Room of Light

I got a little carried away with capturing the flood of sunlight that fills the apartment to the brim in the afternoon. It gets so intense that I usually close the curtains, but now that I have a photosynthesizing little friend perched on the sill, I can't close the curtains all the way. You'll see that I closed them enough to keep some of the light out while still allowing the mint plant to bask its bad self in the glow.

The last picture is my favorite. The sun-etched silhouette of the lurking spire in the background and the appearance of translucency at its pinnacle evoke feelings of liminality and seem to question the very nature of reality. While the form of this large, imposing structure is demoted to shadow, the small mint plant retains its form and appears more solid and formidable than an object 1,000 (10,000?; 100,000?) times its size and made of sturdy materials such as wood, stone, and mortar. The mint plant seems almost unaware of its challenging stance in the face of this otherwise monolithic presence.  

Planting Confidence

I didn't meet my goal of getting everything this weekend, but Monday isn't too far off. Behold the goods:

And no procrastinating: When I got home from purchasing everything, I got right to work planting. Seriously, I didn't do anything else besides maybe get a glass of water. First I opened up the seed packages to examine what each of the different seeds looked like.

It's hard to really see the details of the differences in the picture, but you can see differences in size, color, and shape. The seeds on the top are basil, middle are chives, and bottom are parsley. As with the mint, I wasn't able to get the exact species of parsley that I had initially chosen. But no worries. After the examination, the action began:

And basically lots of what the above picture looks like (except I ended up ditching the gloves)--over and over--until... voila!

Seeds planted, just like that! It took all of maybe 15 minutes. Finishing touches included a nice incubating plastic wrap cover.

And now they are ready to chill on the sill and soak up lots of sun.

If all goes well, and I did this right, they should be popping up within 7 - 14 days. I can't wait! I'm so glad I followed through with this, and I already feel a sense of accomplishment. Thanks to all who have been checking out the blog and even asking about the project in person. The support has really helped me to stay on track when I started to waver a bit.

Space Plants

Moving right along and propelled by the high of yesterday, I didn't waste anytime today: I got up, ate a quick breakfast, and assembled all the containers that I had collected to use as pots so that I could prepare them for potting.

Let's be real here: the preparation wasn't all that labor intensive. I stripped the containers of their labels and washed them out. Here's the after-shot:

I know I had said I planned on painting the containers, but seeing them lined up together with alternating sizes and the texture that was concealed by the label, I think I actually might like them as is, even though the metallic sheen conjures images of a futuristic era. If I do decide to slap some color on there, I'll only paint the two smaller containers that have a smoother texture. Coincidentally, I have some time to mull this over because I will be using one of the bigger pots to transplant the mint in, and obviously, I don't have any seedlings yet of my own that are in need of immediate transplant. Funny how it all works out.

I also harvested some leaves from the mint plant I bought yesterday...

And then used them to pep up a glass of iced green tea.

No mojito for sure, but refreshing nonetheless. Good day!

Finding Mint on a Saturday

Look what I found: a beautiful mint plant!

I am proud to present my new herbal acquisition (some may laugh), mojito mint (Mentha villosa). For those who have been paying close attention, you might remember that this is not the species of mint I had originally intended on including in my indoor garden. When first planning out the garden, I had decided on peppermint (Mentha piperita), but in preparation for what I will most likely be doing a lot with this project--improvising and deviating from original plans--I decided to roll with it, and take advantage of the opportunity and inspiration that today bestowed upon me.

The day began with a trip downtown with a friend to attend a conference on food (Farm to Table). After perusing the vendors, we made our way to a demonstration on growing your own shitake mushrooms. Herein lies the jump-start of inspiration that I have seemed to be lacking as of late. A quirky, energetic Huck Finn-of-a-man shared his knowledge of shitake growing. While obviously not plant growing, the theme is similar: growing your own foodstuffs. And if the herb growing goes well, and I enjoy it, I just might venture into growing fungi too! Armed with this revamped enthusiasm for my project, I resolved to get everything I need to start growing this weekend. An impromptu, post-conference stroll along the buzzing streets of the Strip District, packed with people, fresh food, and cheap merchandise, eventually led us to a plant store that had some of their leafy-green wares displayed outside. This was an opportune find indeed, and rather than balk at buying because it was not the species I had originally intended, in an act of unfaltering decision, I picked the best looking plant in the bunch, and made this little plant mine.

I feel extremely invigorated by this little plant. It looks right at home on the windowsill, and I found myself almost unable to stop taking pictures of it.

   

Since I just got this plant an hour or so ago, it's still in its little flimsy plastic pot; I'll be getting its permanent pot ready a.s.a.p and transplanting forthwith (perhaps with a mojito in hand!). This will be the only herb that I won't be growing from seed, per recommendations in the literature I have read. From here on out, it will be awhile before anything this bountiful is around, but pretty soon this little guy will have some seedlings for company on the sill.

Spring Revival

Whoa, where have I been? We have moved deep into March since my last post. How'd that happen? Rest assured, I have not abandoned the project! But I will be candid and admit that I have done relatively little work on the project since my last post. I'm not sure sure why, but I think it had to do with being busier than usual, some days of not feeling so hot, splitting my time between 2 places, and from the mixture of all of these things, a subsequent loss of focus.

But I feel back on track now. Spring has definitely arrived, providing me with an incontrovertible visual reminder that I need to get crackin' on some of this stuff! Also, at a recent dinner meeting, a new colleague happened to mention a conference she attended at which an herbalist gave a presentation. I eagerly shared the herb-growing project that I've been gearing up for and in doing so, realized that I really do need to get back to work on it. No more slacking, and no more excuses.

I think in my last post I mentioned that I was going to be working on painting the herb containers, which hasn't happened. So, here's the plan moving forward:

1. I'm going to get a seed starter kit and the seed for the 3 herbs that I will actually be attempting to grow from seed (basil, chives, and parsley. It's recommended that you don't grow peppermint from seed).
2. I'm going to plant the suckers!
3. Once I have the planting done, then I'll get to work on preparing and painting the containers. Not much to prepare other than putting some drainage holes in the coffee cans. And then of course the painting will just be FUN. I think I can handle that!

I hope I haven't fallen behind too badly from my recent derailment, but I am determined to get back on course.

Herbs and Contraception in Days of Yore

Last night I finished the book, Eve's Herbs, and I thought I'd do a little reflecting on what I've learned from the book. It was a very riveting read, and I really enjoyed reading it. Here are a few bullets of the more enthralling bits of information, some take-home points, if you will:

• Despite popular belief otherwise, pre-modern humans were very aware of the connection between intercourse and pregnancy. As such, they developed means to prevent or abort unwanted pregnancies. 
• Most scholars assume that contraception was achieved through more "mechanical" means, not through use of chemical agents. On quite the contrary, it seems that chemical-based contraceptives and abortifacients were the most common means of fertility control used by pre-modern humans and modern humans, although for the latter subset in more of a clandestine manner as a result of new laws based on humankind's changing perception on when life actually began. 
• These chemical-based agents were derived from herbs!
• Knowledge of which herbs could be used to control fertility, the effective and safe dosage, and how to administer them was originally retained and perpetuated by the common woman. While there were herbals and other writings published (all male authors except one) that trepidatiously discussed herbs used for "female woes," most of the knowledge transmission occurred orally. 
• Original herbal compounds were simple, often consisting of only one herb or a few, which made them easy to prepare. As time progressed, common herbal knowledge was lost or steadfastly guarded or communicated in circumlocutions for fear of persecution and prosecution. In tandem with these trends, medical universities were beginning to teach advanced pharmaceutical theory, and more complex compounds were being developed by apothecaries. Here we have the advent of polypharmacy. This change in compound structure led to a shift of power in the reproductive realm. Common women were no longer self-reliant in regards to their reproductive status and had to depend on the apothecary or physician (men) to obtain guidance on appropriate herbal compounds for their needs. Interestingly too we also see the transformation of pharmaceuticals from cheap home remedies to marketable goods and the first instances of questionable relationships between pharmaceutical supplier/preparer and physician ("Rules were established periodically that sought to govern overly close relations between physicians and apothecaries." (Riddle, p. 107) )
• Herbs are still used today in folklore medicine to control fertility. 

That's my synopsis, with conscious effort to stay focused on the herb part of the work and not get too sidetracked by the social and political factors that inevitably were discussed, even though they did creep in a little bit. I will say that being reminded of the social and political factors of ages past that disenfranchised women definitely incited the passion of my feminist side, and I now view herbs as representing feminine power/empowerment.

And Finally, Introducing Chives

I have chosen my fourth and final herb to grow: the lucky winner was Chives. In the previous post I mentioned that the two herbs I was deciding between both started with the letter "C", and the other herb was Chamomile (German Chamomile). Initially, I had been leaning toward Chamomile for its medicinal properties, but the more I read about it, the more it was sounding that it's really not best to grow this herb indoors and in containers: you get the most yield from it when it's allowed to roam freely in an actual garden. Again, might be something I try to tackle later on down the line. So, I won't be making any infusions with Chives, but I'll definitely be using it a lot in cooking. Let's get to know this little herb better.

Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) share a genus with onions, garlic, and scallions, a brotherhood of stink. No mythological influence on the name with this herb: "all" means "stinky" or "pungent" in Celtic, a reference that stuck when the herb was given its Latin name. While we usually hear of the health benefits of garlic and onion, chives are just as beneficial, as it too contains the compound credited for garlic and onion's health benefits: allicin. Culpeper has little to say on Chives, and what he does say is mostly negative. Chives may not seem as "sexy" as the other herbs I chose, but I'm still happy to have it as part of my indoor garden.

Now that I'm all done choosing the herbs I will be growing, what will I do next? I think I'm going to prepare the containers I'll be using to grow the herbs in. The blender base hasn't gone into surgery yet, so I think I'm going to get to work on that, along with cleaning up the coffee cans and sprucing them up with some paint. The houseplants I re-potted are still alive, perhaps a harbinger of success to come (I know, that's a stretch, but any little thing!). I was worried they might collapse, resisting acclimation to the new soil, but all is well.

With February almost over and the days getting warmer and sunnier, I notice myself getting even more antsy to begin growing, especially now that I have my list of herbs concretized.