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May
Flowers !
As many of you are probably aware, the Midwest and the eastern
part of the nation has experienced an unusually early (and
warm) arrival of spring. The result has been been a growing
season that is as much as 3 weeks further along than usual.
I've already been out tromping the woods, foraging for wild
edibles and taking lots of pictures. The photographs featured
in this newsletter are from some of these excursions. My
herb gardens are already providing much welcomed fresh tastiness
in the kitchen. I've been harvesting over wintered spinach
for an entire month already, and most of my early spring
vegetable garden was planted a couple of weeks ago.
It's
a good thing that I have some of my gardening out of the
way, because I need to turn my attention to my home for
the next couple of weeks. By the time I send this newsletter,
my brother (who lives in England) will have come for a short
visit. My brother is an artisan pipe carver who was the
cover
story of this spring's Pipes And Tobaccos
magazine. His trip to the States was primarily to attend
the Chicago Pipe show, where his work was in high demand.
As you can tell, I'm very proud of my baby brother! His
work can be seen on his website at Larrysson
Pipes.
My
current project is to be ready for my oldest son to return
home from college for the summer. I kind-of-sort-of ended
up using his bedroom for it's additional space, and I need
to clear some projects out of the way so the boy will have
a place to sleep.
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Visit
our Specials
page during the month of May for extra savings.
- Coconut
Milk Powder
- Organic
Shea Butter
- Strawberry
Powder
- Green
Tea Fragrance
- Heat
Seal Tea Bags
It's
time once again for our Annual
Memorial Day Sale! Stock up now for all
of your summer fairs, events, and special occasions,
and save 15%! This year's 15% off event will run
on Memorial weekend -- from Friday,
May 28 through Monday, May 31. The sale
is a great time to try out new items, or stock up
on favorite specialty ingredients. It's also the
perfect time to test fragrances in anticipation
of our late summer fragrance sale, when one pound
sizes will be steeply discounted. We will be emailing
a sale notice with more details the day the sale
starts.
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Apple
Blossom Jelly
Each spring I try to capture spring in a bottle by
making a selection of unusual condiments: violet syrup,
lilac sugar, dandelion jelly. They make wonderful
gifts, especially during the dark winter months when
we're so eagerly awaiting the arrival of spring. Here
is the apple blossom jelly I made last week. All varieties
of apples are edible, including ornamental crabapples,
so you can use any blooms you wish. I have some beautiful
pink crabapples, which result in the gorgeous deep
pink jelly to the left. This same recipe will work
with any edible flowers including dandelions, violets,
chive blossoms, roses, and lavender.
2
cups apple blossoms, stems and anything green removed
2 cups boiling water
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
4 cups sugar
1 3oz pouch liquid pectin
Pour
boiling water over blossoms and allow to steep for
two or three hours. Strain liquid through a jelly
bag or coffee filter. Combine strained liquid, lemon
juice, and sugar an a heavy pan and bring to a full
rolling boil (be sure to use a pan with plenty of
extra room) on high heat, stirring constantly. Quickly
stir in pectin and return to a full rolling boil for
exactly 1 minute stirring constantly. Remove from
heat, skim off any foam with a metal spoon, and ladle
into prepared jars and process.
If
you're unfamiliar with jelly making, an insert with
more detailed instructions on jar preparation and
processing is included with the pectin. On a side
note, I like my jellies to be a softer set and not
too sickly sweet, so I reduce my sugar to 3 1/2 cups.
This results in a softer jelly that take several days
to finish setting up.
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Making Balms & Salves with The Twisted Sisters DVD
In this informal DVD, The Twisted Sisters (Tina, editor
of The Essential Herbal Magazine and Maryanne, owner
of Lancaster County Soapworks) go through the processes
of infusing an oil, making lip balm, lotion bars, and
salves. They make one of each of these, and the viewer
will have the understanding to go to making his/her
own after seeing how it is done. We have a little fun
along the way, and show you how easy it is to do! Suppliers
are listed inside the jacket, as well as some suggested
projects. |
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Please
use the following submission guidelines, or
your answer will not be eligible.
Email your answer to  ,
and place "Trivia Answer" in the subject
line. Please do not send your answer by replying
to this newsletter. Only one entry per subscriber.
We will contact the winner, and the answer to this
month's trivia question will be answered in next
month's newsletter.
The
answer to the March trivia question: The U.S. state
boasting the most citizens with Irish ancestry is
Massachusetts.
Susan
Sosbe of Indiana was the first to answer correctly,
and received 16 ounces of our French
Green Clay.
New
question: In the article on cilantro listed above
is a reference to soap making. What particular byproduct
of making soap is the same substance found in cilantro
that causes it to be so offensive tasting to cilantro
haters?
Be
the first to answer correctly, and you will receive
any herb or botanical of your choice (up to a $10
value) from our website
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Until
next month,
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