Lavender's Many Uses |
I am not aware of any particular association
of Lammas and lavender (except for the lovely alliteration of
those twin L's), except that it blooms at Lammastide in Seattle.
How to Make Lavender "Wands"
You will need:
When you cut the f you want to keep as
much of the stem as possible. You can cut below the pair of
leaves that appear half way down the stem but don't pick them
off until you're finished. The stem is more brittle there and
you need to be careful when working around this area so leaving
them on keeps the area marked for you.
Tuck in the small end of the ribbon and pull out the loose end still attached to the spool. Going clockwise start weaving over and under. Proceed with caution especially if there are any frayed stems at the beginning. Once they are woven in a couple of rounds it won't bother them any more, but still be careful not to pull the stems up too far as you weave or they may bend and fray elsewhere. Also pay close attention to which stem comes next because they can become entangled as you weave,(especially curved stems). Tighten as you go again taking care. Tuck in buds.
Continue to weave over and under down the stems until you have
woven over all of the buds and then at least one more round.
Finally tie off the ribbon in a knot. You can leave this as
is with a tail hanging down or put a bow of the same color or
maybe lace. Trim the stems straight across or as I prefer, on
a diagonal. Keep as much or as little as you like. If you leave
alot on I suggest you put another ribbon or lace bow at the
bottom of the stems to keep them together.
If you don't grow lavender in your garden, (what a shame, plant some!), maybe your neighbor or someone you know does and you can exchange some fresh cuts for a wand in return! Have fun with some simple weaving and enjoy the long lasting scent! Source: http://tinyurl.com/a64vp
Living in Season: Lavender Metheglyn Yesterday
I was in my garden, harvesting my lavender which had reached
the blossom stage, trying to work my way through the interwoven
stalks while avoiding the short black bee with the yellow head
who was buzzing around visiting the buds (his buddies were sleeping
— or tranced out in the nearby rosemary). The combination
of bees and lavender reminded me of the recipe for lavender
methlegin that I received last year from a longtime student
of the seasons, Karen A., and I realized that it's just an attempt
to duplicate what the bees do naturally: making honey from the
sweet scent of lavender. One of Froniga's herbal remedies is metheglyn. The OED notes that the word metheglyn comes from the Welsh meddyglyn, which mean healing liquor, and defines it as a medicinal variety of mead peculiar to Wales. Froniga flavored her metheglyn with sweetbriar roses. This recipe uses lavender flowers instead.
Lavender Metheglyn Batch size: 1 gallon 4
lb honey Boil together honey and ? gal water for 5 min. Put flowers with citric acid and tannin in a gallon jug and pour the hot liquid over. Let cool in a sink of cold water to room temperature, then add yeast and nutrient and further water to make a gallon plus a pint. Add an airlock to your gallon jar. Let ferment 1 week, then strain out the flowers. Set the lock on again and ferment until it's clear, about 112 days. Bottle and age for at least 109 days. This recipe comes from H.E. Bravery's recipe for rhodomel in his book Home Brewing Without Failures. As with all fermented beverages, be careful when storing the results. If improperly bottled, it may explode. A much simpler way of making lavender medicine is to pour about 1/2 a cup of lavender buds into a pint bottle of cheap brandy. Let sit for at least 2 weeks (I just leave the flowers in the brandy and strain them out when I use it, but it depends on how strong a lavender flavor you like.) I keep this in my potion cupboard and put a shot into a cup of hot tea which I drink right before bedtime whenever I have a winter cold. Froniga also combined the petals of red damask roses and purified honey with alcohol to make melrosette, another healing potion that is not fermented. Rhodomel is simply another name for this concoction, according to the OED. In her book, The Art of Cooking with Roses, Jean Gordon notes that rose honeys are popular in England where they are used for colds, coughs and infections. The following recipe for rose honey comes from Jeanne Rose's book, Herbs & Things: Pour 2 cups of boiling water over 2 ounces of dried red rose petals (make sure they were not sprayed) and let stand for 10 hours. Then strain and press the liquor out of the rose petals and combine it with 1-1/2 pounds of organic honey. Boil to a thick syrup. I
imagine you could make a similar mixture with lavender buds
and honey.
Lavender Ice Cream
I got this recipe for
from an old issue of House and Garden magazine. Make
it for Ice Cream Day, July 23rd. Bravery,
H.E., Home Brewing Without Failures, out of print.
Lavender Cheesecake
(Adapted from a recipe
I found on the web site of the Happy
Valley Lavender Farm)
Lavender Cooler
Mary Preus served this lavender-flavored iced tea at tea parties
at her Silver Bay herb farm in Silverdale, Washington. You can
make it without the tea, although she notes that it adds body.
Lavender Lemonade
1/4 cup fresh lavender blossoms (or 1 T dried)
Lavender Margaritas
1 cup tequila Joyce MacGowan, Owl Creek Lavender Farm
References: |
