Making the world a little greener
The Sage Page with our spare thyme!
Happy New Year!! Cheers to a new year! Wishing you all the best for 2015! There are a few changes to the newsletter for 2015. Please let me know if there are topics you’d like to explore, news to share, recipes to try, etc. As always, your feedback & ideas are welcome!
Next Meeting: Wednesday, January 28th@ 7:00pm at The Miniature Cottage, 410 E. Iris in Berry Hill (near 100 Oaks in Nashville) Join us this month for a casual potluck dinner & two concurrent workshops: sugar & salt scrubs plus CHA’s version of “Poo~Pourri” deodorizing spray. Materials will be provided, but our spray needs a name - so please bring your ideas! These will make great items to sell in our Lawn & Garden vendor booth. The show’s coming up quickly - see below for dates & details.
LOOKING FORWARD: We have some fun events coming up. Mark your calendars!
Felted soap...how clever!
Inspired by the bar Sharon E. had found locally made, I went searching for more info online. If you’re also curious about how felted soap is made, check out this simple tutorial from Traditional Living:
https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=_Bciv7LMXbI
FEBRUARY
MARCH
when:
when:
February 25th
March 5th-8th
The Miniature Cottage Berry Hill
The Tennessee State Fairgrounds
Needle Felting Workshop
Garden Display & Vendor Booth
where: what:
Cherri D. will share her needle felting skills with us. Learn a fun new skill while making some cute crafts to sell in our L&G vendor booth. Materials will be supplied.
where: what:
Get ready for this year’s L&G show! We’ll need help setting up the garden & booth, manning the booth & packing up after the show. Planning & prep is ongoing. Watch for emails & attend monthly meetings for news & updates. It’s a fun event - don’t miss it!
This This cute cute little little felted felted gnomette gnomette was was made made by by Cherri Cherri D. D. -- I’m I’m excited excited about about this this workshop! workshop!
CHA
CUMBERLAND HERB ASSOCIATION • January 2015 Newsletter
Please submit news/info by the 1st week of the month to Jessica Bach: jessica_mayo@bellsouth.net or 615-891-8735.
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In the Garden. . .
Making the world a little greener
The Sage Page with our spare thyme!
Winter just officially began on the 21st, but spring is right around the corner!
ARE YOU READY? Lenten rose, Helleborus orientalis, Photo by D. Stowell in the University of Tennessee Gardens in Knoxville.
Here are some handy tips from Jason Reeves, a research horticulturist and curator of the UT Gardens in Jackson, TN. These should help you get your garden ready for spring.
• Bluebirds are early nest builders, so clean your bluebird houses early. • Lenten rose, Helleborus orientalis, and its hybrids are among the first plants to flower in the new year. Cut back last year’s foliage on Helleborus before the flower stalks appear. Follow the old leaves down to the crown and remove the entire leaf stalk near the soil. • Late February and March are good times to trim trees and shrubs. Prune to maintain a natural form unless formality is appropriate for the design. Postpone pruning of spring and early summer flowering shrubs like azaleas, forsythia, spirea and oakleaf and mophead hydrangea until just after they flower. • Cut back Liriope (Monkey grass) before new growth appears. Use a string trimmer for larger areas. • Spot-control weeds in a dormant warm-season lawn by pulling or by applying a broadleaf weed control. • Apply dormant oil such as Ultra-Fine to fruit and nut trees to control scale and other pests. It must be applied before spring growth appears. These oils can also control scale insects on hollies, euonymus and camellias. For best results, be sure to completely spray the entire plant including the underside of the leaves. • Green, English and sugar snap peas can be direct sown in the garden in February. If sown too late, they will not have time to flower and produce before it gets too hot. • Sow broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage seed indoors. Harden them off before planting outside in March. Read more: https://extension.tennessee.edu/WebPacket/Pages/WP-2014-01-FebruaryGardeningTips.aspx
PRUNING YOUR CREPE MYRTLE It’s soon time to prune flowering shrubs like crepe myrtle. I recently read that February 10th is a good crepe myrtle pruning deadline for our region. Here are some tips from Southern Living on keeping the natural shape of your shrubs while promoting healthy growth.
Southern Living Pruning Guidelines: • Prune in late winter. February is ideal. • Remove: suckers at the base, crossing or rubbing branches & those growing inward toward the center of the plant. • As the tree grows, gradually remove all side branches from the main trunks up to a height of 5 feet or so. • Cut back to another branch, to just above an outward-facing bud on a branch, or to the branch collar (a swollen area where the branch joins the trunk). Never leave lone or clustered stubs. • Try to remove unwanted branches before they get thicker than a pencil. • It's okay but unnecessary to cut off old seedheads. Read more : http://www.southernliving.com/home-garden/gardens/stop-dont-chop-crepe-myrtles C U M B E R L A N D H E R B A S S O C I AT I O N • N A S H V I L L E , T N • J A N U A R Y 2 0 15 N E W S L E T T E R
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Two to Try. . .
Making the world a little greener
The Sage Page
Changing things up for 2015!
with our spare thyme!
This page will feature one recipe and one craft to try. I love finding new ideas, but I don’t always find the time to try them out. My goal this year is to try two new things each month & share my results with you...even if it’s a giant flop! You can share your experiences, too! Let us hear about your latest adventure in cooking or crafting. Send me some photos, tell me how you tweaked a recipe...whatever you want to share is always welcome! Let’s make 2015 a fun & creative year!
LAVENDER EASTER SACHETS I love the Lavender Buddies that our group has made in the past, but I didn’t have the pattern to replicate them. So I found images online to use as a pattern, bought some felt at the craft store & dug out my old box of beads & bag of embroidery thread. All in all, the project took several hours to complete, but the materials were inexpensive, the skill level low & the lavender smells heavenly! It’s a good activity for winter or while watching TV.
My felt bunny sachets...I love the ears!
Here are the basic steps: • Find a simple image online • Print it out & trace it onto cardstock to make a pattern • Trace the pattern onto felt • Cut out the shapes & sew them together • Leave the bottom open & some extra thread to finish sewing • Add beads or felt trim & white pom-pom tails • Stuff with lavender buds & sew the bottoms closed
Shop for lavender & other dried botanicals: https://www.etsy.com/shop/flowerfulbotanicals
NO BAKE PROTEIN BITES The internet is full of variations of no bake protein bites. You can adapt these recipes pretty easily to suit your taste or what you have on hand. I’ve made several variations recently. One thing I’ve noticed is that adding the chia seeds definitely gives a chewier, slightly gooey texture. I’m not a huge fan of chia seeds, but you might be. Also, most recipes call for rolling the bites into a ball, but I had more luck getting the nuts to stick by pressing them into the nut mixture - ending up with a flat, cookie shape. I don’t think the shape is really important. You could easily turn these into bars for a larger snack. My husband says they remind him of Clif bars. Give this one a try!
My peanut butter protein bites.
Ingredients & instructions: • 2 cups quick oats • 2 tbs. flax seed meal • 1 cup natural chunky peanut butter • pinch of salt • 3/4 cup vanilla protein powder • 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon • 1 tbs. chia seeds • filtered water (as needed) • nut mix: 1/4 cup sunflower seeds & 1/4 cup chopped peanuts
Great for a quick breakfast!
Combine oats, peanut butter, protein powder, chia seeds, flax, salt & cinnamon in a large food processor. Blend until the mixture forms a loose dough. Gradually add water (1 tsp at a time) until the mix is wet enough to form a ball. You may need to stop & stir the contents a few times, as the peanut butter tends to stick to the bottom of the bowl. Shape dough into 1 inch balls & roll or press into the nut mix. Store in the fridge (1 week).
C U M B E R L A N D H E R B A S S O C I AT I O N • N A S H V I L L E , T N • J A N U A R Y 2 0 15 N E W S L E T T E R
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