material:  Fruit, fresh

Vessel:  Earthenware or enamel kettle

Squeeze the juice from 2 pounds of cactus and strain into 3 gallons of water. Add 1 pound of yarn and soak for 1 week in a warm location. Rub the yarn daily. Rinse several times. To deepen the color, repeat the process a second time.

Yellow Dye

Yellow Dye

Plant: Gaillardia “Indian Blanket”
Harvest time:  June
Material: Fresh flowers, leaves, stems
Vessel:  Enamel or granite

Boil 1 pound of fresh material in 5 gallons of water for 2 hours. Strain; add 1/4 cup of raw alum to the water. Allow to dissolve by boiling 10 minutes before adding 1 pound of wet yarn. Mix well and boil the yarn for 2 hours. Steep overnight before rinsing several times.

Herbal Tips for Your Kitchen

Now that Spring is here, we will be having fresh vegetables and herbs shortly. Knowing how to use the herbs properly will give a new taste sensation to your meals. You can use tried and true recipes or make-up your own. Either way when you cook with herbs, you will have a fantastic meal the whole family will enjoy.

Hints for Using Herbs

  • Serving Rule:  Two teaspoons of minced, fresh herbs will flavor four servings One teaspoon dried herbs or seeds serves four. Delicately flavored herbs, like marjoram can be use more liberally.

  • For soups and stews, add fresh herbs during the last twenty minutes.

  • To develop the flavor of freshly dried herbs, soak them for ten minutes in lemon juice, stock or oil before cooking.

  • Before cooking rub fresh herbs between clean hands to release their unique flavor in the volatile oils. This will accelerate flavoring  as your entrée cooks.

  • Firmly press herbs into the flesh of meats, fish, or poultry before cooking to enhance aroma and taste. No sauce or further preparation will be necessary.

  • Flavor salad dressing by soaking herbs in it for thirty minutes to an hour before serving. Use one teaspoon of herbs to one cup of dressing.

  • Microwave: Whenever possible, saute herbal blends in a small amount of liquid, stock, butter or oil before adding to a microwave dish to assure flavor.

  • Sugar can be flavored by layering twelve to fifteen rose geranium or lemon rose geranium leaves on top of one pound of sugar.  Any flavor of geranium leaves will do. Keep it covered until ready to use. Flavored sugar adds a delicate flavor to biscuits, cookies and muffins,

  • A substitute for lemon peel in baked goods is finely chopped lemon balm, lemon thyme or lemon vervain.

Handy Dandy Spring Time Scarecrow for Your Garden

The scarecrow normally conjures up harvests, autumn skies and pumpkins plump for the carving, yet its empowerment and placement were always part of spring rites and an intricate piece of garden magick. Like many vehicles from the old country, these were specific rules on how to prepare and handle one’s garden guardian. A protective and good fortune device, the scarecrow didn’t secure just the garden, it protected the prosperity and welfare of the entire family. Here are the rules, if you would like to make your own scarecrow.

  1. When building your scarecrow, always use natural fibers and old clothes–never use clothes from an enemy to dress your scarecrow.

  2. Sew or stuff protective charms in the arms and sleeves of the device. From runic sigils to specially bless charms, trinkets, and dried herbs, each choice should be associated with your true desires.

  3. Like it or not, the energy of the scarecrow is often used to create protection through humor–think of it as the light of laughter.

  4. A healer’s scarecrow should contain both comfrey and horehound.

  5. It is bad luck to erect your scarecrow before Easter.

  6. It is bad luck to erect your scarecrow on May Day.

  7. Never, ever wear any items that has been worn by a scarecrow–this is thought to bring death to the household

  8. Your scarecrow must be given shade on the longest day of the year to ensure luck and prosperity.

  9. Finally, and most importantly, your scarecrow must be burned before November 1, preferably on Halloween Night of October 31. Easy single part of the scarecrow must be fired–the clothing, the charms, even the pole he rests on. If this is not done, bad luck will plague the entire family.