Lemon Balm

The morning sun is as bright as it can be as February draws to an end. And on this bright, sunny morning I have dreams of lemon balm! While my my husband and I were out walking our property, with entourage of two dogs and two yellow cats, I noticed the bright,green,and crinkly leaves of my newly emerging lemon balm plants. Apparently my lemon balm was making an early entrance due to the warmer temperatures that we have had. It's a sturdy plant that can grow almost anywhere but does best in the full sun. Lemon balm is a plant that belongs to the mint family. It has been growing in my garden for years, just as it grew in my sister and father's gardens. It's a wonderful plant but does tend to get out of control if you don't take care of it. The green deepens as the plant grows and if you don't keep cutting it, to use, it becomes leggy. My father used to keep a glass jar of lemon balm tea in his frig and used it for stomach issues. Lemon balm has been reported to have healing abilities,kill bacteria,will relax muscles, and provide pain relief. The taste is mild, minty, and lemony depending on how long you allow the leaves to seep. The leaves may be dried and used for hot tea.
My lemon balm plants are scattered over most of our garden. My plan is to give this plant the respect that it deserves by transplanting some healthy specimens to a select spot in my cutting herb garden. I will repot them in a garden pot and then sink the pot into the soil of my raised bed, hopefully keeping it under control.
In the past I have had lemon balm tea, and fresh in ice tea. You can also add it fresh to salads, garnish meat or fresh fruit deserts. I have also used it to decorate cake tops.
After years of ignoring lemon balm I will again welcome it back to a warm spot in one of my raised beds. I think it's time fo me to rediscover what the ancients knew about lemon balm.

February

As I was Rushing out to the car Thursday morning, I was literally brought to my knees. I know that I have long held the notion of the icy cold emptiness of February, but have since then gained a different perspective. Even though I knew I needed to leave at that moment, to get to work, I had to stop and absorb the beauty of that morning. In the still, chilly air I could smell the promise of spring. Birds were calling to each other and each plant was surrounded by light. Yes, it was light out! Suddenly it hit me! I was not leaving for work on yet another gloomy dark winter's day. The following Friday there were clinging tendrils of fog that deepened in the valley and hushed the world. Nature is humbling and though I am eager to get my hands dirty I also need to appreciate the season that I am in. Our grandson was baptised today, an occasion that filled me with joy and nostalgia for those days when my children were young. As we stood at the front of the church with my daughter, her husband, my grandaughter and grandson it seemed as this had just happened yesterday with my children. There were three other grandchildren and one of our sons,their father, sitting in the pew taking part. I wanted to shout, "Hey stop! This life is going way too fast!" But how awesome it is to now see this from the other side, as grandparents. Growing older, and just life, is about acceptance and in that the freedom to not be bound by fear. Each season teaches me a lesson that I need to be open to see,hear and learn. May February always glow for you!

The Past Kisses the Present

It is another quiet Sunday as I gaze out my window at our still, cold garden. It's really, really cold here and it's a shock! I was lulled into thinking that these warmer temps were here to stay! Indiana weather, like life, is never static.
On Friday my husband and I drove to Indianapolis, in a chilly wind, to help my sister,and husband, with a baby shower for their only daughter's first child. After a day of laughing, hugging,talking and preparing food and making plans,we were happy to be in a warm house while a light snow fell. Time spent with my loving sister brings back all the years of good good memories we have and will have. She is the best sister anyone could have.
The shower was a success and the bonus for us, was that we also spent time with three of our children, a son in law and three of our grandchildren. We all scooted together around a table made for six people and did what all families do when together. We gossiped, we laughed and made light jokes of one other and life, took funny photos and patiently listened (my children) to the advice I had saved up for them. I am so blessed with family and if any of my family is reading this, I would like to personally thank you!
With the shower over my children and I visited my mother at her nursing home. She has had many strokes and cannot communicate well and has ceased to recognize me, as her daughter, a long time ago. But after the shock and mourning of that deep loss, I have accepted that although she does not recognize me, I recognize her. She is that same woman who raised me, nursed me through illnesses, taught me to read and love books, and plants and appreciated and encouraged my writing. She is still my mother and I love her even though she has no idea who this is, sitting by her side and holding her hand. She was just happy to have a visit. As my oh so grown up children kissed her, held her hands and talked to and responded to her unintelligable speech I was reminded of all her many kindnesses in life and how 'being kind' to others was so important to her as was family. I was so proud of my children and saw first hand how her legacy has affected them. With tears in their eyes, they patiently gave their time and their love. What a gift!
And, that is why we were there, in Indy on a cold winter's day, spending tiem with family,attending a shower for our lovely neice who will be having a baby girl who will carry on my mother's Irish gift of happiness, love and kindness and feistiness,I'm sure. Our eldest daughter was missed but she was busy loving and supporting her daugher, our grand daughter, who was involved in an important competition. With love, we do what is most needed, to do, at the time.
So the wheel goes on. Families gather together and love one another and keep that wheel rolling generation after generation. Loving one another should be enough to keep us going through good times and bad.
My garden lies still and cold ready to erupt in spring madness in a very short time. There is soil to be turned and warmed and spinach to be planted soon and spring lettuce. In the spring when I step out into my garden and place my hand on my favorite shovel my thoughts will be of my daughters, sister, neices, mother, grandmother and greatgrandmother all who gardened for just the love of it. Then I will turn the soil and plant once again for that is what a gardener does.

Clearing paths for the future

Another dank,gloomy day in Southern Indiana, but it's not raining! Outside was quiet. The kind of stillness you find only in winter. After collecting all our tools needed to clean up the garden path we started to rake up old leaves and bits and pieces of winter debris. The silence was a mantle settling over our shoulders under those gray skies and we both jumped a foot when a flock of Starlings thundered upward. Cleaning up for Spring is essential for this gardener, but the weather doesn't always cooperate and I do have another job. But you do what you can. Plans are to remove the old picket fence in the front of our house. I love the fence but it makes it difficult to tend to our front hill so we are moving the fence back and removing an old crab tree and other vegetation. The fence line will be moved back and give me brand new garden areas or rooms.
Yesterday I ordered four Arp Rosemary plants. They are suppose to be hardy in zone 6 with protection. Now I need to go outside and carry away the debris we raked up. It feels good to garden in February!

First Blog

It's Saturday morning in Indiana, a very wet Saturday morning. I am sitting here with my cup of Jo dreaming of my warm spring garden to be. Because of the warmer temperatures,this spring, we have early daffodils poking up through their beds, some with buds. It has been a strange winter for sure! Our Rosemary plants are growing strong and vigorously. We've often lost our rosemary to the cold. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they will make it, tucked in beds with lots of southern exposure. I've been gardening most of my life and I still feel like a novice at times. Gardening, to me, is an artistic journey and our land is my canvas. I feel so blessed to be a gardener and would love to share experiences with like minds. Here's to an early spring!