It’s time to bring some herbs in and leave others outside

Tags

herbs, location, postaday2016

My rosemary needs to come inside, this is a new plant because my other one that I had nurtured for three years died last winter, I think my old rosemary plant didn’t make it because I had moved it to another spot in the house and it might not have gotten enough sun. So this winter I am going to put it back where I should have put it in the first place.

The other herbs, my sage, my thyme and my newest lavender plant, are very happy with their location, this is their second year and when they came back last spring, they were full and healthy, so I am hoping the same happens next spring. Location matters with plants and when you find them an ideal home, they reward you with health and beauty.

My new herb garden

Tags

gardens, herbs, Jack, postaday2014

Last winter decimated my perennial herbs; my thyme, sage and lavender either took a beating or died off. What was even more surprising was that even the nurseries around my corner of Massachusetts experienced the same sad experience; no one was immune to the extreme harsh winter. I waited until having some extra days at home before purchasing any new plants because I wanted the chance to relax and rest up before doing anything more physical, I need to take it easy with myself and my physical exertion. The byproduct of waiting until the end of June to buy more plants was the fact that I got to take advantage of great sales so my perennials were an incredible bargain as were the remaining hanging plants that I had picked up for the front yard.

The herbs that I got were the usual bunch that I love having on hand, not just for their culinary value, but for their visual and aromatic appeal as well. I got sage, two rosemary plants, a new lavender plant, two thyme plants, cilantro, a bunch of oregano plants and basil. Jack was “helping” me plant them and when our son snuggled up to Jack later, he commented on how delicious Jack smelled. The breeze is flowing today in Blandford and when I walk past the herb containers, it really smells nice.

Renewed life in my herb garden

Tags

Gardening, herbs, perennials, postaday2013, sage, thyme

Today I was thrilled to see my sage and thyme plants show new green growth. This past winter I decided to leave my herbs in the outside pots since for the past several years I had been unable to keep them alive inside during the winter months. I was resigned to the fact that I would have renew my herbs every year at the plant store. and lo and behold, my sage and thyme survived the winter! Outstanding!

To top that exciting development, I found tiny shoots of my beautiful roses in the middle of the grass. I got free new rose bushes without even trying, don’t you just love nature? I dug them up and transplanted them elsewhere, where they would be safe from the lawnmower. I am looking forward to seeing if they do well in their new home, I definitely will keep my fingers crossed for them.

What else is going on in my little garden world, oh yes while I was weeding today near my clematis that I thought had died last year, I saw new buds on the old vine from last year that I had been ready to cut away. Hooray, my clematis survived the harsh winter and last year’s neglect due to my overseas traveling. I thought that it had died, so take a lesson, when it comes to gardening, never say die. You never know, nature will find a way, miraculous don’t you think. All this without any special plant food or herbicides or pesticides.

My day was a really good one, my plants and I and my smiling face.

Traditional sauce like Maman taught us

Tags

beef, cooking, dinner, herbs, pork, postaday2013, simmer, tomato sauce

I spent this morning with the baby boy food shopping to get everything necessary to make my mother’s tomato meat sauce, the foundation of her lasagna. It is still cool enough to warrant a nice steaming dish of lasagna and it is one of the best dishes to make in bulk because the second platter is going directly to the freezer. The smell in the kitchen was so delicious, onions and garlic, the two best aromas in the world. The smell became more complex once I introduced pork sausage and ground beef to the onions and the garlic, after I drained the excess fat, that is when the tomatoes joined the party. The accessories that enhance the body of any sauce are the herbs, which in this case were the traditional oregano, basil, bay leaf, crushed red pepper and thyme. The only thing left is to simmer and let your nose enjoy the sweet yet rich smells that start to come together into a singular smell that is tomato meat sauce.

Lasagna is all about great ingredients and assembly, that’s it. I assembled mine with the ready for the oven lasagna pasta, my mother’s sauce, heaps of ricotta, fresh mozzarella, shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheese. The platters each weighed quite a bit, manly dishes, quite hefty and substantial. Homemade sauce and lasagna, all in a day’s work.

My personal pizza shop

Tags

fresh mozzarella, herbs, homemade dough, pizza, postaday2012, thin crust, Viking oven

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I am tempted to start a pizza shop but there are many hurdles, the most important one is the dog factor. You can’t get a permit with dogs in the house unless you can keep them out of the kitchen. It would be a tremendous amount of work and in order to become a food purveyor, you need to be ready to commit yourself 200% which I am not up to doing at the moment, but when you get crazy compliments over your pizza, it is easy to let them steer you to fantasy land where you are the latest pizza queen.

 

I am more than happy with my writing and reading schedule not to mention taking care of Rex and Jack and the rest of my babies (my hubby, my baby boy and my baby girl). I’ll just invite people over for the odd weekend retreat to Blandford where I can cook to my hearts content and then spend the rest of the week recuperating.

 

By the way pizza number three came out of the oven and was gone before I even thought to take a picture, but I should have taken a picture of number four just to show that even the pizza queen can have an off pizza. I was sitting in the living room with my IPad playing spider solitaire when I looked up and said merde! I ran to the oven and pulled out an extra crispy burnt around the edges pizza, oops. It was still good but you have to like really caramelized cheese. It still went like hotcakes. I don’t mind burnt crust, it wasn’t charcoal yet, such a dark brown. It can happen to anyone, you would think that by now I would learn my lesson , but no.

Never say die, one of my motto’s in gardening

Tags

containers, herbs, lavender, postaday2012

a grouping of my herbs; basil, thyme, rosemary and sage

baby lavender just planted in the container in the front

another lavender bush in its second year

Rosemary and Sage

Sage and Rosemary

thyme, one of the fragrances that I especially like

lavender bush in its second year

I don’t know if my motto comes from stubborness, perseverance or tenacity, but there a few plants that no matter how many years have disappointed me, I just can’t accept defeat. I have always loved lavender, I have taken the TGV from Bordeaux to Toulouse and from Toulouse to Marseilles and the fields of lavender are absolutely magnificent. I have, since seeing those those fields from afar and walking amongst the lavender, decided to have my own little piece of lavender paradise here in Blandford. It has been, I would say at least six years of trying and as you can see from my pictures I have gone back to the drawing board several times over. I have a friend of mine just down the road who has several big lavender bushes, so it is possible to grow it here. I have asked for advice and followed her advice but even though I have had some failures in the past, I promise you that I will have my little piece of lavender paradise. My saga extends itself to the herbage as well. In the southern parts of France, rosemary, sage and thyme grow like weeds, now I realize that in the mountains of western Massachusetts I don’t have the climate for keeping the herbs alive all year. So for over a decade, I have made my project in the fall of bringing in my precious flower pots of herbs and trying with all my patience and tender loving care to keep them alive throughout the winter. I have succeeded once or twice with rosemary but never two winters in a row. Chives on the other hand, they grow like weeds up here in Blandford which makes me so happy. I can be cooking anything such as a frittata for example and I can go outside with my scissors and snip as much as I like and voila fresh chives in the frittata. I would love to be able to do that during the winter, but I can’t seem to be able to keep my herbs alive for more than a month or two before they start to fade, diminish and then die. This year I have reluctantly accepted the fact that my house doesn’t have the sun exposure necessary to keep these herbs alive during the cold winters. Sometimes you have to let a dream go, if sometime in the future I rearrange a room in the house around keeping summer plants alive, than I’ll revisit the project of green housing the herbs, but until that day comes I’ll be replacing the herbs annually.