The following pictures are coming from long-time subscriber and gardener/photographer extraordinaire, Gary Mattingly.
San Francisco Bay Tri-Valley Area
USDA Zone - 9b
Sunset zone - 14
Every so often he will give the Yahoo! group for the The Essential Herbal a taste of the beauty growing in his garden, and we are astounded.
Slideshow, Herbs
Slideshow, Flowers
Take a moment or two to visit Gary's garden. You'll be glad you did!
Stay tuned, we'll be off in another direction soon!
Monday, July 11, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
Virtual Garden Tour - Green Spiral Herbs
Before heading west, we're going to visit with Essential Herbal subscribers Betty and Dan Pillsbury from upstate NY. Middleburgh, to be precise. The Pillsburys are the proprietors of Green Spiral Herbs, where Betty whips up glorious herbal concoctions that heal as well as appealing to the senses. The two of them have created a lovely homestead and herb farm and recently opened a shop on the property as well, where classes are conducted in addition to the availability of Green Spiral products.
Last night I wore myself out trying to figure out how Betty gets everything done. Besides her much sought after expertise in herbs, she is also an award winning (many, many times over) artist with her needle. Crazy quilts, beading - almost anything creative - you'll find Betty has excelled in it.
Betty and Dan are some of the people I've been fortunate enough to meet in real life, thanks to one of our local herb festivals. It has probably been close to 10 years now, and it has been a joy to grow our businesses at the same time and cheer each other on.
On to the garden pictures:
In early summer, a profusion of roses and valerian bloom up by the house. The birds most likely jostle for the chance to build a nest in those houses!
A fairy watches as a bee plays drowsily at gathering pollen from the thyme blossoms.
A bench awaits the herb gatherer after a busy day of gardening. Sweet Autumn clematis blankets the tree with fragrant blooms.
Duchess of Albany clematis is bursting into bloom.
I saved the best for last. This meadow looks out over the handsome rolling landscape that is part of upstate NY's charm. To work in this garden might feel like being on the top of the world, beyond cares, beyond the worries of the city. 
Is it just me? Do you think you'd spend your time singing while working there? The hills are alive... something like that.
I think I'll have to wander up there sometime. She's promised me pumpkin ravioli, and this woman can cook!
In the meantime, if you're a subscriber and would like to share your garden with other readers this summer, drop me a line!
Til next time....
Last night I wore myself out trying to figure out how Betty gets everything done. Besides her much sought after expertise in herbs, she is also an award winning (many, many times over) artist with her needle. Crazy quilts, beading - almost anything creative - you'll find Betty has excelled in it.
Betty and Dan are some of the people I've been fortunate enough to meet in real life, thanks to one of our local herb festivals. It has probably been close to 10 years now, and it has been a joy to grow our businesses at the same time and cheer each other on.
On to the garden pictures:
In early summer, a profusion of roses and valerian bloom up by the house. The birds most likely jostle for the chance to build a nest in those houses!
A fairy watches as a bee plays drowsily at gathering pollen from the thyme blossoms.
A bench awaits the herb gatherer after a busy day of gardening. Sweet Autumn clematis blankets the tree with fragrant blooms.
Duchess of Albany clematis is bursting into bloom.
I saved the best for last. This meadow looks out over the handsome rolling landscape that is part of upstate NY's charm. To work in this garden might feel like being on the top of the world, beyond cares, beyond the worries of the city. 
Is it just me? Do you think you'd spend your time singing while working there? The hills are alive... something like that.I think I'll have to wander up there sometime. She's promised me pumpkin ravioli, and this woman can cook!
In the meantime, if you're a subscriber and would like to share your garden with other readers this summer, drop me a line!
Til next time....
Monday, July 4, 2011
Virtual Garden Tour - Marnie
In the July/August issue of The Essential Herbal, I asked subscribers to send in pictures of their gardens to post here, so that we could all do a virtual garden tour of each others' gardens. Between the magazine and our Yahoo! discussion group, there is a feeling of community and friendship, so this seemed like a great way to visit around the country. I hope we hear from lots of you! My garden is starting to get a swelled head from all the
pictures...
Our first pictures came from Marnie Plunkett of Herbal-Renewal, zone 5 near Indianapolis.
In this case, I wish we had much more area so the pictures could be larger! We'll start with a border that includes daylilies, lavender, echinacea, and lamb's ear among others.
In the middle of those flowers is a colorful bottle tree.
I've been seeing a lot of metal bottle tree frames, but this one is wooden with dowels. I like the wood better since the wind here on my hill is so harsh. Just seems safer! 
These add a nice tall, colorful point of interest to a garden when the blooms might be fading.
In the shade we have hostas, white impatiens and a nice patch of yellow flowered jewelweed (a different type of impatiens). I can't think of what the white spires are at the moment, but under tree gardens are so relaxing and pleasant! A good place for Marnie's son Ben to sit on a branch and daydream....
Another border harboring lilac bushes, roses, and some others...
The herb and vegetable raised beds...
These look like they would be so nice to work with! Not too big, so one wouldn't have to stretch too far to weed, nice pathways, and broad beams lining the beds to sit upon while weeding.
The lattice panels would supply some light shade to fragile plants.
Thanks to Marnie for sharing her gardens.
Next stop will be San Francisco. I wonder where our subscribers will take us this summer!
pictures...
Our first pictures came from Marnie Plunkett of Herbal-Renewal, zone 5 near Indianapolis.
In this case, I wish we had much more area so the pictures could be larger! We'll start with a border that includes daylilies, lavender, echinacea, and lamb's ear among others.
In the middle of those flowers is a colorful bottle tree.
I've been seeing a lot of metal bottle tree frames, but this one is wooden with dowels. I like the wood better since the wind here on my hill is so harsh. Just seems safer! 
These add a nice tall, colorful point of interest to a garden when the blooms might be fading.In the shade we have hostas, white impatiens and a nice patch of yellow flowered jewelweed (a different type of impatiens). I can't think of what the white spires are at the moment, but under tree gardens are so relaxing and pleasant! A good place for Marnie's son Ben to sit on a branch and daydream....
Another border harboring lilac bushes, roses, and some others...
The herb and vegetable raised beds...
These look like they would be so nice to work with! Not too big, so one wouldn't have to stretch too far to weed, nice pathways, and broad beams lining the beds to sit upon while weeding.
The lattice panels would supply some light shade to fragile plants.Thanks to Marnie for sharing her gardens.
Next stop will be San Francisco. I wonder where our subscribers will take us this summer!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Second leg - on to the Horseradish and Herb Festival
We left the HSA conference on Friday evening, and headed towards Somerset. The four of us (Susanna and Angelica Reppert-Brill from The Rosemary House and my sister and I) would be staying with the organizer and her husband - Barbara and Fred Will of Sugar Grove Herbs. Coming from near Gettysburg were Barbara and Roger Steele of Alloway Creek Herbs. It would be a full house!
The roadsides on the way to Somerset were covered with all kinds of wild medicines and edible herbs. St. John's wort, mullein, and chamomile were in full bloom. Entire drifts of chicory turned hillsides sky blue while daylilies and butter and eggs winked from the ditches. Sumac and teasel were not yet blooming, but were still beautiful. Yellow jewelweed, blackeyed Susans, and butterfly weed shone in different shades of yellows and gold. Lots of yellows. There were entire fields of elderflowers. I've never seen so much. It was everywhere! I thought that it looked like a good idea to harvest a good amount for the coming winter.
After we got through all the tunnels that terrorize my sister, we relaxed and rolled into town. We quickly noticed it was a biker weekend in town. I have a sprained ankle, so my cane with the flames coming up from the bottom fit right in.
Saturday morning we all got up and headed over to the festival to set up after a quick cup of coffee and some cereal.
Lots of great herb booths and talks. I gave a talk on wild edibles that was well received and a lot of fun for me. We were outside, and it was cold for this time of year!
It helped to sit close together. There was also a recipe contest for dishes using horseradish. 
The brownies won. Barb Will made some horseradish sweet pickles that were delicious, but she didn't enter them because she found the recipe on-line. Still great, though!That evening we went out to dinner together and followed up with a few bottles of Bicentennial Blush from a winery up the road (sorry... it escapes me at the moment). We had so much fun talking about our businesses and our lives.
There is something about getting together casually with other herbies and sharing ideas. My favorite thing.And now, on to Farm at Coventry tonight to listen to Phyllis Light.
Monday, June 27, 2011
HSA conference in Pittsburgh
Vending at a conference is a little different than attending a conference. Okay... a lot. But I really enjoy it. There is usually a good bit of down time while the attendees are in workshops or lectures, and that's a relaxed time to get to know the people around you.
The Essential Herbal did very well with our books and magazine, and Torchsong Studio nearly sold out of her Wishing Vessels. Looks like Maryanne will be busy on the torch melting glass this week, and I have quite a few orders sitting here waiting to go out. It was now or never for the blog though, since more excitement awaits!
Josh Young and Jim Long from Long Creek Herbs were on one side of us. Jim was pretty busy with scheduled talks, etc., but I was happy to see Josh was our neighbor. We've vended in close proximity in the past, and he always makes it a humorous and enjoyable time. It was also great to meet his lovely mother Barbara, and it quickly became clear where Josh's sensibilities come from. Jim joined us for a good bit of Friday afternoon. Jim seems to have a thing for hats, so he wandered over to Carolee's area and tried one on. Personally, I think it really looked good, but he put it back.
On the other side of us was graphic designer and illustrator Karen Sandorf. She has a lovely selection of cards, calendars and hang-able art. She does the art, the printing, the scoring, folding, wrapping - and I can completely relate to that!
On the back of the notecards (which are blank inside for writing), there are recipes that include the herbs on the front. I am hoping to carry them on the website soon.
One of my favorite acquisitions from the weekend is this mug, held here by the artist, Sandy Manteuffel.
It is absolutely gorgeous! The outside of the mug is porcelain, and the mug is sort of bas relief so that you can feel the leaves and bugs and fairies carved into the clay. She does various kinds of pressed clay work, but I just fell in love with this piece. Her business is From the Earth to You, and there is no website, but the email is EarthPottery@aol.com.
On Friday morning I took advantage of the on-site massage therapist, Alison Matesa from Munhall Chiropractic (412-638-5807) in Homestead PA. She was offering chair massage, but I asked her to work on my poor swollen foot. It did help a lot for the day, although gravity wasn't on my side :-( If you're in the area, Alison did a great job!
There were a lot of great vendors in the marketplace. Lisa Head of Perry County gave a workshop on making beeskeps, and also had her handmade, amazing skeps on display for sale.
And of course we shared our travels with the Reppert-Brill girls, Susanna and Angelica of The Rosemary House.
There is no picture that can express how much fun it was to hang out with the two of them. They are wonderful companions.
We also got to have dinner with a friend we got to know during the Somerset weed walk a couple of years ago - Deborah Stiffler - and enjoyed elderflower "martinis" while playing Bananagram at the table.
Oh, and then there was Ben from The Saturday Light Brigade which "has celebrated our neighborhood's people, places and ideas. These engaging features, heard live on the radio Saturday mornings, can now be easily streamed and downloaded at neighborhoodvoices.org" who interviewed Jim Long, Susanna Reppert, and me. He was an engaging young man with really good follow-up questions. An excellent interviewer, he was. I'm not sure what will happen to those interviews, but it was fun and interesting to do. Thanks to Jim for the shove, btw.
The Essential Herbal did very well with our books and magazine, and Torchsong Studio nearly sold out of her Wishing Vessels. Looks like Maryanne will be busy on the torch melting glass this week, and I have quite a few orders sitting here waiting to go out. It was now or never for the blog though, since more excitement awaits!
Josh Young and Jim Long from Long Creek Herbs were on one side of us. Jim was pretty busy with scheduled talks, etc., but I was happy to see Josh was our neighbor. We've vended in close proximity in the past, and he always makes it a humorous and enjoyable time. It was also great to meet his lovely mother Barbara, and it quickly became clear where Josh's sensibilities come from. Jim joined us for a good bit of Friday afternoon. Jim seems to have a thing for hats, so he wandered over to Carolee's area and tried one on. Personally, I think it really looked good, but he put it back.
On the other side of us was graphic designer and illustrator Karen Sandorf. She has a lovely selection of cards, calendars and hang-able art. She does the art, the printing, the scoring, folding, wrapping - and I can completely relate to that!
On the back of the notecards (which are blank inside for writing), there are recipes that include the herbs on the front. I am hoping to carry them on the website soon.One of my favorite acquisitions from the weekend is this mug, held here by the artist, Sandy Manteuffel.
It is absolutely gorgeous! The outside of the mug is porcelain, and the mug is sort of bas relief so that you can feel the leaves and bugs and fairies carved into the clay. She does various kinds of pressed clay work, but I just fell in love with this piece. Her business is From the Earth to You, and there is no website, but the email is EarthPottery@aol.com.On Friday morning I took advantage of the on-site massage therapist, Alison Matesa from Munhall Chiropractic (412-638-5807) in Homestead PA. She was offering chair massage, but I asked her to work on my poor swollen foot. It did help a lot for the day, although gravity wasn't on my side :-( If you're in the area, Alison did a great job!
There were a lot of great vendors in the marketplace. Lisa Head of Perry County gave a workshop on making beeskeps, and also had her handmade, amazing skeps on display for sale.
And of course we shared our travels with the Reppert-Brill girls, Susanna and Angelica of The Rosemary House.
There is no picture that can express how much fun it was to hang out with the two of them. They are wonderful companions.We also got to have dinner with a friend we got to know during the Somerset weed walk a couple of years ago - Deborah Stiffler - and enjoyed elderflower "martinis" while playing Bananagram at the table.
Oh, and then there was Ben from The Saturday Light Brigade which "has celebrated our neighborhood's people, places and ideas. These engaging features, heard live on the radio Saturday mornings, can now be easily streamed and downloaded at neighborhoodvoices.org" who interviewed Jim Long, Susanna Reppert, and me. He was an engaging young man with really good follow-up questions. An excellent interviewer, he was. I'm not sure what will happen to those interviews, but it was fun and interesting to do. Thanks to Jim for the shove, btw.
Friday, June 17, 2011
The Essential Herbal July/August 2011
See what happens when I get a few days off? I completely forget that the new issue was supposed to go up on the blog and website on the 15th! Oops. Sorry about that.
Like it or not, for the most part The Essential Herbal is me - much like the Wizard of Oz sometimes, so when I go out of town and don't have computer access, not much gets done. Luckily there's nothing critical about this business. The information will be there when I get back to the office.
A couple of points of interest that aren't covered in the table of content (below) are that we have 2 tickets to the Southeast Women's Herbal Conference that subscribers are encouraged to enter a drawing for by sending a postcard to our physical address during July/Aug. Great value, and great odds.
Additionally, there will be some overflow of magazine submissions that will make it onto the blog in the future. That means that we will put original, unpublished articles here from time to time. Not huge news... just wanted to let you know.
Table of Contents July/August 2011
Field Notes from the Editor
The excitement of wildcrafting in a new region.
Fairy Friends, Melissa Nicole “Honeybee” Sidelinger
Childhood memories of building a tiny village and the joy it brought.
SouthRidge Treasures, Rosemary, Mary Ellen Wilcox
Mmmm….. lore and growing information, as well as recipes for jelly, butter, and potatoes.
Labor & Delivery Room Kit, Betsy May
Betsy was prepared for everything except this….
Herbal Connections, Aromatics, Marita A Orr
Not all herbs have aromatic properties, but the ones that do start to heal us the second we inhale their fragrances.
Finding Fellow Herbies, Marnie Plunkett
One of the hardest things can be finding others to share the herbal passion with. Marnie shares some of the ways she’s found others.
Weeds in my Soup, Dianne Runge
Potherbs or Bouquet garni appear to be weeds to a young child, but add such a deliciousness to the soup or stew.
Summer Pampering for Pets, Marcy Lautanen-Raleigh
First beat the summer bugs on your pets, and then give them a treat because you love them! All the recipes you’ll need in this article.
Sour Cherry Scones, Marge Clark
Marge shared this recipe on the Yahoo! list and I immediately asked for permission to add it to this issue. We’d been talking about the anti-inflammatory aspects of sour cherries, and here’s just one more pleasant way to enjoy them.
Gems from Your Garden, Rita Richardson
Rita always has such great ideas for enjoying the offerings from the herb patch. Tomatoes, lemon balm, and blended culinary herbs star in this issue.
The Herbal Adventures of the Twisted Sisters, Part 3, Tina Sams & Maryanne Schwartz
Girls just want to have fun. So we did! Learning to make soap, how we learned about herbs, and some of our favorite culinary recipes. While we work on the next volume of our adventures, we're sharing the out of print first book in installments.
Pinch of Herbs & Sprinkle of Spice Quiz, Yvette Thomas
Test yourself with this fun quiz.
Summer Recipes from the Herb & Vegetable Garden, Marcy Lautanen-Raleigh
A bushel of recipes that you’ll just love!
The Soap Pot, Back to the Beginning, Alicia Grosso
Alicia presents her “if I knew then what I know now” soap recipe.
Natural Deodorant, Rachel Johnston
A natural, simple deodorant that doesn’t include anything you don’t want to put on your skin.
Herbs of the Zodiac: Virgo, Susanna Reppert Brill/Bertha Reppert
12 herbs important to Virgos, and a recipe just perfect for their time.
The Historic Herbal, Buttermilk Cheese, Kathleen Setzer
One page recipe and instructions to make your own cheese! Could it be simpler? I don’t think so!
Friday, June 10, 2011
Deer Creek Herb Farm
One would think that we would have been to Deer Creek Herb Farm near Reading, PA before. It is only 40 minutes up Route 222, and we pass the sign whenever we visit Molly at school (among other reasons for heading up that way), but we're so spoiled. 
Here at The Essential Herbal, we have such great spring herb festivals and our friendly herb farm around the corner, so we were just too darned lazy. This year, Kathy Lesher (who owns Deer Creek along with husband Jess) lured me up there with talk of a passionflower vine that is winter hardy in our area.
Before we ran up on Wednesday, Kathy sent me a message that I should take her phone number and call if she wasn't at the shop. She lives right across the road, and it was heading for 100 degrees - so I'm passing that info along. Check the website for hours and take the phone number.
Kathy raises lots of wonderful herbs and her stand has always drawn me over at the Landis Valley Herb and Garden Faire because she takes unusual plants that are hard to find. Her gardens are lush and lovely, and I think she has a penchant for the shaded medicinal plants. Her bed of goldenseal was very full.
There were healthy stands of blue cohost and black cohosh (below you see black cohosh with blue cohosh on the left edge of the picture). 
There are several small buildings on the property (and quite a history to the place as well!) and in front of what was once a chicken house is a delightful hosta garden.
Elecampane is thinking about blooming.
Inside the shop is filled with herbal products. There are packets of dried herbs, herb blends, and simmering potpourris.
Teapots, tea blends and various accoutrement have their own place.
It's a beautiful little shop and garden with a very comfortable feel. Don't wait as long as we did to check it out!
Here's Kathy telling a little about it when I caught her at the herb festival this past spring:
Here at The Essential Herbal, we have such great spring herb festivals and our friendly herb farm around the corner, so we were just too darned lazy. This year, Kathy Lesher (who owns Deer Creek along with husband Jess) lured me up there with talk of a passionflower vine that is winter hardy in our area.Before we ran up on Wednesday, Kathy sent me a message that I should take her phone number and call if she wasn't at the shop. She lives right across the road, and it was heading for 100 degrees - so I'm passing that info along. Check the website for hours and take the phone number.
Kathy raises lots of wonderful herbs and her stand has always drawn me over at the Landis Valley Herb and Garden Faire because she takes unusual plants that are hard to find. Her gardens are lush and lovely, and I think she has a penchant for the shaded medicinal plants. Her bed of goldenseal was very full.
There were healthy stands of blue cohost and black cohosh (below you see black cohosh with blue cohosh on the left edge of the picture). 
There are several small buildings on the property (and quite a history to the place as well!) and in front of what was once a chicken house is a delightful hosta garden.
Elecampane is thinking about blooming.
Inside the shop is filled with herbal products. There are packets of dried herbs, herb blends, and simmering potpourris.
Teapots, tea blends and various accoutrement have their own place.
It's a beautiful little shop and garden with a very comfortable feel. Don't wait as long as we did to check it out!
Here's Kathy telling a little about it when I caught her at the herb festival this past spring:
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