Several of my herbs from last year are coming back—some sage here, thyme there and the always-robust chives and mint are re-emerging. I love the smell of herbs in my garden but even better—I love to use them in cooking. Recently Andy and I discovered the yumminess of goat cheese mixed with mint and parsley with scallions courtesy of a recipe in Sunset Magazine. The cheese mix slathered on toasted bread with a thin slice of prosciutto and some kind of green like pea shoots or watercress is truly scrumptious. Even better if you have homegrown pea shoots after having thinned your pea seedlings as we just did. Herbs can also be used decoratively in your garden. We have flowering herbs like Russian Sage and Lavender that are fragrant and long-lasting lovely additions to our flower garden. So bring on the her gardens for beauty and sustenance!
Herb Garden
By Timothy Steele
“And these, small, unobserved . . . ” —Janet Lewis
The lizard, an exemplar of the small,
Spreads fine, adhesive digits to perform
Vertical push-ups on a sunny wall;
Bees grapple spikes of lavender, or swarm
The dill’s gold umbels and low clumps of thyme.
Bored with its trellis, a resourceful rose
Has found a nearby cedar tree to climb
And to festoon with floral furbelows.
Though the great, heat-stunned sunflower looks half-dead
The way it, shepherd’s crook-like, hangs its head,
The herbs maintain their modest self-command:
Their fragrances and colors warmly mix
While, quarrying between the pathway’s bricks,
Ants build minute volcanoes out of sand.
XOXO Rachel
Wondrance 