Pizza....Garden Style!

  Once again, my friend sought out the peace that only the Bayou can bring.  "Can I come to the Bayou?  I need a little Bayou Therapy." she said when she called.  Sure, come on over.  All afternoon, we fished and she spilled her feelings.  The Bayou seems to be the ideal place to throw things out there, mull them over and then put them back in a decent order.  

  Long about 6 o'clock in the evening, I felt a hunger pang and decided that fishing needed to cease for a while.  I was hungry!  But...I had forgotten to thaw anything from the freezer.  Well, we would just have to make do with what was on hand.  As we wandered back up the board path from the pier, an idea hit me.  Pizza!  We would make pizza!  Darlene looked a tad confused.  "I thought you can't eat meat.  How are we going to make pizza?"  Easy enough!  We would make a garden pizza!  She looked at me a bit dubiously and shrugged her shoulders.  My friend is not one that experiments in the kitchen much....I do.   So, I grabbed tomatoes, onions, fresh basil and fresh oregano from the garden and set her to work chopping.  After the pizza dough was spread on the pan and lightly baked, I started layering on the veggies and herbs.  "No sauce?" she queried.  Nope.  No sauce.  Once again, I caught her with a puzzled look on her face.  After assuring her that it would be tasty, we added seasoning and loaded on mozzerella cheese!  The pizza was popped back into the oven for about 15 minutes.  Oh, my goodness!  The kitchen started smelling delightful and Darlene's expression started to change from doubtful to eager.

  Once our supper was on the table and we gave thanks, the sampling began.  Yep, that was one tasty pizza!  In fact, we almost did not get a picture of creation!  It was disappearing fast!  Fresh garden style pizza....that is supper!  Yum!  Good friends, good food....doesn't get much better!

The Queen Likes Pizza?

  Son, like any young man, eats a lot of pizza.  He loves the stuff.  His favorite is just plain old pepperoni pizza while if I had my way, everything would be piled on top!  And, even though I have quart jars of assorted herbs and spices, his favorite is what he calls "Pizza Spice".  The rest of the world evidently uses the wrong name of "Oregano".  Since he likes oregano so much, my stash is always being depleted which is why I took to growing that along side all of the other herbs.  Since oregano is easy to grow and reseeds itself, at least I shan't go broke buying the stuff.  

  While out picking figs this afternoon, I noticed that the oregano is in dire need of clipping.  Tomorrow will find me out with the scissors snipping the stalks for drying.  My harvesting is a bit late, though, as the herb has already started blooming.  While this will not hurt the flavor of the herb other than making it a mite stronger, I am a bit hesitant about going wild with the scissors.  Bees, namely bumblebees, have taken a liking to the blossoms!  Hundreds of the tiny bees were busy harvesting their own part of the oregano!  It seems as if the herb gardens are full of pollinators this year!

  The bumblebees that are busy in the herb garden are not truly out to make honey with the pollen and nectar they gather.  Since their colonies are tiny compared to honeybees and since only the queen bumblebee overwinters, there is no need for a mass amount of honey.  The bumblebees fill tiny "nectar pots" with the stuff they gather.  This is to feed the larvae that hatch in the spring and to feed the queen.  The queen sort of overstuffs herself to prepare for winter and then hibernates.  She awakes in the spring to tend to her new brood but unlike the honeybee queen, she has no worker bees.  She tends to the larvae herself and, once they mature, the cycle starts again.  

  The bumblebees, today, were quite busy on the herbs.  As they gathered food for the nectar pots and for the queen, I could not help but giggle.  I sure hope the queen likes pizza!

 

Garden Talk

  With everything from raccoons to birds attacking the gardens with a vengeance, I am beginning to think that I planted just for the critters. Once the critters polished off the peaches and plums, they raided the tomato patch.  Why in the world they are eating green tomatoes is beyond my comprehension.  I want my green tomatoes.  Actually, I want them as ripe tomatoes!  It is not that I mind letting one or two hungry animals have a nibble, I just do not really want to share with every critter in the county!  It seems as if the hillside is inundated with hungry animals.

  While out and about today, I did make one fine discovery.  Obviously, critters do not season their meals.  The herb garden is going unmolested.  I picked a basketful of fennel tops and the mint desperately needs harvesting. The basil and chives are taking over the place and the oregano...the oregano is unbelievably thick!  All will be clipped, washed and dried for this winter.  

  Oregano is an herb that should be stocked in every kitchen whether you like pizza or not. (It seems that most folks associate the flavor with pizza over any other dish!)  Not only is it an ideal herb for seasoning any tomato based dish, it is quite handy as a medicinal herb as well.  I have found on many occasions that a blend of oregano and turmeric added to a salt soak can help cleanse and heal many wounds.  Call me clumsy if you please but I find myself constantly in need of doctoring some sort of cut, puncture or abrasion.  If the wound is not so severe that I need a (real) doctor's care, the oregano/turmeric soak usually helps.  Since it has antifungal and antimicrobial properties, oregano helps to kill bad bacteria and fungal infections!  It is good stuff!

  Besides all of the goodness packed inside this little plant, it also helps out in the garden.  When planted next to things like tomatoes, the herb does its part in keeping things bug-free.  Oregano can actually repel bugs! .......Now if I can only find something that will repel raccoons and birds!

The "Pizza Soak"!

    With the name "Pizza Soak", I am sure folks think I do weird things with my food.  Actually, this is no food at all.  This, my friends, is an herbal concoction for healing wounds.  Several years ago, Son dubbed the stuff as "Pizza Soak" while he had his foot submerged in a tubful. Perhaps he was just hungry but he said the smell reminded him of pizza.  The name stuck. I suppose the stuff really does smell a lot like pizza because it is loaded with oregano.  A mixture of oregano, turmeric and Epsom salts are infused in a tub of really warm water.  This is used as a soak for sprains or wounds.  While Epsom Salts have been used for generations, I added the turmeric and oregano.  These both have antibiotic properties and have anti-inflammatory properties as well. Today, however, it was me who needed the concoction.

  Son and I headed out early this morning to tackle a trash pile down by the pump shed.  This had been accumulating for some years and needed to be cleared.  It was mostly old boards but could not be burned in the present area.  We were about halfway through with the chore when a board fought back!  I was stabbed in the hand by a rusty nail! While it was not a deep wound, it still bled like crazy and hurt more than I cared to admit.  We finished the job and I headed inside to tend to my wound.  I really need to be more careful!

  Tonight, I am once again soaking my right hand.  It is turning a lovely shade of yellow from the turmeric and smells highly of oregan but it does feel much better.  This stuff works but I am craving pizza right now! 
 

Smelling like dirt!

Margaret Atwood said it all when she made the claim that "In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt." I must say she is one smart lady! I do believe everyone should get out and dig, plant, weed, whatever it takes to "smell like dirt"! Not smell dirty..smell like dirt..there is a big difference. During the spring, my family most likely tires of me smelling like the garden but growing up as a farmer's daughter, it is only natural that I play in the dirt. While some women would rather shop or receive manicures, nothing delights me more than to go barefoot in a fresh dug garden.

Last night, it rained! It was perfect timing for the newly planted tomatoes and the seeded Yellow Wax Beans! This afternoon, once I could get outside, I shook the wet sand from the tomato leaves. They will stand tall tomorrow! Next to them, the beans were all up and looking healthy! At the rate these plants are growing, I better get started on a fence...soon! The Yellow Wax Beans are pole beans but I usually just erect a fence and let them climb on that. It works well and saves me from having to cut individual poles. Years ago, Dad would put in a few posts between two rows, string a wire across the top and lean cane poles from the row to the wire. The poles were then tied at the top to keep them from slipping. This made sort of a long teepee effect and as kids we would run under the beans when playing chase. Cowboys and Indians! You never hear of kids playing pretend like that any more. Another "bean" tidbit..the leaves of the bean plant are "fuzzy" on the back. A fuzzy leaf would stick to a shirt! Aha! The Sheriff had a badge..what realism we had with our games!

Wandering through the garden, I came to last year's herb patch. Most of my herbs succumbed to the freezes of winter but not the Oregano! It is alive and flourishing! Umm..disregard the Petunia that is blooming in the midst of the herb..hehe..it is just being happy! Oregano is one of those herbs that is often overlooked in the garden. It is amazing used as a culinary herb in so many dishes. Most people will readily recognize the flavor when you tell them it is what gives pizza that distinctive taste. It is one of the most common herbs used in Italian cookery and is used in everything from tomato based dishes to meat and pasta dishes. Medicinally, Oregano is an antiseptic, antioxidant and carminative. One little known but helpful fact..Oregano can be used to reduce esophageal pressure therefore preventing acid reflux or heartburn! Herbs..they're good for you!

Just before heading back into the house, I heard something flit by my head. Looking up, I spied a tiny bird on a limb in a nearby tree. The first hummingbird of the year!! Spring is definitely here! I rushed in to mix a batch of food and fill the feeders. Darling Daughter bought me two beautiful feeders this past year and the hummers love them! I was excited to see the little bird and hope there will be many more to visit the garden.