Herbs

Wednesday Log  

In tending my garden I seek three things: Wisdom,courage and truth and I some times feel that God only allows me to find how much I can take at any given time.

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Herbs have been grown and used long before people stated to write things down and the first documented use of herbs was in about 2000BC. This was in Babylon where Herbs were use  for medicinal uses.

These first Herbs were thyme, mint, sage, marjoram, rosemary and hyssop.

The ancient Greeks did a lot to further our knowledge and uses of Herbs for medicinal reasons.  Hippocrates is know as the Father of Medicine and it was he who taught  us the value of Herbs for easing pain and curing disease.

Dioscordies, in the first century Ad, listed over 500 plants having medicinal properties.

It was in the Middle Ages that the monasteries became centers of learning and healing. Herb folklore flourished during this time.

If you are interest in reading more about Herbs you might want to take a look at :

Complete Herbal by Nicholas Culpeper which was published in 1653 

  

Herbs bring the fragrance of the spring and summer right through the year in our cooking.

To have Herbs at their best most of them must be grown in soil that is rich in humus and also the Herb must be harvested at the right time.

It is difficult to draw a line of demarcation between the culinary Herbs and  the medicinal ones, for there are plants which are covet by cooks for their flavors and yet are considered just as important medicinally. 

Some people have tried to show a difference by classing the culinary herbs as ‘ sweet’ herbs however this is equally misleading, because there are plants like Southernwood which are bitter and certainly not sweet.

Nearly all are cultivated and this is especially applies to those used for cooking. The herbalists may go out into the countryside looking for special herbs for their cures but we growers grow those that we need in a border, preferably near the kitchen.

One word of warning before you start to think about growing the different kinds of herbs  that are available and that is, beware of heavy-handedness.

There is always a danger that because you are growing your own herbs and have therefore plenty of them that you use them in a big way.

It is when the soupcom of a herb is used that you get the wonderful flavour which makes everybody say what a good cook you are.

However when you use too much, the dish will promptly be nondescript and you will have lost that light ,delicate touch that marks the French Chef.

Thoughts while weeding:

There are three kinds of dreams:

The first is just scribble in your mind. It means nothing. It is just your brain unwinding like a clock spring.

The second kind of dream does mean something. Your unconscious mind is trying to tell you something, however it is up to you to interpret what it means.

And the third; Ah yes the third is what the mystics call Barakka, the place of the Dreaming Void. It is a waking dream, a vision, when you glimpse the workings of God. 

If go there, it is only in the third dream that you go down the pathway to your deeper self.