Herb articles
'Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a fattened ox with hatred in it.' (prov 15:17). Well that makes us sound right clever having a quote to start off this submenu. If you look to the left you will see all of our individual herb articles and below that some related articles to the right below the ads you will find our other articles.
The invading Romans loved their herbs so much that many of them were introduced around Europe by them. Most ancient culture are credited with using herbs in fact the Chinese Emperor, Shen Nung, wrote the 'Cannon of Herbs' almost five thousand years ago.
To reiterate, this is the right area for help with growing herbs, finding out a bit of their history, medicinal uses and some recipes. Look below, to your left and right for links to our related articles. Maybe you will learn to give up that fattened ox that you have in your packed lunch in favour of some lovely herbs.
A taster of three of our favorite herbs
Garlic
Imagine a world without garlic bread, it gives me cold shivers just thinking about it. If Vampires are afraid of garlic then why are they not afraid of chives and onions as they contain many of the same compounds.
It is difficult to pinpoint where garlic actually originates from it is thought to have been cultivated from wild garlic (allium longcupis). Although some sources (De Candolle), suggests that it originated to the south west of Siberia and then spread over Europe and became naturalised. more?
Did you know that garlic has been eaten for over 4000 years? Do you know how to grow garlic? If you want the answers to these questions and more then have a look at our article by clicking on this text.
Fennel
An excellent herb for the self sufficient as all parts of the plant can be use and fennel is also known to repel white fly.
One of my favourite dishes is braised fennel why not give it a whirl?
The ancient Greeks would use it as a slimming aid and apparently their is some association with the word 'Marathon' which means to grow thin. more
The ancient Chinese believed that it could cure snake bites, these day's you are best off going straight to a hospital.more
Well known to the Romans who cultivated Fennel for its edible shoots and aromatic fruits. Much revered by Pliny the Elder (aka Caius Plinius Secundus) who used it in twenty two remedies. He even thought that it sharpened the sight of snakes. In fact many English herbalists thought that Fennel could sharpen ones sight.
If you want to find out more about fennel including history, organic growing, medicinal advice and more then please have a look at our article to help you on your path to self sufficiency. more
Rosemary
Rosemary is an aromatic herb from the libiatae (mint) family and is a gardeners friend as it is known to be a natural insect replant. If left unchecked it can grow to over 2m (6.6ft) tall, regular picking and pruning will keep your plant more manageable.
It has needle like gray\green leaves and its flowers are small and pale blue/pink in colour. There are several decorative variegated types, but none are as hardy as the ordinary green rosemary.more....
Traditionally rosemary is used to flavour meats such as, pork, lamb and veal use sparingly as it will overpower the taste and put some in before roasting and remove after. more....
A few sprigs of rosemary added to the tea pot makes a delicious drink, don't use milk and try with a bit of honey. more....