With the disruption and confusion over our national health care system this month, we’re more committed than ever to sharing information on how to create your own home ‘farm-acy’. Watch our class schedule for expanded home herb garden and herbal healing classes during the growing season.
Today we’re sharing local herbalist and educator Mitten Lowe’s list of what she keeps in her home remedy cabinet.
Sometimes we overdo heavier food and drink during the holidays, and our stomach suffers. Mitten Lowe (our friend and frequent teacher at Harlequin’s Gardens) suggests this easy-to-make Hawthorn and Tulsi vinegar and honey mixture (an oxymel).
We had an abundant harvest of Hawthorn berries at the nursery this fall. If you have room consider adding a Hawthorn tree to your garden this spring. [Read More]
The pickling and slicing cucumber starts from Harlequin’s Gardens are now producing a bounty of cucumbers in community gardens! This salad is easy to make and great for a hot summer day!
INGREDIENTS
2 large cucumbers, quartered lengthways
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 tsp rice-wine vinegar
3 tbsp lime juice
3 tsp flaked sea salt
3 tbsp sunflower oil
2 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced on an angle
½ tbsp black sesame seeds
FOR THE DRESSING
1/3C tahini
2 tbsp soy sauce (or tamari, to make the dish gluten-free)
1½ tbsp mirin
1½ tbsp rice-wine vinegar
PREPARATION
Scoop out and discard the seeds from the cucumber quarters, then cut the flesh widthways into chunky pieces. Put the cucumber in a bowl with the garlic, vinegar, lime juice and three teaspoons of flaked sea salt, then mix with your hands, lightly crushing the cucumber pieces as you do so.
Gently heat the oil in a small saucepan until warm – about two minutes – then pour over the cucumber and leave to marinate on a counter for two hours.
Whisk all the dressing ingredients and two tablespoons of water until you end up with a very
smooth sauce (it will seize up a bit to start with but persevere and it will come together smoothly).
Pour the tahini mixture on to a large plate with a lip, so it naturally pools into a circle in the middle.
Drain the cucumbers very well, discarding the liquid, then pile on top of the sauce. Scatter over the sliced spring onion and the sesame seeds and serve at once.
This recipe was adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipe which was featured in The Guardian on Red Hill Medical Center’s website, along with a great collection of additional fresh, healthy recipes.
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2019/jul/13/yotam-ottolenghi-tomato-cucumber-freekeh-tabbouleh-
summer-salad-recipes
Boulder herbalist and wellness coach Mitten Lowe offers this cooling tea blend. Read more at her website Journey to Wellness.
This is my Summer and late Spring everyday Herbal Blend.
Every time I make it I’m just blown away by how beautiful and delicious it is. My family says that it “tastes amazing” and I was just thinking that I couldn’t agree more.[Read More]
Thinking this cheery yellow-flowered plant is a weed? Think again.
First of all, dandelions provide much needed early-season nutrition for the bees. If that wasn’t enough of a reason to let them into your garden, every part of this plant is good for you. Since ancient times dandelion has been used as a spring tonic. (That’s right, we’re suggesting eating the weeds!).
Herbal Tea
Herbal Teas are some of the best home-grown medicines! This time of year infusions of herbs from Harlequin’s Gardens plants you’ve grown can keep you well, and warm.
Okay, you prepared your soil and planted your vegetable garden with all kinds of wonderfully flavorful, nutritious foods, you’re watering and watching them grow, and wondering ….. When can I start to eat them, how do I harvest them, and how do I get the most out of these plantings? Here are some tips on vegetable crops harvest timing and techniques that may not be self-evident. Even if you’re a seasoned gardener, you may not be aware of some of these procedures! [Read More]
Our friend Mitten Lowe at Journey to Wellness is a fan of bone broth (with actual bones, as well as one that’s vegan) whenever the season changes. What’s more gratifying than taking fresh vegetables and herbs you’ve grown, or bought by supporting our local farmers, and simmering them for a fragrant, nutrient-dense health and spirit builder when the temperatures plummet?
photo courtesy: Garden in the Kitchen
Beet and Nettle Broth
This mineral-rich, vegan broth offers many of the benefits of traditional bone broth! As we slow down, herbs and plants you grow from Harlequin’s Gardens can nourish you this winter. Many thanks to Mitten Lowe at Journey to Wellness for the recipe.
Basil is one of the great culinary pleasures of summer, and it’s definitely NOT TOO LATE to plant Basil and enjoy a good crop! Basil plants are beautiful, grow equally well in the ground or in pots, thrive in hot weather, provide a continuous, bounteous crop, and Basil’s many different flavors are essential to a variety of distinctive cuisines. It can be used fresh, dried, or frozen in oil or as pesto. Though basil leaves lose most of the aromatic oils when dried, we have still found that basil dried from your garden is so much more flavorful than commercial dried basil.
ALL of our Basil plants are organically grown! [Read More]
These are native plants that we often have for sale. Availability does change every year, but we grow and buy a wide variety of natives because they are so successful in our gardens.
KEY: t = tree, s = shrub, v = vine, gr = grass, gc = ground cover, p = perennial,
b = biennial, a = annual
Abronia fragrans (Sand Verbena) (p)
Acer glabrum (Rocky Mt. Maple) (t)
Acer grandidentatum (Bigtooth Maple) (t)
Achillea lanulosa (Native White Yarrow) (p)
Agastache cana (Hummingbird Mint) (p)
Agave parryi (Hardy Century Plant) (s)[Read More]
Achillea lanulosa (Achillea millefolium var. lanulosa) (Yarrow)
Agave havardii (Havard’s Century Plant)
Agave parryi neomexicana (New Mexico Century Plant)
Amelanchier alnifolia (Serviceberry)
Amorpha canescens (Leadplant)
Amorpha fruticosa (False Indigo)[Read More]
Hardy Geraniums are one of most versatile an adaptable perennials for our area. Available in many colors and habits, they can be useful in sun and shade, moist and dry, as a single specimen, as companion plants and as ground covers. These are not to be confused with the Pelargoniums which are the house plant, container and bedding plant “geraniums” which are not hardy outdoor plants in Colorado. The name “geranium” is derived from a Greek word meaning little crane, hens the common name “cranesbill” which refers to the appearance of the seed heads. The majority of the species of geraniums are native to the northern and mountain regions of Eurasia and North and South America although some are found in South Africa, India, Indonesia etc. Most grow in grasslands, meadows, roadsides and open woodlands. Therefore the natural habitat for most hardy geraniums seems to be sunny and moist or part-shade and moist or dry.[Read More]
