How Make Your Own Herbal Tea BlendsMaking your own herbal tea blends is easy, all you need is a ready supply of herbs to dry, somewhere to dry them, some clean air tight jars, and a will to experiment. You might like to use scales to weigh each quantity of herb, make a note of each for future reference. Use plants which have beautiful fragrances as well as medicinal properties, or mix blander tasting and smelling herbs with more fragrant ones to make them more palatable. Obviously make sure that you have identified the plant properly, and check out any side effects or warnings about that plant first. Some good tea herbs with warnings are listed in our plant remedies guide. Dry The HerbsI use dried herbs in my tea blends because it allows me to make up a large batch of each tea. These dried leaves and flowers can last up to a year in an air tight jar. I dry my herbs by hanging them in bunches in the same cupboard as my boiler. More about drying herbs here... Smell The herbsHave a good sniff of each of the dried herbs, start to think about smells and medicinal benefits, that would compliment each other, then start to mix some of these herbs together. I use a large mixing bowl, and mix the herbs with my hands. Keep sniffing at the blended herbs, the way they are smelling together is a good indication on how your tea will taste when brewed. You can make this a purely herbal tea, or you can mix it with a good quality loose tea. I would recommend a green tea, Darjeeling, or a ceylon tea. Make a note of each lot of herbs and measurements as you go along. You might like to taste test a few of the mixtures as you go along too. Make a small taster cup with half a teaspoon of herb and boiling water. Make another with the same herbs and a little bit of honey so that you can see how it tastes sweetened and unsweetened. The Perfect BlendWhen you have found your perfect blend add it to an air tight jar and label it. This will keep for a year. Some Of My Blends...Pot Pourri Summer TeaOne of the favorite herbal tea blends that I make is my Summer Pot Pourri Tea. This one smells absolutely gorgeous and could actually be used as a pot pourri too. The pot marigold flowers give the tea a honey-like fragrance and sweetness, that is evocative of a summers evening in the flower garden. I like to add a bit of honey when I serve this tea, or failing that brown sugar. To make this tea I dry equal parts of each herb and mix. I make a batch and keep in an air tight jar.
Mint Mix Herbal TeaI make regular peppermint tea all the time, but do enjoy to mix things up a bit. This mint mix tea is a refreshing and calming blend. It has a nice minty flavour. When I make this tea I use half peppermint types of mint and half spearmint types of mint.
Refreshing Citrus TeaLots of citrusy flavours and scents. This is one of my favorite teas for hot summers days. I add a bit of honey when I make my tea because I enjoy it a bit sweeter. Sometimes when I have a cold I have this tea with some added fresh ginger slices.
Meadow TeaA subtly sweet, healthy, herbal tea blend. This one is great for if you are feeling run down.
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Join The Minty Fun!In fact I am now overrun with yummy mint. I just put all of my plants outside and they are flourishing. - Everything in the garden is rosy ~ or minty! So what to do with all this fresh mint? 5 Things To Do With Mint... (soon to be 10!)1. Use Mint In Pretty Planter Displays Or Flower Arrangements
Mint sprigs make for great foliage in a boquet or flower arrangement, they are a bit different as a choice of greenery but have the added benefit of smelling heavenly, I often use spearmint in my displays, the bright, fresh green contrasts so well with brightly colored flowers. 2. Make A Delicious Mint SyrupIt is easy to make a yummy mint syrup, this can be added to cocktails, lemonade, and other beverages. All you need is some fresh mint, sugar, and water. How to make mint syrup...3. Make Fresh Mint TeaMint teas are really refreshing and good for the digestion. They can be made from any mint (except pennyroyal, which can be toxic) I drink a lot of mint tea, peppermint makes me feel calm and cool, and also helps me sleep. I drink spearmint tea if I am having a bad stomach or trapped wind, (though all mints help with digestion). I find spearmint sweeter in taste than peppermint, but enjoy both in teas. Hell, sometimes I even mix them! You can add sugar, agave nectar, or honey, to your personal taste. I take mine straight but my partner takes his with honey. Find out about the medicinal properties of mint here4. Put It In The Bath!I love taking herbal baths, mint has to be one of my favorites. The mint aromas are quite invigorating, whilst also being sweet and calming, hmmm, mint is such an enigma! To make a mint herbal bath you simply throw a bunch of fresh mint leaves into the bath while it's running. Rip or bruise the mint leaves before you toss them in, to release the oils. Mint stems and flowers can be included in the bath. Make sure to rinse them first though, as an earwig or aphids floating around in the bath with you sure ruins the ambience. Speaking of insects, I use the mint leaves that have been nibbled at in my baths. I save the perfect ones for eating or preparing drinks etc. 5. Make Crystallized / Candied Mint LeavesCrystallized mint leaves are easy to make and look amazing. They can be used to garnish deserts, ice cream, cakes, and also dipped or drizzled with chocolate! You will need egg whites and sugar to make these little treats. How to make candied mint leaves...Some Of My Different Mint PlantsThere are literally hundreds of types of mint plant, with a cacophony of beautiful smells. Here are some of the mint plants that I grow.
It's thundering tonight, with a lot of lightning flashes across the sky. I am really happy that my plants will be getting a good dose of Nitrates in the soil from the rain. I had thought about putting my indoor medic garden outside for the duration of the thunder storm, but decided against this as some of the plants are not ready to get bashed about by the huge rain drops that often fall during a thunder storm. Instead I have placed a container outside to collect the rainwater that's falling during the thunder storm. I will use this to water my indoor plants with. How do Plants Benefit From Lightning?Lightning releases gasses into the air, one of which is nitrogen, the nitrogen bonds with oxygen particles in the atmosphere, and falls to the ground with the rain. Nitrogen is a very important for plants, it encourages healthy root and plant growth, and encourages the plant to produce chlorophyll. If you have any plants that are not looking healthy, have yellowing leaves, and stunted growth, then your plants may well have a nitrogen deficiency. It does not lightning much around here though, so what about those times when you cannot use the nitrogen rich rainwater? Easy DIY Organic Nitrogen FertilizersThere are two really simple ways to add nitrogen to the soil that are pleasant enough to use in my indoor containers...(ie, not smelly or gross!)
One is to use coffee grounds sprinkled on the soil, or mixed in the top layer of soil. I don't do this often, just every few months or every quarter. Or if the plants are looking sad and like they need a boost. Another way is to use a comfrey infusion, or tea. Make this with fresh or dried comfrey leaves, tear them up and place in a pan with boiling water. Leave to infuse and cool, then decant into bottles for watering the plants with. You can make this without boiling the leaves, just leave to infuse for a few weeks in a bucket - but this does smell! Comfrey is an awesome plant that has a lot of medicinal uses, which I will be covering on the main website soon. It is even said that growing comfrey with other plants will help them retain nitrogen in the soil. I have been wanting to make some simple plant markers for a while now, the ones I had made previously (from canvas stretchers, that I had left over) have rotted into the soil and are no longer readable.
Tonight I went through all of my plant pots and pulled out all of the wooden canvas stretchers. I decided to utilise some of my recent beach combing and river walking finds, and make some more markers. These ones will last much longer than the wooden ones, and were so simple to make. Just write the plant name on to the stone, river glass, or pottery shard, with a sharpie. |
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Blog ArchivesTea Of The MonthThis beautiful Earl Grey from Bigelow is the tea of the month for July.
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