Wake up with a holy cuppa

I'm joining this month's herbal blog party at http://fieldoftansy.blogspot.com/2009/10/october-blog-party-call-for-submissions.html.

This month the topic is morning ritual beverages. Usually I am drinking coffee, but for those who are abstaining or unable, holy basil is a nice uplifting morning beverage to wake you up and energize you for the day.

I would love to introduce everyone to my friend holy basil, or Ocimum sanctum. She is very generous with her gifts and loves to bring joy to others. A spicy, sweet herb, she has the interesting combination of a mix between bubblegum and cloves.

Holy basil, also known as Tulsi, is revered in India as an 'elixir of life' and believed to promote longevity. This herb is so important to Hindu culture that it is believed to be a physical incarnate of the gods, and different species are named after them (Rama, Krishna, and Vana). It is common to have holy basil plants in pots around houses and temples in India. The tea is drunk before meditation as a way to get closer to god.

Tulsi has been used medicinally in India for thousands of years for colds, headaches, inflammation, stomach problems, and in cosmetics. The western world is just starting to catch on to the delights of this plant. It has recently been classified as a mild adaptogen, which means it helps the body to adapt to stress. Modern studies have shown that it helps lower cortisol levels (one marker of stress response), has strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, and may help balance blood sugar. It is one of my favorite herbs to recommend to people because it makes them feel so good.

For those who tend to be anxious and excitable in the morning or are just plain stressed, holy basil is an herbal ally. The tea is comforting, calming, focusing, relaxing, and uplifting. It is usually available in health food stores in tea bags, sometimes mixed with other flavors. I love the delicate flavors, so I always get the original kind.

After this summer, I will not need to buy holy basil for a while. I planted many plants, and being from the proliferative mint family, they all grew wonderfully for me. It even outgrew my regular basil, so I started making holy basil pesto. This has been a delightful addition to my diet, a wonderful garden friend, and a great way to get herbal medicine into the food supply. I can't sing enough praise for this wonderful plant!

Full circle

This marks the completion of cycles. We have been in Maryland a year now. I have finished a year of school and Ben has been working at the brewery a year. We have also just finished the wheel garden, fully completing the flower design. I had the month of August off from school to finish our various projects. We held another workday to lay the final layers. I finally got all of the poor plants out of the greenhouse and into the ground, and things are growing and flowering like crazy! Its hard to show in a picture because the camera doesn't know what to focus on. I have been busy harvesting, making pesto and tinctures and drying herbs for tea. The cooling autumn breezes are blowing through and the plants are soaking up the last of the summer sun. I love living out here!

summer storm!

Right after my last post, we had a whopping summer storm that flattened the sunflowers with one fell swoop. It was actually a tornado, and it downed tons of trees and knocked our power lines down for a couple of days. It was the day before a final for me so I was studying by candlelight that night. The teepee also got flattened and some tomatoes got discombobulated. Nature made it's power clear and I was humbled by it. Fortunately most of the plants were too low growing to be affected and summer growth continues without the soaring heights of the sunflowers.

garlic and sunflowers

Well we harvested our garlic, around 100 beautiful bulbs of the variety "music."  We cooked some up with our home-grown kale and its delicious!  The plants are going crazy this year with all the rain and the sunflowers are like trees towering over the other plants.  

Tony cooling off- it was hot!
Eliza harvesting holy basil
Ben pouring peat moss


layering

Work day at the garden

Saturday, June 27th we hard a garden workday/celebrate my birthday party, starting at 9am, ending 9pm.  It was a long, fun day.  We worked hard and played hard!  Started with the compost in the morning and ended with a cookout and jam session later on.  We got another quarter of newspaper laid down in the wheel garden and a few layers of manure, peat moss, and straw.  Now we have the north, east, and south directions laid out and a little bit of the west.  I can get some more plants out of the greenhouse and in the ground as soon as I have time to plant them.    We harvested our first garlic and holy basil and made lovely pesto out of it.  Yummy!

laying out the design
Eliza doing a newspaper stomp
fresh country eggs
matt shovelling poo
fresh compost and 'cooking' compost

Its working! 
my favorite weed so far, milkweed
milkweed's cousin, asclepias tuberosa
drying calendula and chamomile
first garlic harvest!

Yarrow that volunteered in the wheel garden
tomato flower!
this is looking at the northeastern curves of the wheel garden 
potato flower
this is my magic rock

beautiful thistles
Our pregnant beekeeper Mae and her husband 

spacesuits
squash-in-a-box
Daylilies!  Its summer!

Growth!

bathtub of flowers
Calendula

garlic scapes!
Viola tricolor (johnny jump ups or hearts-ease)

Wow!  Another month has gone by and it is amazing to see how fast plants grow when it rains alot.  This has been a very rainy and cool spring and summer, which I'm told is unusual around here.  We definitely had our fair share of hot sun too.  The plants have all exploded with growth and flowers and fruit are popping out everywhere.  The daylilies are out, the chestnut trees are blooming, bees are bustling.  I have been enchanted with watching for new things to see every day.  Even the thistles are beautiful! We've got raspberries, kale, basil coming on and soon tomatoes and potatoes will be ready.  We harvested some garlic and its delicious!  I'm so proud of it!  I've been making tons of pesto with holy basil and garlic scapes and lemon balm!

potato plant poking up

holy basil and peas in middle