Summer Refreshment

I've been making herb water for a summer drink. It's so simple. I put herbs and water in a jar, put it in the refrigerator overnight, and then pour. I replenish the water as I use it for a few days and then start over. Combinations I've tried and liked: mint and basil, mint and tarragon, lemon balm and lavender. You could also add a lemon or orange slice.

Studio Sunday-Lavender Wand

Book Arts Tuesday/Herb Book-Giveaway

The herbs are abundant and fragrant this time of year. While the flowers are modest, the shape, texture, and colors of the leaves bring interest to the garden. This month's project, an index card accordion herbal, focuses on the leaves. The book is currently decorating a side table in the dining room and also can be used to identify herbs in the garden for novice gatherers.

To make the book, you can follow these directions for an Index Card Accordion Book.

For this book, I glued index cards to both sides. On the front are leaf prints. I placed a leaf face down on a stamp pad, then placed a piece of scrap paper over it and rubbed. After folding the scrap paper in half to avoid getting ink anywhere else, I gently placed the leaf face down on the card, covered it with scrap paper, and rubbed. On the back side I wrote the names in Latin and some plant information. I'm a big fan of Latin names and find that I learn best by writing things out.

You can see the complete book on flickr.

For more information on printing from nature:

The Nature Printing Society
Check out the Resource Center for a video about nature printing (good information but the images are small and don't work well at full screen) and written information. There's also a member's gallery, news of the annual workshop, and a printing guide book that looks great to purchase, THE ART OF PRINTING FROM NATURE: A Guidebook.

A pdf on Nature Printing with Children from Cornell Plantations.

Laura Donnelly Bethmann has written several books about nature printing. She has a new one coming out in September which looks like it may be an updated version of this one:


You can find another style of herbal book in this previous blog post.

GIVEAWAY!

In celebration of herbs, here's some lavender items—a small vial of lavender essential oil from Lavender Wind Farm on Whidbey Island, a lavender candle, and a little lavender weaving I made— and a small book to create your own herbal.

Leave a comment and you'll be entered into a random drawing. The drawing will close on Thursday at midnight.

Mastershalums

A rainy summer day with a house to clean. I prefer to clean on sunny days. Then I am inspired to make the house to gleam like the sun shining through the windows. Instead I'll look to the nasturtiums on the windowsill.

And smile. My first encounter with nasturtiums (we never had them in our garden growing up) was through Winnie-the-Pooh.

“I do know,” said Pooh, “because Christopher Robin gave me a mastershalum seed, and I planted it, and I’m going to have mastershalums all over the front door.”
“I thought they were called nasturtiums,” said Piglet timidly, as he went on jumping.
“No,” said Pooh. “Not these. These are called mastershalums.”

—Chapter IV: In Which It Is Shown That Tiggers Don’t Climb Trees

Lavender Lemonade

The lavender lemonade was enjoyed at the horticultural society meeting last night. I made 2 pitchers. For each I used: 1 container lemonade concentrate, 4 containers water, and 1/8 cup lavender steeped in 3/4 cup boiling water for 20 minutes and cooled. The recipe called for double the lavender and water but I thought I'd go mild. The lavender taste was there but subtle.