Food for the foodies!

Anyone else have the problem of going to the spice cabinet in the middle of cooking, just to find out that you don't have what you need? Well, shoot, I do that with major ingredients, too, but that's not the point. The point of this little gem of an entry is to show and tell about my new herb garden. Yay!!! Everyone should have an herb garden, I think.

First of all, we just happen to have this bare circle in the middle of the front yard. There is an electrical outlet on a post and a cord coming out of the ground, plugged into the outlet. Interestingly, I could never get an answer as to just what, exactly, this little mess was when we bought the house. So, I leave it plugged in. Anyhow, the ground around this outlet is nicely prepped for a lovely little circular garden, about 6 feet in diameter. What would be cuter than a beautiful, fragrant herb garden? Never again will I be distraught over the lack of herbage in my house!

So, how did I start, you ask? Simple, I figured out what we use the most in the kitchen, and then I thought of some medicinal herbs that may be needed by my extremely active family. After some research, I came up with the kitchen herbs that can also serve as medicinals: basil (common and lime), cilantro, parsley, dill, chives, marjoram, sage and thyme. There's nothing like having dual-purpose plants at my disposal! Oh, like those dual-purpose chickens out back.

Second, I had the children help me mark off the garden into pie-shaped sections, using yarn and rocks to weigh down the yarn. This made it colorful and fun for the children to participate. I certainly want them to be comfortable with eating the herbs, so by letting them help grow and cultivate the garden, they'll be more open to eating the "fruits" of their labor.

Third, I figured out that I should have had the children till and loosen the soil BEFORE we marked off the sections. So, we unmarked the garden and tilled it up, adding in some nice dark stuff to make it yummier for the new plants. After that, we remarked the garden.

Fourth, we made our trip to the home improvement store for our seeds and plants. I found all I could in seed form, since that seems to be the most cost effective. Then we meandered over to the plant section and picked out the rest of what was on my shopping list.

Once back home, the gardening was old news for the young ones, so Mommy had the digging and planting all to herself. No complaints here! Getting your hands in the dirt has got to be therapeutic, in some form or fashion, no doubt about it. It's also a very empowering feeling to place seeds in the dirt, thinking that I have just started to grow something that can serve and supply my family with goodness for years to come. Oh, and the yard will look pretty, too.

So, there it is. Herb gardening made easy. All I have to do now is to water, wait, watch, and weed. So far, it's been a little over a week. No seeds have sprouted, yet, but I'll give them a little more time. One of the dill plants has completely bent over and killed off. No worries, that wonderful home improvement store has some sort of a warranty. Now, if I can only find that darn receipt!

I suppose that I will be expected to share recipes in which I use these wonderful herbs. You've got it! We've already used the common basil on a homemade pizza last week. We simply pinched off a couple of leaves from each plant and placed them, whole, on the pizza with all the other toppings. It was soooo delicious! I promise, there will be a plethora of recipes to come, with herbs included. Hmm, pesto is sounding pretty good to me, right now. Okay, stay tuned...