Summer is finally here

The Herb Blurb – June 2021

Summer is finally here and with Covid receding and things reopening there is a lot of hope on the horizon. Get out and enjoy the resurgence of outdoor concerts and festivals, farmers markets, public gardens, and premium hiking conditions. I love https://www.alltrails.com, where I can find trails listed all over the country. There is a fee for the app but if you like to hike, it’s well worth it.  Explore a new area of Colorado. My favorites are Ouray, Paonia, Crested Butte, Lake City, and Creede, and Estes Park or Kenosha Pass if I want a day jaunt.

Check out https://scfd.org/find-culture/free-days/https://www.denver.org/things-to-do/https://www.colorado.com/things-to-do, and https://www.atlasobscura.com/things-to-do/colorado  for listings of festivals, cultural events, and what’s going on around the state. Before another summer goes by in a blur, take time now to mark off some dates to get out and have fun.

Upcoming Classes!

Herbal Happy Hour – Cocktails and Mocktails from the Garden – ONLINE - Friday, June 18.

Herbal Happy Hour – Cocktails and Mocktails from the Garden – ONLINE - Friday, June 18.
This program will be prerecorded to allow flexibility as to when each recipe can be prepared. The recorded videos will be sent out before noon on Friday, June 18, and will be available for viewing for 2 weeks.

Discover how easy it is to create fresh, artisanal beverages from the garden with minimal effort and delicious results. Learn how to make refreshing aqua frescas, fruity shrubs, beneficial bitters, and creative cocktails with infused liquors. Skip the chemicals, dyes, and corn syrup and bring in the nourishing clean tastes of fresh produce and herbs of the season to create your own unique, flavorful libations. A class kit will be provided for pickup.

Each take-and-make kit includes enough ingredients to make approximately 2 - 4 servings of each recipe. Participants will need to supply their own alcohol, although this is optional. These kits are available for local pickup only. Susan's book, The Herbalists Happy Hour, will be available for the class discount price of $15.00.

This class will cover: Aqua Frescas, Simple Syrups, Infused Alcohol, Shrubs, Bitters
MenuLavender Lemonade Fizz, Spicy Tequila & Lime Cocktail, Seasonal Fruit Shrub, Orange Bitters

**Registration will close on Sunday, June 13, at 11:59 p.m.** 
For more information and registration - https://catalog.botanicgardens.org/Selection.aspx?item=4196&sch=167071

Lavender Lemonade Fizz

Crested Butte Wildflower Festival – July 9 – 18

It’s back! A week of glorious wildflowers in the mountains. Classes are offered on a variety of topics from hikes, botany, crafts, history, and more. I will be teaching classes on wild food foraging, cooking, herbs, and crafting. Class sizes will be limited due to Covid, so enroll early if there is something that intrigues you. Hope to see you there

Crested Butte Wildflower Festival – July 9 – 18.

https://crestedbuttewildflowerfestival.org

Gardening

garden flowersThe rain has been a blessing and we are mostly out of drought here on the front range for the first time in a year. Time to put in all those tender annuals and vegetables, but keep an eye on nighttime temps.

Keep control over weeds and retain moisture in your gardens by adding a generous layer of mulch. Pine needles, straw, bark, cocoa hulls and other possibilities are available at your garden center. If you are using bark, it will leach nitrogen out of the soil as it breaks down so you will need to fertilize.

Start deadheading (removing dead blooms) so you have healthy, bushy plants all summer long, full of flowers. Pinch flower buds off of your herb plants to preserve taste. You can start clipping back your herbs once they have reached a decent size and dry them for your winter pantry.

Colorado Garden Centers still have a great assortmentGarden Centers still have a great assortment of plants which will go on clearance as the heat escalates. Don’t have room or time for a garden? Go with containers. You can grow everything from vegetables and herbs to fragrant flowers and stunning foliage. Try some gallon size sweet 100’s, a few basil plants and some edible flowers like nasturtiums. I like to buy the larger pots of annuals and plant them in interesting combinations in a large container. Voila! Instant garden. Container gardens don’t take a lot of time, planning or weeding; just make sure you have good drainage and quality potting soil.

For your rusty garden tools, spray them down with white vinegar, cover loosely and let them sit overnight. Scrub them down with steel wool, oil them, and voila! Like new. Take a look at Colorado Gardener Monthly Magazine, https://www.coloradogardener.com for great articles and local events.

Herb of the Month – Yarrow - Achillea

Recipes of the Month

The season for salad greens, asparagus, radishes, rhubarb, cherries, sugar snap peas, strawberries, and more has begun. With hot weather returning it’s time for refreshing salads and lots of hydration.

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.."
John Lubbock

Posted in The Herb Blurb.

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