Are You Going to Scarborough Fair? (by Kat)

This picture just doesn't do justice to the varying greens and silvers I jarred up today.

This past weekend was the perfect time to pop on out to the garden and harvest the herbs, and today they were dry, so into the jars they went.

The plants themselves have been snipped at all summer long, providing flavor for meals the whole season long. Most of the plants have gone to seed, so the size of the crop was somewhat diminished, but we still have far more than we need to get us through the winter. And hopefully, just hopefully, those little seeds will grow up into nice new plants next year.

In fact, a good portion of our herbs start themselves every year. It's a good thing, because I'm really quite a lazy gardener, so if they didn't do it themselves, it just might not get done...

Here's a big tray of parsley, drying in the sun...


Silvery, feathery, fragrant sage...

Rosemary. I love the little purple flowers. I keep them in the jar, even if it's not really the right thing to do. I get a little cheer out of seeing them looking out at me from their beds of green rosemary needles when there are no other flowers to be found for months...

And thyme. This is the herb that I like harvesting the least. The needles are so small, they cling to their stems so tightly, and they're just an overall pain. But I do love thyme in my food--yummy!

Now, why did Simon and Grafunkel stop after parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme? What about the basil, people! I ask you again, what about the basil?!


And the marjoram? What about the marjoram?

I think the song needs another verse.

The lemon balm is still in the yard, I'll wait until it cools down a little bit more before I bring that in. There's also the catnip, or at least the catnip the cats haven't already eaten.

And maybe, just maybe, I'll get a little more thyme?