Our January Meeting with speaker and friend, Jan Norris, enjoyed the highest attendance of members and guests that I can remember in a long time. Jan is not only informative, but has a wicked sense of humor. We welcome her back anytime, if she is not too busy with her new magazine, “Florida Food and Farm” which is offered free. Check out their website FloridaFoodandFarm.com. A good place to check for the magazine would be Whole Food Markets.
On Saturday, February 7th and Sunday, February 8th, EHS had a table at the “Pretty “n” Spice” event at the Mounts. We decorated the table with good looking herb plants and for color, added some begonias with nice blooms on them. This gave us an opportunity to talk up our Society, make people aware of what we offer, give out flyers and ask that they come to our next meeting to check us out. The volunteers that came each day to talk up our Society were: Zeneida Moreno, a new member, Brenda Skaggs, Donnie Brown, Bernard Pages, Susan Colfels, Denise Friedlander, Palm Wilcox, Linda Spillane. A very big thank you to all our volunteers. Without you, we could not be successful. Each day, we raffled off a Ylang Ylang tree that was carried away with big smiles by the winners.
Meg was there with her booth “Herbal Scentsation’s” If you missed her this time, make sure you make the plant sale coming up at the end of April. In addition, she sold our Herbal Cookie Cookbooks and the various cookies baked by: Donnie Brown – Spicy, Chocolate, Lavender, Scented Geranium; Meg Vandereedt – Rosemary Ginger Shortbread; Marci Green – Coriander, Cardamom; Leslie Rigg – Lemon Rosemary Sugar Cookies. They were nicely bundled in baggies with pretty colored ribbons. Several other members of EHS had a booth there as well. Kitty Phillips offered her oils and blends and Glenford Smith had lots of herb plants and small trees.
A small update of the Wellness/Herb Garden at the Mounts. Since we have experienced several cold spells lately, growth has been a little slow. The nasturtium seeds that I spread throughout the beds in November took a long time to pick up speed and finally, they are starting to bloom and revealing their various colors. The blooms add a lot of color to any salad, but did you know the leaves are edible too? In addition, we put in plants to add lots of color, such as Cosmos – sulphureus (edible), Balsams – impatiens balsamina, Cornflowers, Calendula officinalis also known as Pot Marigold, Pineapple Sage, Madagascar Periwinkle – catharantus roseus, Chia – salvia hispanica (beautiful blue blooms) Salvia Viridis, and Dianthus. Most of these plants are available at the Guild/Nursery at the Mounts. However, my precious Holy Basil has been suffering from the cold and does not look good right now but I am sure as the weather improves, it will be beautiful again. The Iboza bush is full of buds, ready to burst out in blooms which will look like a white blanket. This will be worth a visit to the garden, just to see that. It will happen any day now.
We have two big events coming up, one is the “All Things Herbal Auction” on March 25th. The Auction is always a lot of fun and all of our members and friends can be part of it by contributing items or buying at Auction time. Make sure you put that date on your calendar, Tuesday, March 24th. Second is the Plant Sale at the Mounts the end of April where we sell great looking herb plants from A to Z (almost).
See you at the meeting on Tuesday (Feb 24th).
Gerri Whidden and her company Natures Symphony has been a pioneer in the field of Aromatherapy in the US for 34 years. The company was formed by Gerri Whidden and a French medical Doctor, William Amzallag in 1982. Their philosophy has always been to manufacture and sell all natural products using oils from wild or organically grown plants to help improve health, beauty and the environment. At Natures Symphony, we value quality and search for the finest ingredients worldwide. During the past 30 years, the Aromatherapists at Natures Symphony have formulated many key blends, which have been proven over time. In addition to selling products at the store in Boca Raton, they also have an extensive product line on the Internet www.NSaroma.com. Gerri is a leading aromatherapy expert and is invited to lecture at seminars in both the US and internationally. She has taught aromatherapy to over 30,000 students during the past 25 years in schools of massage and aesthetics, hospitals and health care facilities, universities, both domestically and internationally. We are very thankful to have Gerri as a long-time friend of the Evening Herb Society. The title of her talk is Aromatherapy Rescue, a very timely subject for this time of the year. And she will have products for sale!
It's February and time for the EHS Annual Chili Cook-off! Make your best chili and enter it into our contest. This has been such a big hit, that we decided to do it again! Everyone brings at least a quart of their favorite chili (and the recipe!). Each entry will be assigned a number and we’ll make up small servings in cups. Then everyone votes for their top 3 favorites. We’ll print at least the 3 top chili recipes in the next newsletter.
The Mounts changed the date of our January Meeting.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Tasting table opens at around 7:00 p.m. Meeting begins with announcements and speaker at 7:30 p.m. Herb Raffle after the speaker.
Think Outside the pot! Creative ways to plant and give herb plants as gifts. And some vinaigrettes, herbed nut mix and a few other nifty-gifty recipes you can make to give as well.
Jan Norris is the editor of the just-released quarterly magazine, Florida Food & Farm. As a journalist, she's worked as food editor at the Palm Beach Post, and freelancer for the Sun-Sentinel, The Coastal Star, Florida Weekly Newspapers, and Florida Travel and Life magazine, among others. She's a fifth-generation Floridian who loves her state - quirky bits and all. She dabbles in a backyard garden with mixed success.
The Delray Beach Children's Garden is the only Community Children’s Garden in Palm Beach County. It is designed and built by children. As adults we serve as guides and lead our little off-spring down the garden path to knowledge and interaction with the natural and garden world.
Our plan has been approved by the city, which means we are now in the planting and building stage. We would love to have the assistance of The Evening Herb Society. We are in need of sweet smelling herbs, shrubs and small trees. Jeannie will be at the next meeting if you would like to bring them to the meeting. We would love volunteers, garden supplies, pots, labels. tools, everything garden. Your generous support is appreciated.
The Delray Beach Children’s Garden
127 SW 2nd Ave.,
Delray Beach, FL 33444
Facebook: Delray Beach Children’s Garden
Jeannie Fernsworth • This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (561) 424-1499