Betony- the 'detoxing cure' of the middle ages

I bought two betony plants from Vesey's last year, and put them in a nice, sunny place in my garden, thinking that herbs like sun. Obviously. Unfortunately, I nearly killed the poor plants through lack of education. Betony is a forest plant that enjoys shade. When I realized that the plants were looking beaten down, and just weren't thriving I finally did the research on them that I should have done in the first place.
Ah, well. They survived.
And this year they're looking extremely perky already, and much more like the illustrations of the plant that I've seen in medieval herbals. The next plan is to be my own guinea pig and make some tea. From everything I've read there doesn't seem to be any toxicity problems, unlike angelica which you apparently really shouldn't eat if you're pregnant because it might possibly cause uterine contractions, so it's not allowed to be in any commercially sold food in Canada... Who knew?

In the SCA my current persona is sort of nebulously Anglo-Saxon/Norse, and about the year 900-ish. Really, I just like the comfy clothing, the bling styles, and the history is interesting. Also, I am very interested in the history of medicine and gardening. It's a fascinating period where information of all kinds was becoming much more freely available through the networks of the monasteries and increasing trade. The Anglo-Saxon (Old English) herbals are an interesting mixture of fact and folklore.

I just hope that this herb tastes better than horehound...


http://blog.metmuseum.org/cloistersgardens/2011/06/24/beneficent-betony/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stachys_officinalis

Two meatball recipes

Pesto meatballs

Ingredients

• 1 bunch fresh basil, leaves only
• 1 clove fresh garlic, minced
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp salt
• ⅛ tsp black pepper
• 3 TBS coconut oil or butter, melted
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 pounds ground meat

Directions

I haz bees...

Or, I will soon enough. I need to spread some white clover seeds around the fields near where they're going to live. This is pretty darn exciting. I've been thinking and planning this for about three years now. As I said to my husband the other day, some people take up marathon running. It hurts them *all the time* they are running. I'll only get stung every once in a while, and at the end I'll have honey... It's far less crazy than some people!
Sometime in the next three or four weeks I'll have a whole bunch of little lives to steward. I think I'm ready for the responsibility.
Maybe?

Spring gardens up-springing

My angelica (left) and betony (right) are much happier in their new place in the yard. They are both forest plants and need a bit of shade and a bit of sun. It's too dark for many flowers and herbs in that area, but they're happier than ever.

Kale (the sprouts) and winter savoury (the herb with dark leaves at the top). I'll need to thin out the kale a bit eventually. I didn't expect the seeds to be so prolific after a couple years of hanging out in my seed box.

 My first garden from last year. I have a second row of lasagna garden to the right of it now. It's settling in and getting ready to be planted. (My birthday gift)

The blueberry bushes seem to have survived the minor depredations of a rabbit over the winter.

The flax is coming up nicely.

Meadowsweet (top) and horehound (front)

The sweet violets and strawberries are doing fine even though Stew the squirrel uprooted one.

Columbine

Columbine (left), beebalm (center), and beardtongue (bottom) are all well-loved by pollinators. They were part of my birthday gift. I was tired of having a barren wasteland of lawn out front. Going to the garden centre was part of my gift. I love the way it smells. I think the added oxygen in the atmosphere gives me a bit of a high, actually. Or, maybe I'm just kinda crazy and love plants that much...
It's been raining for the past week straight. Yesterday the sun finally came out, and it continues today, although it did go down below zero last night (Celsius not Farenheit). I'm hoping my plants did okay. I was so tired I forgot to cover them. Oops.

Bee balm

Beardtongue

Two thrifty gift ideas with minimal/no sewing

Here are some great craft ideas that involve minimal to no sewing. Making gifts at home is a thrifty way to reduce waste, help the environment, and don't take forever to make and a PhD in engineering.

1.

Starting a new garden bed

A garden is nothing without a good foundation, and that foundation is the soil. Soil has its own complicated ecosystem from worms and beetles on down to tiny, nearly-microscopic filaments of fungi and bacteria. As with anywhere on earth, a healthy ecosystem is essential for optimal growth and health.

In my backyard the soil is a heavy clay over a base of sand. It barely grows grass in some places. But, if you build it they will come... The raised bed that I put in last summer is nearly overflowing with worms, and centipedes are fairly common, too, much to my husband's chagrin. It started off life as a lasagna garden, with a base layer of cardboard boxes recycled after the move, a couple bags of dirt from the grocery store garden center, and some trench-compost piles. Now there's enough good dirt to grow short-ish carrots, and my herbs are taking off. The bed isn't very large because it takes a fair input of cash to start that way, with the boards and hardware to attach the corners. I used two un-treated cedar deck planks and cut them down to a rectangle.

Save some cash- grow your own raspberries

Raspberries are ridiculously expensive in stores, probably because they have to be hand-picked and are very delicate little fruit and they don't last very long after picking. But, raspberry canes are extremely productive, and with a little bit of care and attention you can provide yourself with these tasty, zingy treats for most of the summer. Any investment you make in buying canes will pay you back within a couple years. After that the rest is just gravy. Or something.

The kind you want to get are the 'everbearing' variety, which means that they'll fruit twice in one season. Yes, even in Canada. I also got a variety that also has fewer prickles on the canes. This is a good thing come picking time.