May’s EHS Member Speakers are:
1. DONNIE BROWN: EHS current and past Presidents, Master Gardener, “Herbin Thymes Herb Stuff contributor, tropical herbal enthusiast, wild edibles forager, archaeology/anthropology buff.
2. MARCI GREEN: EHS Secretary, Master Gardener, horticultural scholar, inventive and superb cook, collator of EHS’s Holiday Cookbook.
3. MEG VANDEREEDT: EHS Past President, EHS Mounts Plant Sales (lots!) Chair, Master Gardener, professional chef and vegetarian expert, herbal medicine guide to herb conferences, founder of Herb and Spice Scentsations (herb rubs and salts).
4. TOM HEWITT: Master Gardener, long-time contributor to “Florida Gardening” magazine, superb photographer of gardens and anything else, recently retired Director of Mounts Garden Guild Nursery and regular contributor to “Herbin’ Thymes.”
Our Speakers for May will cover four aspects of this plant: Donnie - History and Folklore; Tom - Cultivation; Meg - Medicine; Marci - Food
Copies of their talks will be available at EHS Check-In desk after the evening’s program.
EHS’s April 25th meeting featured our perennial friends Gerri Whidden and Pat Ashford from Nature’s Symphony in downtown Boca Raton. They were one of the best features of our first Herbal Fantasy at Mounts in the early 1990’s and we’ve had them return to us, mesmerizing our senses with healing and calming aromatherapy ever since. Gerri introduced roll-ball bottles of scents this meeting that everyone could easily apply themselves to get a real sniff of the plant’s scent.
I did a lot of multiple perfumes dabbing at my wrists once to see which one I liked from my sister’s large collection. In the end, my brother-in-law said the result was very good, but we ended up not remembering what was included in my mixture. With Gerri, it was easy to keep track of what suited you and what could help you. I’ve used several of her aromatherapies over the years for stress at work, for “smartness” (this one really sharpens my memory) for sleep and peacefulness, and I’m certainly more comfortable in myself and nicer to be around using aromatherapy... it’s so easy to use and never any nasty medicine to take!
Our members always enjoy Gerri and we are grateful to have her essential oils right there to take home and to have Gerri’s personal advice. Take a field trip down to Boca Raton sometime and see her in her shop too, why not? You’ll learn even more useful ways to make your life and your families more comfortable.
Mounts Spring Plant Sale, now called “Plant-a-Palooza” on April 29th and 30th looked, and was, enticing and went well. Chair of the sale, Mary Wickensheimer’s, herb plant orders from Pinder’s Nursery in Stuart and Kitchen Gardens in Naples arrived grown full and lush and ready to be taken home to garden and kitchen by eager buyers. Tented up by Past President, Dennis Hessing, as usual, our Herb booth, looked and smelled so enticing. The weather held up well and wasn’t that hot, EHS’s luncheon for volunteers was a hit, we always have new dishes, along with the regulars and some delicious “sweet things” too, and a pot of arugula from the sale also made it into sandwiches whipped up on the spot with deviled eggs. Our volunteers did their usual outstanding job, selling herbs and making friends.
Volunteers bought herbs too; after all, how could one handle and sell those fragrant herbs and not buy some to take home? The selection of plants at the sale was outstanding, some wonderfully new, some so rare, some just so pretty, that it was a treat to wander through the garden and take home a horticultural souvenir of a good weekend.
This year we set up an appealing and informative membership booth where Meg Vandereedt usually has her Herb and Spice Scentsations selection of herbal mixes and salts. We look forward to Meg being able to do her “stuff” again at the next plant sale, but it was generous and profitable, to have her donate her regular booth space to Membership. She and Bernard Pages, who led the drive for a membership booth, brought in five new members and made untold numbers of new friends.
EHS’s profit at the Herb Booth was $808.00 which will be used for The Herb Garden at Mounts and will also help support the cost and mailing of our “Herbin’ Thymes.” Left over herb plants were planted in The Herb Garden the following Monday and the rest donated to Mounts Garden Guild Nursery that supplies EHS’s Meetings Raffle Table. All in all, it was an excellent weekend. Grateful thanks to all who participated, selling or buying.
On The Connoisseurs Garden Tour, I visited EHS members, Ruth and Terry Lynch’s garden with its large collection of fruit trees, rare palms and vines. Both the Lemon Bay and Bay trees were in bloom, the Everglades tomato plant was full of fruit surrounded by tasty growing herbs.
Prepare something for our May Tasting Table with cilantro or its seed, coriander (that probably means a desert!) and we’ll all meet again on, Tuesday, May 30th. Be safe, be cool and stay hydrated.
Donnie Brown, President
Discover Aromatherapy ‘rescue solutions’ for your everyday complaints, including beauty secrets, pain relief, emotional stress, etc. You will experience uses for both the oil and water soluble components of the distillation process, including essential oils, hydrosols, and convenient rollerball applications.
Gerri Whidden has been a pioneer in the field of Aromatherapy for 35 years. She is not a stranger to most of you, having been a guest lecturer at the Herb Society often over the past 25 years She is an owner of Nature’s Symphony in Boca Raton, has taught classes in schools of aesthetics, massage, hospitals, health care facilities, and universities both domestically and internationally.
March’s meeting was, of course, EHS’s annual Fund Raiser for the Garden of Well-Being/Herb Garden. The event didn’t bring out the usual crowd of members, looking for herbal delights, treats and bargains as the auditorium was only half full, but those of us who attended had a great time. We even got giggly and a bit rowdy!
Olivia Witkowski, joined at the March meeting, and bid on the Easter-themed basket that sported a pair of large, pink, furry bunny ears head bands early in the evening that she wore all evening along with her friend. The back of the room always gets lively as the auction goes on. Tim Dunn and his friend were guests of our members Annette and Chris Norris and really got into the spirit of bi
We know that you have potted and grown some herby plants for the auction table, done that spring cleaning and the baking is well under way. Please bring all of those goodies to the “2017 All Things Herbal Auction”. We love buying each other’s treasures…
We ask that everyone who attends bring one or two items to be auctioned —
• All those herb-y, garden-y things you no longer need or want.
• Herb and spice plants (in pretty pots!), herb crafts or artwork.
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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
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