Heirloom Herbs

This column appears in the summer 2008 issue of The Heirloom Gardener magazine.
The Heirloom Herbalist
Copyright 2008, Jim Long

Heirloom Herbs

Herbs, unlike vegetables and fruits, have not changed a great deal over the centuries. The food crops, those plants which produce the bulk of our human diet, have been crossed, selected and hybridized, to produce larger yields or bigger fruits, many times at the loss of flavor.

The rose, which I consider first a fragrance and flavor herb, and second a landscape plant, is just one example of what happens when a plant is overly manipulated. This fragrant flowered plant which is used in many cultures of the world as a seasoning herb in ice cream, milk shakes, cakes and other desserts, has been hybridized to the point of being no more useful than plastic flowers. While it’s pretty in the landscape, the modern rose has lost almost all of its usefulness.

Recently I attended the Garden Writers of America annual conference in Oklahoma City, where several rose companies displayed their newest rose introductions for the garden writers to see. At one of the trade show booths I asked the rose grower what his roses tasted like and which ones had the best fragrance. He looked at me as if I’d just announced I’d married a Martian.

“Taste? You can’t eat a rose,” he said.

Of course I took the challenge, explaining I had written a book about that very subject. I sniffed the various roses on display and chose a pink one that had a hint of fragrance. I plucked a flower and ate it and suggested the rose grower do the same. With little fragrance, there was also not much flavor. While the roses were beautiful to look at, were continuous bloomers all season and didn’t require sprays or special care, they might as well have been artificial. Why grow a rose if it has no fragrance or flavor? Those are the very reasons the plant was domesticated in the first place, centuries ago!

The more standard herbs, those like rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, sage, hyssop and others, have not changed over time. Certainly a few varieties have been selected for specific reasons. ‘Hill Hardy’ rosemary, for example, came about as a seedling found growing on an old farmstead in Texas by Madalene Hill many years ago. It was a natural cross, or a seedling of one, that had shown some specific qualities of being extra-hardy in Texas, was found blooming in January with beautiful blue blossoms.

Oregano is another example of a plant that remains unchanged over time. There are many varieties of oregano, and most of the ones you will find for sale are named by the region where they were discovered. Origanum dictamus, commonly named “Dittany of Crete” comes from Crete, while Sicilian (O. x majoricum) is a cross of oregano and marjoram that was originally found growing in Sicily centuries ago. Origanum vulgare, a wild oregano that came first from Italy, likely transported by immigrants centuries ago, at some point crossed with O. hirtum and was found growing wild in the mountains of Greece and goes by the name of ‘Greek Mountain’ oregano.

Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis) is an herb that is seldom used today, but was one of the important herbs in biblical times. You will find it referred to by Moses when he commanded the elders of Israel to take bundles of hyssop, dip them in the sacrificial lamb’s blood and sprinkle it upon the doors of their houses before Passover.

Hyssop was also used in preparations for cleansing rituals, as well as medicinally for sore throats and improving digestion. The plant remains just as it was two thousand years ago, possessing the same bitter oils that gave it the unique flavor and fragrance as in the distant past.

The Greeks and Romans spread many of the herbs from the Mediterranean in their travels and conquests. Later the trade between the so-called New World and the Old, saw plants being shipped between the continents, with European herbs being introduced into the Americas, and American herbs collected and sent back to Europe.

A large number of the hundreds of herbs grown today, are the basic, heirloom herbs that could be found centuries ago. Many of them have remained unchanged for a thousand years or more.
That means when you smell or taste the leaves from lemon verbena or lemongrass, you know that someone living centuries ago, smelled and tasted the exact things you are experiencing today. When a chef, writing in a cookbook in the 1700s included French tarragon in a recipe, you know you can reproduce that same dish, with the exact flavors he did, because French tarragon is an herb that is unchanged.

How do these herbs come down to us in this unchanged state? Many, like French tarragon, rosemary, thyme and others, are propagated almost exclusively by cuttings. Starts of those plants would have been brought to this country as cuttings or dug plants from Europe and passed along from one generation to the next. Some, like peppermint and French tarragon do not produce seed and must be propagated by division or cutting.

It’s satisfying to know, I think, when you taste lemon thyme (Thymus citriodorus), Mexican oregano (Lippia graveolens), garden sage (Salvia officinalis) or any of a thousand other herbs, that their flavors remain unchanged throughout the centuries. Nearly all of them taste and smell exactly the way they did a millennia ago and are true heirlooms of the plant world.

Questions and comments always welcome through Jim’s website: www.LongCreekHerbs.com.

World's Hottest Pepper

Saga Jalokia, Bhut Jalokia, Naga Jalokia

This is my Ozarks Gardening newspaper column for this week. It appears in newspapers across the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks. Copyright, Jim Long, 2008

No More Elephants in Your Garden!

Much like clothes and technology, plant fads sweep through the market. Some new plant comes along and everyone wants one. Think back to the so-called “mosquito plant” of a decade ago. Promoters claimed it would repel mosquitoes by simply planting a few around your deck or patio. It didn’t. Or the sweet-leaf plant (stevia) that everyone wanted. It actually does what it claims - sweeten foods without adding calories.

Two or three years back, the hot new plant was Salvia divinorum, or diviner’s sage. Supposedly used by shamans in Central America to see visions, it was soon being sold as a “drug for a legal high.” (It was quickly discovered the hallucinogenic properties weren’t that interesting and caused severe headaches, unpleasant side effects and occasional insanity by the user; several states have outlawed it's growing and sale).

About five years ago there were rumors circulating in plant forums on the internet of a new ghost chili that reportedly topped one million Scoville Heat Units (SHUs). Previously the hottest chili on record, according to the Guiness World Records, had been the Savina habanero, rated at 570,000 SHUs. Later debate over whether the record was set with the raw pepper, or with the pepper oil has challenged the world record, however, and the pepper is now accepted as between 300,000 and 579,000 SHUs. (For comparison, the standard jalapeno rates at between 5,000 and 8,500 SHUs; the Savina comes in at 65 times as hot as a standard cayenne).

This so-called “new” pepper, comes from northeastern Assam, India, near the Equator where all of the hottest peppers originate around the globe and is also known by the names, “ghost chile,” and Bhut Jolokia. The University of Mexico has been testing this new pepper and was able to prove in 2007 that this was, indeed, the world’s hottest pepper. (In India, according to my friend Puneet, from New Delhi, this pepper is called "tatayyia mirch," which translated from Hindi, is "wasp chili," because he said, it is like having a very big wasp sting your tongue).

Why, you might wonder, would someone want to grow a hot pepper that is so hot no one can eat it without mixing it with a lot of other foods? When asked that question of the growers in India, we were told, besides eating the peppers, they are also ground up and made into a spray which is applied around crops and gardens to keep elephants out.

So there you are. If you want to be on the cutting edge with the most sought after plant this year, and be able to keep elephants out of your garden, too, you might want to plant some Naga Jolokia peppers. Be forewarned, however, the seeds are rare and those selling them are charging as much as $5 per seed with a minimum of ten seeds.

I’ll be letting you know here if this pepper really does keep elephants out of my garden. Since I’ve not had a problem with elephants before, I’m guessing the plant will do exactly what it claims!

Happy gardening! Questions or comments always welcome at Longcreekherbs@yahoo.com and through my website at www.Longcreekherbs.com.

Save Gas, Plant Vegetables

Jim Long
Ozarks Gardening column, week of 3-31-08

Save Gas, Grow Vegetables!

Rising gas prices combined with increased food costs and a fluctuating economy are the likely causes of a significant new trend developing in the gardening market. As reported in the 2008 Early Spring Gardening Trends Research Report just released by the Garden Writers Association, more consumers plan to purchase vegetable and fruit plants as part of their early spring gardening purchases.

In a national survey conducted last month, consumers were asked what types of garden-related purchases they expect to make for spring. Lawn and grass purchases take the lead (54%), followed by vegetable or fruit plants (39%), annual flowers (38%), trees and shrubs (35%), and perennial flowers (31%). When asked the same question this time last year, vegetable and fruit plants were fourth on the list of priorities for consumer spending. Perennial flowers which held the number two position in consumer spending in 2007 are in fifth place for 2008.

This means lots of people recognize running to the grocery store for a pound of potatoes or a couple of tomatoes, doesn’t make good sense when gas prices hover in the three dollar range. Driving a few blocks, or a few miles, just because you need a cucumber and a head of lettuce for dinner can easily be delayed if you have those growing on your patio or in your back yard. Saving a trip to the store means saving on gas money.

How much does it cost to grow your own tomatoes? Just a few dollars if you buy the plants, even less if you start your own seed. For less than $2, you can buy a packet of bean seed and produce enough beans to feed your family for several meals. Add some inexpensive lettuce seed, a few onion plants, a few rows of corn and a few other vegetables and you can grow several weeks of groceries for less than the cost of a tank of gas.

Even though it is too early to plant annual, tender plants, such as peppers and tomatoes outdoors in the garden, it is a perfect time for planting these seed crops: Lettuce, late onions, spinach, carrots, radishes marigold seed, cilantro and dill and a second planting of peas can go in the ground now. Plants such as cabbage, kale, kohlrabi and rosemary, can all be planted now, as well. Home grown vegetables taste better, save you money on gas and make you glad you grew them.

To see what’s growing in my garden this week, visit my blog: http://jimlongsgardentalk.blogspot.com/ Questions and comments always welcome at longcreekherbs@yahoo.com. Happy gardening!

See Us in Nature's Garden magazine

We are pleased to mention we are in the Spring Issue of Nature's Garden magazine, on the newstands now. The magazine folks, James Baggett, editor, Marty Ross, writer, Jay Wilde, photographer, and Jarret Einck, layout designer, did an excellent job and were a delight to work with. They gave us 8 pages, wonderful photos and make the garden and me (and Molly twice) look great.

Garden Dreams Do Come True, 2003

My gardens were featured in the June, 2003 Southern Living magazine. It was the second time we'd been featured in that magazine. Why have I been willing, even eager, to get such publicity over the years, you may wonder?

It all leads back to the first day of May, 1979, the day I moved to the farm that became Long Creek Herb Farm. That time, my two daughters, ages 4 and 5, were with me for their regular weekend visit. The three of us planted peas, late in the season for our area, but we planted with a lot of hope for my first garden in this location. My daughters were very close to me, and I to them. They were my life. That was one of the last times I saw my daughters.

They disappeared from my life, and from the Ozarks. My ex-wife took them out of state and kept them hidden from me by remarrying and changing her name and moving several times. Those events led to difficult years for me, years that I wasn’t sure I could survive without my children. The garden, though, was comforting and healing and I threw myself into my work.

Over the years I tried various unsuccessful methods for finding my children. Without money, the legal system was useless. Legal Aid wouldn't get involved in custody issues back in those days. I struggled, trying to find some way to locate my children and to have contact with them.

I tried everything I could think of and eventually I settled on the idea that publicity and writing might be the answer. I started writing books, magazine articles, newspaper columns. I sought publicity and found it, through a wide range of feature articles in national magazines and on syndicated television shows. Friends accused me of being a publicity hound. I was. I hoped that one day, one or both of my children might see an article about me in my garden, or see me on television and remember that day when they helped me plant peas, and want to contact me.

In June, twenty five years after losing my daughters, my dreams came true. My oldest daughter, now 29 and living in Chicago, saw the Southern Living article. In it she saw one of my books, Making Herbal Dream Pillows, featured, went to her local bookstore and bought the book. Upon opening it, she read the dedication, which said, "..and to Lori and Traci, who are always in my dreams." The book was written many years ago, so she saw that I had, indeed, wanted them in my life all of these years.

Lori contacted me and we began eagerly communicating by phone and email. In August I drove to Chicago to see her, a long awaited reunion, and to meet my grandson, now three years old. We spent many hours over several days catching up on each other’s lives. My younger daughter, also contacted me during that time by email.

There is no making up for the lost years, but out of those times some very good things have come about. That first garden we planted together did grow, and continues to do so today. The loss of my daughters prompted me to write and polish my gardens, always planting new hope. My grandmother's advice of, "Do what you love most and the rest will take care of itself," proved to be true. I love gardening and writing, both of which led me to establish my business, which in turn, led me back to my children.

My dream of finding my daughters some day, really has come true and I just wanted to share it with you, my readers. Thank you!

Dream Pillows Soothe Nightmares of War

The voice on the other end of the phone I’d just answered said, “Hello. I’m Mary. I’m a member of a motorcycle gang, and I want to order some dream pillow materials.”

The caller went on to tell me that her group consisted of several men who had served in Vietnam in the 1960s. Her husband, she said, suf-fered from persistent nightmares from that war and seldom slept through the night without waking in terror. Mary had bought my book, Making Herbal Dream Pillows, at a bookstore, found my website listed and had ordered a dream pillow from my company. “I wanted one from the source,” she said with a laugh.

I was imagining a motorcycle gang, dressed in their leathers, riding the roads on big Harleys, sleeping on the side of the road, roaring through dusty desert towns. How could a sweet little dream pillow fit into that scene?

Without hesitation, Mary began to describe the events that led up to her phone call. She’d ordered the Restful Sleep Pillow, willing to try anything that might help her hus-
band sleep, placed the tiny pillow in-side his pillowcase as they camped, and didn’t tell him. Since the pillows are intentionally made to have a very subtle fragrance, he wasn’t tipped off to its presence.

The first morning after the dream pillow was placed, she said he came to the campfire seeming very relaxed and mentioned that he’d slept through the night. Nothing more was said.
After the second night, she said her husband came to the morning campfire and, as he visited with fel-low road hogs, said, “I’ve slept two nights in a row without nightmares. This fresh air is really good for sleeping!” Mary kept quiet, happy to be seeing results, but not yet certain of the source.

More mornings followed without comment, then on the fifth day her husband said out loud that he’d been almost a week without a flashback nightmare and didn’t know why. Mary sheepishly said it was the dream pil-low she had placed in his pillowcase five nights before. He didn’t believe it, and Mary said, “I’ll prove it,” and dragged his pillow out of their tent. She directed him to fish around in the pillowcase and bring out whatev-er he found as their friends watched.

He was dumbfounded. “I have no idea what this is,” he said, “but it’s amazing and it works, so keep it in the pillowcase.”

The reason for Mary’s call was to say that the six other Vietnam veter-ans in the group all wanted their own dream pillow, and she needed to order materials to make dream pillows as they traveled across the country.

My Restful Sleep Pillow recipe is good for soothing nightmares of all types, and it’s fairly simple to make. But remember, never use any oil, fragrance or essential oil in a dream blend — they make for a very unpredictable dream blend. Always wash the cloth you make the pillow from, as the dye and sizing can cause headaches or nightmares. Finally, use the best, well-dried herbs and flowers (not ones that have been stored with other fragrances).

Restful Sleep Pillow (from my book, Making Herbal Dream Pillows, Storey Publishing, $14.95, available from http://www.Long CreekHerbs.com).

1 tablespoon rose petals (any color as long as they ‘re fragrant and not chemically treated)
1 teaspoon mugwort
1 teaspoon marjoram
1 teaspoon hops (broken up a bit with your fingers)
Fabric
Thread
Fiberfill

Mix herbs together. Sew previously washed cloth to make a 5-by-5-inch pillow, into which you’ll place some fiberfill, herb mixture and a bit more fiberfill, and sew the pillow closed. To use, simply place the pillow any-where inside your pillowcase — it doesn’t matter where since most people move their heads around during sleep anyway.

Jim Long is a contributing editor to The Herb Companion magazine.

On the Road Again

I visit a lot of gardens each year, finding something new, something interesting in each one. I see the garden as an expression of the soul of the gardener, just as if it were a painting or a musical composition.

Usually I drive when I visit a garden, allowing me to take in farmer’s markets and roadside stands along the way. I often begin these trips with Willy Nelson’s, “On the Road Again” on my iPod. Sometimes, if it’s going to be a long drive, I’ll stick in Jack Kerouac’s On the Road into the tape player.

Kerouac’s vision, fifty years after publication of his classic novel, still calls out to look around yourself, stay open to new experiences, question the ways that convention pushes us, and to look for a higher meaning in every experience.

It was on just such a trip recently, with Willy Nelson’s mellow voice singing background to my travels, that I encountered an enchanting garden. I’d driven north to Des Moines, an eight hour drive from my Ozarks home, to spend time with Cathy Wilkinson Barash, my edible flower writer friend. She had procured tickets to one of the political debate watch parties, and being a political person myself, could not miss the opportunity to listen to people who might one day be President.

Cathy lives in one of Des Moines many older but turning chic neighborhoods where young families and rising business owners all know each other and visit as they walk their dogs each day. Cathy has become well known, not just because she encourages herb growing in people’s side yards, or shares her recipes, but because she walks the blocks daily with either her neighbor’s dog on a leash, or a parrot on her shoulder, or sometimes both.


Cathy is a cat person, having three, and none of them enjoy being on a leash or going for walks. So Cathy joins her neighbors, two houses down, and takes their pets on her walks.

On the first morning of my visit, my friend suggested I accompany her, “to pick up the parrot.” Unsure what was about to transpire, but remembering Kerouac's advice, I eagerly went along to see what new adventure awaited.

From the sidewalk, looking in, I was astonished at the garden before us. There was a very large house, built on a very small city lot, which meant there had been almost no yard from the very beginning. But in that space, had it been lawn instead of garden, one could have mowed it all in three minutes, the owners had constructed a paradise of plants that towered over us.

The owners, Ton and David, of the famous fifth generation Dutch Stam Chocolaterie family, http://www.stamchocolate.com/ had built a labyrinth of raised beds, with tiny, narrow brick walkways between. There were little hidden pools with moving water, a scaled down table and chairs for two set amidst the tomato vines, just in the right spot for a bit of morning tea.

What was most remarkable, more than the tiny size of the garden, compared to the amount of plants, was how everything was trained upward. Twig trellises (said to have been inspired by my Bentwood Trellis books http://www.longcreekherbs.com/books.shtml gave support for tomatoes that rose upward for eight feet or more. Midlevel of the tomatoes, were cucumbers, sorting their way into sunlight. You could, and we did, reach into the twig arbors and pick tomatoes, and cucumbers, from the same square foot of space.

Around the edges of the beds were bountiful, prolific basils, beans, thymes, rosemaries, all scattered in whatever inches of space the sunlight allowed. This was a garden that rose upward, in many levels, ignoring the actual square footage beneath.

Encountering that delightful garden reminded me of Kerouac’s philosophy, and the coinage of the word “beat” that inspired a generation of my peers, of saturating yourself in an experience to the point of exhaustion, and still wanting more. The tiny garden I encountered was too big to take in, to complex to photograph, and yet the experience was all encompassing.

Kerouac still speaks to us, fifty years after the publication of On the Road, to look at your garden in a new way. If you can’t spread out, then spread up. If you don’t have enough trellises, use hoola hoops. And as he told his friends, “always, always, make it new.”