China Bayles' Book of Days

by Susan Wittig Albert

  To brighten their smiles, American colonists rubbed on a mixture of ground charcoal, honey, rosemary, and oil of cloves. Burnt toast mixed with oil of cloves was another favorite. And strawberries (mildly acidic, with a variety of medicinal uses) were mashed and rubbed onto the teeth.

  HERBAL MOUTH RINSE

  This rinse tastes good and contains several antiseptic compounds to help prevent infection and cleanse your mouth.

  1 tablespoon each of dried sage, thyme, eucalyptus,

  rosemary, dried lemon zest

  1 cup brandy or vodka

  1 cup distilled water with ½ teaspoon vanilla

  In a jar with a lid, place the dried herbs and pour the brandy over them. Cover and set aside for two weeks, shaking occasionally. Strain, add water and vanilla, and stir. To use, pour a few tablespoons into a glass, swish in the mouth, and spit.

  Read more about natural dental care, including the use of herbs:

  Healthy Mouth, Healthy Body, by Victor Zeines

  FEBRUARY 10

  February is National Heart Month. February’s Theme Garden: A Garden of the Heart.

  Let my beloved come into the garden, and eat the pleasant fruits. . . . —THE SONG OF SOLOMON

  A Garden of the Heart

  Gardens have been a natural trysting place for lovers since the Garden of Eden. To capture this beautiful idea in a theme garden, you might construct something elaborate, with a shaded pavilion, an ornamental pool, bowers of graceful vines, banks of fragrant lilies, and beds of dreamy flowers.

  But your garden of the heart doesn’t need to be quite so ambitious. Imagine this: a quiet corner of your garden, perhaps against a wall, with a birdbath, a trellised vine, a garden-art heart on the wall, and a few pieces of heart-shaped yard art. Add several small heart-shaped beds, outlined with bricks, garden edging, perhaps even a low, clipped boxwood edging. Plant some love-in-a-mist and a love-in-a-puff vine against the fence, and paint a “Love Grows in My Garden” sign.

  Thyme lends itself to a small, showy garden. You can make a very simple thyme garden by laying out the shape of a heart in a sunny spot. Then lift the sod and till, enrich the soil, and add a border. Fill your heart garden with fragrant creeping thyme transplants,

  which will mat together to completely fill the space. Keep the thyme weed-free (medieval monks set their novices to this task, as an exercise in humility), and snip it back occasionally.

  Looking for a special Valentine’s gift for a gardening friend? Find a pretty heart-shaped container with drainage holes, suitable for use as a planter. Add a small bag of potting soil, a bag of lightweight drainage medium (small pebbles, foam chips), and a packet of thyme seeds. Wrap, add a bow, and deliver with your heartfelt sentiments.

  Read more about designing and planting a theme garden:

  Theme Gardens (Sunset Series), by Hazel White

  Almost any garden, if you see it at just the right moment, can be confused with paradise.

  —HENRY MITCHELL

  FEBRUARY 11

  The Guarani Indians had known for centuries about the unique advantages of kaa he-he (a native term which translates as “sweet herb”)—long before the invaders from the Old World were lured by the treasures of the New. These native people knew the leaves of the wild stevia shrub (a perennial indigenous to the Amambay Mountain region) to have a sweetening power unlike anything else; they commonly used the leaves to enhance the taste of bitter maté (a tea-like beverage) and medicinal potions, or simply chewed them for their sweet taste.

  —DONNA GATES, THE STEVIA STORY:

  A TALE OF INCREDIBLE SWEETNESS & INTRIGUE

  A Sweet Secret

  Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana) is a sweet-tasting calorie-free herb native to Paraguay, a small perennial shrub belonging to the Chrysanthemum family. It is said to be ten to fifteen times sweeter than granulated sugar, with several important plusses: It’s nontoxic, does not affect blood sugar levels, and can be used in cooking, with a little experimentation. The “Honey Leaf plant” used to be a well-kept secret, but now the dried herb is available at large natural food stores and on-line. You can grow it in your garden, as well.

  GROWING STEVIA

  Stevia is difficult to grow from seed, so start with plants, putting them out about the time you’d set out tomatoes. Stevia likes a rich, well-drained soil, so use organic compost generously, mulch to shade the shallow roots, and don’t overwater. Pinch out the tips to produce a bushy plant, and harvest stevia before flowering, for flowering imparts a bitter taste to the leaves. Cut the plant at the base and hang in a warm, airy place. Remove the dry, crisp leaves and sift out stems and branches. Pulverize the leaves and store the powder in lidded jars or zip-top bags.

  USING STEVIA

  Use stevia in most recipes in place of sugar: 1 teaspoon crushed/powdered leaves equals 1 cup of sugar. Don’t use stevia in baking, because it does not supply the bulk of sugar. Dry stevia may produce an aftertaste, while liquid stevia does not. To make the liquid sweetener, pour one cup boiling water over 1 tablespoon of dried, powdered stevia. Steep for 3-4 minutes, then strain through a coffee filter. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.

  Read more about this interesting herb:

  The Stevia Story: A Tale of Incredible Sweetness & Intrigue , by Donna Gates

  Stevia-Sweet Recipes, by Jerry Goettemoeller

  FEBRUARY 12

  Today is the feast of Artemis (Diana), the threefold goddess of the moon, the hunt, and chastity.

  Artemisia

  The genus of gray and silvery plants named Artemisia were sacred to Artemis. There are some 180 species, all decorative, most medicinal, a few culinary.

  CULINARY ARTEMISIAS

  • Tarragon: A. dracunculus. Dracunculus means “little dragon.” Not very pretty to look at, but has a lovely anise flavor. Difficult to grow in Southern gardens.

  MEDICINAL ARTEMISIAS

  Artemisias have been used medicinally around the world. All are decorative, in various shades of green, pale green, and gray, and make a pretty show in your garden. These are the two most often mentioned, although A. tridentata (sagebrush) is widely used by native peoples in the American Southwest.

  • Mugwort: Artemisia vulgaris. Some say that the common name comes from its use as a flavoring for beer, the people’s beverage. It was used chiefly as a vermifuge (to repel intestinal parasites, hence the name wormwood), but also to stimulate menstruation, as an abortifacient (to induce abortion), and to treat epilepsy, colds, fevers, bronchitis, colic, sciatica, kidney ailments, and indigestion. Also used in dream pillows, in purification smudging, and as an insect repellant. Medieval travelers put mugwort in their shoes.

  • Wormwood: A. absinthium. A very bitter herb, it was used like mugwort. It was the chief ingredient in absinthe, the infamous emerald liqueur (which also contained the aromatic herbs melissa, anise, marjoram, and angelica). In concentrated form, a volatile poison. Best to use it as a natural pest control, to repel fleas and ants, and in companion plantings.

  DECORATIVE ARTEMISIAS

  Their cool, crisp silver foliage makes these plants a delight in the garden and useful in wreaths and dried arrangements. A landscaping bonus: deer don’t like the bitter taste!

  • Silver King and Silver Queen: varieties of A. ludoviciana

  • Powys Castle: A. arborescens, one of my favorite artemisias

  • Dusty Miller: A. stelleriana, mostly grown as an annual

  • Southernwood: A. abrotanum, green and ferny. Especially useful as a border or green groundcover. Also used as a moth repellant

  • Desert sage: A. palmeri, used in purification smudging

  Learn how to grow and use artemisia:

  The Rodale Herb Book, edited by William H. Hylton

  FEBRUARY 13

  I am fully and intensely aware that plants are conscious of love and respond to it as they do to nothing else.

  —CELIA THAXTER (1835-1894)

  Love Charms

  Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, so
you might want to brush up on your herbal love lore. For centuries, plants have been important to lovers, for a whole bouquet of reasons! Here are a few you might not have thought of:

  • Honeysuckle. The scent of honeysuckle was thought to induce erotic dreams; hence, many parents forbade their daughters to bring it into the house.

  • Periwinkle. It was believed that people who ate periwinkle leaves together would fall in love. Another potion, less tasty: powdered periwinkle, houseleek, earthworms.

  • Bay. If you want to dream of your future lover, pin five bay leaves to the four corners and the center of your pillow, before you go to bed tonight. Be sure to repeat the traditional charm (it won’t work if you don’t): St. Valentine, be kind to me, in dreams let me my true love see.

  • Cornflower. A lover was advised to put a cornflower into his lapel. If the color stayed true-blue, the young lady would be his; if it faded, he’d lost her. Goethe’s Faust illustrates:

  Now gentle flower, I pray thee tell

  If my lover loves me, and loves me well,

  So may the fall of the morning dew

  Keep the sun from fading thy tender blue.

  • Yarrow. A lady hoping to attract a reluctant lover was advised to walk through a patch of yarrow, barefoot at midnight under a full moon. She was to pick some blossoms (with her eyes shut), then take them home and put them under her bed. If the flowers were still fresh, it was a sign that her lover would come around to the idea before long; if the flowers were dry, she should think about looking for another fellow.

  • A two-leaf clover in your shoe could predict your mate:

  A clover of two, a clover of two,

  Put it in your right shoe.

  The first young man you meet,

  In field or lane or street,

  You’ll have him or one of his name.

  Learn how to use herbal love charms:

  Love Potions: A Book of Charms and Omens, by Josephine Addison

  In the floral calendar, today’s flower: yellow crocus.

  FEBRUARY 14

  Today is Valentine’s Day.

  Chocolate Is an Herb, Too!

  We’re not the first civilization to believe that chocolate is a gift of the gods. The Mayans worshipped the cacao plant (Theobroma cacao), used its beans as currency, and brewed them into a medicinal drink called xocolatl . The Aztecs believed that the god of agriculture carried the plant to earth. Clever folks: they mixed it with chile peppers and used it as an aphrodisiac.

  The Spanish explorers knew a good thing when they saw it, and took the cacao beans home to make a drink for their wealthy patrons, who naturally added sugar to sweeten the bitter brew. Doctors prescribed the new drink for everything from tuberculosis to intestinal parasites and sexual dysfunction. The French feared that chocolate might raise passions to an uncontrollable frenzy (you know those French), but the Brits loved it enough to take the risk, and before long, London was chock-full of chocolate houses. Chocolate-loving English emigrants took the confection with them to North America, and before you knew it, we had Hershey’s. More recently, scientists have learned that chocolate has twice as many antioxidants as red wine, that it relaxes blood vessels and reduces the risk of blood clotting—and that it triggers the same brain responses as falling in love. But you knew that already, didn’t you?

  MCQUAID’S HOT ’N’ SPICY CHOCOLATE

  This wintertime drink, reminiscent of the Aztec’s xocolatl , combines two of McQuaid’s favorite herbs, chocolate and chile pepper—both reputed to have aphrodisiac properties, perfect for a Valentine’s Day evening.

  ½ cup sugar

  ¼ cup cocoa

  1 teaspoon fine-ground chile powder

  1 teaspoon cinnamon

  ¾ teaspoon cloves

  ¼ teaspoon salt

  2 cups water

  6 cups milk

  1 teaspoon vanilla

  whipped cream

  nutmeg

  8 cinnamon sticks

  Blend dry ingredients together in a large saucepan. Add water, stirring, and simmer for 4 minutes. Stir in milk and reheat. Whisk in vanilla and pour into warm mugs. Top with whipped cream and a sprinkle of nutmeg, and add a cinnamon stir stick. Makes 8 1-cup servings.

  Read more about the mysteries of chocolate:

  Chocolate: A Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light, by Mort Rosenblum

  FEBRUARY 15

  The splendor of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not rob the little violet of its scent . . . If every tiny flower wanted to be a rose, spring would lose its loveliness.

  —THERESE OF LISIEUX

  The Violet: “A Fine, Pleasing Plant of Venus”

  According to Greek mythology, violets helped the god Zeus out of a bind. You see, he fell in love with a priestess named Io. When Zeus’ long-suffering wife, Hera, found out about this illicit affair, she was understandably miffed. To keep Io out of his wife’s way, Zeus turned the young lady into a white heifer. To give her something to eat, he created a field of violets for her—and while he was at it, he sent a bunch of violets to Hera, as an apology. The flowers soothed the jealous goddess, suggesting to the Greeks that these pretty blossoms might have a therapeutic, calming effect. It wasn’t long before violets were being used everywhere as a fragrant sleep aid.

  In the Middle Ages, Hildegard von Bingen used violet juice as the basis for a cancer salve, while physicians employed the herb to treat insomnia, epilepsy, pleurisy, and rheumatism. The plant was said to be ruled by the planet Venus (which ruled the throat), making it a natural as a treatment for throat ailments, too.

  In fact, violet leaves and stems do contain a soothing mucilage, as well as salicylic acid, the precursor of aspirin—good for the throat. They’re also rich in vitamins A and C, and for people who didn’t have access to fresh veggies in the winter, an early spring salad of violet leaves was a very good idea. The flowers taste sweet and are often made into syrup or jelly, candied, and crystallized. Try violet syrup with your favorite pancakes—and a spoonful for that scratchy throat.

  SWEET VIOLET SYRUP

  2 cups boiling water

  6 cups freshly picked violet blossoms (unsprayed), washed

  thoroughly

  2 cups sugar

  2 tablespoons lemon juice

  Place violets in a large bowl. Pour boiling water over them, then place a saucer on top to submerge the flowers. Let stand for 24 hours. Line a colander with cheesecloth and pour the violets and liquid through it, squeezing out the liquid. Discard the blossoms. Add sugar and lemon juice to the liquid and simmer in a nonreactive pan until the mixture is the consistency of syrup. Cover and refrigerate. Use within a week.

  Read more about violets:

  Flowers in the Kitchen: A Bouquet of Tasty Recipes, by Susan Belsinger

  Violets: The History & Cultivation of Scented Violets, by Roy E. Coombs

  FEBRUARY 16

  Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.

  —KAHLIL GIBRAN

  Wind-tossed?

  If the winds have been playing havoc with your hair, you may need some extra hair care. Hair conditioners help keep hair soft, manageable, and healthy. Ruby Wilcox (who is always playing with hair color and style) has designed two simple home-crafted jojoba-based conditioners that help her get the upper hand over frizzes and tangles. Jojoba (pronounced “ho-ho-ba”) oil is derived from the jojoba bean and especially valued for cosmetic uses. It is a liquid wax (rather than an oil) that helps tame roughness and flaking, and has healing properties. Many conditioning recipes also use eggs, for extra protein.

  ROSEMARY JOJOBA CONDITIONER

  1 cup rose floral water (available in drugstores and on-line)

  1 tablespoon jojoba oil

  10 drops vitamin E oil

  4-5 drops essential oil of rosemary

  In a nonreactive pan, over low heat, warm the rose water. Add jojoba oil. Pour into a blender and add vitamin E oil and rosemary oil
. Blend for 1-2 minutes.

  To use: Before shampooing, wet your hair and pour the conditioner onto your hair and scalp. Massage it in. For extra conditioning, wrap your head in a warm, damp towel and leave it on for 20-30 minutes. Rinse thoroughly with warm water and shampoo.

  ROSEMARY AND EGG CONDITIONER

  1 egg yolk

  2 teaspoons jojoba or almond oil

  4-5 drops essential oil of rosemary

  1 cup water

  Beat the egg yolk until frothy. Beat the jojoba oil and rosemary oil into the egg, thoroughly incorporating. Add this egg-oil mixture to the water, stirring to blend. Massage into scalp and hair. Rinse and shampoo gently.

  Read more about hair care and other herbal beauty treatments:

  Natural Beauty from the Garden, by Janice Cox

  Jojoba (Simmondia chinensis) is . . . a handsome, distinctive desert plant . . . The oil (actually a liquid wax) extracted from the seeds . . . is an excellent scalp treatment for either dry, flaky dandruff or brittle hair.