Saturday, January 7, 2012

Plant of the Day; marshmallow, mallow. This is the question and the answer. Here's my dried plant from this summer. I am going to work it into a cream with cleavers, or maybe in a facial mask form. I won't know until I get to start playing with it.


Have to work for a little while so I have my things ready to work on just as soon as I get home. :D


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4 comments:

  1. Comfrey CottagesJanuary 7, 2012 at 10:58 AM

    Will be interested on seeing what you decide to make with it! xxxxx

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  2. AllisonianJanuary 7, 2012 at 5:19 PM

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  3. AllisonianJanuary 7, 2012 at 5:30 PM

    Mostly I want to make a cream, but I also want to make the mallow treats that I have heard so much about, and of course teas. I have made essences and tincture with this year's harvests. And, as you can see, I harvested and dried all this. The photo with the white background has twigs that are about 2 feet long. I do try to put in things to show perspective, but I don't always get it done.

    I was given it from a friend 11 years ago and I didn't know what the plant was, but she, my friend Maude, was well versed plants, herbs and their uses. I didn't have a lot of oportunities to talk plants with her, but we did have lots of conversations, I just had babies and all of that. She was my first neighbor/friend here that I made and didn't come with the package; And the Mallow was a final gift from her that I just this year actually recieved.(by not knowing what it was all thoughs years, I just let it grow. It was all overgrown by blackberries when I dug it out this year. It faired well with them.

    Life's little lessons, righ? :D Cheers :D

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  4. Comfrey CottagesJanuary 8, 2012 at 6:30 AM

    You do excellent photos, showing perspective, Allison! How precious that Maude gave you the marshmallow, and it wasn't until later you learned what a gift it was, herbally. Very cool story! There are life's little lessons daily, I believe! Big hugs and enjoy your marshmallow xxx

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Banana This; Recycle Old Peels~ fertilizer or silver polish

There are things you can do with that old peel.

1. Do you have a green thumb? House hold plants and outside gardens require fertilization. A great way to give your plants nutrients is with a banana peel. The banana peel is very rich in potassium and phosphorus, which give that added boost to your plants soil, especially so with roses. Here is how to use a banana peel to fertilizer your soil for your plants. Remove the peel from the banana. Place the banana peel on a cookie sheet to let it air dry. Grab a paper bag or envelope. Crumble the dried banana peel and place it in the bag. Let the banana sit at room temperature for about two days. When your caring for your plant, give it a potassium treat of crumbled banana peel. Mix well in the soil to ensure the roots are fed evenly.
2. Have you been thinking about pulling out that old silver? Well there is no time like the present. Bananas peel can also be used to polish silver. Yes, polish silver. Take the old peels and place them in a blender. You want the peels to become smooth and creamy. Once they have, grab a cloth and small amounts of the creamed banana peel and begin polishing your silver. The shine will be breath taking.

SOURDOUGH STARTER with WILD YEAST

SOURDOUGH STARTER with WILD YEAST
Wild yeasts exist in the air around you and to some extent on the wheat berries. There are wild yeasts on grapes (unsulphured) and apples and other fruits. It is those wild yeasts which are 'captured' to make a sourdough starter. The process takes from 3 to 5 days. I wish I had specific amounts for you, but you could start with 1/4 to 1/2 cup of flour and mix in enough warm (not hot) water to make a thin paste. DO NOT make it too soupy. That, in fact, is the trick to a good starter, according to the French bread makers, and I think they should know. And after you've fooled around with the flour and water thing, you might wish to branch out into adding those unsulphured grapes, apples, sour milk, etc as a catalyst in order to capture other strains of yeast. Each of these strains has a slightly different taste. In fact if you move to another area, you might end up with a starter that produces an entirely different flavor. For instance, San Francisco sourdough bread is well known and has a distinct taste due to the wild strains in the air there. On day one you mix the flour and water (and add any catalysts to encourage fermentation) and place in a warm spot. After 3 days, the dough should be moist, inflated, and slightly sour. More flour and water is added (mixed in) and left to sit in a warm spot. After 2 days the process is repeated. Then the next day it is done again. Note the order: 3 days, 2 days, 1 day. At this point you should be able to make a loaf of bread using part of the starter and adding back what you took out in the form of more flour and water. Rule of thumb: Use about 10% starter to size of loaf. In the case of a 2 lb loaf this is a bit over 3 oz of starter (3.2 to be exact). For a 1 lb loaf 1.5 oz would be used. A book that describes this process in great detail is The Village Baker by Joe Ortiz, copyright 1993, published by Ten Speed Press, Berkley CA. If it's not still in print, try the used books stores, that's where I got mine. Or try your local library. If they don't have it, they might be able to get it for you. ©2008 by Ernestina Parziale

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