PecanSpringsJournal

>>an herbal topiary workshop

We've been offering an on-going demonstration of herb topiaries at Thyme & Seasons for the past week, so we thought we'd post some guidelines and invite you to grow along.

You've heard of topiaries, I'm sure, but herb topiaries? Yes, by all means! Some herbs are ideal subjects for the special kind of ornamental pruning and training that is called "topiary."  Rosemary, lavender, santolina, and bay are good plants to start with. They have woody stems (the most important requirement) and can be pruned into decorative shapes. What’s more, you can pop all those little sprigs you've trimmed into the soup pot or the potpourri bowl--or dry them as a gift for friends. Rosemary is easy to obtain and fun to work with. Let's start there, and you can go on to other kinds of plants.

A Rosemary Topiary

The simplest topiary is a single-stem “round-head standard,” which you can train in a single or a double pom-pom. To get started, collect a potted rosemary plant (an upright cultivar 12-18" tall, with good growth), an appropriate container with a drainage hole in the bottom, a bamboo or wooden stake, clippers, and raffia. Push the stake into the pot beside the main stem, then remove all the stems but that one and tie the stem to the stake. If the stem is crooked, gently straighten it as much as possible, tying it at several points to the stake, with raffia.

Then decide where you want to develop the ball, and strip the leaves below that point, being careful not to damage the stem. Prune the plant to approximate the shape you want, cutting just past the growth nodes to encourage bushiness. As new growth appears on the stem, pinch it off; retie the stem as necessary to ensure straight growth. As new growth shoots out from the nodes in the ball, keep shaping it. If you want to create a double-ball standard, train the central stem to grow straight up, shaping the higher ball some six inches above the lower. If you like, add moss or rocks to cover the soil surface.

Care for your plant as you would for any potted rosemary, being careful not to overwater if you bring it in for the winter.

Want to read more? Go over to No Thyme for a good article on crafting a rosemary topiary. Perfect Entertaining suggests a topiary-like arrangement of yarrow and bee balm (but other straight-stemed herbs could be used). You can see some adventurous herb topiaries in animal shapes in this article from the Honolulu Star-Beacon--but chile pepper topiary? I'll have to see it to believe it. Martha (yes, that Martha) poses with a rosemary topiary here, with some good suggestions for soil mix and watering. If you'd like to shape your rosemary into a Christmas tree, this Better Homes and Gardens page will give you some ideas.

Herbal topiaries make great gifts. And for some extra fun, give a suitable young rosemary plant, an appropriate container and soil mix, raffia, topiary instructions, and a small pair of sturdy scissors. A special gift for a special friend. (And you might include an offer to babysit with it while she's on vacation.)

We have fun with herbs at Thyme & Seasons. Hope you do too!

>>crockpot cookery, from Sheila

Hey, guys--

I’m Sheila Dawson, aka Smart Cookie. I think some of you have met me in Susan’s mysteries, since China occasionally invites me to help her solve a crime. (Just kidding.) In case we haven’t met, I show up first in Hangman’s Root, which Susan wrote while I was still working as the Chief of Security at Central Texas State. I admit that there was a certain amount of jealousy back then (the subject being Mike McQuaid, to whom China was not yet married), but we won’t go into that. To summarize my police experience: I worked for the Dallas Police Department, then for the University of Texas Arlington Campus Security, then for CTSU. Susan tells the story of how I got the job as the Pecan Springs Chief of Police in Lavender Lies. My most recent appearance was in Bleeding Hearts, where China and I tracked down not just one but two killers.

On the domestic front, I confess to being single, with marriage and motherhood not even a cloud on the distant horizon. That's not to say that I haven't been in love, of course. And I've been serially engaged, most recently, to Blackie Blackwell, the Adams County sheriff. Unfortunately, our relationship turned into one of those on-again, off-again things, partly because I began to think that a two-cop family is a recipe for disaster, but mostly because . . . well, I still haven’t figured out whether I really want to be somebody’s wife. (It’s not a comfortable story, but if you really want to read it, it’s in Dead Man’s Bones and Bleeding Hearts.)

China knows where I’m coming from on this, which is maybe why we're such good friends. She put off marrying McQuaid for quite a while, not because he wasn't a great guy but just because she enjoyed living by herself. She told me once that she liked to read Kinsey Millhone mysteries because Kinsey doesn't have a husband and son to cook for, and when her place gets cluttered, she can pick up her stuff and it stays picked up.   She doesn't rub up against anyone else in her personal space. All her time is her time, and all her stuff is her stuff. Which is where I am, most days. All my time is my time (even my cop time), and I like it that way. Selfish, maybe, but there it is.

I’m also not sure I want to be married because I’m not exactly the domestic type. Being chief of police is not a piece of cake, and I don’t have time to cook. I am definitely not a hermit, though, and I do like to invite a guy over for a meal occasionally. When I do, the crockpot is my answer to not-enough-time. I like to make Lemon Chicken, which is nice with rice, an easy veggie, a garden salad, and a chilled white wine. While I’m making the salad, the rice is cooking and the veggies are steaming. Dessert? Hey, what’s wrong with ice cream?

Sheila's Crockpot Lemon-Herb Chicken

2 lbs. skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 teaspoon dry oregano
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 lemon, sliced thin (reserve half for garnish)
1/4 cup sherry
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons finely minced fresh herbs: thyme, basil, parsley
Salt and pepper
Parsley or fresh lemon herb sprigs

Wash chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Combine oregano, garlic powder, and paprika in a bowl, and rub it over the chicken breasts. Melt butter in skillet and brown chicken. Transfer to crock pot, layering with half of the sliced lemon and sprinkling with remaining oregano-garlic-paprika mix. Pour sherry into skillet, stir to loosen browned bits, then pour over the chicken. Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours. Add lemon juice, lemon herbs, and salt and pepper to taste in the last 30 minutes. Transfer chicken to platter and garnish with parsley or lemon herb sprigs and remaining lemon slices. Skim fat from juices in crockpot and spoon over the chicken.

Coming soon. China asked me to tell you that she's offering a workshop on herb topiaries next week. She says it's easy and fun--and she'd love it if you would drop in!

>>in praise of Julia

Hi--Cass Wilde here.

Remember me? I'm China's and Ruby's partner in a new venture called The Thymely Gourmet, a personal chef business. We met when Ruby was starring in the play in Dead Man's Bones. Not long after that, I pitched them my idea for a personal chef business. We tried it out, and by the time Susan wrote Bleeding Hearts, the business was up and running--and that's when I solved the mystery of the missing Bleeding Hearts quilt. Actually, finding the quilt was sort of an accident, but I still get a plus in the "solved" column, don't I?

In case we haven't met yet, here's what China says about me in Hearts: "Cass, our new partner, is a beautiful, bountiful blonde, light of spirit and much lighter on her feet than you might expect from someone her size—'my sweet, sassy, sexy size twenty-two,' she says modestly. 'All curves, and nothing to lose.' Cass is not shy."

Yep, that's me. Sweet, sassy, sexy and not shy. Definitely not shy.

Anyway, China and Ruby invited me to do a guest post in their new blog. So I'm here to tell you that this week is the birthday of my hero, Julia Child, who was born on August 15, 1912. China included this entry (or something like it) in her upcoming Book of Days.

Fannie Farmer may have made us aware of our “American cuisine” and led us to practice the science of cookery, but Julia Child seduced us from our casseroles and gave us France—and became an American icon in the process. Her profound and far-reaching influence on American cookery earned her the title of “Mother of the American Food Renaissance,” while her sparkling joie de vivre turned cooking into an exciting adventure and focussed our attention on the pleasures of the table and the delight of cooking.

As food writer and chef Sara Moulton says, it was Julia (St. Julia, Our Lady of the Ladle) who urged us all to march into our supermarkets and “demand leeks and shallots.” And it was Julia who brought the phrase “herbes de Provence” into the vocabulary of American cooks.

Herbes de Provence is the name given to a group of herbs that are favorites in southern France: bay, rosemary, thyme, summer savory, cloves, lavender, tarragon, chervil, sage, marjoram, basil, fennel seed, and orange zest. They are available in a dried mix, or you can create your own fresh blend (as Julia always recommended) to complement the dish you’re making.

For the fresh blend, simply mix together 1 tablespoon each of finely chopped fresh oregano, savory, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, and lavender. Or you can use your harvest of dried herbs for gifts, with the basic recipe below. Package the herbs in colorful calico bags tucked into small terra cotta pots and tied with a raffia bow.

Herbes de Provence

3 parts dried rosemary, crushed fine
3 parts dried marjoram
3 parts dried thyme
2 parts dried summer savory
2 parts dried lavender flowers, crushed
2 parts dried orange peel, crushed to a powder
2 parts dried bay leaves, crushed fine
1 part dried mint
1 part fennel seed
1/2 part ground cloves
1/2 part coriander

Blend thoroughly. Store in an airtight container.

Celebrate St. Julia's day with a special Julia Child birthday dinner of chicken (or turkey) salad, chilled leek and potato soup, and fresh lemon sorbet. Toast with your favorite wine and a hearty "Bon appetit!"

Read about Our Lady of the Ladle: Appetite for Life: The Biography of Julia Child, by Noel Riley Fitch.
Read Julia's last published work: Julia's Kitchen Wisdom: Essential Techniques and Recipes from a Lifetime of Cooking, by Julia Child.
For a full list of St. Julia's sacred texts, go here.

Reading note. "It's a shame to be caught up in something that doesn't absolutely make you tremble with joy!"--Julia Child

[This is an expanded and linked version of the August 16 entry in China Bayles Book of Days.]

>>shaker herbs

Susan wrote this entry for August 6 in The China Bayles Book of Days. This is an expanded version, with links.

The Shakers arrived in New York Harbor on this day in 1774, on a ship called Mariah. They were searching for greater religious freedom and for land on which to establish separate communities.

Behold the Flowers that deck the Field,
The Gentle breeze perfuming,
and Tender Herbs their Fragrance Yield
Are Health and Life Diffusing
—Harvard Shaker Community Herb Catalog, 1843

Shaker Medicinal Herbs

            The Shakers were the among the first commercial purveyors of herb seeds and dried herbs in America. In the early 1800s, herbal medicine was widely accepted, both by physicians and by individual practitioners, and there was an increasing demand for carefully prepared herbal materials. At first, the Shakers gathered the plants in the areas where they settled--eleven Shaker communities had been established in the northeastern states by 1800—but they quickly began to exploit the potential of the pharmaceutical market. The Shaker communities became the first to grow and sell medicinal herbs on a substantial scale. Even as late as 1889, when the industry was waning, the community in Enfield, New Hampshire, reported shipping some 44,000 pounds of dried dock root, in one season, to a single pharmaceutical firm.

The 1837 Catalog
The Shakers first sent their herb catalog to physicians in 1837. Here are five of the herbs offered in the catalog, with the catalog descriptions:

·         Bugle (Lycopus virginicus). In spitting of blood and similar diseases, it is, perhaps, the best remedy know. It is a sedative, and tonic, and appears to equalize the circulation of the blood.
·         Button Snake-Root (Liatris spicata). A powerful diuretic.
·         Golden Seal (Hydrastis canadensis) Tonic and gently laxative. Promotes the biliary [gallbladder] secretions and removes jaundice.
·         Gravel Plant (Epigaea repens) Diuretic . . . . Has often cured where the catheter had to be habitually used.
·         Pleurisy Root (Asclepias tuberosa) In all inflammations of the chest this is an invaluable medicine. It is sudorific, anodyne and expectorant.
            
In addition to growing and selling dried herbs, the Shakers also produced and marketed a variety of medicinal preparations, and by the 1880s, some eighty different proprietary medicines were being sold. They were also widely known for their simple furniture and for the home-spun fabrics produced from the flax they grew in their fields and the sheep they raised on their pastures. Their crafts--among them the distinctive Shaker boxes, have lasted to this day.

The Shaker diet was simple. Vegetables and herbs were grown in the village, dairy cows gave milk to drink and to make butter and cheese, and cattle and sheep provided meat. Shaker recipes are usually simple, delicious, and healthful, like this gingerade drink.

The herbal medicine business declined steadily after the Civil War, as did the appeal of the Shaker religion. But because the Shakers kept careful records—community journals were required by rule, and business documents were rigorously maintained—we can still see and marvel at their wide-ranging efforts to build a better life, not only for themselves but for others.

’Tis a gift to be simple, ’tis a gift to be free
’Tis a gift to come down where we ought to be
And when we find ourselves in the place just right
’Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
—Shaker Hymn

Read more about Shaker gardens, Shaker medicinals, and Shaker life:
Shaker Medicinal Herbs: A Compendium of History, Lore, and Uses, by Amy Bess Miller
The Best of Shaker Cooking, by Persis Wellington Miller and Amy Bess Miller

Photo: Canterbury Shaker Village, Canterbury CT