PecanSpringsJournal

>>Spanish Dagger

Susan's new book is only a month or so away, and she's making plans for her tour through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado. While she's getting packed, Peggy (our webmaster-beyond-compare) has posted a page of information about the book here. You can read the first chapter there, too.

Actually, I'm still pretty ambivalent about what happened in that case. I'm glad it all got sorted out in the end (well, most of it, anyway). But Ruby had a very hard time of it. And I'm sure that Sheila (that's Sheila Dawson, our esteemed chief of police) didn't appreciate my meddling in the case. But that was in the beginning. In the end, I think she was glad to have the help--especially when Rambo pitched in to lend a hand. No, make that a paw. A big paw. But if I go on, there won't be any mystery, so I'd better stop. If you want to read the book, you know where to find it.

In the meantime, I can at least tell you a little about the signature herb of the book, yucca. Susan borrowed one of its folknames, Spanish dagger, for the title of her book.  If you think of yucca as a plant that grows only in the southwestern deserts, you'd be wrong. This spiky plant, which belongs to the genus Agave, has an enormous distribution, ranging from the Atlantic (Yucca filamentosa) westward to the Pacific (Y. whipplei) and from Canada (Y. glacua ssp. albertana) south into Guatemala (Y. elephantipes). There are some fifty species native to the United States and thirty more to Mexico and Central America, some tall, some short, and all with that star-burst of sharp, spiny leaf-tips, sometimes at the base of the plant, sometimes near the top of the stalk.

So if you're looking for yucca, you'll probably find a native in your neighborhood. And where it's not native--the Atlantic northeast and the Pacific northwest--it has escaped from people's gardens and hightailed it for the wilderness. So you're likely to find it growing there, too.

Yuccas lead an interesting life. They require a specific moth for pollination, and if the right moth isn't hanging around in the neighborhood, the blooms won't produce any fruit. Exclusive company, huh?

I'll be posting more about yuccas over the next few weeks, including some really neat information about the various uses of yucca. So check in on Mondays. And in the meantime, don't forget about that first chapter. It's here.

When you've read it, you'll see why I say "poor Ruby." Really. You'd feel the same way if your mother began stealing--

But there I go again. Just read the chapter, and you'll see what I mean. --China Bayles

>>violet salve

Ruby and I are doing a workshop next weekend on Traditional Herbal Medicines. And since Susan has featured violets in this week's email newsletter, "All About Thyme", we're going to include a violet salve.

In times past, you couldn't just go to your nearest drugstore for an ointment or salve to soothe those minor skin irritations, chapped hands, scratches, and the like. You made your own, or you went without. But making your own was no mystery. Here's a basic recipe for violet that you might like to try, when violets begin blooming in your part of the country.

Violet Salve
1 cup olive or almond oil
2 ounces grated bees wax
1/2 Cup fresh violet flowers and chopped leaves
1/2 teaspoon honey
1 400 mg Vit E gel cap (a preservative)
2 drops violet essential oil (fragrance)

Heat the oil gently in a non-reactive saucepan. Add wax, violet flowers and leaves, and honey and mix well. Simmer on low heat for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes. Add the essential oil and oil from the Vit 3 gel cap and stir. Strain out herbal material. Pour into a clean lidded container. Refrigerate.

Sage, plantain, thyme, mullein, yarrow, and lavender are other important healing herbs that have traditionally been used in salves and ointments. All have antiseptic and antibiotic properties, and herbalists have developed their own "secret formulas" by using them in various combinations. In practice, people probably used whatever was locally available, and since they gathered and dried their own, they used dried materials when fresh were not available. Instead of a saucepan, you might want to experiment by using a crockpot--this will enable you to hold the herbal material in a very low heat longer. One way to do this is to put the oil, grated beeswax, and herbal materials into a clean container and set it in a couple of cups of hot water in the crockpot. Let this simmer for 10-12 hours, then strain into a clean container, add fragrance and Vit E oils, and refrigerate.

If you'd like to join us for the workshop, we'll be holding it in Thyme Cottage (behind Thyme & Seasons, next to the Apothecary Garden) on Saturday, starting at 10 a.m. We'll take a break around noon for lunch in the tea room, and plan to end the workshop about three. We'd love to see you!--China Bayles 

>>goddess of ovens

The Myra Merryweathers love to celebrate special occasions. This week's celebration is on behalf of the Roman goddess Fornax, the goddess of ovens, whose feast day was celebrated on February 17. What? You've never heard of Fornax? That's okay--most of the Merryweathers didn't know about her, either. She's one of those obscure goddesses that never get enough respect.

But the Merryweathers are out to change that. They had a big herbal bake-off this week, in Fornax's honor. Everybody brought a home-made herb bread and a recipe to share. The breads were polished off in record time. (You know the saying: Good bread never loafs around.) And since few of the Merryweathers have a lot of time to spend slaving over a hot oven (sorry, Fornax), the top two prizes went to the fastest bakers. Here are their recipes, guaranteed to please even the pickiest Roman family.

Betsy Blumefield’s Quick and Easy Herb Biscuits

Betsy is a home-schooling mom who likes to cook with her kids. She says they love the part where they get to scoop the dough into two dozen bitsy balls and roll them in the cheese. ("They get to sweep the floor afterward," she adds. "It's part of the lesson.")

2 cups baking mix
1 cup sour cream (low fat is fine)
1/2 cup melted butter or margarine
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese mixed with 1/4 cup flour

Preheat oven to 400°. Lightly spray a mini-muffin pan. Mix baking mix, herbs, sour cream, and butter. Dough will be sticky. Scoop into 24 balls and roll in cheese/flour mixture. Place in mini-muffin pan and bake for 15-18 minutes, until brown.

Lillian Lippencott’s Saturday Night Special Herb Bread

Lillian works at the dry cleaners in Pecan Springs and doesn’t get home until four on Saturday. She says that if she puts out frozen dough to thaw in the morning, and gets started on it when she gets home, she has hot bread on the table by 6. The Romans would be astonished.

1 1-pound loaf frozen white bread dough (follow package directions for thawing)
2 teaspoons dried basil, or 4 teaspoons fresh, minced
2 teaspoons minced dried rosemary leaves, 3 teaspoons fresh)
1 tablespoon minced chives

Briefly knead thawed dough on lightly floured board,. Knead in minced herbs until evenly mixed. Add flour as needed to prevent sticking. Shape into a smooth ball and place in a loaf pan. Cover, let rise until doubled in size, about 40 minutes. Bake in 375° oven until golden, about 35-40 minutes.

China's Notebook

“Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts.”--James Beard

"How can a nation be great if its bread tastes like Kleenex?"--Julia Child

>>scratchy throat

It's that time of year when scratchy throats are the rule, rather than the exception. Now, we head for the nearest pharmacy for an over-the counter remedy. But in the old days, Grandma's medicine cabinet was the pharmacy, and her herb garden supplied most of the medicines. Here are a few of her favorite remedies.

• A poultice: The pulp of a roasted apple, mixed with an ounce of tobacco, the whole wet with spirits of wine, or any other high spirits, spread on a linen rag, and bound upon the throat at any period of the disorder.—The American Frugal Housewife, by Mrs. Child, 1833
• A syrup: Take of poplar bark and bethroot [lamb’s quarters, Trillium pendulum], each 1 lb.; water, 9 quarters; boil gently in a covered vessel 15 or 20 minutes; strain through a coarse cloth; add 7 lbs. loaf sugar, and simmer till the scum ceases to rise.—Family Hand Book, c. 1855
• A candy. Horehound lozenges are good for a sore throat. A Dictionary of Every-Day Wants, by A. E. Youman, M.D. 1878
• A bedtime snack: Water-gruel, with three or four onions simmered in it, prepared with a lump of butter, pepper, and salt, eaten just before one goes to bed, is said to be a cure for a hoarse cold.—The American Frugal Housewife, by Mrs. Child, 1833
• A Hot Toddy and a Cuddle: Before retiring soak the feet in mustard water as hot as can be endured . . . . On getting into bed take a hot camphor sling. [A hot toddy made with brandy or rum, honey, and tincture of camphor, Cinnamonum camphora] Rub the bridge of the nose between the eyes with a little oil. Cuddle in bed and sleep it off.—Healthy Living,1850-1870, compiled by Katie F.  Hamilton

If these remedies don't work, here's one that will, according to recent science. Gargle with a strong sage tea (Salvia officinalis). Studies have found that sage has antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral properties. To make the tea: pour two cups boiling water over 4 teaspoons dried sage. Steep 8-10 minutes. Gargle several times a day. Refrigerate the unused portion and warm before gargling.

For more herbal lore, remedies, recipes, garden ideas, crafts, and just plain fun, read The China Bayles' Book of Days.