#with either seasonal fruit or a bundle of herbs or even fresh cut flowers

[bronzyglow]

i love gift baskets. i'm putting one together to bring to a brunch this weekend and it's going to be so cute omg. i thrifted a little wicker basket and these beautiful burnt orange linen napkins to line it with and i'm going to fill it with homemade biscuits, little jars of my apple butter and cinnamon honey butter to spread on them like!! i would love to receive something like that

[evilasiangenius]

Crowley stood outside as the black cat balanced on his shoulder, both of them watching the birds darting about in the branches of the trees overhead (but only one of them chattering) when a familiar figure appeared at the end of the road.

“Ah, Crowley!”  Aziraphale waved him down as he came down the well-worn path.  He was carrying some sacks over his shoulder which he set down lightly before greeting Crowley with an embrace.  “My dear, I’m rather sorry that you woke up alone, I was hoping I would be there when you woke.  I had some business to attend to further south.  But now we have some very nice things that I think you’ll enjoy.”

“Huh?  Nice things?”  Crowley blinked, and he bent down carefully, trying not to dislodge the cat in order to reach for a sack but realized he couldn’t pick it up, it was too heavy.

“Oh yes.  Here, let me get that.”  And Aziraphale picked it up with one hand as if it weighed nothing, and brought it inside.  

Inside the sacks was a wealth of food: fresh-baked breads and cakes; jars of preserved fruits, jars of wine, jars of oil; pots of salted butter, cream; a wax-sealed jar filled with fresh milk; soft and hard cheeses stored in jars or wrapped in cloth; bundles of carefully washed and picked greens and herbs; fresh garden peas; a large portion of cured pork; an entire fresh leg of lamb…

“And look,” Aziraphale pulled out a small basket made out of woven straw and opened it, revealing little crimson gems of fruit.  “Wild strawberries, the first of the season!  Oh, I can’t wait to get cooking.  Nettle soup, nettle porridge, nettle pudding...”

“What are these bunches of little white flowers?”

“Wild garlic.  Oh, I think we should have a splendid feast.”  And Aziraphale began using hands, many hands to sort things out, putting some things away, and separating other things out.  Two hands deboned the lamb, cutting it into pieces while tossing the bone into a big iron pot to make soup, another pair grinding barley into flour in the domed granite quern, another-

“How...did you get all this?”  Crowley wondered.  “Demonic intervention?”

“Well, demonic abilities were used, but not any influence.  I don’t sleep, so to pass the time I’ve been weaving.  The humans are mad for cloth, and give me all sorts of things in return.”

“Oh?”

“I think it could be a lucrative career, becoming a weaver, but I’m already Representative on Earth.  Though making cloth did feed us through the winter.  The neighbors too.  I was given far more than either one of us could possibly eat for the cloth.  The humans like it ever so much.  Someone even gave me a cow and a calf!  I gave those to the lovely widow down the lane.  She named one Brown and the other Butter, and the little one is all grown up now with her own calf!  Oh and did you know that no one died in this village these past three winters?  Strange how that works.”

Are you sure you’re a demon?  The words almost slipped out of Crowley’s mouth before he could stop himself.

x

[aquarianwisp]

Everyday things you can do to build your witchy supplies and cheap ways to do it

Burning to get your witchy supplies started but have no idea where to start? My suggestion- start anywhere and with everyday things!  Herbs To get a herb collection started, you do not have to have homegrown herbs or herbs from metaphysical stores which can be pricey. You can start a simple herb collection with just herbs available from your grocery store. If you are not a green thumb or you live in an apartment with no space for a garden, this is a really good option for getting a collection started. Just because something came from the grocery store doesn’t make it any less magical, and many people are under the impression that due to the mundane nature of how the herbs were obtained they are therefore less effective. This is not true at all! If you like doing the whole drying process yourself, you can go to the fresh food sections and pick up bunches of basil, parsley, mint, peppermint, rosemary, sage, dill, lemongrass, coriander, tarragon, oregano etc very cheap and usually already in a perfect bundle ready to be dried! You just need to take them home and hang them up somewhere dry for a few days to a week or so before they will be all dried and ready to use. If you are lazy and can’t be bothered or don’t have time to do the drying process, you can go to the spice section and find many of these same herbs already chopped up and dried out. If the packaging on the product makes you feel a bit “meh”, just take them home and place them in a jar or other similar container where they can remain dry, and the look of the container makes you feel inspired. 

Gathering herbs and flowers is another really great option. Of course, if you are not experienced in recognizing wild herbs and flowers, I recommend you practice gathering a bit differently. Try gathering with the help of your community. Some of your neighbours might be green thumbs and be willing to share some of their plants with you. I used to live near someone who hedged their garden with basil, and every time their basil hedges grew out of control they would trim them. They were happy to give me the trimmings of their basil plants. They also gave me the rosehips that they had on their rose bushes, and if they had roses or lavender growing I would always ask for some trimmings if they were willing to share. People are actually more generous with their gardens than you think! A lot of avid gardeners are always willing to share cuttings as well, so if you know how to grow from a cutting this is a really good way to also build a herb collection. Any dandelions I see around my home I like to gather for drying, and any other flowers I can easily recognize such as hibiscus, daisies, frangipani, marigolds, chrysanthemum, cherry blossom, magnolia etc I will always try to gather a bit here and there. Another really cool option is to go to community gardens and gather the plants there that you can use, where they are labelled and everyone is free to take what they need! Save your orange or citrus peels for drying as well, as you can use these to emit the smell of their essential oils when placed over a heat source!  Herbal teas are another really great option to safely consume herbs. Of course, check with your medical practitioner as some herbs contained in teas may cause issues with medications etc, (You can never be too safe when it comes to things you choose to eat/drink) however, herbal teas are a really great way to enjoy the benefits of the herbs in a safer manner than say, walking onto the street, picking up what you think is a certain type of herb and then making a tea out of it.  Jars Jars are simple to obtain, and you do not have to start buying a million jars from your local dollar store just to have that witchy aesthetic that everyone seems to want. Recycle the jars from your food to store herbs or to use in spells. Pasta sauces, mayonnaise, anchovies, preserved foods, peanut butter, etc etc, anything that comes in a jar. Not only is this a great way to reduce waste, but glass is a safer option for storing things as you will not have the nasty toxins from plastic leaching into your herbs, oils, moon water, floral waters etc, and they look so much more attractive than plastic. And having all sorts of types of jars in different sizes and shapes makes for a very rustic witchy aesthetic look anyway. Collect natural objects Homeware stores have started selling bits of driftwood, false flowers, shells, pinecones, pebbles etc for ridiculous prices so that rich people can look fashionable and “rustic”. There is no point in buying these things when you can go to the beach and pick up a piece of driftwood or some shells for free. Objects picked up in their natural environment also seem to retain their energies more so than those objects that have been commercialised. Scour your local nature strips or parks for pretty looking dried leaves, pine cones, nice shaped rocks and anything else that inspires your witchiness. Make sure that you respect the spirits of these areas. Do not take more than what you need, and ensure that you ask permission from the spirits before taking. It is always good to leave an offering in its place- usually something organic such as fruit, seeds or nuts which can feed the local ants or birds.

Collect ribbons and coloured paper Every time it’s Christmas or you are given a gift, save the ribbons or wrapping. String has so many uses in witchcraft, and different colours have different meanings that can be used in all sorts of rituals. You can reuse them as well if you don’t end up burning them. Coloured paper can also take on meanings if you will it so. Tell people you want candles for Christmas Tell everyone who asks what you want for Christmas or your birthday that you really want to decorate your space and you love candles and you are dying to get some. Then watch as all your friends and family give you tons of different types of candles. Trust me, you can never go wrong with this. Candles are often so cheap that people will buy heaps of them for you in different colours and fragrances. The other good thing about this is that if people know you are a witch and they want to buy you a witchy type present they will often have no idea what to get you and will default to a candle.  Buy candles from the lighting/electrical/barbeque section of a grocery store. Buying candles from a speciality metaphysical store, a homewares store, or even a dollar store can be expensive. But many grocery stores sell candles to be used in emergency blackouts or power outages, and some have started selling these types of candles in different colours as well. They often come in bulk packs and work just as well for half the price. You can also buy birthday candles and use those for your spells, especially if you need to do a quick spell.  If you are after some really beautiful white candles, buy candles listed as “church candles”. These are sold cheaper than other white candles, probably because churches get all sorts of discounts. But they often are moulded in a really classical shape so they can look sometimes more beautiful than just your plain ol’ white candle. You do not have to burn your entire candle down for a spell to be effective. If you don’t write your own spells you will often see spell instructions telling you to allow the candle to completely finish burning. This is a waste of time and a waste of the precious candles that you conned every one of your family members into buying you last Christmas. It is also ridiculous- some candles burn for 18 hours or more, and it is totally unsafe to leave candles unattended. Do you have 18 hours to monitor a candle? Nope. You can cheaply make your own specialised spell candles, you do not have to waste 20 dollars on one from a metaphysical store. Yes, that’s right, with a microwave and a cheap candle you can carefully melt the wax down, add a wick in one of those jars you saved and then add all the herbs and fragrant oils, flowers, or whatever you want to the melted wax before allowing it to dry. There is a lot of tutorials for this on the internet, but please make sure you go for candles that do not have a foil or aluminium wick holder on the bottom as these will catch fire in your microwave. Candlesticks with nothing but wax and a wick at the top are best for this. Please take precautions with hot wax. Otherwise, there is no reason why you need that fancy candle for triple the price.  You do not need a fancy obsidian scrying bowl, a kitchen bowl with water works fine! That’s right! Those metaphysical stores who try and make you buy an expensive obsidian plate for scrying seem to have forgotten that water scrying is an art that has existed for centuries! Any reflective surface can be used for scrying, it doesn’t have to be a fancy looking crystal object. Learn to read playing cards for divination You do not need to spend on tarot if you cannot afford it. Pick up some playing cards and use the power of the internet to learn how to read them for divination! If you are a closet witch as well, no one will suspect a deck of playing cards either. Print pictures of deities at a photo store. Never before has it been cheaper to print pictures now that digital has taken over. My local department store has a photo printing station where you can buy photo prints for 5 cents. I take a USB of pictures I like of my deities that I found online and print them off as photos. Then I frame them in dollar store frames. BAM! You have an altar set up for a few dollars.

Buy festive decorations after the season has passed If it’s yule time and you are dying to decorate your house with holly, red and green, pine etc, wait until the next year to decorate (I know, it sucks, but if you’re frugal you can dig this). Go to a dollar store and buy up big after the Christmas period has ended in preparation for the next year. Holidays such as Christmas, Easter and Halloween have become so commercialised that there is a serious overproduction of decorations each year and after the season has passed the stores just want to get rid of stuff as fast as possible. This is when you can jump in and get some witchy looking objects for a really cheap price. What’s great is that a lot of dollar stores sell some very witchy looking decorations during these typically Christian festivals- Bunnies, eggs, chickens, skeletons, pine branches, holly, cauldrons, etc without realising. Splurge on expensive incense when you can. 20 dollar packet on incense? Get it. My advice here is- quality really shows when it comes to incense. I am a massive incense fan, but whenever I can afford it (which is not always, sometimes I too have to go for the two dollar packets) and I find a really nice packet of pricey incense I go for it. Why? The cheaper the incense, the faster the burn time and the less resin it contains. One of the reasons that incense gets that burnt smell is because it contains sawdust to help it burn. Cheaper incenses smell less fragrant and burn faster because most of the resins coating the sticks are substituted with more sawdust. That way, the manufacturer keeps the costs of production down. More expensive incense sticks often have a ton more resin in their coating, smell more potent, and burn slower with a more beautiful smoke colour. They are well worth their price, and when you experience it you will want to always try and get the pricier sticks. The more expensive sticks also tend to have more of the real resins in them. Sandalwood, for example, is actually an endangered species and has become very expensive to buy. So manufacturers who create cheap incenses often substitute with sandalwood smelling substances but never really use the real thing. If you can afford it, go for incense sticks manufactured with real Australian sandalwood. Australian sandalwood smells extremely similar to Indian sandalwood and is specifically farmed for incense production. Thus you are getting the real thing but you are not contributing to the endangerment of Indian sandalwood which is a culturally sacred species that needs to be protected. That being said, my point here is quality and a long lasting product will save money over time when it comes to incense. 

Anyway, that’s all for my witchy money saving tips for now! I hope this helped you!

[josephkitchen0]

Anise Hyssop 2019 Herb of the Year

The herb of the year for 2019 is anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum). A member of the mint family, this lovely, easy to grow perennial is native to parts of the upper Midwest and Great Plains.

Anise hyssop has been a resident in the Biblical section of my herb garden for years as a representative of the “hyssop” mentioned in the Bible.

Anise hyssop (on right behind statuary) growing among herbs in Bible section of the herb garden.

I also have specimens planted in the culinary and medicinal sections. Anise hyssop gives a hint of licorice and mint flavor to foods and drinks and has soothing, healing qualities.

Spiky flower heads of anise hyssop.

Commonly called blue giant hyssop, fragrant giant hyssop, or lavender hyssop, its potent nectar makes it one of the best plants that attract bees.  I often see both honey and native bees working the plant. Butterflies and hummingbirds hover over the herb, too.

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Leaves Look Like Catnip

Anise hyssop leaves resemble catnip leaves, but larger.

A few years ago, I planted both of these members of the mint family side by side and until they bloomed, I had to get up close and do the sniff test to tell them apart.

The blooms, which appear from June to September, are two-lipped tiny flowers in dense spikes about four inches long. The plants grow from two to four feet tall.

Growing Anise Hyssop from Seed

This herb is easily propagated from seeds indoors or outdoors where I live in southwest Ohio, zone six. It grows as an herbaceous, sometimes short-lived perennial in zones four to nine.  But I will tell you, once you have an established plant, you will see little volunteers pop up. This herb drops seeds readily.

See the volunteer “baby” on the right side.

Starting Seeds Indoors

I usually don’t bother starting anise hyssop seeds indoors since they germinate easily outdoors. But if you want to start the seeds indoors, use the same method as starting tomato seeds indoors.

Direct Seed Sowing Outdoors

When the last expected frost has passed, you can sow the seeds directly in fertile, moist, well-drained soil. You may want to plant the seeds in a pot instead of the ground. Planting herbs in pots gives you more control over the seed germination process, so feel free to use a container filled with quality potting soil. Either way, choose a somewhat sunny location. The seeds are small and should be sown in depths no more than a quarter of an inch. They usually germinate in a few weeks.

You can also sow the seeds outdoors in the latter part of fall. They will stay snug in their winter bed and germinate after the last frost has passed in the spring.

Transplanting Seedlings

Plant seedlings in their permanent position 10 to 12 inches apart. They like a sunny location and will tolerate some shade. Water regularly until plants are established. Once they are growing well, anise hyssop plants thrive in soil that retains moisture, but not damp or waterlogged. Overwatering is the biggest culprit. Anise hyssop will tolerate dry conditions.

Propagating by Division

I have been told this is a simple process, although I have never propagated anise hyssop by basal cutting of young shoots since it’s best done in a greenhouse. Cuttings should be taken in spring when the plants have good growth and are about eight inches or so tall. Plant the shoots in individual pots using a good potting soil. Place in the greenhouse in a shaded location. Usually, they start to root in three weeks and may be transplanted outside during the summer. Pinching the plants back will stimulate branching.

Pests and Diseases? No Worries!

A bonus is that pests and diseases usually stay away from anise hyssop. The only trouble I have ever had is when the plants are very young and the season is wet enough for slugs to appear.

Anise hyssop has both medicinal and culinary qualities.

Medicinal Benefits

Native Americans used this hyssop in many ways. The Cheyenne drank a tea made from hyssop for what they called “dispirited hearts.” Yes, this herb is actually beneficial to heart health. Cree Indians included the flowers in their medicine bundles. The dried plant has been burned as a cleansing incense.

As an herbalist, I like using it for coughs, chest colds, and fevers. With its abundant antibacterial and anti-inflammatory qualities, it helps reduce fevers and is a good digestive aid.

Anise Hyssop Tea

Use one teaspoon dried or one tablespoon fresh chopped leaves to one cup boiling water. Cover and let steep five minutes or so. Strain and sweeten to taste. I like to serve it with a slice of lemon, which boosts the immune system with a dose of vitamin C.

Anise Hyssop and Hibiscus Tea

I like adding a few dried hibiscus petals to my hyssop tea. It lends a bit of tart flavor to the sweet licorice component and helps lower blood pressure. The tea turns a brilliant magenta color.

Anise hyssop tea (left) and anise hyssop hibiscus tea (right).

Soothing Bath for Sore Muscles and Stiff Joints

Put fresh or dried leaves in a cheesecloth bag or paper coffee filter tied at the top. Hang from the faucet to let the warm water flow over the herbs. If you suffer from cramps in the legs or feet, toss in a handful of Epsom salts.

Culinary Uses

Use the flowers and minced leaves in green salads. The licorice flavor does not overwhelm but adds an element of flavor and texture.

Salad with anise hyssop and edible flowers.

When a recipe calls for tarragon, chervil, or fennel, substitute anise hyssop. It makes a lovely substitute for tarragon vinegar.

Anise hyssop vinegar.

Anise Hyssop Cordial

Fill a glass jar half way up with fresh leaves. Add some flowers if you want. Cover with vodka and let infuse for three weeks, shaking occasionally if you think of it. I keep mine on the counter so that I can monitor the progress. Take a sip now and then and when you think the flavor is to your liking, strain and sweeten with a simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water brought to a simmer to dissolve the sugar, then cooled and stored in the refrigerator).

Anise Hyssop Honey

Over low heat, warm one cup raw honey with two to three tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh anise hyssop leaves. Let mixture come to a simmer, but do not boil. Simmer 10 minutes, then strain into a sterilized jar. Seal and store in pantry up to one year. This is delicious on scones, bagels, muffins, toast, and as a sweetener for beverages.

Adding Hyssop Essence to Fruit Jellies

This is so easy! Just stir in a half cup fresh leaves with the juice when you start to make the jelly. Before adding sugar, remove the leaves and proceed with recipe. The leaves will have released their essence into the jelly, giving it just a hint of sweet anise. If you like, add a blanched sprig of the herb to each jar.

White grape jelly with hyssop essence.

Anise Hyssop Agastache vs. Hyssopus Officinalis: What’s the Difference?

I need to address this since there’s so much confusion between the two herbs. Sometimes the tag on the plant will simply say hyssop. Depending on the shape of the leaves and the growth of the plant, it could either be anise hyssop or Hyssopus officinalis.

Both bee-friendly plants are members of the mint family.  Anise hyssop, the 2019 Herb of the Year, is an American native and is the one with large leaves. There are some variations but they all resemble each other.

Hyssopus officinalis is a European native and has very slender, small, dark green leaves and blue, pink, or white flowers. This perennial looks more delicate than its American counterpart. It likes sun and can tolerate dryness.

Hyssopus officinalis is used traditionally as a healing herb. It’s also edible, with flavor tones of sage and mint.

Hyssopus officinalis (slender-leaved hyssop).

The haunting licorice fragrance of anise hyssop is so permeating that crafters love the herb for its scent-keeping qualities and the fact that the dark purple/lavender-blue flowers keep their color even after drying.

Do you grow anise hyssop? If so, what are your favorite ways to use this lovely herb?

Anise Hyssop 2019 Herb of the Year was originally posted by All About Chickens