Not every herbal tea works well over ice, but this one will have your family and friends clamoring for more. Gather a palmful of each of these dried herbs:
Brew the herbs to yield six cups and let cool to room temperature. Pour into a large pitcher and add the peach juice until the pitcher is two-thirds full. Give it a good stir, then add in enough ice cubes to fill the vessel. Slice the lemon and lay on top. Serve, sit back, and let the compliments begin. This convivial concoction is ideal for special summer occasions such as the midsummer celebration of the solstice or longest day of the year.
This recipe is simply scrumptious and a bargain to boot. Gather a nice big bunch of basil leaves, two cups total, from your kitchen garden or greengrocer. Give the leaves a good cold rinse and place them on a clean tea towel to air-dry. You will also need the following:
Place the pine nuts and the garlic on a baking sheet in the oven at 375 degrees for five to ten minutes or until the pine nuts begin to turn slightly golden. Do NOT wait until they turn brown, though. Then take everything and put it into a blender or food processor. Before you put the lid in place, cut the lemon in half and squeeze out a nice dollop of fresh juice into the mix and grind in a healthy dash of sea salt. Blend away until you have a lovely green pesto sauce you can put on anything. Perfect pesto in ten minutes flat! Based on the benefits of this herb, it might be the perfect dish to serve up after an emotionally hard week as it is a bringer of peace. Also good for date night or when you need to brew up good money mojo! Boil up a pot of pasta while you are concocting the blissful basil blend, and you will have a sumptuous weeknight supper for the family on the table so quickly, they will be sure you are using witchcraft!
Put the ingredients in the blender and puree. This gorgeous green potage makes four cups, enough for two servings for a hungry couple. The only accompaniment you need is crispy herb crackers, an icy beverage and each other.
Did you know your pantry is like a pharmacy? Thankfully, it is far cheaper. Cumin is loaded with phytochemicals, antioxidants, iron, copper, calcium, potassium, manganese, selenium, zinc, and magnesium and contains high amounts of B-complex nutrients. Cumin also helps with insomnia. Cinnamon is truly a power spice. Just half a teaspoon daily can dramatically reduce blood glucose levels in those with type 2 diabetes and lower cholesterol. Cayenne promotes circulation and boosts metabolism. Clove is an antifungal and abets toothaches. Nutrient-rich parsley is a detoxifying herb and acts as an anti-inflammatory and antispasmodic as well as helping conditions from colic to indigestion. Rub it on itchy skin for instant relief! Sage is very beneficial in treating gum and throat infections. Sage tea has helped ease depression and anxiety for generations. Thyme is a cure for a hangover and doubles as a remedy for colds and bronchitis. Cilantro is a good source of iron, magnesium, phytonutrients, and flavonoids and is also high in dietary fiber. Cilantro has been used for thousands of years as a digestive and helps to lower blood sugar when it is too high, possibly as a result of stimulating insulin secretion or enzyme production. Ginger stimulates circulation and is an excellent digestive as it aids in absorption of food and clears bloating due to indigestion. Immune champion turmeric boosts production of antioxidants and reduction of inflammation. Blue Zone centenarians credit their long, healthy lives to drinking turmeric root tea daily. Pack your pantry with these seasonings for optimal health and happiness.
I also had the great good fortune to have grown up in the countryside on a farm. Much of what I know I learned from my wise aunt: what herbs to gather in the wild and which foods to cook for love, money, luck, health, and in celebration of the high holidays. It is exciting to go to the garden, the grocery store, or the farmer’s market and bring home the ingredients for positive life change. In addition to the secrets of magical cooking, I learned from this wise woman that the first task to “undertake is to clean your kitchen and purify it. If anything needs repairing, fix it. Any utensils, pots, or pans that are banged up can also be donated (so long as you can afford to immediately purchase replacements). If your kitchen curtains look shabby to your eye, make or buy new ones. If there is a bag of rice or beans past its prime, compost away. You should both clean the cooking space in the practical sense as well as cleanse it in the magical sense. Prepare your kitchen to be used for the purpose of healing.
Plants carry potent energy you can use to amplify your magical workings. Use the signs of the sun, moon, and stars to your advantage and, over time, you will come to know which ones are most effective for you. Make sure to use your own astrological chart in working with these herbs. Here is a guide to the astrological associations of plants you may grow in your kitchen garden or keep dried in your pantry:
For the ingredients above not found in your kitchen or garden, try your local health food market, herbalist, or metaphysical store; for those that are really hard to find, consider looking at these types of mail-order outlets online.
Infusions have regained popularity as a way of getting as much of the herb into oil as possible. This is a method of preparation that brings the flavors of one food, in this case, fresh herbs, to another, such as oil. Basil oil is unbelievably easy to make. You’ll need:
Ideally, you will gather your fresh herbs in your own kitchen garden, but any farmers market or organic grocery will have green herbs. For the best and purest flavor, use fresh herbs at their peak. Rinse thoroughly in cold water. Gently pat dry with paper towels and give the basil a coarse chop. Place into a metal colander and dip into boiling water for ten seconds.
Rinse in an ice water bath and drain well. Gently pat dry and add the basil to the oil. After three to five days in a cool dark place, the flavor will have infused into the oil, adding the fresh bright green note of the herbs. Use liberally on roasts, stir-frys, or salads, and drizzle on top of cooked vegetables and soups. Basil not only confers much palatability, but it also brings prosperity. Enjoy!
These herbs also make fantastic infused oils: rosemary. tarragon, parsley, chives, and cilantro.
Here are the vegetables anyone can grow, from beginners to pros with their own greenhouses:
Lettuce, peas, onions, beets, potatoes, beans, and radishes.
Lettuce leaves for your salads are the easiest edible crop to grow. A few varieties will be ready to harvest in weeks! Choose a seed mix that will give you a variety of leaves for different tastes, colors, and textures. For best results, sow in stages so you don’t get loads all at once. Sow a couple of lanes every few weeks throughout the summer to ensure a continuous supply.
Once you are a pro with lettuce, grow spinach and rocket (a.k.a. arugula) for your salad bowl.
Peas are a trouble-free crop that can handle cooler weather, so you can skip the step of starting the seedlings indoors. Simply sow the seeds in the ground from March onwards and watch them thrive. The plants will need support—put in stakes or chicken wire attached to posts and occasionally wind the stems around the supports as they grow. Harvest your fresh peas from June to August—the more you pick; the more will grow.
Onions are problem free and easy to propagate. After your seedlings sprout, thin seedlings to an inch apart, and then thin again in four weeks to six inches apart. Onions are a staple for cooking, so you and your family will be grateful once you have established an onion patch in your kitchen garden.
Potatoes and beets are a high return for your labor. To me, the best way to grow both is the world’s laziest way to garden; I remember reading about it when I was ten in a book by Thalassa Crusoe, a pioneering organic gardener. I was fascinated that you could grow root vegetables without even needing to turn any soil. You can grow potatoes, yams, and so on under straw! Simply cut up mature potatoes that have “eyes” or the fleshy tubers sprouting out of the flesh of the potato, making sure each piece has an eye. This will give a new potato. After you “plant” or place the seed potatoes chunks on the ground, put loose straw over the pieces and between all the rows at least four to six inches deep. When the seed pieces start growing, your potato sprouts will emerge through the straw cover. How easy was that? Crusoe also said you could do the same under wet, shredded newspaper, but straw is more organic.
Radishes have enjoyed a new popularity thanks to Korean and Japanese cuisine. They add a fun pop of spicy, tangy flavor to soups, stews, tempura, salads, and all on their own. They can grow equally well in the ground in spring or in a pot. Radishes like a lot of sun and well-drained soil. They are also a crop you can grow in several crops per season. If you keep the soil moist, you’ll have big beautiful radishes to brighten any dish.
Green beans are the opposite of the low-maintenance beets and potatoes as they will need staking or poles for support. However, an easier path to a great crop of green beans can be to grow them in a five-gallon container. After they have gotten four or five feet long, place a pole or stake carefully in the pot and allow the bean vines to wind around. Soon you’ll have a pot of beans even grandma might recognize as a favorite vegetable for any occasion.
What veggies do you love? What are your favorite salad greens? The first rule is to plant what you will actually eat and feel proud to serve to guests. Take your herbal journal and list your preferred herbs, greens, fruits, and vegetables including root vegetables. Now, strike out anything you can buy really cheaply—no sense in using valuable space to for something easily available at a lower price than the cost to grow it. Another caution, check out your soil type. Carrots need deep, rich soil to grow well. If your lot is shallow and sandy soil, cross carrots off your list and look to surface crops like potatoes and beets instead.
I have lived in homes where my only gardening options were containers on a deck or planters on the front stoop. This taught me you can do a lot with seed packets, pots, and an open mind. When selecting space for your kitchen garden, you can plant it in something as simple as a set of containers; this can be planned as with any other garden space. If you are lucky to have a backyard or land, I suggest you begin the designing process by incorporating all the plants you know you want to use in your health and body care, your magical workings, and your cookery and always allow yourself to experiment. Trying new veggies or seeds that are new to you can be enormously rewarding. I agree with Londoner Alys Fowler, who is one of England’s top gardeners. She says there is no earthly reason why roses and cabbages can’t go side by side and that veggies can nicely nestle in among florals. Once you have tried a few such painterly plantings, you can give yourself a free hand in your creative approach.
Lawns are very high maintenance and unless constantly mowed and manicured, can greatly reduce your home’s curb appeal. Besides wasting water and taking up a lot of time, grass in your yard doesn’t offer you anything back for all the demands it places on your time and pocketbook. Grass lawns also tempt many lawn keepers to use chemicals which are bad for all of us, especially the birds and the bees. Get creative and go at least a little wild. My next-door neighbor turned over the soil on their whole front lawn, tilled it, and planted potatoes, beets, asparagus, and squash. They love going into the front yard and harvesting fresh veggies for their daily meals. The pumpkins and other squash actually have beautiful foliage, and the flowers are stunning and edible as well. Last year, one of their crops grew to “Giant Pumpkin” size “and it became the talk of the neighborhood as we watched it grow and grow. Needless to say, they had the best jack-o-lantern on the block and some fantastic pies to boot. I am heartened to see the new gardening philosophy of growing veggies, roots stocks, herbs, and berries right beside the roses and lilies. It is gorgeous and supports the bee populations to whom we owe so much.
Gardening, even if it is only a hanging basket of cherry tomatoes and a windowsill filled with herb pots, is a way for us as human beings to live grounded in nature and connected to Mother Earth, who provides all. It will definitely add pleasure to your life and a sense of calm. When I feel stressed, I go out back and do some weeding. It is my therapy, and I can immediately see the profit of my labors. The bigger my compost pile grows with weeds, the happier I am. I intend the same for you. With your garden, you are quite literally growing a bounty of blessings.
For dispelling negative energy, plant heather, hawthorn, holly, hyacinth, hyssop, ivy, juniper, periwinkle, and nasturtiums.
For healing, plant sage, wood sorrel, carnation, onion, garlic, peppermint, and rosemary.
Both farming and working with plants are guided by the moon and should take place during the waxing moon in the signs of Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces, Capricorn, and Taurus, while weeding is ideally done during the waning moon.
Another useful herb is mint, which comes from the Latin menthe, which literally means thought. Mint is so easily grown that a little bunch in the backyard can go on to become a scentful, attractive groundcover. It is also called the flower of eternal refreshment. Woven into a wreath, it bestows brilliance, artistic inspiration, and prophetic ability. As a tea, it accomplishes miracles of calming the stomach and the mind at the same time.
Lavender is blessedly easy to grow as it is a shrubby plant of Mediterranean origins. It is prized for its lovely scent and is a very powerful healing plant with many other properties: it is used for making teas and tisanes, infusing into honey, and many other practical uses. It can even prosper in dry and drought-prone areas, so make sure your kitchen garden has at least one of the hardy varieties of lavender so you can dry bundles to use in your spellwork as well as in your recipes.
