Off The Grid Living: Savory Herbs and Unsavory Weather

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Savory Herbs and Unsavory Weather

Written by: Jerry Greenfield Food, Survival Gardening, Top Headline

Except for a few short-lived cold snaps, it has been a pretty mild winter here in North Carolina. From what I’ve been hearing, the same can be said for most of the United States. Of course, those of us who have been around a while know that it doesn’t take much for mild to turn wild when it comes to weather in February. All you need is a quick shift in the jet stream and, suddenly, arctic air is getting friendly with a moisture-packed storm system to send frozen precipitation your way.
So, I guess what I’m trying to say is that when it comes to the chance of winter weather wrecking your gardening plans, we’re not out of the woods yet.
This past Thursday, a rather famous rodent in Pennsylvania saw his shadow. Some folks believe that this event is a sure sign that we’re doomed to at least six more weeks of winter. Personally, I’ve got my doubts about the forecasting skills of groundhogs. While these pesky critters all seem to agree that a vegetable garden is a tasty buffet grown solely for their pleasure, they never seem to reach a consensus on this whole early spring or not question.
While Punxsutawney Phil was telling the world that winter was going to be longer than we’d like, about two-hundred miles away, in York, PA, one of his groundhog cousins named Poor Richard was predicting an early spring. Another Pennsylvania groundhog, Dover Doug, also thought Phil’s shadow was an optical illusion. Up on Staten Island, Staten Island Chuck was telling New York City Mayor Bloomberg to expect an early spring and, though Chuckles the Groundhog in Manchester, CT agreed with Chuck, Fred la Marmotte in Quebec, Balzac Billy in Alberta, and Sir Walter Wally in Raleigh, NC had more pessimistic forecasts.
I find it kind of amusing that so many towns pamper a groundhog year-round for this one-day celebration but, as long as the furry fellows aren’t chewing on my veggies and herbs, I don’t see any harm in the practice.
Now that I’ve finally got around to mentioning herbs, this might be a good spot to mention that growing herbs is a good way to help protect your body from some of things that might cause you harm. The four herbs I’ve decided to mention today not only bring savory flavors to your table but also pack a lot of nutritional benefits.
New “Survival Herb Bank” Gives You Access to God’s Amazing Medicine ChestIn ancient Greece, Hippocrates used oregano leaves as an antiseptic and also recommended them as a cure for stomach and respiratory ailments. The old boy was certainly on the right track. Among the volatile oils found in oregano leaves are thymol and carvacrol and each have been shown to inhibit the growth of bacteria.
As an added bonus, oregano is loaded with several potent anti-oxidants. On a per gram fresh weight basis, oregano leaves have been shown to have 42 times the anti-oxidant activity of apples and 12 times the anti-oxidant activity of oranges. They even beat anti-oxidant potent blueberries by a four to one margin!
If that’s not enough, oregano is an excellent source of vitamin K and rates pretty well on giving you a healthy dose of manganese, iron, and calcium.
Oregano is a good plant to start growing from seed indoors when the threat of winter still lurks in the outside world. When the threat of frost has passed, you’ll want to pick a sunny, well-drained spot and transplant your oregano youngsters about a foot apart. Oregano appreciates regular hoeing and weeding and I usually recommend mulching with hay to keep the plants clean.
Feel free to pluck the leaves for kitchen use after your oregano has settled in for about two weeks. Continuous plucking often prevents flowering. After they’ve been in the ground for about six weeks or so, I usually trim the shoots to within an inch of the center to stimulate bushy growth and insure that I’ll have plenty of oregano available later in the season.
Another savory herb that I enjoy having on hand is basil. Various cookbooks and chefs refer to basil as “the king of herbs.” Part of that has to do with basil’s versatility in so many dishes and part of it comes from the fact that the word “basil” comes from the Greek word “basileus” which means king. In reality, basil is a bit more like a royal family than a single sovereign. There are about 160 or so cultivars of basil available; ranging from the common sweet basils to the more exotic lemon basil, cinnamon basil, camphor basil, African blue basil, purple basil, holy basil, and so on and so forth.
Besides adding a burst of flavor, particularly if added in the final few minutes of cooking, fresh basil is a healthy addition to any diet. Basil contains a powerful anti-inflammatory substance called eugenol. Eugenol provides several important healing benefits including giving some relief to folks suffering from rheumatoid arthritis or inflammatory bowel conditions. Basil also packs a decent amount of beta carotene, magnesium, iron, calcium, potassium, and vitamin C….MORE HERE

Source: www.offthegridnews.com