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IN THIS ISSUE . . . . .
~ Herbal Highlight ~SPRING GREENS
~ April Special
~ Classes and Events
~ Inspirational excerpt, Edna St. Vincent Millay
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What I believe about Herbs:
I believe that a loving Creator gave all plants which live alongside of
us on Earth, for a purpose - namely for our food, our medicine and our
pleasure. Herbs are life-and health-giving to us all. They are designed
to be the most fitting for us as biological, psychological and spiritual
beings - to make us strong and happy. Therefore, I believe it is
important to be informed of their numerous invaluable benefits. My
vocation and my joy is to help people realize what a precious gift we
have been given.
April SPECIAL
Tours of Joanie’s Gardens
During the month of April, set a date to tour the Everlasting Gardener
gardens. Make your reservations for any time throughout the ‘08 season,
and the price of your Tour plus herbal refreshments is reduced from
$7.00 per person, to $6.00 per person. When you schedule a group of 5 or
more, you may have your tour for $5.50 each.
You may take your tour + refreshments any time through the 2008 season,
which ends around the second week of September.
For the reduced rate you must call or e-mail Joanie and schedule
your tour before 10:00 pm, April 30.
Joanie offers extensive ornamental gardens, mostly filled with aromatic
culinary and medicinal herbs, everlasting flowers and decorative
vegetables. The patterned gardens are criss-crossedwith mulched
pathways, easy to traverse, even for those who need
help to get around. For the sure-footed there is a woodland garden to
explore. There are perennial-filled colorful flower beds surrounding the
back porch and yard, where the refreshments are served.
If the weather is not accommodating on your scheduled date, you are
welcome to re-schedule.
To make your reservations.
phone: 724-846-4787
e-mail:
joanie@everlastinggardener.com
From “Renascence”
by Edna St. Vincent Millay
O God, I cried, no dark disguise
Can ne’er hereafter hide from me
Thy radiant identity!
Thou canst not move across the grass
But my quick eyes will see Thee pass,
Nor speak, however silently,
But my hushed voice will answer Thee.
I know the path that tells Thy way
Through the cool eve of every day;
God, I can push the grass apart
And lay my finger on Thy heart! |
HERBAL HIGHLIGHT
SPRING ‘GREENS’
For nutritious, tasty, close-to-free good eating, you can’t beat wild
foraged greens! It takes just a little time to find and pick them,
especially if, like me, you have some already growing in your back yard.
We call them “weeds” but that’s only before we know
WHAT TO DO WITH them. These gifts of nature provide our bodies the
vitamins and minerals that we need. And the price is just right.
So, which “weeds” are the best?
First, a few words of caution . . .
~ Properly identify the plants. Get a book with good pictures and/or go
out with a skilled forager. You do NOT want to be sickened, or worse.
~ Don’t do your gathering near the edges of roads where pesticides are
often sprayed - definitely not good for you.
I have included the botanical name, as you must find the exact plants.
DANDELION Taraxacum officinale - LEAVES - best to harvest when tender,
early in the season, as they get bitter when the plant blooms. After
frost in the fall ’works’ too. They have a high beta carotene content,
also lots of iron and calcium, also contain vitamins B1, B2, B12 and C,
and the minerals phosphorus, zinc, magnesium and potassium.
PURSLANE Potulaca oleracea - LEAVES and STEMS - Once a cultivated garden
vegetable, folks now pretty much ignore it’s sweet/sour succulent
leaves. Its nutritional value includes iron, calcium, vitamin C, and
riboflavin. Many of us have been hearing about omega-3 fatty acids -
purslane’s got ’em. In most climates, the plant dies back after working
hard in the spring, so you won’t have it again for a year.
CHICKWEED Stellaria media - LEAVES and FLOWERS - tender, small,
mild-tasting leaves grow on stems about 12” long. The plant gets little
white star-shaped flowers throughout the season. It likes moist soil,
but is known to grow in just about any type soil, in sun or part-shade.
The leaves contain vitamin C and phosphorous, and are really good in
salad or as a boiled vegetable. It has the reputation of reducing the
amount of fat absorbed from your food by the intestines, and as a
rheumatism remedy. It has skinhealing properties as well.
WILD ONION - Allium spp. - LEAVES - look like young onions or chives -
and smell strongly like them, too. There is a poisonous look-alike that
doesn’t smell onion-y, so smell-test before eating. Use them as you
would chives or scallions, perhaps chopped up and sprinkled on salads or
steamed vegetables. This is another wild herb which gets a stronger
flavor as it gets warmer, so for milder, harvest earlier. The nutrition
content of wild onions: beta carotene, calcium, copper, zinc, and
selenium.
PLANTAIN - Plantago spp. - LEAVES - The large shiny oval leaves, called
“white man’s foot” by Native Americans, taste tender in early spring,
but get pretty tough as the season gets warmer. It contains lots of
calcium and beta carotene. Chewing the leaves gets rid of bad breath,
due to high amounts of chlorophyll. Chop up the leaves and add them to
your salads for their color and nutrition.
YOU MAY TASTE SOME OF THESE WILD GREENS IN A SALAD SERVED AT JOANIE’S
APRIL 12 CLASS.
From time to time I will publish some ‘wild’ recipes in my blog
http://blog.everlastinggardener.com
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CLASSES and EVENTS
HOW TO SIGN UP. . . . .
“Events” registrations may be different from “Classes“ registration.
For Classes - Joanie needs 48 hours’ notice, to prepare your materials,
class projects and food.
To make your reservation for classes, your deposit of half the class fee
must be in Joanie's mailbox 2 full days before the class starts.
And you must receive confirmation from Joanie before the class starts, so be
sure to give your contact information.
Please see her website
http://everlastinggardener.com/Classes.html
to sign up for classes.
GETTING YOUR HERB GARDEN STARTED
Sat., April 12, 10:00 am to about Noon.
A light herbal lunch is served after class.
Many people have remarked to Joanie over the years, “I like to grow herbs,
but I don’t know what to do with them after that . . .and I'd like to use
them.”
This class enables you to be a successful herb grower - AND you’ll be ready
and eager to put your herbs to good use.
YOU WILL LEAVE THIS CLASS WELL-INFORMED ON:
1. How to GROW herbs with ease .
~ Have a look at 7 or so must-have plants and why you want to grow them in
your herb garden.
~See, smell, taste, feel, and experience these 7 herbs and more in Joanie’s
gardens and greenhouse.
~ Receive instructions to grow them successfully.
~ You’ll take home little pots of planted seeds and cuttings, and two mature
potted plants. Look at some easy garden design ideas. Printed plans are
given.
2. Many ways to USE HERBS, in cooking and as simple first-aid.
~ Get recipes and cooking tips.
~ Find out many delectable ways to use herbs like rosemary, parsley,
lavender, basil, chives, and many more
~ Help make an herbal salad dressing, with ingredients straight from the
herb garden.
~ Harvest and taste cultivated herbs AND tender, wild greens, like purslane,
dandelion and chickweed, in our lunch salad.
~ See Joanie make delicious lavender-lemon verbena scones - then we’ll have
them for our lunch.
~ Get instructions for many simple remedies.
~ Make a healing comfrey salve and a de-stressing tea.
~ Learn simple poultices to relieve bug bites and other skin troubles, and
many more herbal health techniques.
$25 per person. Attending with a friend makes it more fun!
To make your reservation, your deposit of $12.50 must be in Joanie's mailbox
by April 9.
Please send your check to Joanie Lapic, Everlasting Gardener, 888 Tulip Dr.,
New Brighton, PA 15066
To pass along info about Joanie's classes please send folks to her website
http://everlastinggardener.com/Classes.html
“NATURE’S MEDICINE”
April 14 and 15, 8 am to 4 pm, at the Heritage School, a folk art school at
the Succop Conservancy in Butler County.(185 West Airport Rd., Butler, PA
16002)
Explore the history of mankind's interaction with the botanical environment,
using herbs as nutrition and medicine to maintain and restore good health.
We will accomplish many interesting, hands-on projects such as making
Lavender Soother Tea, a therapeutic Bath Bag, a tincture and more.
For sign-up information, ONLY FOR THIS COURSE, please visit
http://www.bc3.edu/heritageschool
Celebration of Violets . . .
"When wake the Violets, winter dies.
God does not send us strange flowers every year.
When the spring winds blow o'er the pleasant places,
The same dear things, lift up the same fair faces.
The violet is here.”
Author Unknown
COME and JOIN THE CELEBRATION
Sat., May 10, 2008 - (RAIN DATE Sat., May 24, 2008)
Noon until 4:00 pm
A perfect Mother’s Day treat!
There will be three mini-classes during the Celebration of Violets. Each
costs $5.00 per person.
1:00 pm ~ Learn as you watch Joanie make some of her tantalizing Violet Jam
- and take some home with you.
2:00 pm ~ Discover the healing uses of the herb - try your hand at making
some of these preparations, for: stress relief, cough and bronchitis, skin
problems such
as bruises, acne, itching, healing eye bath, etc.
3:00 pm ~ “How to” cook and make tea with the flowers, including how to
crystallize the flowers, make a syrup. Sample Chocolate Violet Cake.
Take a tour of the wild violet field. Pick a bowlful of violets, to help
make the projects in your mini-classes. See the violets and other herbs in
Joanie’s Gardens!
Registration is REQUIRED for attendance at the Celebration of Violets AND
for your participation in any/all of the classes. You must make your
reservation, confirmed by Joanie, for your place in any of the classes, by
Noon, May 8.
Stay tuned to Joanie’s blog or website, or call or e-mail her, if you need
details:
phone: 724-846-4787
e-mail: joanie@everlastinggardener.com
visit: http://www.everlastinggardener.com
blog: http://blog.everlastinggardener.com
“PRACTICAL HERBOLOGY”
May 17, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
THIS IS THE SEMINAR YOU WANT TO TAKE
TO LEARN ~
~ identification of herbs by sight, smell and touch. In Joanie’s exhibit
gardens you will find these herbs and more: St. John’s wort, feverfew,
marshmallow, shepherd’s purse, agrimony, comfrey, sage, wood betony,
horehound, valerian,
arnica, boneset, burdock, sheep sorrel, lavender, elecampane, echinacea,
digitalis, various thymes, and various mints.
~ to make herbal preparations like skin-healing salve, tincture, essential
oil therapies, virus-killing and mood-enhancing room sprays, stiff/painful
joint cream, natural deodorant and non-toxic household cleaners.
~ herbal supplements - exactly which herbs are needed to enhance brain
function, encourage weight loss, help overactive children to concentrate,
overcome debilitating skin conditions and joint problems, help us feel young
at any age, and more…
What you learn from this seminar puts you well on your way to taking your
health into your own hands!
Come with your Mom, friend or sister, as a Mother’s Day treat!
An herbal lunch will be served.
~ More particulars in the May newsletter, and in Joanie’s blog, in late
April -
http://blog.everlastinggardener.com
You may also call or e-mail Joanie with questions . . .
phone: 724-846-4787
e-mail: joanie@everlastinggardener.com
Also, stay tuned to Joanie’s website for details . . .
http://www.everlastinggardener.com
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