Good afternoon, from the mountains of Kentucky. I hope your week is going well. It’s been a busy one this week in our neck of the woods. Spring is usually busy with planting, foraging, preserving, harvesting and drying. We’ve managed between long bouts of rain to plant our squash and zucchini, tomatoes, kale, cucumbers, and peppers. The garden is taking shape. Yet, there’s a lot more to plant. A lot of work with great rewards.

We’ve planted and foraged mullein to dry for tea. We’ve found mullein tea good for our respiratory problems, common colds, flu, and bronchitis. It’s a staple in our household. The tea can be made a few different ways. The leaves can be cleaned and dried for steeping hot tea, or the leaves can be cleaned and added to filtered water and placed in a covered glass container in the fridge for cold tea. A little honey in either and we’ve found it to be a tasty bit of nature that has wonderful results. (More to come about the use of mullein.)

Our flowers and herb garden is flourishing this year. I’ve harvested chocolate mint, peppermint, and strawberry mint twice already. We keep fresh mint for cooking, be stings, and for baking. Dried mint is used for steeping delicious teas. Peppermint tea has great medicinal qualities for digestion issues. It’s a great addition to green tea as well, and is tasty in a cool glass of water from our Berkey. Yesterday, was a day for clipping basil, more mint, and chive blooms for seeds. I also harvested tarragon and bit of lemon basil. Our herbs are doing exceptionally well this year. I am a believer that when nature produces an abundance of something, it will be needed in weeks or even months ahead. We enjoy sharing our harvest with the elderly who can no longer garden and those who do not have land for gardens. We are believers of tithing our blessings with others. It seems the more we give, the more our gardens grow and produce.

Yesterday was spent preserving strawberry jam. It’s easy to make and delicious to eat! I will post this recipe soon. I couldn’t wait for weeks to eat the jam! So, I opened a jar this morning and had it on fresh-baked bread for breakfast.

Our kitchen today is an aroma of drying herbs, yeast bread cooking, and banana bread baking. Oh, and lemon essential oil diffusing in the diffuser. Lemon essential oil is great for focus, clarity, and helps deter ants, while making the air smell clean and fresh. Essential oils are part of our daily life. We use them for medicinal purposes, to make cleaning products, to add to recipes, and to help us relax at night. We are firm believers that God created nature for mankind to enjoy and along with the enjoyment, to use for the physical, medical, and even for spiritual needs.

For now, God bless, from the mountains of Kentucky. Happy foraging, planting, and preserving! Feel free to follow and or leave comments or questions. Have a wonderful Thursday!