Helping thousands of gardeners successfully start seeds. Practical & forgiving, with tips you can use today plus deep dives into the cutting edge of seed news. A must read for the seed curious.
Chicken soup for 2nd breakfast
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On day 3 of a heat wave, I found myself having hot chicken soup for 2nd breakfast. Yes, I've been too hot for many days. Also, it's back to school season and I have a cold. By lunchtime it will be way too hot for hot soup, and I expect dinner will be something cold out on the patio again. However. For my health, even if it's just a placebo effect, I need some broth today. So. 10:30 am soup it is! I like soup. And I like 2nd breakfast. Maybe the weirdness isn't the combo, it's that I've never thought of it before? It's really quite good. I'm writing you about my breakfast for 2 reasons today. First: Winter Savory. It's an herb I've had growing in the garden for a few years now (and one of the herbs included in our herb starter kit). It's rich in thymol, the compound that gives thyme its distinctive aroma, and is used in herbal medicine as an antiseptic. (You can also get it here from Strictly Medicinal seeds) Winter savory is about a million times easier to grow than thyme, though, which means I always have a ready supply. I can harvest a handful to add to soup pretty much year-round to add a lovely flavor and antiseptic goodness. (Again, how much of the "antiseptic" effect is placebo? I'm not sure. You may need a much stronger concentration than you get in soup to have a true medicinal effect.) Ready for a fun cullinary-chemistry fun fact? Especially important if you want to get the benefits of thymol. Thymol, whether it comes from thyme or winter savory, isn't very soluble in water. If you want the thymol out of the plant and into your broth, you'll have to have some fats or oils present. If you're making chicken broth, the natural fats from the chicken should be enough. Or, if you're making a vegetarian broth, make sure you add some olive oil. Second: I'm behind on packing because I've been sick! Thank you all for making the bonanza-rama sale a huge success. The flip side of that success is there is a LOT to pack, and I've missed a couple days trying to rest up and kick this cold. Rest assured, you haven't been forgotten! If your order is especially time sensitive, please let me know and I'll try to get it out sooner. Otherwise, thank you all for your patience! Anne When you’re ready, here are some more ways I can help you grow a thriving garden from seed: 1. Plan your seed-starting schedule with our free printable planner. 2. Download the free Orta Seed Starting Handbook with all the basics you need to succeed with seeds. 3. Take the guesswork out of watering with Orta Self-Watering Pots. (Find discounted factory seconds here!) 4. Join the Orta Seed Club to have 5 hand-picked, unusual & high-yielding varieties delivered to you every season. Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up to get the best emails about gardening from seed!
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Orta Kitchen Garden Newsletter
Helping thousands of gardeners successfully start seeds. Practical & forgiving, with tips you can use today plus deep dives into the cutting edge of seed news. A must read for the seed curious.
Free webinar next week: Start Your Garden From Seed In this one-hour webinar, you'll learn everything you need to grow your garden from seed this year. We'll cover: How to decide which seeds are best for you: Hybrid or heirloom? What should you look for in a seed company? How to plan your timing: What seeds to start when? How to set up indoor seed-starting, affordably: Best sources for inexpensive and effective grow lights. Trouble shooting, and how to avoid common beginner mistakes. Start...
The rain held off last night as we burned our solstice affirmations in my friends' backyard fire pit. As we said goodbye to the sun on the longest night of the year, we each tossed in a slip of paper where we had written something from this past year that we'd like to let go. It was a wonderful ritual, that in different circumstances might have been solemn. Our group, however, was about 1/2 kids, and as soon as the affirmations were burned, all sorts of experimental items from the garden...
Before I wrote to you on Seedurdays, back when I was first starting this newsletter, I wrote to you on #Caturdays. Over the years, I shared lots of garden pictures of this guy, perhaps the world's best garden model: Though it has to be mentioned, even as a youngster he was never much for catching gophers. This picture was pretty typical, giving me a look that says, "Well? Aren't you going to get those gophers?" As of today, our beloved Nani, who turned 16 in November and whose full name is...