Checking In, You, and Lavender Wand Recipe

 Corn in our backyard -- in December!  Art by Jane

It's been quite some time since I've posted!  Thank you for sticking with me!.

Just to let you know what's up with me and my blogs.  I've just started a new website and blog, Singing Deer Healing, which is devoted to sharing a soul-nourishing, imaginative, nature-connected life with children.  If you like this blog, you may enjoy that one too.

After puzzling how to proceed (eep, how many blogs can I keep going?), I've decided to continue this one.  It has become a focus for my chronicling my attempts to live a 'magic' life with my own children and my herbal medicine making journey. ... And I feel restful in this space :-).  I don't know how often I will write this blog ... it's probably going to follow a slower gait than, say, Singing Deer Healing or Jane's Medicine Tree (or a possible fourth blog I have in mind centered on  moms and culture), but I'm pretty sure I'll post once or twice a month.  So if that works for you, I invite you to continue reading!

 You
This is a great time for me to get to know you.  What do you love in life?  What is the greatest challenge for you right now?  What have you enjoyed in this blog?   Perhaps I'll just boldly ask "Why are you here?" :-).

What is your greatest wish for the planet?  For your home life?

If you had one message you could deliver to the world that would be truly heard and tended to, what would you say?

Please jot your thoughts in the Comments below.  I'm so delighted and honored that you're here! 

Lavender Wand Recipe 
Awhile back Lauren asked for cooking times and temps for this recipe.  Okay, Lauren, here's the whole recipe--finally!  It uses lots and lots of sugar.  I wonder if it's possible to vary the recipe successfully using honey?  Something for me to experiment with in the future ...  Anyway, here's the recipe.

Preheat oven to 150 F degrees.

In a pan, bring 2 cups of sugar and 1 cup of water to a boil.  Take 30 wands of lavender (do not remove from stem) and place the buds in the boiling sugar water leaving the stems out of the pan.  Reduce heat to medium high, and let boil for 10 min.

Put a thin layer of sugar onto a cookie sheet, to cover the entire sheet

Remove the wands from the sugar water (you can keep the sugar water to use in some other delicious way!) and place them on the sugared cookie sheet.  Spread the wands in a single layer. 

Pour 1 cup of sugar evenly over the wands (yeah, this recipe uses tons of sugar!).  Let set for 2 min.  Turn wands over and sugar again.

Take another cookie sheet, and place the sugared wands on it in a single layer. (save the sugar from the other cookie sheet and when it's cool, store it in a jar in the fridge to have lavender sugar on hand for baking, etc.)

Bake the wands for 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool.

Enjoy!  Kids--and the kids in us--just love these enchanted treats!

 

Violet - Viola odorata

One of the few plants that are blooming right now here in our corner of the world is Violet - Viola odorata. She grows in little bunches beneath a still leafless fruit tree, with friendly grape-scented (it seems to me!) petals.

I have been sitting with her, just soaking in what I can learn from her presence. Here are my impressions.

Violet is a graceful ally, soothing to the mind, the heart.

Yes, with properties for shrinking abnormal growths (I consider the ganglian cyst on my finger!). Seemingly vulnerable and delicate, yet here she is, in eager clusters at the base of the plum tree, leafed and in bloom! In fact, she is the first to bloom in this yard and neighborhood, except for robust and rambunctious Dandelion. So her small sweet nature belies the fact that she is a herald of spring. One of the first to bloom despite the continued spurts of winter here.

Violet speaks of a sweet open nature and of boldness. She says: Don't be afraid to cluster around giants--it is safe here! I offer a balm to the spirit, vigor, and the gift of promise: of spring, of new growth, and warmth.

I am a wild heart! I am Violet!


From Herbalpedia - 2007 edition

Violet Soup

1 8-oz can of chicken and rice soup
1 cup violet blossoms
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Prepare the soup according to can directions. Bring to a simmer. Add the violets; simmer 1 minute. Ladle into bowls; sprinkle with cinnamon. (A Kitchen Witch's Cookbook)

A Kitchen Witch's Cookbook, Patricia Telesco,
Llewellyn, 1994; ISBN: 1-56718-707-2


Violet Omelet

4 eggs
4 tsp milk
12 violet leaves
12 violet blossoms
salt
pepper
1 tsp butter

Wash violet leaves and blossoms and crisp in refrigerator. Beat eggs with fork or whisk until light yellow. Add milk. Sprinkle with salt and add freshly ground pepper (about three turns of the grinder). Melt butter in skillet. Pour egg mixture in and, using spatula, cut around edges of pan and across egg mixture until top of mixture is frothy and bubbly. Meanwhile chop violet leaves and sprinkle on top of egg mixture. Turn omelet by folding over and cook further until desired degree of doneness. Serve on hot plate. Sprinkle or garnish with violet blossoms. (Cooking with Flowers)
Cooking with Flowers, Jenny Leggatt, Fawcett,
1987; ISBN 0-449-90252-8

Violet-Watercress Greens

6 cups violet greens
3 cups watercress
6 slices bacon
3 hard-cooked eggs, sliced
cup onion, finely minced
Saute bacon until crisp. Crumble and set aside. Saute greens in cup bacon
drippings for 10 minutes. Remove vegetables to platter and top with bacon, eggs and onion. Serve immediately. (How to Prepare Common
Wild Foods)

Violet Mushroom Caps

Saute 24 medium-sized mushroom caps in butter and drain on paper toweling.
Mix:
3/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp cognac (optional)
2 tsp chopped chives
2 tsp chopped violets
Fill mushroom caps with above mixture and garnish each with a violet. You can also combine 1 teaspoon each cognac and lemon

juice and dip in a violet to use as a garnish on each stuffed mushroom cap. Serve chilled. (The Forgotten Art of Flower Cookery)
The Forgotten Art of Flower Cookery, Leona
Woodring Smith, Pelican; 1973; ISBN: 0-
88289-464-1