Herb Harvest............

Since we have had all of the bitterly cold temperatures and since we have been cooped up- both because of the weather and because we went through a bout of sickness, I have felt a bit of "cabin fever" and my thoughts have turned to warmer weather and plants and planting. Even though my garden is buried under winter snow, I find myself thankful for the harvests we have had........

I love harvesting my herbs and hanging them up in the house..............I put them in several places, but the area that gets the most of them is my kitchen window. We took the valance down when we scraped the ceilings back in the spring of 2013 and never put them back up........so it was a perfect spot for hanging herbs to dry................and I LOVE how it looks. :)

The house smells so very good when I harvest the herbs and hang them.......fresh and wonderfully scented with all the great herb smells - rosemary, oregano, basil, lavender, mint, and more.....

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This was pretty much our last harvest before frost/freeze last fall - we tried to save everything we could......we did harvest more little cherry tomatoes after this picture...

those green things that look like limes, are actually passionfruit....








The basket of herbs is full of different herbs and
it is hard to tell what is in there from the picture...

We brought in a few baskets of herbs and then separated them......

We felt like getting a little "artsy" with the produce. :)  It sure looked pretty on my counter.

 I use rubber bands to hold the herbs together - I just put a good amount of herbs together without making too large of a bunch, which would interfere with air flow. I want my herbs to dry rather quickly and completely so that they retain their color and flavor....and nutrients.

I used to put a slip of paper with the name of the herb and hook it w/ the rubber band, but rarely do that anymore..........If I have an herb I am not as familiar with, I will do that again..........

There are times that I find I should have done it now. :)  As herbs dry, sometimes they look like other dried herbs, so it is a good idea to label them.........

I use clothes pins to hang them up or sometimes I can just straddle the bunch over the curtain rod and it hangs there quite nicely.

After they dry by hanging upside down for a week or two - until they are totally dry, then I will take them down and put them away.

I watch for containers to use for my herbs - I prefer to use glass - or metal, but I do have some plastic that I use only until I can find replacements.............

You can see that I have rosemary, strawberry leaves, lavender, yarrow, thyme, mint and lots more..........

There are so many uses for herbs and I love being able to harvest my own. I try to grow more herbs each year, but I don't grow as much as I use yet.  I do buy some and I try to store my herbs all together as much as I can, so they are easy to use.

Herbs do best in a dark cool place........most of my jars are clear, as you can see, but I keep them behind closed doors. I would enjoy having my herbs displayed so prettily on open shelving, as I have seen some people do, but the light can reduce the color, nutrients and flavor, so I keep them behind closed doors.

If you do not have any herbs yet, I encourage you to not be afraid of learning to use them........start with one....and maybe you won't even start with one that you grow and that is okay. There are many great herb companies that will sell good quality herbs......you can invest in one kind or a few kinds and experiment with using those until you are comfortable with them.

 Maybe mint....and use it in teas and more.  Maybe it would be just something from the grocery store spice shelf or the fresh herbs in the produce section - rosemary, parsley, basil, oregano, dill, or other items - all have many uses and it is a cheap and easy way to use more herbs. Yes, you can use them in foods and many can also be used in teas or for scenting your home. The internet and herb books can be very helpful to safely learn to use herbs.....I recommend that you double check your sources for any herb recommendations to be extra sure you are being safe.

I use herbs to make teas, infusions, first aid spray, tooth powder, shampoo, hair rinse, tinctures, salves, poultices, and many more things. I seem to add more uses all of the time and enjoy doing so, but I started out with doing one thing and then another..............and you can too. God has made the herbs of the field for us to use and I am so thankful to continue to learn of their many uses.


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