Sage Flowering

Spent the best part of the day today on the land. Did plenty of mowing, while David worked more on the cabin. Our pup went looking for his favorite mud hole, and was quite disappointed when he realized it was dried up. It's not quite June yet and some of the water spots are already gone.
I'm including a picture of our sage blooming. The bees were working the flowers, and the aroma of sweet sage filled the air. If only I could do a scratch and sniff for you,I would!
Sage is used to help treat excessive sweating,women use it to help relieve night sweats, and lactating women drink it when they want to stop breastfeeding. The astringency of the plant is very powerful Traditionally the tea has also been used a s gargle for sore throat, or just made into a tea to help relieve sore throats.
Enjoy the day everyone and remember to stop and smell the sage!

Athens Farmers market

Today I brewed up Sassafras root,added organic cane sugar to the tea after it steeped for 10 minutes.It is now in the frig, cooling down and will be served over ice tomorrow at my farmers market.Sassafras was used by Native Americans and is a native tree in this region.It is a refreshing tea and has been used as a tonic.
I've been a part of the Athens, Ohio Farmers Market for over 10 years. I feel blessed, prosperous even, to be associated with such a great market. The market itself is over 30 years old, with some of the initial farmers still selling. Everyone at the market must either grow their wares, or be a processor, someone who "makes" something having to do with food. I create tea blends, wildcrafting some of my herbs and spices but mostly buy from growers and wildcrafters all over the world. I make up some great tasting brews.
Another processor and I spoke today about the market.We both enjoy our community and feel secure in the abundance of our resources here in SE Ohio. Tomorrow will be another opportunity to try some locally grown strawberries, fresh greens and my favorite thing about the market, surprise pizza made by either Avalanche Pizza or Crumbs Bakery.We never really know what will be on the pizza slices each Saturday, but each Saturday countless numbers of us test our fate, smiling all the way!
Athens Farmers Market in on East State Street in Athens Ohio. We start selling at 10 am and sell til 1 pm or when we run out. Stop by!

Hand Crafted Tea Blends

Today I received a call from a company in Oregon. They asked us if we could blend herbal recipes for them. I told them of course we can! We work out of a USDA certified facility and we are always blending recipes. When I told the company that we hand blend our teas, they were shocked. They asked me how we could afford to do that,and why we would do that. I hadn't really thought about the why of it all, as we just do it .I got to thinking, and realized that the desire I have to employ people in my community does not always equate with the economic factors of the outside world. I think that it is great when we can bring a team of people in for blending days and really create some beautiful teas. I always felt that it was a sign of success to be able to do this type of work.This customer from out west thought it was crazy that I did not use machinery. Anyhow, I wanted to share this tidbit of information. I feel successful when I can do what I enjoy, and creating work for others is a great benefit for sure. For now, we will continue to hand craft many of our blends, and continue to share our growth with the community.

Organic Green Tea in teabags

It's been a long time coming, finally we have our Organic Zesty Green Tea in teabags. I am working with a wonderful company, who takes our handcrafted organic tea blend and puts it into easy to use teabags.We still use our great recipe and the result is perfect! I had the opportunity to sample the tea at Athens farmers market yesterday! Everyone loved the tea and we absolutely sold out.
Go to the website www.herbalsage.com in the next few days, We'll be updating the front page with the new organic teabags, and offering savings on all of the teas.
Happy Spring everyone!
This picture is of a friend of mine and I, she came in to lend a hand while I was creating new packaging for the teas. We thought we looked sort of like Lucy and Ethel! Great friends always lighten the load of work!

Traveling in SW Ohio

Another great day on the road. Gypsy was happy that we found another hidden green space. This was off 71S, the back area of the rest stop had a road to nowhere, plenty of safe space for her to run and play. I spent the late afternoon and early evening sampling at The Whole Foods store in Mason Ohio. A great store, plenty of fun.Tomorrow ,I head to the Cincy store, serving Organic Chai Green Tea and Jorma's Tonic Tea. They say storms are headed this way, we shall see!