Why is it that no one seems to know what the herb called Savory is? It's not important or anything--it's just one of the main herbs that help flavor the best-tasting tomato-based pasta sauce. It also adds the perfect flavor to cream of tomato soup. Tonight it was one of just three herbs (savory, parsley, and thyme) that I used to flavor the ham and broccoli crustless quiche we had for dinner. These are just the first few uses for savory that occurred to me. There are many more; hence my earlier sarcasm. I know I've heard many TV chefs mention it. So why is it that the big-box grocery store in our area does not even stock it with the culinary spices? And why do only a very few of our garden centers even stock the seeds, much less sell it as an annual along with the rest of the spice herbs? I've lost count of the people who've looked at me strangely and repeated, "Savory?"
Yes, savory. There are two varieties: summer savory and winter savory. The first is an annual and must be started anew every year, while the other is a perennial. If we were in Italy, I'd be willing to bet that this blog post would never have been written. I'm sure the Italians know what savory is. I'll bet that even if they didn't speak English and I asked for it by name, they'd still know what I was talking about. I, yi-yi!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Strawberries at Home
Here are the strawberries, all tucked into their new bed. There were more like three dozen plants, not two, and there are more where they came from. We're thinking about building another planter box in a different location so we can get the rest of the strawberries--maybe something that can hang on the fence and keep the plants away from the slugs.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Homeless Strawberries
For those not into New Age thinking or who may not understand how the principle of manifestation works, here is a practical example of the process and how it sometimes happens.
It's strawberry season in Idaho. But I have no money for strawberries. I might be able to justify buying a few, but not in the numbers I'd prefer if I had a choice. We've been on a very tight-to-nonexistent budget for almost two years now, and strawberries are not the main staple of our diet, and are therefore hard to justify purchasing. Strawberries are also things that you really need to buy organic, because they can be laden with pesticides if produced commercially. Some fruits and veggies tend to soak up more pesticide than others, and strawberries are on the bad list. Anyway, I wanted strawberries, and had been thinking about how I'd like to go pick some organic ones at the Berry Ranch, but was going to have a hard time paying for them. I hadn't really thought much about it beyond the fact that I wanted some and that I was going to have to limit how many I picked and purchased.
That was when the Universe manifested the strawberries. I have a friend who had planted a whole bed of strawberry plants in her backyard, but her husband had grown tired of them being there. They were in a yard with large mature willow trees, and the strawberries were constantly falling prey to squirrels, slugs, and other pests. There was nothing wrong with the plants and they were prolific, but they just weren't working out for my friend. A couple of weeks ago she announced that she was going to dig up all of her strawberry plants, and asked if I wanted any of them. I hastened to assure her that I would be happy to take them.
Today my friend called me and said that she was digging them up, and could I come get them? So this evening, after my day doing readings at a psychic/healing fair downtown, I stopped by her home to pick up the strawberries. Two whole flats and a round plastic planter full of them. I estimate more than two dozen plants, and most of them laden with little strawberries already forming on the vines. If they transplant well, we'll not only have them for this year, but for years to come, and at no cost. (Well, other than the bag of sand we need to buy to amend the soil in the part of my flowerbed where they need to take up residence.)
This, then, is manifestation. Beautiful, seamless manifestation, hand in hand with synchronicity. And the beauty of it is that everyone benefits. My friend gets rid of her unwanted strawberry plants. I get my strawberries--plants and all. And the homeless strawberries get a new home so they can keep on living and doing what strawberries do.
Imagine what the world would be like if we all functioned like this--sharing, giving, being provided for, all without the stress of money, scarcity, or worry about both.
It's strawberry season in Idaho. But I have no money for strawberries. I might be able to justify buying a few, but not in the numbers I'd prefer if I had a choice. We've been on a very tight-to-nonexistent budget for almost two years now, and strawberries are not the main staple of our diet, and are therefore hard to justify purchasing. Strawberries are also things that you really need to buy organic, because they can be laden with pesticides if produced commercially. Some fruits and veggies tend to soak up more pesticide than others, and strawberries are on the bad list. Anyway, I wanted strawberries, and had been thinking about how I'd like to go pick some organic ones at the Berry Ranch, but was going to have a hard time paying for them. I hadn't really thought much about it beyond the fact that I wanted some and that I was going to have to limit how many I picked and purchased.
That was when the Universe manifested the strawberries. I have a friend who had planted a whole bed of strawberry plants in her backyard, but her husband had grown tired of them being there. They were in a yard with large mature willow trees, and the strawberries were constantly falling prey to squirrels, slugs, and other pests. There was nothing wrong with the plants and they were prolific, but they just weren't working out for my friend. A couple of weeks ago she announced that she was going to dig up all of her strawberry plants, and asked if I wanted any of them. I hastened to assure her that I would be happy to take them.
Today my friend called me and said that she was digging them up, and could I come get them? So this evening, after my day doing readings at a psychic/healing fair downtown, I stopped by her home to pick up the strawberries. Two whole flats and a round plastic planter full of them. I estimate more than two dozen plants, and most of them laden with little strawberries already forming on the vines. If they transplant well, we'll not only have them for this year, but for years to come, and at no cost. (Well, other than the bag of sand we need to buy to amend the soil in the part of my flowerbed where they need to take up residence.)
This, then, is manifestation. Beautiful, seamless manifestation, hand in hand with synchronicity. And the beauty of it is that everyone benefits. My friend gets rid of her unwanted strawberry plants. I get my strawberries--plants and all. And the homeless strawberries get a new home so they can keep on living and doing what strawberries do.
Imagine what the world would be like if we all functioned like this--sharing, giving, being provided for, all without the stress of money, scarcity, or worry about both.
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