Basil, Mullein and Calendula

"Thai" Basil

Basil, mullein and calendula are three of my most favorite herbs this year. I have grown “Thai” basil for a number of years and really like it. To me it’s a necessary traditional addition to vegetable curries and makes a very tasty spicy pesto. I bought a new pack of “Thai” basil seeds this spring – what they produced looks a lot different from what I’ve grown in the past. Overall a shorter plant and instead of the usual spiky blossoms these produce big almost fluffy flower heads with tremendous flavor. This year for the first time I’ve gotten serious about herbal vinegars, having so far made celery, oregano, thyme, anise hyssop, lemon basil,  Thai basil, dill, sage, and hyssop.  These have been made strong, filling a quart jar about 2/3 full with fresh plant material, filling with apple cider vinegar so there is an inch or two of vinegar covering the herbs, setting in a fairly warm dark area, shaking regularly and letting macerate for a month before straining / decanting.  Wonderful for making salad dressings or with cooked greens.   By far the best, in my opinion, is that made from the “Thai” basil, it has not only a lovely flavor but a beautiful deep rose color imparted by the big fluffy blossoms. Although most basils seem to  reseed readily the plan is to save seeds and hopefully ensure a crop for next year.

Mullein in bloom

Beautiful mullein flowers. Until this year watching them close up I never realized how gorgeous they are. Since no mullein seems to grow on our place I started some seeds this spring. Four plants survived. Being a biannual usually the first year a rosette of leaves grows and only in the second year the flower stalk appears. Three of the plants behaved as they are supposed to but the other sent up first one then multiple flower stalks. My understanding is that mullein thrives in incredibly poor soils, and  in fact a few days ago while walking on a local rural trail I noticed several plants happily growing right in cracks of a rocky outcropping. Perhaps this particular plant was jump started due to residing in fairly rich a garden soil?  The japanese beetles, bees and bumblebees are quite attracted to the flowers. I have been harvesting them almost daily, a meditative task requiring patience since each individual flower needs to be gently separated from the stalk.  Most I have dried for use in tea, or perhaps to infuse or tincture later on.  I also have a pint of fresh flowers currently infusing in olive oil. Traditionally mullein oil or mullein and garlic oil has been used for earache. The leaves are a bit difficult to dry. The mucilaginous goo in center vein takes longer to dry than the rest of the leaf . I have been drying the leaves whole. It seems to help to cut the stem end short and slice it up the middle a ways to facilitate drying. The flowers retain their golden-yellow color quite well. I’ve combined some with anise hyssop for a tea blend. The purple hyssop flowers and yellow mullein make a colorful combination.

 

Calendula

I think of these flowers as little captured bits of happy sunshine. This is the second year I’ve grown calendula.  Most of this years crop is from last years saved seeds.  Calendula does not fare well in the heat and humidity of high summer here (zone 6b). The past 4 or 5 days it has perked up immensely and started to flower prolifically as the temps are down to mid 80′s to mid 90′s versus hovering around 100 degrees.   Have also been harvesting them almost daily, the best time seems to be during the heat of the day when they are at their most resinous.  The resin is quite fragrant and after a while my fingers are sticky with it.  Have oil infusions going for salve making, tinctures macerating and also flowers drying for tea and culinary use.  We are down to the last jar of calendula salve from last year.  It has totally replaced any commercial hand / skin lotions we use during the winter.  Good stuff, and I know exactly what is and isn’t in it.

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