I went to a Garden Party. . .
The August garden party at Jill Kuhel’s was a lovely morning. The tour of her garden had so many plants and herbs to look at and learn so much about them from Jill. I picked up some good ideas to implement in my garden beds. Rocky Bray educated us about lemongrass and
Cheryl Alberts served m’judra, her own Lebanese version of lentils, rice and bulghur wheat, caramelized onions and other veggies, served with flat bread. What a great Mediterranean dish, I had never heard of before!
Cheryl, and regularly Marilyne Phelps, have taken The Society around different parts of the world cooking authentic dishes, sharing their recipes and family stories. It is great to have such knowledgeable people in The Society willing to share and tell us what they know and experiment with.
I also hope all of you tried some of the anise hyssop tea Jill made for us. It was refreshing and Jill noted it helps with the summer heat.
My anise hyssop is blooming too. Some pronounce anise as ANN-iss and I have also heard it pronounced as ANN-niece. Whichever way you pronounce it is a great pollinator plant. I especially like to get up close to a plant and watch the honeybees. I just read honeybees will fly almost two miles to find flowers and a single hive can house somewhere around 50,000 bees. The article also said queen honeybees and bumblebees are also capable of being active all day and all night to keep the baby bees fed and it is the only insect that produces food that can be eaten by man!
One of my favorite summertime treats is pouring warm honey over flowering anise hyssop, then spread on a slice of crusty baguette. Also, try drizzling the anise honey over watermelon or cantaloupe (and add some chopped mint). Quite tasty!
Spring shall plant and Autumn garner until the end of time. ~ Robert Browning
– Co-President Janet Lindsteadt
September 2023 Newsletter