Herb Harvest

Hi everyone! It's still warm and sunny here at the beach. One dry day last week my friend and I harvested herbs in her garden. [My friends with tropical garden and sunflowers.] She mostly grows her herbs in pots, but she had a nicely producing lavender patch also this year.
We cut lavender, mint, and citronella.

We decided to transplant the rosemary and try to winter it over indoors; we did not cut any of it.

Citronella is a new idea. I am thinking to mix it with rosemary for closet sachets, to repel any creepies that might wish to sneak in this winter. I'll have to do some research to see if it repels moths too.

I also cut the pods off the canna plants for my dried arrangements . I love their purple-red woolly look.

Back home I made bunches of the scented herbs and hung them to dry.

They'll be ready to use soon,

in sachets like these toile hearts, for my etsy shop.

This batch of hearts is a French text toile, linen and cotton. Not scented so far. They can be used on a little tree, or in a bowl with pine branches, or folks can add their own perfume and use them as sachets. I also offer the option of having the hearts scented by me with essential oils, in bergamot or lavender.

Target had very cute trims! The hearts will get a tape bow, and a fleur de lys charm or an antique button. Their cellophane gift bags will be tied with the sweet little green paper Trees, if purchased for the winter holiday season.

I'm planning other sweet little things, including sachets made from this gorgeous vintage purple toile.

And sewing emeries, and a doll quilt!

I

love

lizzy

gone to the beach...

Summer Hearts

Summer mornings...lavender fields...the lighthouse...Cape Cod---memories of fun times long ago.

In summers past, for many years, I packed up the kids and we'd head up to Cape Cod for a week or two. Those times are gone, the house my dad built in the pine woods on the old Dillingham farmlands belongs to another family now.

My mother grew lavender in the dry sunny herb bed by the road, in a plot edged with a weathered grey fence covered with pink Cape Cod roses. A wren always nested on the fence hole and would chitter angrily at us as we cut the fragrant armloads of lavender each June.

 My dad grew potatoes there, along with my mom's herbs...and once he found an ancient flint arrowhead in the potato plot! The last remnants of summer visitors eons ago.

My mother didn't sew but she always had Ideas.

She was the originator of my lavender hearts that I sell on eBay and etsy....

 

 

 

 

 

 

I made a new batch of hearts this week...and remembered the special summers with my family.

Good times, good memories...

love

     lizzy

gone to the beach...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mermaid's Garden

Parsley Sage Rosemary and Thyme~

And Greek  oregano, purple sage...

Hi everyone! Are you all gardening right now?

This year I am hoping to overcome my squeamishness about eating things that grow in my deck...and I am planting an herb garden.

Mostly because I want fresh tarragon for sauces and vinegars and dill for my homemade dill pickles....

I made this gift basket for a friend who grows lovely herbs on her deck, she is my inspiration!

I bought three unusual herbs at the fancy garden store, herbs she won't find at the farmers market.

Including that Greek oregano for salads and marinades and the purple sage. Because who can resist Purple sage! We'll dry it for autumn stuffings, for roasts and turkeys....

 I did some recycling here, even though it was to be a gift: a basket that held toiletries, the "grass" or wood shavings from a box of bath salts. (oooh, Sabon, yummy!).

I gave her the silver spoons for Christmas and got some for myself too. (Beach House Living and Seashaped)....

 I especially love BHL's Mermaid Garden spoon!

 Maybe it's meant for a seaside rock garden full of succulents and spiky things, and hydrangeas, edged with cockle-shells and whelks? But I wired it to a wooden skewer for her herb garden (and yes got one for me!). Added a starfish and used a cellophane bag from the craft store....

  

Isn't it so pretty? I think she loved it!

And if my own herb garden succumbs to the high winds and intense sun on my ocean-facing deck I can always run over to her bayside shady house and snip some wonderfully scented herbs. ;-)

   

A fun gift? Maybe even...Father's Day, if dad is a gardener? You could use a small wooden crate from the craft store or  a large Italian plum tomato tin? I'm sure Rita at BHL would make a Neptune's Garden spoon! Or like my friend's basket, a welcome birthday gift, or hostess gift.... If your budget is an issue, skip the silver spoons and use chopsticks or wooden skewers with little glued on paper flags.
 

The plan is to enjoy sweet summer herbs, right outside your back door!

enjoy.

love

            lizzy

  

gone to the beach~~~~~~~~~~~