China Bayles' Book of Days (24 page)

• sunflower seeds (
Helianthus annuus
)

• leaf buds of spruce trees (
Picea
)

• cinnamon fern fiddleheads (
Osmunda cinnamomea
)

• wild mustard (
Brassica sp.
)

• oak apples (oak galls) (
Quercus
)

• wintergreen berries (
Gaultheria procumbens
)

• wild onions (
Allium sp
.)

• honeysuckle blossoms (
Lonicera japonica
)

• wild strawberries (
Fragaria sp.
)

• clover blossoms (
Trifolium pratense
)

• mint (
Mentha sp.
)

• winter cress (
Barbarea vulgaris
)

• cat brier (
Smilax rotundifolia
)

• violets (
Viola
)

Most modern children see food as something that appears on their plates after it has come out of a box or a can. To celebrate Earth Day, take your children or grandchildren into the garden and introduce them to natural nibbling. It might make a difference in the way they approach the world. But it’s also wise to caution them against eating anything they’re not sure is safe, and encourage them to learn to identify edible plants.

Read more about natural nibbles:

A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants
, by Bradford Angier

One rule that every country child knew was: don’t put any plant into your mouth until you have been shown by an older child or adult that it is safe to eat. And we found out that some plants had only certain parts that were edible. One friend had a grandmother who played a leaf-matching game with us kids. She would pick five edible leaves, then hold one up and say, “Match this leaf.” We had to go find a plant with a matching leaf. Soon, we knew which salad greens to pick.

—QUOTED IN HONEYSUCKLE SIPPING: THE PLANT LORE OF

CHILDHOOD, BY JEANNÉ R. CHESANOW

APRIL 23

Today is the birthday of William Shakespeare, born in 1564. The theme garden for April: a Shakespeare Garden.

When daisies pied and violets blue
and lady-smocks all silver-white
and cuckoo-buds of yellow hue
Do paint the meadows with delight.
—LOVE’S LABORS LOST

The Blooming Bard

Shakespeare’s plays and poems bloom with flowers and gardens. What could be more interesting than a corner of your own garden devoted to the herbs and flowers mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays? You might want to add a label to each plant, citing the play or poem in which the plant is mentioned. And if you are a great admirer of the plays, you might want to make a Shakespeare garden album, with pressed flowers and leaves, a note about the plant, and a quotation from the plays.

SHAKESPEARE’S HERBS AND FLOWERS

Aloe (
Aloe sp
.)
A Lover’s Complaint

Balm (
Melissa officinalis
)
Merry Wives of Windsor
5:5

Bay laurel (
Laurus nobilis
)
Antony and Cleopatra
1:3

Sweetbriar or briar (
Rosa eglantine
)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
2:1

Broom (
Cytisus scoparius
)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
5:1

Burnet (
Sanguisorba minor
)
King Henry V
5:2

Chamomile (
Chamaemelum nobile
)
King Henry IV
, Part I, 2:4

Carnation (
Dianthus caryophyllus
)
The Winter’s Tale
4:4

Cowslip (
Primula veris
)
The Tempest
5:1

Fennel (
Foeniculum vulgare
)
Hamlet
4:5

Holly (
Ilex sp
.)
As You Like It
2:7

Honeysuckle (
Lonicera sp
.)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
4:1

Hyssop (
Hyssopus officinalis
)
Othello
1:3

Lavender (
Lavendula angustifolia
)
The Winter’s Tale
4:4

Marigold (
Calendula officinalis
)
The Winter’s Tale
4:4

Marjoram (
Origanum sp.
)
The Winter’s Tale
4:4

Mint (
Mentha sp
.)
The Winter’s Tale
4:3

Myrtle (
Myrtus communis
)
Measure for Measure
2:2

Nettle (
Urtica sp
.)
Othello
1:3

Pansy (
Viola tricolor
)
Hamlet
4:5

Parsley (
Petroselinum crispum
)
Taming of the Shrew
4:4

Poppy (
Poppy somniferum
)
Othello
3:3

Rose (
Rosa sp
.)
King Henry VI,
Part I, 2:4

Rosemary (
Rosmarinus officinalis
)
The Winter’s Tale
4:4

Rue (
Ruta graveolens
)
The Winter’s Tale
4:4

Savory (
Satureia sp.
)
The Winter’s Tale
4:4

Thyme (
Thymus sp
.)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
2:1

Violet (
Viola odorata
)
King Henry V
4:1

Wormwood (
Artemisia absinthium
)
Hamlet
3:2

Read more about the Bard’s blooms:

Shakespeare’s Flowers
, by Jessica Kerr

APRIL 24

I have pepper and peony seed and a pound of garlic And a farthingworth of fennel-seed, for fasting days.

—WILLIAM LANGLAND, PIERS PLOWMAN, FOURTEENTH CENTURY

Herb Seeds: Not Just for Planting

Throughout history, many herbs have been valued as much for their seeds as for their leaves, if not more. When you plant your herb garden (either in the ground or on your deck), be sure to include some of the interesting herbs that are valued for their seeds. Or perhaps you’d like to learn how to cook with these seeds. Whether in your garden or in your kitchen, you’ll be delighted with the result! Here are five popular choices for you.

• Anise (
Pimpinella anisum
). One of the oldest known aromatic seeds, anise was used as currency in Biblical times. It has long been prized for its scent and its health-promoting properties (it is carminative, expectorant, and anti-spasmodic). It has a licorice taste, and is used to flavor sweet pickles, salads, cakes, cookies, candies, liqueurs, and marinades.

• Caraway (
Carum carv
i). Rye bread is flavored with caraway seed, as are cakes, biscuits, cheese, carrot, cabbage, and potato dishes. It is much used in European and German cuisine. Medicinally, the seed was used to treat digestive ailments. In ancient Egypt, it was used in love potions.

• Coriander (
Coriandrum sativum
). Coriander is mentioned in the Bible (manna is white, “like a coriander seed,” Exodus 16:31). It was widely used as a cough remedy, an aphrodisiac, and as an incense to summon devils! In cooking, it has been used to flavor beans, onions, potatoes, sausages, stews, pastries, and wine. It is also included in many curry and chili powders.

• Dill (
Anethum graveolens
). Dill has carminative properties and calms intestinal cramps. In Scandinavia, it was given to colicky babies, and derives its name from the Old Norse,
dilla
, meaning “to lull.” Dill’s most famous culinary use—the dill pickle—has been around for at least 400 years. (And of course, you remember dill as the signature herb in China Bayles’ mystery,
A Dilly of a Death
.)

• Nasturtium (
Tropaeolum majus
). Peppery nasturtium flowers are a colorful addition to salads, and their pickled seeds are a good substitute for more-expensive capers.

Pickled nasturtium seeds. Prepare a brine of 1 quart white vinegar, 2 teaspoons pickling salt, a thinly sliced onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 peppercorns, and ½ teaspoon each allspice, mace, and celery seed. As your nasturtium blossoms fall, pick the green seed pods, wash, and drop into the pickling mixture. Refrigerate. Stir each time you add more. When you have a cupful, take them out for use, with brine to cover; continue adding to your pickles with fresh seeds until the season is over.

APRIL 25

Today is National Zucchini Bread Day.

Zucchini Bread Day in Pecan Springs

Squashes are among the many plants that Europeans discovered when they arrived in the New World. Although they are now used chiefly as foods, Native Americans also used them as medicines, for such problems as intestinal parasites, kidney ailments, rheumatism, and fevers. Squashes are usually thought of in two groups: winter squashes such as acorn, buttercup, butternut, Hubbard, turban, and pumpkin; summer squashes such as crookneck, and pattypan. And then, of course, there’s zucchini.

In Pecan Springs, everybody has a favorite zucchini bread recipe. Mrs. Bubba Harris, the wife of the former chief of police, bakes hers in a slow cooker because she doesn’t like to have her oven on during the summer. Bubba retired from the force (Sheila Dawson took his place, as you know if you’ve been following the Pecan Springs news) and now raises bees, pecans, and zucchini.

MRS. BUBBA’S SLOW COOKER ZUCCHINI-BASIL BREAD

2 eggs
cup vegetable oil
¾ cup honey
1
cups zucchini, peeled, grated, drained

1 tablespoon minced fresh basil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup chopped pecans

In a mixing bowl with handheld electric mixer, beat eggs until light and foamy. Add oil, honey, zucchini, basil, and vanilla. Mix well. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients with nuts; stir into zucchini mixture and blend well. Pour into a greased and floured 2-pound coffee can or 2-quart mold (be sure it fits in your slow cooker). Place crumpled foil in the bottom of the slow cooker and set the can on it. Place in slow cooker. Cover top of can with 6-8 layers of folded paper towels to absorb the steam. Cover and bake on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours. Do not remove cover to check bread until it has cooked for 3 hours. Let stand 5 minutes before turning out of can or mold.

Got more zucchini? Here are 225 other ways to deal with it:

The Classic Zucchini Cookbook: 225 Recipes for All Kinds of Squash
, by Nancy Ralston

APRIL 26

As one grows older one should grow more expert at finding beauty in unexpected places, in deserts and in towns, in ordinary human faces and among wild weeds.

—C. C. VYVYAN

Wild Weeds and Native Herbs

Let’s stop thinking that an herb is something we grow in our gardens! Herbs are all around us, but we have to stop calling them “wild weeds” and begin to understand them as “native herbs” before we can see them and appreciate their uniqueness. Start with this quartet, likely to be growing somewhere in your immediate vicinity.

• Chickweed (
Stellaria media
). A zippy addition to salads in early spring, the seeds of this plant are especially loved by birds and poultry. Traditionally used to treat liver and kidney ailments, coughs, rheumatism, and pleurisy. (You may remember this plant from the China Bayles mystery,
Dead Man’s Bones
, which features its European cousin,
Stellaria holostea
.)