HerbnArts

SPRINGTIME TULIPS         ... April showers brings May flowers"...It must be so, because we in Barberton are noticing all the flowering trees and spring flowers as we float by on our pontoon boats.  That's actually a local joke in reference to how much rain and flooding we have experienced lately.  I would begin the spring clean-up of Le Petit Jardin if it would ever stop raining.  Meanwhile, I drink more tea while nibbling a cookie as I plan how I will set up this year's gardens.  Lots of art projects are bombarding my brain as I stir my gardening mojo during the wet waiting.  Lately I have been on a lemon kick since discovering scrumptious non-gluten lemon shortbread cookies.  Lemon scented candles have perfumed my abode and I have been using lemon essential oils as my springtime personal fragrance.  Watercolor images flood my imagination as I think of herb stores from the past.  Those were my happy places years ago.  No...

   ...Azure skies shone as the bright sun made everything sparkle.  It was making February in Ohio seem as though spring had already arrived with uncommonly mild weather.  What an odd winter we have had this year as everywhere around us was slammed  with snow and ice storms, as we hardly knew what happened around our protective bubble of weather.  Local lawnmowers have been tuning up in anticipation of the green grass season soon to come.  The groundhog was highly confused as he had no sun shining on his big day. ”You woke me up for this?!!!",  he seemed to say.  No shadow for Punxatawny Phil this year. Everyone other than Phil was of course thrilled.  In reality, I saw neighborhood groundhogs searching for food last week and slipping under my neighbor's porch.  Even the birds are a bit confused as to whether it is spring or not.  Last week I had an Alfred Hitchcock moment when the noise of large flocks of birds drew my attenti...

Colors of autumn      ...Today is wet. It is the kind of soggy wet that tends to stay for days.  On and off it has rained, keeping one from doing much outside work.  This has been a frustrating summer with unbearable heat, little rain, and no real joy of gardening for me.  My faithful lavender plant has managed to give me a wonderful yield of aromatic wands, in spite of the brutal weather conditions.  I'm afraid Le Petit Jardin has suffered from neglect this season.  Finally, there is rain and cooler temperatures, but it is a little late to make much of the garden.  Fall is coming much too soon.  The weeds are almost insurmountable as I contemplate garden clean-up to shape Le Petit Jardin.  Maybe munching a cookie will help the cause...      Recently I was asked if I had created any new art.  Sadly, I had not.  With the miserable heat, accompanied by a temporary foot injury, I was both immobile and discourag...

Hens & chicks jumping out of a broken pot   ...Riding the weather rollercoaster here in Ohio is never dull.  We have had heavy rain with high winds and cold temperatures.  Now we are experiencing hot, dry days of 86 degrees.  All the trees are spouting leaves and the bulbs are proudly displaying their brilliant blooms.  Everyone's lawns are greening up, and the first sounds of lawnmowers has filled the air.  Inspiration for art is everywhere.  My neighbor's tree has always made me want to create a mixed media piece entitled POM POMS IN SPRING.  When the leaf buds begin to explode in their chartreuse green, they look like bright green pom poms scattered along the tree branches.  This is the year I am creating that piece of art.  It is no wonder that the creative urges begin to stir as the sunlight finally bursts forth with the ushering in of springtime promise. All of nature has been eager to get on with the program after the grayness...

A civilized cookie with a cup of tea       . ... Cookie Deficit... The psychological condition of a lack of cookies in one's diet or routine, causing one to not function well or up to usual operating mode...                                                                                                       ...March skipped in like a warm and sunny spring day.  What could be wrong with that?  But wait, if March should come in like a lion and out like a lamb, we are headed for trouble.  We would pay dearly for all that sunshine and balmy temperatures.  And so, we in Barberton did pay.  Icy winds and spits of snow followed those first warm days.  Eventually we experienced monsoons of rai...

HerbnArts: Year of the Rabbit... :      ...Though the day began a bit gray, eventually blue skies and glorious sunshine became the most appreciated gift of the day as it beam...

     ...Though the day began a bit gray, eventually blue skies and glorious sunshine became the most appreciated gift of the day as it beamed in through my windows.  I knew the temperature was mild when I saw the mail carrier making his rounds not wearing a coat or hat.  Another spring teaser was blowing through the area as the winds kicked up, stirring the naked tree branches of January in Barberton.  So far, everyone has been grateful not to have to shovel snow.  Murmurings of having to mow grass soon if it gets any warmer were sneaking into conversations everywhere.  This just isn't Ohio in January.  With so much sunshine flooding into my apartment, all I can think of is gardening.  The projects bouncing around in my brain have been keeping me up nights.  I so want to start getting e Petit Jardin up and ready for spring planting!  Realistically, I know it is just too early f...

HerbnArts: New Year Tea and Cookies :      ...Here we are I the new year.  Christmas weekend was a rough one this past season.  Barberton virtually disappeared in the blizzard t...

     ...Here we are i the new year.  Christmas weekend was a rough one this past season.  Barberton virtually disappeared in the blizzard that had the area.  For all the high winds of 40 to 60 mph, we eventually had only 3 inches of snow.  But the subzero temperatures were brutal.  Though many around me lost power for a time, I was blessed to have power through the storm.  It pays to pray!  Only now am I thinking about the garden for this spring.  I know it seems crazy, but we currently have spring rains and temperatures in the mid-60's.  At the moment, the snows are only a memory.  This being Ohio, that could change any moment.  But it is nice to have a respite from the extreme cold...     Sunshine happily beamed through my windows. letting me know that a bit of earl spring cleaning couldn't hurt.  Nose prints of my three kitties have graced the chosen window spots making the windows al...

PURPLR CONEFLOWER (echinecea)       ..... The air was heavy with the scent of lilac as the sweet purple blossoms burst forth in all their glory.  Childhood memories rushed through my mind in a frenzy of stories and pictures remembered. Images of the various herb farms I had visited gifted me with sweet memories from more recent times.  Birds were chirping joyfully after the spring rain as lilac perfume wafted through my window.  Oh, the green garden memories, and the simple tea and cookies that made one long for gentler times. Many of the herb farms I frequented no longer exist.  A sad time indeed...  But one can create one's own gentle memory with tea and cookies, journals, herbs in decorative pots, and flowers all around.   Le Petit Jardin has been a blessed spot of sanctuary for me in these tough times.  Just a few days ago I spotted the first bumble bees I have seen in a very long time.  They were checking Le Petit Jar...

            ...Stiff winds gusted through winter weary Barberton as the temperatures climbed from the teens to the seventies.  For two days we basked in the teaser to spring.  Mountains of ice and snow were disappearing as rain and warm air whisked away most of the nasty reminders of this harsh winter. All I could think of was pots of little green herbs and bowls of spring flowers everywhere.  But, alas, it is too soon for such joy.  Le Petiit Jardin will have to snooze a little while longer.  Our usual Ohio weather is still on its maddening roller coaster ride as the temperatures return to their cold downward spiral.  Mostly, it is soggy.  Between the ice mountains melting and the copious pre-spring rains saturating the grounds everywhere, it is more a time of rubber boots and pontoon boats than for spring gardening rituals.  I am just eager to get to the real gardening stuff.  For now, I will busy myself w...

      ... The moon was glowing in a muggy haze at its fullest.  It was hard not to stare at the ghostly orb, totally mesmerized by its strange pale light.  The end of summer was upon us in the Magic City.  The autumn equinox declared the official beginning of fall.  A few bushes and trees had begun to show a bit of bright color, but it had stayed too hot to actually help the process along.  Greenish brown leaves had begun to fall from trees, signs they were showing the stress of the peculiar weather of this summer.  Lawn grasses were turning brown and crunching under foot.  And yet, somehow Le Petit Jardin managed to produce more than enough herbal treasures for me to still enjoy.      Finally the predicted rains came to Barberton, soaking the dry bones ground.  Knowing that it was going to rain, I hastily harvested Holy basil from its growing bowl.  Sweet basil was begging to be harvested as its flowers waved in...

       ... It is late August and in the otherwise quiet morning, I can hear the noisy rattle of cicadas with an accompaniment of crickets chirping in the background.  These familiar summer sounds confirm for me that the world goes on no matter what is happening all around. The occasional dry leaf slowly floats down from neighborhood trees.  In spite of the copious rains we have experienced here in the Magic City, things are dry.  My father, a woodsman by nature, taught me to observe nature and to read the signs of the seasons it shared.  As gardeners, my grandmother and her sisters talked about the signs of the seasons. predicting the next seasons ahead by reading those signs.  Is it any wonder I contemplate the seasons ahead by reading nature's signs as I sip my tea or coffee to start my day.  I guess I have become the go-to gal for my friends who somehow expect me to knowingly predict the following season's weather.  Maybe I shoul...

      ... A cabbage moth flitted lightly around the flowering thyme, stopping now and then, flittering again to another spot on the fragrant herb.  It was a gentle reminder of the warm sunny days of August.  Was it really August already?  Where had the summer gone?  I had more basil than I could manage to harvest and my thyme plants were spilling onto the walkways.  The many rainstorms of the summer had left the herbs growing with wild abandon, making them grow faster than I could manage to harvest.  The various mints in Le Petit Jardin were growing crazily everywhere.  Thank heaven they were growing in containers or I would be strangling from their "Day of the Triffids" growth. This summer season I had managed to include a few red geraniums in pots on my front deck.  Their cherry red blooms have been a happy greeting each time I come home.  As usual I have been late at shaping up Le Petit Jardin.  For all my gardening goo...

      A bright red light was shining onto my face waking me up much earlier than I had wanted.  What was that red light and how did it get there?  Fumbling for my glasses, I squinted out of my window and through my neighborhood trees at the bright light.  It was definitely red.  As the fog in my brain slowly lifted, I realized that the bright light was actually the morning sun.  I can't remember ever seeing the sun appearing red like a traffic signal.  For many years I was an early morning riser, but not so much in my retirement years.  My memories of early morning sun were that of a dark orange orb that grew more golden in hue as the minutes passed.  This was a different morning sun than my recollections could handle.  In the Twilight Zone of my early morning mind I was questioning whether or not I had simply been transported to another planet.  After glancing at the morning sun again and finding that it was now a light g...

       ... Howling winds, torrential rain, rolling thunder and lightning furiously slammed through the Magic City.  But finally it was cooler.  My morning began with inspecting my yard to see if I had "lost" anything to the wild winds of the storm. Fortunately everything was where I had left it the day before. Though it was a bit breezy, the day was deliciously cool and partially sunny.  Perfect gardener's weather... Immediately I wrestled out my packet of mammoth sunflower seeds and poked five seeds into the moist soil.  My next fun task was that of harvesting the new crop of lavender stems I had been carefully watching.  Le Petit Jardin was already yielding its green stems.  The fragrance of freshly cut lavender put me in my happy place once again, reminding me that it isn't about the size of the garden.  It is all about the amount of joy one derives from the sensory experience of nurturing plants, harvesting the bounty, and enjoy...

      ....Memories flooded my mind as I sipped some lemongrass green tea. Quietly I was transported to a time and place from over twenty years ago in my herbal experiences.  An herb farm that is no longer in business was once a favorite happy place for me.  Homemade salves and teas were created at that green sanctuary.  Herbal oils, tinctures, and herbal toilet waters were part of the offerings.  There was always a class or two happening that shared herbal crafting moments of joy.  Discovering trinkets, pottery specialties was part of the fun at that herb farm.  Not only did they sell precious herb plants, but bulk dried herbs were for sale also.  Woody garden aromas permeated the atmosphere of the herb shop and farm greenhouse.  Light buzzing of bees indicated the business of pollinators steadily at work.  Butterflies flitted throughout the gardens.  Everywhere birds could be heard chirping their cheerful conversatio...

       ....As the rollercoaster ride of temperatures here in Ohio continues, today we have cool and wet conditions.  At least it isn't snow.  We did end out April with some snow, but we seem to be passed that.  All the wetness is causing all the grass to grow as if it was on steroids.  My yard is sporting dandelions that should be Japanese horror film stars.  But for herb people that's a good thing, right?  All kinds of teas, salads, infusions and salves are just begging to be concocted.  The blooming lilacs were inviting me to make infused honey.  I diligently cut as many blossoms as I could manage as I knew it would snow overnight.  And of course I was nearly out of honey, so that meant I would need to add honey to my grocery list.  The snows came and went.  Surviving a covering of snow, the lilac bush seemed none the worse for the white covering.  But the blossoms had very little noticeable fragrance....