Garden Tea
This class was a part of our ongoing Garden Sharing series. Every two weeks, I welcome Nature Links participants to share what’s going on in their gardens. What’s in bloom? What pollinators or pests are visiting? What are your hopes for your garden? What are challenges you could use help with? Now that it is late summer and we are (finally!) beginning to see good crop turnouts, I have been asking - what are your harvesting? What recipes or projects are you making with the fruits of your labor?
While many of us are sharing late summer crops of tomatoes, cucumbers, and squashes, I decided to highlight my herb garden and show everyone the daily teas I like to make from my harvest. I wanted to share that for me, gardening for medicine and for beauty (flowers!) is just as important to me as gardening for food. In the following video, I give a mini-introduction to the approach of American traditional herbalism, which I use to decide which plants to add to my tea, and how to properly brew them.
The featured plants are lemon verbena, calendula, tulsi or holy basil, and chamomile. I briefly describe the difference between nervines and adaptogens, which are categories of herbal medicine. A more thorough explanation can be found here, on the Mountain Rose Herbs blog.
Here is the basic method for making your own fresh herbal tea:
Choose 1-4 herbs to add to your hot infusion. If you are familiar with herbalism, you might do this by checking in with how you’re feeling, and choosing herbs that will support your wellbeing. You might also opt for flavors - some mint & lavender, or lemon balm & chamomile - whatever combination is speaking to you.
Gather the medicinal part of the plant: usually the flowers and leaves, and sometimes the aromatic root if it is called for.
Rinse your herbs well - you don’t want to make caterpillar tea!
Lightly tear or bruise the herbs to release their oils. Place them in a quart-sized mason jar. Fill the jar 1/4-1/2 full with your plant material.
Pour simmering water over the herbs, and fill to the top of the jar
Immediately cover with a lid, and keep the jar covered while your tea is steeping. This is to prevent volatile oils escaping with the steam, and to keep all the medicine and flavor in your tea.
Steep for 15 minutes - 1 hour.
If you like, stir in a little honey while the tea is hot.
Strain into a cup. Enjoy hot, or over ice!
This tea is meant to be enjoyed fresh in the moment, and support you throughout your day. Use up your tea within a couple days at most.
