[Sca-cooks] grow your own spices? (was) Onion Juice - andSaffronmeasurements

[Sue Clemenger]

I grow some of my own herbs (no spices, though).  (and no rosemary, which
can't survive our winters).  These include:
garlic and onion
mints (in pots only, to keep the invasive tendencies down)
different sages
thymes
lavender (bred for the climate, so it's a modern hybrid)
basils
marjoram
oregano
catnip in hanging baskets
and lots and lots of calendula (flower--"calendula officianilis", a type of
marigold--shows up in at least one herb blend, and besides, you can use them
as a natural dye source AND as an ingredient in cosmetics and salves--known
in period as "pot marigold")
I've also grown tarragon and hyssop, although not as successfully.  And
lemon verbena, which smells wonderful.
Loads of flowers, too, for pleasure.
My neighbors and I also had a very successful tomato year, which we intend
to repeat.  And we're doing more peppers this year--south-facing front porch
<g>.  Last year, we had a small, but tasty crop of banana peppers, anaheims,
and jalapenos.  I also want to give the Japanese Indigo (polygonum
tinctorum) another try--it's a dye plant, and not for food, but it's also
one of the only indigotin-bearing plants that we can legally grow here.
Because of our winters, it's something you have to plant anew each year
after the frost danger is gone.
I don't know about the climate in OK, but I'd check with the farmers who
sell produce/bedding plants at your local farmers' market for things that
would work well in your area.  That's what I did, for my corner of Montana.
As much as I'd love to do a garden just like the one I saw in England (the
"Cadfael" garden in Shrewsbury), I just can't, although I AM thinking of
organizing the beds along middle-earth themes.
--Maire, rambling and desperate for Spring....

----- Original Message -----
From: "Siren Song" <sirensong13 at yahoo.com>
To: <grizly at mindspring.com>; "Cooks within the SCA"
<sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2007 9:49 AM
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] grow your own spices? (was) Onion Juice -
andSaffronmeasurements


> Being new to Oklahoma (I'm a California transplant) I am having to deal
with furry things and weather I never dealt with before. I am going to try a
fresh herb garden this year anyway :D I already have some seeds started in a
green house.
>
> Any suggestions for other period cooking herbs?