Custom Blending herbs, teas and spices is one of the many cool and creative things I get to do for The Herbal Sage Tea company.
This week we began to harvest Spicebush Berry for a new custom blend. Spicebush Lindera benzoin also called wild allspice is an abundant understory plant in SE Ohio.
Years ago one of the old timers showed me how he and his family would harvest the twigs and soft branches during the fall season to make a tea. He also would pick a few twigs and chew on them. Though I like the gentle spice from the branches of this plant, I prefer to harvest the berries, dry them, then add then to herb blends. My current custom blend request is from Denison University located an hour or so north of The Herbal Sage Farms. They wanted a BIG RED blend, we'll also be adding our native Elderberry fruit to their blend , more on amazing elderberry next time!
I think these berries qualify for a BIG RED theme, don't you?
It's frustrating to me, as a formulator, when certain herbs are inaccessible. When formulating, I often create the blend in my mind initially, then work towards accessing specifics herbs and teas to create my finished project/product. I imagine what each herb will add to the recipe and which herb or herbs will help to make this new blend both effective and pleasant in taste.I dream big at these times.
Yet, I realize that this frustration is an example of my unwillingness, to realize at all times, that I am working with the natural world. I get wrapped up in the idea of what I want to make a certain blends.I often am asked "Why can't you just make such and such blend?", my answer is "That plant is not available right now". Their questions act as a reminder to me.The lack of understanding by many people is key here. I take time to explain that we do not work with flavorings, or artificial ( natural) ingredients, we cannot generate our ingredients by a whim. There are seasonal changes and many factors that relate to the unavailability of specific herbs.Loss of natural habitat, crop failure experienced by growers, natural resources that may make it unaffordable for herbs to be grown in a region where they once thrived. Many, many variables exist..
When I find myself wresting with frustration, I am motivated to grow more of the herbs that I need.
The fact that were are losing plants at a record rate, encourages me to get busy, put seed and plants in the ground. Learn how to grow, harvest and create with those plants, that are grown by us, at Herbal Sage Farms. We cannot grow everything we use in our blends, but we can make a difference by growing those that we can.We can add to the plant population of our planet, not just glean from others.
Perhaps a field trip to the land would help folks understand the reality of REAL..
Real food, real plants, real herbs. REAL.TEA..
thanks for listening, time to water the seed beds and get these plants ready to flourish!
Today is one of those days when I realize the tapestry of life is woven deeply thru so many of us, connecting us in ways that we could have never imagined.
In my senior year at my hippie high school I was introduced to Richie Havens, his music, his poetry of song and sound was ever etched in my mind and heart. He embodied to me the essence of a real man. His tonality struck me, his words moved me, how I heard him, in my own way, gave me hope. And I needed hope during those years, thank you for that Mr. Havens.
I also viewed the images from that famous event called Woodstock, for the first time during my senior year. Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane, Mountain, Janis Joplin, Joe Cocker, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Their music, created a road to freedom for me. They fed into a sense of freedom that I longed for. I ate it up.
Many years later , I reflect on that freedom, the style of life that I led then, and the incredible need to be true to myself, still year after year. By following my heart and lots of hard work I find myself full circle with a few of those individuals that gave me that sense of hope, thru their music, when I needed it most.
Jefferson Airplane, and in particular Jack Casady from the Jefferson Airplane band is a person who is currently woven into the tapestry of my life.
Organic full leaf green tea with chia for Jack Casady
I am working closely with Jack to create a custom Green Tea blend specifically for his tastes.
Yes, that's true!
I met Jack thru his friend Jorma Kaukonen years ago, down at Jorma's Fur Peace Ranch. Seems that music camp that Jorma and his wife built is close to Herbal Sage Farms...go figure.
Jack and I have worked on other organic tea blends and now I have the pleasure of creating another tea for him. Jack loves full leaf organic sencha green tea, I do too. It's a mild green tea, yet full bodied a with just the right amount of astringency. Jack is into chia seeds right now, so I added some organic chia seeds with the sencha leaf. Its an amazing blend actually smooth tasting and very ,very healthy.
So we never know how things will work out, or how folks will work into our lives. I for one, feel blessed and grateful for this twist of fate.
Like Richie Havens who sang so often about Freedom, I feel I can only be free when my heart is open to experience whatever it is that is put in front of me. How my life has evolved to this place in time, where I can share my art of blending with someone who shared their art of music, with me so many years ago, is a mystery to me.
All I can say is , YES, and clap my hands, clap my hands... RIP Richie Havens
Thursday I attended the Chesterhill Auction, in Chesterhill, Ohio. Driving about 40 minutes deep into the country I drove past the auction sign and into the small town of Chesterhill. I knew I had passed the entrance but for the life of me did not know where I was.I stopped to ask directions at a small convenience store/gas station, the first woman I asked who was working the counter had no idea about any Amish auction. I thought this was a bad sign,that the locals did not even know about it. I thought that perhaps I had really driven too far!Finally one of the women from behind the deli counter was able to direct me. She knew where it was , yet had never gone herself. I was told I hadn't gone to far and to turn around and make the first right past the building with the orange roof. So I proceeded to drive back in the direction I came and look for this orange roofed place, I never did see the building but I was driving slow enough that the Chesterhill Auction sign rose up out of the clay soil and presented itself to me! Yes I had arrived. Luckily I was early for the auction and sat in on a compost tea workshop, being The Tealady, I felt it was important that I attended, and had hoped that I had not missed it due to my detour. Kyle O'Keefe, an Americorp worker from Rural Action taught the workshop, he was a wealth of information. The auction was filled with folks looking for a fresh deal and many of us were successful! I brought home first of the season red raspberries, and some fresh strawberries.I was told that 95% of the sellers at the auction were Amish and the buyers where made up non Amish and Amish.
There were a few Amish handmade items, and I bought a bird house and a nicely built wood basket.I'll use the basket at my farmers market to display my elderberry tea, and the birdhouse will find a nice home at my in laws 200 year old home in PA. Do you attend a local farmers market? Tell me about it, I'd love to learn more about your experiences at these events,and hope to stop by Chesterhill again next week.
I had the opportunity to head out to Herbal Sage Farms this afternoon.The ruts on the tractor road were filled with ice cold water and some lingering snow. The berries have made it thru another winter, and I am looking forward to increasing our crop this year.
This time of year on the land fills me with hope. The sun was bright and tufts of last season's grass swayed slowly, bogged down with the damp remnants of winter. The dogs enjoyed the mud, the sun, taking advantage of the open acreage to romp.
I can feel new life rumbling under my feet. I have learned that spring has already begun, shown to me in a simple bud starting on a berry bush.I cannot help but smile as I write this, for this simplicity, feeds my soul..
